Category: Folk

BROOKE D - NEW YEARS BLUES

12/29/2015

We were doing Blues on the front page today, so I stumbled across "New Years Blues" by Brooke D, a native of the California coast currently based in Portland, Oregon (I think). Oddly enough, this tune isn't (strictly speaking) Blues. It's a cappella Folk Jazz. What it is is interesting and different. And you know that "different" is one of my favorite words. "New Years Blues" is from Brooke's 2011 EP "A Kinder Winter" and you can download all three tunes free from Bandcamp. Dig around and you'll find a live version that's also free. Brooke is currently working on a real honest to goodness album which hopefully sees the light of day in 2016.

0 Comments

JOHN PRINE - CHRISTMAS IN PRISON

12/23/2015

1 Comment

I could just as easily post this on the Essentials page (that poor, poor, neglected page). John Prine is, of course, a legendary artist and songwriter. He was Americana long before the term existed. And, although John released a full Christmas album in 1993, his self-penned "Christmas In Prison" was originally released on the album "Sweet Revenge" in 1973. If you weren't on the Christmas music hunt that long ago, you might now realize how few songs about Christmas were released in the decade following the JFK assassination (beyond your MOR artists like Bing, Perry and Andy). And it wasn't as if some AM Top 40 station was going to pull out a John Prine record and play "Christmas In Prison". Oh, hell to the no. But FM stations were just beginning to get adventurous with their Christmas music. And all the cool FM (and college radio) DJs had "Christmas In Prison" in their little tote bags of LPs

and 45s for the holidays. At least that was so in the New York market. And "Christmas In Prison" soon became one of those songs you looked forward to hearing on the radio every Christmas, along with other "FM only" holiday fare like Joni Mitchell's "River" (and that one, I'm told, was only a seasonal spin in the New York market; it didn't become popular during the holidays in much of the rest of the country for many years).

Just a long-winded (but important) holiday music lesson as a way of noting that John Prine's "Christmas In Prison" (the live version that appeared on "A John Prine Christmas") is available free through Noisetrade at the moment. Why, when I was young, we had to walk for twenty miles through the snow with no shoes to get to a record store and we'd have to chop wood for hours for the store to even let us look at a John Prine record. You kids, today--gettin' your music for free. Hey, you kids, get off my lawn! Yeah, well, aside from making me feel old that I remember 1973 so well, get John Prine's "Christmas In Prison" free at Noisetrade. It's an essential Christmas song for any holiday music collection.

1 Comment

THE TILLERS - CHRISTMAS TIME WILL SOON BE OVER

12/23/2015

0 Comments

The Tillers, an Old-Timey/Bluegrass band from Cincinnati, Ohio, turned out this cover of "Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over", a classic fiddle tune, back in 2012 and have reposted it for this holiday season. You can find it and download it free at ReverbNation. You don't see too much free Bluegrass Christmas music (it ain't easy finding Christmas Bluegrass even when it isn't free), so its worth tossing up here, I think.

0 Comments

VARIOUS - THE WEXFORD CAROLS

12/21/2015

0 Comments

1. Christmas Day Is Come - Rhiannon Giddens
2. Now To Conclude Our Christmas Mirth - Rhiannon Giddens
3. Behould Three Kings - Roseanne Cash
4. Tell Shepherds - Caitríona O’Leary
5. The Angell Said To Joseph Mild - Tom Jones

DOWNLOAD FROM NOISETRADE

You may or may not recall that one of the big releases last year was "The Wexford Carols". The Wexford Carols are considered some of the most beautiful music ever written. To give the songs the respect they were due, some great vocalists were assembled--Caitríona O’Leary, Rhiannon Giddens, Roseanne Cash and Sir Tom Jones. The album got great reviews and, come on, Tom Jones... But still I took a pass. Possibly in the hopes that people like myself would reconsider, a five song sample is now available free through Noisetrade. And it just might work (on me, at least). At the very least, I'll likely buy the other Tom Jones track (they only gave him two leads? What were they thinking?).

Whether or not you want to reconsider, there's nothing like great vocalists singing beautiful Christmas music for free. No reason you shouldn't get you some "Wexford Carols" from Noisetrade.

0 Comments

GOLAU GLAU - ADAM LAY YBOUNDEN

12/20/2015

0 Comments

Wait. Did I know these folks were from the UK? I don't know if I did. I'm an idiot.

Golau Glau is an anonymous collective of artists, musicians and photographers and they can usually be counted upon to release a Christmas EP of fascinating experimental Electronica.

