AWmusic

For those that don’t read my blog (and why would you?) I was in Memphis last week filming the 2009 Folk Alliance Conference. A week-long folk music party at the Marriot Hotel. Music 24/7. It was an incredibly unforgettable experience. There were young and old folks jamming in the lobby, concerts held in hotel rooms and most importantly, beer was being passed around freely. Nothing would please me more than to present you with songs by artists that I felt were the highlight of the conference…but I’m afraid that in the ride back my disc drive broke down and whenever I put a disc in it now it laughs in this obnoxious french accent and spits my discs back out.

So I thought, hell, there’s PLENTY of music that I listened to on the road heading down to Memphis (And back where I had to make a stop in Cleveland). I’ll post about that instead until my drive gets fixed. So you folks get a mix from me and I continue to feel like you want to hear them. Win-win.

Detroit
DVDA – America, Fuck Yeah!
There was a problem crossing the border. It seems that my travel companion and I looked a bit TOO suspicious for simple Canadians going to see some folk music. We were told to stop and under the instruction of a massive power hungry piss-midget of a border patrol guard, got out of our car leaving all our possessions and watched a group of six people go through all our belongings. I’m happy to say though, that this was the ONLY sign of that good ‘ol American paranoia that I only hear about on Fox News. Still, you’d think these guys were in an action film. Thus the following song:

Cincinnati
Steve Carlisle – WKRP Theme
I never really went in to Cincinnati. We just drove past it and went across the bridge. but still…seeing those buildings and the signs I couldn’t help but sing the tune to one of my favorite sitcoms ever. “Baby…if you’ve ever wondered…wondered, whatever became of me…”. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

Louisville
Johnny Cash – One Piece At A Time
Good place. Had some damn fine chili there and met some really nice people when we were lost and looking for directions to Bowling Green. I’d have to say that Kentucky folk are the nicest folk I’ve come across. While driving through, A Johnny Cash tune got stuck in my head. It’s here where we can see that my tastes started turning towards some good ‘ol country music.

Bowling Green
Charlie Daniels – Uneasy Rider
Zoomed on past this place. tapped our feet and hands to this song while driving by.

Nashville
Lovin’ Spoonful – Nashville Cats
David Allan Coe – You Never Even Called Me By My Name
A nice city, but a bit on the tacky side. Oddly enough, not as big on country music as you’d think. Apparently the city officials hate all the country artists coming in to the city and have done their best to get rid of them (such examples include interfering in the building of the new Grand Ole Opry and the regulation of the “Country District” to about two streets). Still, these songs came on and I figured it very suitable, since both mock the country music business in their own special way.

Memphis (And Graceland)
Evils Presley – American Trilogy
King Curly – The Bumblebee Has No Home
As stated above, I had a LOT of fun in this city. The people were nice, the music was banging and they were never short of kitchy crap. And nowhere is this more evident than in the land of the King himself, Graceland. Pictures of Elvis were everywhere and some of his worst songs were wailing on thirty year-old speakers while overweight tourists from Texas gathered around all excited at a chance to experience a glimmer of the life that Elvis had. If they had marketed his name anymore there would be fried peanut butter and banana sandwich vendors and staff members selling pill vials containing elvis-brand mints. But I suppose that’s in poor taste. no… let’s stick with the leopard skin walls.

I managed to get a hold of one of my favorite songs from the week from one of the groups to come out of the conference. King Curly hails from Australia and has an interesting sound. They have all the fixings of an eccentric jug band (well, sans jug) but have the time to write some damn fine lyrics and create songs with inspirations ranging from zombies to Tiny Tim.

Cleveland
Presidents of the United States of America – Cleveland Rocks
My entire ass it rocks. I wasn’t in Cleveland for very long, only to get some sleep and check out the infamous Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and then back to Toronto. But from what I did see of the city, I wasn’t impressed. I will concede, however that it is not within the realm of fantasy that people would think this city “rocks” but in all honesty, I prefer Toronto. Points must be awarded, however, to the hotel we were in who gave us room 1313 that had a wailing breeze coming through the hallway in to our room. Apparently Marilyn Manson stayed there.

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was…very underwhelming. The movies and information was at least 15 years out of date and was severely lacking in a lot of artists that would normally have been a given for them to have been there. Van Morrison, Peter Frampton, AC/DC, The Byrds, KISS…all missing. Still, some of the memorabilia was cool to see and I got a nice t-shirt out of it.

Que National Anthem
So there you have it. All in all it was a great trip, but I’m glad I’m back in the land of free health care, gay marriage, liberal views on marijuana, playoff beards, good beer, Tim Horton’s and any other common Canadian thing that is in a damn beer commercial.

Tags: bowling green, cincinnati, cleveland, detroit, feature, folk alliance 2009, kentucky, louisville, memphis, ohio, playlist, road, roadtrip, wkrp