Black Deer Festival have announced their first names for next year’s festival and the line-up is already something of a mic drop moment, including as it does The Waterboys, Canadian folk and bluegrass ensemble The Dead South, Grammy-nominated folk duo The Milk Carton Kids, Arizona’s Courtney Marie Andrews, New York natives The Felice Brothers and the headline act of none other than Wilco, an exclusive for the South of England. Here’s the line-up poster so far: Continue reading “Black Deer 2020 announces Wilco as headliner”
Harmony Rockets is kind of a sideline project for Mercury Rev’s Grasshopper and Jonathan Donahue, allowing them to go off-piste as it were and indulge themselves. Here they team up with the little known but well respected sixties raga guitarist Peter Walker, an associate of Timothy Leary, for an album composed of three instrumental pieces which hark back to the times when Jerry Garcia was known as Captain Trips and flute players could record albums within the Taj Mahal. 
What finer way to go out for the weekend than being able to listen to the reissue of Wilco’s classic album from 1996 “Being There” – including the bonus tracks, smart arse. As they say, “The double album built on Tweedy’s strengths as a pop-rock songwriter while remaining tethered—but not too tightly—to the rootsy rock he was known for. The result was Wilco’s first artistic triumph, setting the stage for many to follow. And as the disc of outtakes, alternates and demos from the forthcoming Being There: Deluxe Edition amply show, even Tweedy’s reject folder overflows with treasures.” You can listen to the whole thing over at NPR 
News from RS this afternoon on two absolute classics, Passenger Side still makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and how many songs from this year can you say that about? (“Galway Girl” notwithstanding of course). They report: “Wilco will reissue their first two albums, A.M. and Being There, on December 1st via Rhino. The new editions will feature an array of bonus tracks, including alternate takes, unreleased songs and live recordings. 
Various tribute performances coming in for Tom Petty this week. Firstly RS report that Bruce Springsteen opened his debut performance of Springsteen on Broadway with a tribute to Petty: “The singer-songwriter dedicated the first of his solo acoustic storyteller shows to the late singer-songwriter, along with Petty’s family and Heartbreakers bandmates, audience members told The New York Daily News. Springsteen also saluted Petty via Twitter on Tuesday. “Down here on E Street, we’re devastated and heartbroken over the death of Tom Petty,” he wrote. “Our hearts go out to his family and bandmates. I’ve always felt a deep kinship with his music. A great songwriter and performer, whenever we saw each other, it was like running into a long lost brother. Our world will be a sadder place without him.”