This year, we get a single tune, bit one that remains "free and festive".

"Adam Lay Ybounden" is an Olde English (technically macaronic English) poem from around 1400 AD. It was discovered centuries later among the poems and songs of a wandering minstrel. Since a wandering minstrel's "job" was to "entertain" (thereby earning tips and whatnot), the songs and poems they carried with them would cover a wide range--everything from deeply religious to depraved and bawdy. Most of their pieces, regardless of their subject matter, were delivered as satire and humor. Macaronic English was sort of a mongrel mix of various languages, including Latin. The term, itself, means "dumpling", a food considered "peasant fare".

"Adam Lay Ybounden" is the minstrel's song of Adam following the fall of the Garden of Eden. Adam was condemned to spend "4000 winters" bound in Limbo from his banishment from the Garden until the crucifixion of Christ. "And all this for an apple", the song relates somewhat disdainfully, with the final verse expressing thanks to Jesus for eventually freeing Adam from bondage. At a time when the world was ruled by Kings who did pretty much as they pleased when they pleased--usually at the expense of the serfs and peasants--the tone of the piece was intended for them to relate...in essence: "look how unfair the punishment for the mere theft of a mere apple; praise Jesus for freeing him."

And now that you are asleep from this dissertation of mine, enjoy "Adam Lay Ybounden" from Golau Glau. It's free on Bandcamp.

0 Comments

BULLETTE - CHRISTMAS LIGHTS (I ONLY LIGHT UP WHEN YOU'RE AROUND)

12/19/2015

2 Comments

So I got an email from Monika Bullette a few days back, alerting me to her new Christmas song, "Christmas Lights (I Only Light Up When You're Around)". And I'm thinking, "I know that name."

Way, way, waaaayyy back....when the Internets were young.....in the dark ages.......you know, like around 2004, Monika had a free Christmas song on her site that she'd done with Hangnail Phillips. The song was "The Finest Gifts" and I thought it was just about the most beautiful and perfect Christmas song I'd ever heard. I didn't really start trolling the Internet for free downloads until 2005, so Monika was one of, if not my very first. You always remember your first.

Thereafter, Monika Bullette's site was one of my first destinations in the annual Christmas music hunt. And she usually had something new to offer for the season. After that, she hooked up with the Sky Drops. And the Sky Drops dropped "Christmas Feels Like Halloween" in 2010 or 2011 and "Christmas Time Is Here" in 2012 (both still free on the Sky Drops web site, btw). And then my Mom got sick and I didn't hear anything about or from Monika until that email the other day.

Monika Bullette's new Christmas song for 2015 is a demo, so it's got a bit of a raw feel to it. Nothing wrong with that; I dig raw. But Monika was also kind enough to post several other Christmas songs--all available to download free on Soundcloud--filling in those missing years for me. AND she posted "The Finest Gifts" again. Ah, Monika, you remembered. That was our song (sorry, was that too stalkerish?). And, if you never have before, cats and kittens, you have to hear this one.

2 Comments

RICKIE LEE JONES - CHRISTMAS IN NEW ORLEANS

12/18/2015

0 Comments

I'm pretty sure we gave you the heads up earlier this year that Rickie Lee Jones' new album, "Other Side Of Desire", contained the song "Christmas In New Orleans". Well, Rickie Lee is including that song with two other of her Christmas recordings as free downloads from her web site. The other two--"Oh Holy Night" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"--have been around a while longer, so we gave the title above to the new one (and, yes, "Oh Holy Night" is the one recorded with the Chieftans). Rickie has been offering her Christmas songs off and on for years ("Christmas In New Orleans" bumped "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"). At one time, you could even buy a physical disc (a CD-R, IIRC) of the Christmas tunes from her web site. Now the thing to remember with Rickie's free Christmas downloads is there is no set schedule for their availability. They might be gone by the time I post this or they could last through Christmas. Some years Rickie has offered them for just a couple of days (like, honestly, two days) and then they're gone. So, if you don't already have them, head to Rickie's web site without delay. The version in the video was recorded at/for WFUV. The free download is from the album.

0 Comments

JOHN HARDY - LET'S CALL A CHRISTMAS TRUCE

12/17/2015

2 Comments

This is one of the reasons I still sift through Soundcloud. Because, every once in a while, there's a gem like this--an original voice. I've never heard nor heard of John Hardy before (not this one, anyway). My guess is no one outside of England has. He's spent years working in other people's bands and doing odd jobs to pay the bills. Now he's going it solo. "It's taken me a long time to be able to write these songs. Trying to find my own voice," John says, "not to copy and be original is something not always rewarded in music, but it's something I strive to be." He's got a growing following in England's Folk music circles and just released an EP, "Our Mate John", earlier this year.

