Ed--June 16

I caught an interview on NPR yesterday (listen to this first) with Ryan Shaw.
He's a 26-year old kid that has an album that sounds like it could have come out of Memphis or Detroit in '68. I was intrigued.
I just happened to be around the corner from Best Buy; ran in and picked up the CD, This is Ryan Shaw, and have been listening to it all day.
I'm a fool for a groove, anyway. This one has some great production, plus, the guy can really sing. You'll hear a couple of his originals on his Web site, but he also does some exemplary covers, my favorite Jackie Wilson's I'll Be Satisfied and Wilson Pickett's I Found a Love (you'll be able to hear these as long as NPR has them archived) .
Gio, I'm going to go out on a limb (about three inches) and say you're gonna want to go out and buy this one.

Penquin Audio Books have diverted my ears

OK. For the last few weeks my music listening (which takes place primarily in my car) has been hijacked by a really good audio book (unabridged, 22 CDs). I did, however pick up a good 2-CD, re-release of the 2 albums released in the early 70s by Carole King's (and occasionally James Taylor's) backup band at the time, Jo Mama.

Led by Danny Kortchmar on guitar (and with him handling most of the songwriting), the band sounds very much like the type of performances found on Carole King records, but with a very different lead singer, Abigale Haness. Haness had a grittier, more soulful voice than King, more like Lydia Pense from Cold Blood meets Linda Ronstadt than, say, Janis Joplin. Ralph Schuckett (who later was in Todd Rundgren's Utopia) delivered a funkier piano style than King also. Plus he added some sweet organ to the mix. Bass was by Charles Larkey (Carole's squeeze at the time) and drums were by the late great Joel Bishop O'Brien.

The early jazz, rock, soul, folk fusion of those days was evident in Kortchmar's Machine Gun Kelly (also done by James Taylor) and a more rockin' cover of Carole King's Smack Water Jack. My favorite cut is Kortchmar's 3 A.M. in L.A., a jazzy fusion instrumental sandwiched around a torch ballad sung wonderfully by Haness.

As mentioned before in my comment to Ernest Edmund's re-introduction to Richard Leo Johnson, I have also been re-listening to Richard's Creatures of Habit CD from the early 90s, done with former Gunbunnies percussionist, Jud Martindale. It is so much more palatable to my (more mature) ears now than when I first got it. The talented Mr. RLJ was way ahead of his time. Still is.

When I finish this book (I'm on disc 19), I'll revert back to more music listening. Till then, happy musicking!