The President Sang Amazing Grace

It’s Sunday evening and time for a musical meditation.

Zoe Mulford gives a live performance of her amazing song from her album Small Brown Birds, bringing back memories of a killing in a church. Appropriately, there’s an opportunity to sing along.

But no words could say what must be said
For all the living and the dead.
So on that day and in that place
The President sang Amazing Grace.
My President sang Amazing Grace.

The President sang Amazing Grace.

Mary

Movement and Prince’s improvisational wail on the classic tune help tell the story of a too-common tragedy.

Mama, don’t you mourn
I got a bad, bad feeling your man ain’t coming home, yeah
I guess you know me well
I don’t like no snow
No winter
No cold

Trouble of the World

A careworn Sinead O’Connor recorded this gorgeous spiritual in 2020. It’s both a lament and a prayer, released to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer born in New Orleans, released a recording of the song in 1959. Jackson traveled with Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and performed at the March on Washington in 1963. She died in 1972 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame posthumously by Mavis Staples in 1997.

Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer born in New Orleans, released a recording of the song in 1959. Jackson traveled with Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and performed at the March on Washington in 1963. She died in 1972 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame posthumously by Mavis Staples in 1997.

Soon it will be done,
Trouble of the world.
Going home! To live with God!

Hold On, I’m Coming

Stax. Say it. Stax, that center of rhythm and blues dynamite.
And Sam and Dave delivered a monster 1966 hit that is just as driving live as the recording.

[Please excuse the commercials that pop up.]

In the live performance, maybe it’s the band massively digging the groove. Maybe it’s the promise implicit in the music of the ’60s, carnal, spiritual, political, in this performance all rolled into the drum, bass and that mavrelous horn line. It’s amazing how much a listener can wrap into that song.

Years later, 1992 to be exact, the duo joined other greats in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Took ‘em long enough.

Only Sam Moore was around to help bring the house down in the finale of the 2002 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame awards. The stellar gathering of performers rolled through the tune. It’s fun, but compare it to the 60s version.
See what I mean?

Over In Glory/New Swing

I do hope Che Apalache plans to tour and perform in 2022. The band is one of a kind, musically accomplished, impish and very aware of the circumstances of dispossessed people. I can’’t resist posting a link to a 2019 performance at Paste Studio in The Manhattan Center.
Pay attention to their rendition of Over in Glory/New Swing, third in the set list. It’s musically ambitious, creative and a heck of a lot of fun.

Bringing folks together is a better way. (Better way)
Let your light shine through, Lord.
Bringing folks together is the new swing.

Here’s a bit about the Grammy-nominated band from their web site:
Che Apalache is a four-man string band based in Buenos Aires with members from Argentina, Mexico and the United States. The group’s founder is Joe Troop (fiddle), a North Carolinian multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and composer who moved to Argentina in 2010. While patiently carving out a niche in the local music scene, Joe taught bluegrass and old-time for a living. That’s how he met Pau Barjau (banjo), Franco Martino (guitar) and Martin Bobrik (mandolin), his most dedicated students. They quickly became picking buddies and in 2013 decided to hit the stage.
Che Apalache began as a bluegrass band, but eventually incorporated Latin American styles into their repetoire. Combining instrumental prowess with tight vocal harmonies, they have curated an authentic blend of genres to reflect the nature of their lives, evoking images from Appalachia to the Andes. The album Rearrange My Hear is produced by banjo legend Béla Fleck.

Hang Me In the Tulsa County Stars

Buried in this achingly lovely tune is a three-line bridge that pulled me even deeper into into John Moreland’s song’s universe.

And babe, I know this world will have the wolves outside your door,
Make you leave all that you love to fight a war,
And never tell you what you’re dying for.

A cold new year

A gust inside a courtyard corner lifts
dust, paper and plastic in spirals
swirling in a binding bricked space.
Wind, delighting, pushes, pulls.
Cold, dim sun lights unseen,
magicking moments,
to spinning art,
conjuring
winter
dance.