Happy 2010, all!
It is amazing to me how fast the first decade of the millennium flew by. I don’t feel all that far removed from NYE 1999 when I watched the sunset on the 14th Street bridge over the Bow River, thinking that our entire world could very well change entirely at midnight (I admit it – got sucked in by Y2K mania).
Not so long into the new decade I pronounced Gillian Welch‘s album ‘Time (the Revelator)‘ to be the best record of the decade, and I still stand by that assertion. ‘Ribbon of Red Taillights‘ from my “A Dime at a Time” album is essentially about driving and thinking and dreaming whilst listening to that record. It is a treasure, for sure.
Countless amazing things transpired in the decade past, too many, in fact, to list here. Suffice to say I have had many ups and downs and trials and tribulations, and much, much joy. I count myself lucky that I have met and come to know so many great people, and true and wonderful friends are something that I have no shortage of (the real, flesh-and-blood kind, not the cyber-variety, although I have my fair share of those, too… some of which may actually read this…).
I am feeling quite nostalgic on this night, probably because I have finished the first part of a new project that I decided a few months ago to undertake in ’10. This is not an original idea – I stole it from Bill Janovitz, a man I have never met in person, but one who has influenced me greatly. He is the guitar player, singer, and chief songwriter in a band called Buffalo Tom, a band that will go down as one of THE all-time greatest in my book. I cannot tell you how many times I have played their records, but I can tell you there are few who mean more to me than they, and especially Bill’s tunes. I think in some interview somewhere a while back I made mention of the fact that what I wanted most from my music was to make somebody somewhere feel the way my favorite records make me feel. The kicker is, I will never know if it has happened or will ever happen, since it is such a deeply personal thing, and indescribable, to boot. All I can say is that there are no words for the worth his songs have to me.
In late 2008, Bill started posting “The Cover of the Week” on his blog, and the first tune he did was ‘Little Mascara’ by The Replacements (another band and songwriter – Paul Westerberg – on my list of all-timers). That started an amazing little run of sometimes incongruous, sometimes brilliant, but always entertaining 3 and 4-minute breaths of fresh air, on a weekly basis. I like it so much, I decided to steal the idea.
So, for the next 12 months, I am going to post a cover song here, for you to listen to or download. Hopefully you enjoy, and hopefully you will come along for the ride.
Obviously, there are some that I have been thinking of doing, and some that I do in my show that will make it here, but by no means do I have a complete list, so it will be as surprising to me as it will be to you at times.
So, without further ado, I give you the first of 52 ( I realize I’m a week late in this – I am nothing if not tardy – sometime this year I’ll make up for the week I missed).
Buffalo Tom’s Sodajerk.
(Click on the Play button beside the song title to launch the music player
or right-click on the link to download it to your computer.)