But who, outside of those who already know him, is ever going to hear this Christmas song? It's essentially a demo and, if it ever makes its way to a physical release, its likely to go through changes. That's why I feel the need to sift through all the muck (and mire) at Soundcloud. It's a rescue mission.

"Let's Call A Christmas Truce" plays well on multiple levels but, on the main one, it's a song about a soldier at war. Most of the Christmas war songs you hear play "big", by which I mean you never actually get the feeling you're looking at any one individual person. Think of one of the greatest war Christmas songs--"Christmas In The Trenches". It's genius; I wouldn't say otherwise. But, even though its a first person narrative, you never really feel you get to know Francis Tolliver. That's not a criticism. Tolliver's role in the song is to be a kind of everyman. But, once in a while, it's necessary to bring the camera in for a close-up on just one person. By being that close up on one soldier, he becomes an everyman by virtue of being real.

"Let's Call A Christmas Truce" has that kind of focus. Instead of a big war is going on and, oh yeah, here's a song about the soldiers in it, this one is here's a guy alone, away from home, depressed, lonely, not much hope for the future, a little bored even and, oh yeah, there's a war going on around him. See what I'm trying to say?

Great lyrics throughout. "The rich get rich, the saints get shot. God don't answer prayers a lot." "The Bible's not replying, so we pray upon these guns. This cigarette could be our last through Matthew, Mark & John. These boys aren't fit for killing, so survive another day. Let's call a Christmas truce today." And the music works it perfectly--bare and intimate with those twinkling sounds we immediately associate with happy Christmas music sounding so sad.

A beautiful song from John Hardy. I hope we hear more from him. "Let's Call A Christmas Truce" is a free download via Soundcloud.

2 Comments

VARIOUS - A VERY RELEVANT CHRISTMAS

12/17/2015

0 Comments

1. Sugar and the Hi-Lows, "Jingle Bells"
2. Ellie Holcomb, "Christmas For You And Me"
3. Citizen Shade, "Go Tell It On The Mountain"
4. Evan Wickham, "End Of Exile"
5. Hoyle, "Long Winters"
6. Ben & Nolle, "Angels We Have Heard On High"
7. Citizens & Saints, "Come And Stand Amazed"
8. Kings Kaleidoscope, "O Come All Ye Faithful"
9. Fleurie, "Wake Up (O Night Divine)"
10. Kids, "The Bleak Midwinter"
11. The Modern Post, "What Child Is This (feat. Dustin Kensrue)"
12. The Brilliance, "Christ The Lord Is Born"

1. Sleeping At Last, "I Heard The Bells"
2. Kyle Cox, "Don't Make My Christmas Blue"
3. John Mark McMillan, "Joy To The World"
4. Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, "Hark The Herald Angels Sing"
5. Gungor, "Oh Light (feat. All Sons & Daughters)"
6. Tow'rs, "Auld Lang Syne"
7. Found Wandering, "Lo How A Rose E're Blooming"
8. Andy Squyres, "Here Is Wisdom"
9. Jeremiah Daly, "Away In A Manger"
10. Josh Hoke, "Peace On Earth"
11. Branches, "O Come O Come Emmanuel"
12. The Oh Hellos, Mvmt III, "Silent Night, Holy Night"

If you want to sample a wide swath of CCM--or just listen to a ready-made CCM mixtape, there's the annual collection from the on-line Relevant magazine. They're up to Volume 5, this year, of "A Very Relevant Christmas". It was released in two parts, but its all together now. This is one of those sites where you have to register and then verify your email (or you can "connect with Facebook", which I recommend you never do; Facebook is far too free with the sharing of far too much information for my taste).

"A Very Relevant Christmas, Vol. 5" features lots of artists we've featured before--Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, Sleeping At Last, Sugar & The Hi-Lows, The Oh Hellos, and Found Wandering, to name a few--as well as bands and artists that were new to me and may be to you as well. A couple of bands that were new to me (probably...I go through so much Christmas music, its hard to remember everybody) that I very much enjoyed were Ben & Noile, who provided a splendid up-beat New Wavey Electro Pop take on "Angels We Have Heard On High" and Fleurie, a Nashville based Folk Pop artist/band whose "Wake Up (O Night Devine)" recalled for me the best of that genre (I'd throw out names like A Fine Frenzy or Tori Amos, but my head's a little crowded right now and I'm not sure those are the right names).

