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Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show (2004)

Rarely have I found a song that I dig as much as it’s back story but” Wagon Wheel” is one of those rare examples. Filmmaker Sam Peckinpah not only made one of my favorite movies of all time (The Ballad of Cable Hogue), not only has his work influenced Martin Scorsese, John Woo and Quentin Tarantino, but his 1973 movie “Pat Garret and Billy the Kid” has a Bob Dylan connection that provided at the very least, 2 classic songs. Kris Kristofferson who played the role of Billy the Kid originally brought Dylan into the mix and initially Dylan was just hired to write the title song, but Peckinpah was so impressed that it turned into Dylan composing the entire soundtrack. The collection of music Dylan contributed to the film consisted mostly of instrumentals but it also gave birth to the song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, however, it was an unfinished song from those recording sessions that inspired this Matt Track.

Bob Dylan might be one of the most bootlegged artists of all time which has played a big role in the career of a band called “Old Crow Medicine Show”. The unfinished song that Dylan was toying with for Peckinpah’s film was something he called “Rock me Mama”, and even in its barley demoed state it was bootlegged and passed around musical circles for years. In the early 2000’s Ketch Secor decided he was going to add his own verses to the Dylan choruses and it turned into a breakthrough song for his band Old Crow Medicine Show which they called “Wagon Wheel”. The tune appeared on an early EP in 2001 and most famously on their self titled 2004 album, and in a very short time has already turned into a bit of a standard song that has been covered by bands like Mumford and Sons and Against Me! Before I leave you with it though I’d like to take it back even further and suggest that the noodling and jamming that Dylan did back in those early recording sessions was inspired by artists like Big Bill Broonzy and Arthur Crudup and specifically the songs “Rockin Chair Blues” and “Love me Mama” (Rock me Mama). I think it’s important to understand that while so many artists were inspired by Bob Dylan and all the beautiful music he has given us; Dylan himself is one of the many artists in the history of music who has reaped the benefits of growing up on the early blues and folk musicians of the 20’s, 30, 40’s and 50’s who’s influence is everywhere even though their names might not be.

Stardog Champion – Mother Love Bone (1990)

It was inevitable that something had to give as the 80’s were coming to a close; music was changing. And in Seattle there was something special happening that of course became a musical and cultural phenomenon that was given the silly title: Grunge. This music, this scene and this time changed the course of music history which is usually attributed to the same 4 bands in the same order of importance: Nirvana, Pear Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. This is all very true, these bands had everything to do with the emergence of a new sound and a new era of music but none of them, not even Nirvana, were as important as Mother Love Bone. Yes, Nirvana is the band that blew the doors wide open but it was all because of the noise Mother Love Bone made; let me also say that I understand the argument could be made that every influential band in the history of music would not have existed in the same way without the bands who came before them, but on the topic of the Seattle scene, the scene that has become so important and talked about in the history of music, it is ridiculous to not recognize the contribution of this band.

In the mid 80’s future Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard and bass player Jeff Ament were in a band called Green River who were included on a compilation of the biggest Seattle bands at the time, the compilation was called Deep Six and also included a very young Soundgarden and a band called Malfunkshun. Nirvana had not yet formed, nor had Sub-Pop records. Eventually Green River did get signed to the newly established Sub-Pop label which started bringing early attention to Seattle. So that’s the back story and here’s what happed next: Green River breaks up, one of the members goes on to start Mudhoney and then Stone and Jeff start a new band with Andrew Wood, the singer of Malfunkshun….that band is called Mother Love Bone and they start to take off. By 1988 Soundgarden was the first Seattle band to sign with a major label but Mother Love Bone soon followed releasing an EP called “Shine” on Polygram Records and that seemed like the beginning of what was about to be the breakthrough for the band that everyone in the music world was talking about. The band heads into the studio to make their debut full length album “Apple” and instead of its pending release becoming the moment that could have blown the doors off this bubbling Seattle scene, it becomes the Mother Love Bone obituary because singer Andrew Wood dies of a heroine overdose just months before the album is released.

His death literally sucked the life out of the music scene and Nirvana was as much the band that brought Seattle out of its Mother Love Bone depression as it was the band destined to change music eventually bringing grunge to the masses and defining its sound….ironically also ending in a heroine overdose.

I could go on and on about the importance of Mother Love Bone but let me leave it at this: “Temple of the Dog” (early Soundgarden/Pearl Jam collaboration) was an album and band that existed purely as a tribute to Andrew Wood and that project helped launch Pearl Jam; Alice in Chains had a breakthrough hit with a song called “Would?” that was about MLB singer Andrew Wood; Candlebox had a breakthrough song called “Far Behind” that was written about the death of Andrew Wood. More than just what Mother Love Bone did as a band when Andrew Wood was still alive, it was the impact their singers death had on the writing of the bands in that scene who would ultimately help define it.

I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You-Black Kids (2008)

Tom Anderson is not going to like this but here it goes: Remember when Myspace was the social networking king for about a minute until it was turned into ColecoVision by Facebook and Twitter (seriously though, when’s the last time you logged into your Myspace account?) Well, there was a time when Myspace was responsible for connecting a lot of people and breaking a lot of bands like in 2007 (just before it turned into a fossil) when it had everything to do with the emergence of the Jacksonville, FL band Black Kids. After the band posted 4 songs on their Myspace page, music fans, bloggers and critics began to salivate and it culminated into some big time hype at a CMJ showcase in NYC in which literally hundreds of people were tuned away. A little bit of a bidding war went down and the band perhaps became one of the last Myspace success stories when after signing to Columbia Records their 2008 debut album (Partie Traumatic) landed in the top 10 UK charts and # 1 on Billboards Top Heatseekers charts. To be honest with you, this type of band is usually not my style but there is something about this song I like a lot, and I also like how it kinda gives Myspace old school vinyl style cred.

End of the World (You Dose me Up) – Tom Mcrae (2001)

Very early in his career UK singer/songwriter Tom Mcrae was getting comparisons to people like Nick Drake and Bob Dylan, he scored a Mercury Prize nomination for his self titled album and also a Brit award nomination for best British Newcomer……not too bad for his first album. But that was almost 10 years ago and after moving to California in 2005 he has continued to face the all too common struggle of a UK artist hoping for the stars to align while trying to break in North America. Unfortunately for Tom his hard work and extraordinary songwriting have faced a bunch of bumps along the way that have prevented his music from reaching more people. In 2006 his label (V2) died a quick death in mid promotions for his album “House of Cards” and while he didn’t let that get in his way of touring the hell out of the record, it didn’t help him reach a larger audience the way his music certainly deserved. Since moving to Brooklyn and eventually back to his London homeland Tom continues to tour, write and record and last year released his 5th album “The Alphabet of Hurricanes” but lets go all the way back to that debut album and listen to one of the tracks that made him almost famous.

thanks for listening,
=mw