Jumpin' At The Woodside

This week's Five4Friday is part 1 of a two-part Thanksgiving theme that concludes next Friday. Dean Martin’s “You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You” starts things off. The Martin classic always reminds me of Thanksgiving, probably because awhile back I converted some old home movies to video and I inserted this song with images of a long drive through a fall Pennsylvania countryside. The new-old song “Kansas City” is next by The New Basement Tapes made up of Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) and produced by T Bone Burnett. Their “newish” album features tracks based on recently discovered lyrics written by Bob Dylan in 1967. Pearl Jam’s “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town” has a seasonal feel as it describes the scene of returning home and meeting someone you once knew. This week’s 4th track is U2’s live version of “Where The Streets ...

In honor of Veteran's Day, this week Five4Friday is dedicated to the men and women who proudly served our country, along with those currently serving and their families. We salute you and yours with some tracks that you may not have heard before, or even if you have maybe not in this context. This week’s tracks include... Spirits of the Red City - “Lead Us” Ark Life – “Proud of Me Out There Mama” Jackson Browne – “Doctor My Eyes” Tedeschi Trucks Band – “Darling Be Home Soon (Live)” Rod Stewart – “Seems Like a Long Time” While I didn't intend to include yet another Tedeschi Trucks song, their cover of Lovin' Spoonful's “Darling Be Home Soon” was too good not to include. -  Salud!

First up, Vince Guaraldi Trio's "Cast Your Fate To The Wind", which of course pairs well with the season's falling leaves. The story goes, TV producer  Lee Mendelson heard this song while traveling in a taxi,  and subsequently hired  Guaraldi to score the upcoming   Peanuts  Christmas special. The rest as they say is history. Next, Keira Knightley's "Coming Up Roses" from the soundtrack of the recently-released film " Begin Again ". While the film is set during a NYC summer, the strings  give it a nice autumnal tone. Also this week,  Interview magazine released photos of a topless Knightley that the actress took to protest the Photoshopping (or retouching) of women's photos . The Charlatans have a new single and album due out soon, and this track "I Don't Want To See The Sights" is from their 1992 release "Between 10th & 11th". Warren Haynes recently announced the latest dates for his 26th annual Christm...

This week's old-school groove was inspired by Joss Stone, who on Thurs. took part in the UK's Poppy Appeal vigil, which supports current/former British military personnel. During the vigil, she held a picture of her great-great-grandfather who fought in WWI.  Joss recently posted a comment about Raphael Saadiq's "Staying in Love", and with lyrics like "falling in love can be easy, but staying in love is too tricky," is a great kickoff for a "tricky love" theme. Next up is Mike Mattison's new solo effort "You Can't Fight Love". If his voice sounds familiar it's because he sings with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Speaking of "tricky love", the David Porter & Isaac Hayes penned "Trick or Treat" recorded by Otis Redding in 1966 fits the bill. Joss herself is next with her funky rocker "Incredible" from her 2009 "Colour Me Free!" album. The last spot could have been any number of songs...

This week starts off with Dizzy Gillespie's rendition of "Lullaby of the Leaves". It has a dark foreboding tone that sets the mood for the next track. Neil Young confirmed this week on The Stern Show that "Down By The River" was written during a period he suffered from a very high fever. To me, the storyline feels like it was ripped straight from "The Walking Dead". Regardless, this acoustic version by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds sounds great and Tim adds some nice spooky riffs. Ben Harper's deep track "Glory & Consequence" seems to fit nicely following the haunting tracks preceding it. The Black Keys always seemed to leave me wanting more and not delivering a payoff. That changed with the next track "Little Black Submarines", it has a great payoff and is a good lead up to one of Neil Young's all-time classic rock tracks. If the lyrics of "Rockin' In the Free World" don't grab you by the throat, y...

I launched a new music series called Five4Friday back on October 10 . Essentially five tunes hand-picked by me for the week, and posted to MixCloud on Friday evening. This is the first post in the series. I'm limited to 1,000 characters in the MixCloud description so going forward I'll be sharing longer posts here with more info about each track.  This mix reached 23rd in the MixCloud Alternative Rock chart and 100th in the Rock chart. Five4Friday - 10/10/2014 by Thewoodside on Mixcloud Five tunes for a Friday... this week kicks off with a jazz classic by Les McCann & Eddie Harris, followed by two relatively new tunes by Serena Ryder and Benjamin Booker. The Derek Trucks Band's powerful cover of Bob Dylan's "Down In The Flood" is up next, and finishing up the mix is the band forty, a three-man group formed in Boston in the 90s. They sounded like a blend of Nirvana and Husker Du, but unfortunately their time was cut short when the lead s...