Anyway, some good stuff and free (for an email addy). "A Relevant Christmas, Volume 4" is still available, as are some non-Christmas collections. Register at Relevant.

0 Comments

VARIOUS - A POLAROID FOR CHRISTMAS 2015

12/15/2015

0 Comments

01) Alice Bisi (Oh, Alice) - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
02) Hund - I'll Be Stoned For Christmas (Dent May cover)
03) Naughty Betsy - All I Want For Christmas (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)
04) Barbados - Just For A Place In Your Heart
05) Elizabeth Morris (Allo Darlin) - The Season (Padda remix)
06) OAK - Holiday (The Get Up Kids cover)
07) Husky Loops - Shy Guy
08) Baseball Gregg - Cyber Monday
09) Steven Lipsticks And His Magic Band - Christmas Thieves
10) Boys Age - Hey Oooh
11) X-Ray Picnic - Northern Exposure
12) Flood Regions - Leprechaun On The Moon
13) Yellow Yonder - The Runner
14) mesic - A Long December (Counting Crows cover)
15) RACE - Jesus Was A Communist (Reagan Youth cover)
16) Iron Only - Airplanes
17) SMASH - Switching Light
18) Qlowski - I Do not Wanna Be Capitalized
19) Wolther Rabbitt - Then there are secrets between us (demo)
20) Homelette - Song For U
21) Le Man Avec Les Lunettes - 15 Dollars For A Sandwich
22) Dj Bitterness - I Get Drunk Like Pizzul Because It's Xmas Without You

Isn't that one of the best things you've ever heard? I don't even know if its a Christmas song. And I don't even care. And they're from Japan, believe it or not. Just wow. Mind blown.

A lot of our annual gifties have gone away. No Santastic this year. No Suburban Sprawl. No Alternate Root. No Cigar Box Nation. And this will be the last year for our annual present from Beta Radio.

On the bright side, we still have Sofia Talvik's annual Christmas song, our stocking stuffer from Joe Algeri (the JAC), and the always superb collection from XO Publicity.

My all-time favorite, though has to be "A Polaroid For Christmas". And they're back again this year with one of their biggest and best. Polaroid is an Italian music blog and, every year, the host of the blog asks bands and artists from all over the world if they might like to do a Christmas song--cover or original (or at least a song to keep one company whilst trimming the tree). And from that simple request comes some of the absolutely, hands down, no question BEST Indie Christmas music you will ever hear anywhere. Every year! It's unbelievable how good this stuff is. Some will make it into the circuit via Bandcamp or Soundcloud, but many/most will not. And it's free to download. Every year! We are truly living in blessed times (well, as far as free Indie Christmas music goes). There's always a little something for everyone--nice little Indie Pop tunes, Shoegaze, Electronica, LoFi Indie Rock, Alt Folk, Dream Pop, Punk Country...seriously, they'll run the gamut.

Now...it's getting a bit late and, normally, I'd just go later and break it down for you. But Mrs. Katz (not her real name) has another doctor's appointment tomorrow (Shhh. I didn't tell her this time), so I need to get to bed. And, to tell you the truth, I listened to this whole thing and, if I were to list my favorites, I'd be listing about 20 of the 22 tracks. So I'm going to let you find your own favorites (it's all free, after all). I will mention my very, very favorites real quick--tracks 1, 5, 10, 11, 20 and 21. Go get the whole shootin' match from Polaroid. And should you find yourself wanting to dig deeper into the artists and their music (like Boys Age up there), Polaroid has everything all linked up for you.

0 Comments

<<Previous

BROOKE D - NEW YEARS BLUES

JOHN PRINE - CHRISTMAS IN PRISON

THE TILLERS - CHRISTMAS TIME WILL SOON BE OVER

VARIOUS - THE WEXFORD CAROLS

GOLAU GLAU - ADAM LAY YBOUNDEN

BULLETTE - CHRISTMAS LIGHTS (I ONLY LIGHT UP WHEN YOU'RE AROUND)

RICKIE LEE JONES - CHRISTMAS IN NEW ORLEANS

JOHN HARDY - LET'S CALL A CHRISTMAS TRUCE

VARIOUS - A VERY RELEVANT CHRISTMAS

VARIOUS - A POLAROID FOR CHRISTMAS 2015

The FREE List

Archives

Categories