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Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Great music and ‘the presence of ghosts' – our rock critic takes a new direct flight from Dublin to Nashville
Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers cut some of their most celebrated songs in this atmospheric studio and, in a moment our wonderful tour guide evokes by shutting off the lights, it was here on April 4, 1960, that Elvis Presley and his band, the Jordanaires, recorded the spellbinding Are You Lonesome Tonight? in the pitch dark.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Introducing the Lantern series ‘No Kentucky Home'
John Prine, whose statue overlooks Festival Square in Central City, is part of the rich musical heritage that sets Muhlenberg County apart. Local concerns about a rise in homelessness and conflicts over how to respond give it something in common with many other places. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) Driving from the Lantern's office in Frankfort to my house in Lexington, I'm often snagged by a couple of red lights, where I avoid eye contact with the person standing on the corner holding a cardboard sign asking for money. One of the luxuries of city life, I suppose, is keeping some people no closer than your peripheral vision — and thoughts. That luxury is less available in small towns, where the person on the street is not anonymous but someone you once worked beside on the line at the poultry plant. Or someone who reminds you of your child or mother. Or someone who's sleeping in your church's parking lot. Today we begin a series of stories from one such Kentucky place. It's a small place that looms large in the imagination because of its musical heritage. It inspired John Prine to sing 'Oh, daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County' in his anti strip-mining anthem 'Paradise.' Not much more than 30 miles from the cradle of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe's Rosine, Muhlenberg County contributed a guitar style — thumb-picking — made famous by native son Merle Travis, who also wrote the GOAT of coal mining songs: 'You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.' Don and Phil Everly — the chart-topping Everly Brothers — trace their lineage to Central City. Muhlenberg County is not extraordinary, though, in another respect: The struggle to come to terms with what it owes the people who many of us (me included) conveniently keep on the far outskirts of our minds. I'm confident we'd find similar stories and conflicts across Kentucky, in state capitols and all the way to the debates raging right now in Washington, D.C. These very personal stories introduce us to people who don't avoid eye contact, who see the 'campers' and couch surfers and evicted as neighbors. And, most emphatically, not as eyesores or threats. These stories are about a shortage of services and housing, made worse by a surplus of untreated addiction and trauma. Reporter Liam Niemeyer and I are sorry that some officials were unwilling to talk to him. Liam reached out via email, phone messages and dropping by. And it's not too late. Their perspectives are important; we need to hear them, especially those of people who hold elected office. I recognize that solutions are not obvious, simple or inexpensive. We are able to tell such intimate stories because Liam has spent a lot of time getting to know the people and the place. We weren't sure what the story would be in the summer of 2023 when, pursuing an idea sparked by a report in a local newspaper, Liam spent a day with several people in Muhlenberg County who lacked housing. He also began to meet local people who wanted to help. As he stayed in touch by phone and in person, we knew we had a story worth telling even as we wrestled with how to tell it. I hope you will find our efforts worthwhile as you meet Mallie and Gwen, Courtney and Jennifer, Zachary and the cantankerous but lovably philosophical John Paul. We hope these personal stories will inform and inspire policy discussions and the search for solutions.
The Guardian
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Johnny Tillotson obituary
Johnny Tillotson's big hit Poetry in Motion, which topped the British charts in January 1961 having reached No 2 in the US the month before, is the song that he will always be remembered for, but he was very far from being a one-hit wonder. Between 1959 and 1965, he scored four Top 10 hits on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and in a career lasting more than 40 years, he placed a total of 26 singles on the Billboard charts. Poetry in Motion was written by Mike Anthony and Paul Kaufman, and while its watching-girls-go-by lyric might not wash in today's transformed social climate, the song was an ideal showcase for Tillotson's supple, cheerful vocal, backed up by Boots Randolph's exuberant saxophone and Floyd Cramer's rippling piano. Tillotson, who has died aged 86, was signed to the New York-based Cadence Records. They had released his own composition Dreamy Eyes as a single in 1958, which sold well in the local Florida market, and Tillotson had modest success with follow-ups True True Happiness, Why Do I Love You So and Earth Angel before he made his big splash with Poetry in Motion. He achieved a further milestone with It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin', which he was inspired to write by his father's terminal illness. A No 3 hit in 1962, it earned him a Grammy nomination. The song was subsequently recorded by more than 100 artists including Elvis Presley, Slim Whitman, Dean Martin and Billy Joe Royal. Tillotson earned a second Grammy nomination, for best vocal performance of 1965, for Heartaches By the Number, Harlan Howard's classic song also recorded by George Jones, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Bing Crosby among others. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Johnny was the son of Doris and Jack Tillotson, who ran a petrol station. His father was also a country music disc jockey, and Johnny gained some early exposure on his father's radio show. When he was nine, Johnny was sent to help care for his grandmother in Palatka, Florida, returning to Jacksonville during the summer when his brother, Dan, would take over at their grandmother's. By the time he graduated from Palatka high school, Tillotson was becoming known as a singer across Florida, and he had drawn inspiration from seeing Elvis perform in Jacksonville in 1955. He was also given a boost by the songwriter and promoter Mae Axton, who co-wrote Elvis's hit Heartbreak Hotel. 'Mae Axton lived in my home town,' he said. 'She said: 'I might be able to help you because we bring in those live packages. People like Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers. If you would like to be the opening act, it wouldn't pay any money, but you would learn so much just from being around those people.'' He managed to fit his musical aspirations around studying journalism and composition at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and as well as performing onstage he had his own music show on the regional TV station WFGA-TV. Wider horizons opened up when a local DJ entered one of his tapes into a country and western talent contest sponsored by PET Milk (makers of a brand of evaporated milk) in 1957. Tillotson was invited to Nashville as one of six finalists, where he performed on the Grand Ole Opry radio programme. He acquitted himself well enough to impress the music publisher Lee Rosenberg, who put him in touch with Archie Bleyer, founder of the Cadence label. He listened to Tillotson's tape of three of his own songs, and signed the singer to a three-year recording contract. Tillotson later reflected that 'The late 50s were a great time to get into the record business because the independents were just coming into the world … I decided I would rather be with a small company and a person who put the songs first than a large company where you get lost.' After Cadence had gone into decline following the departure of mainstay acts the Everly Brothers and Andy Williams, Tillotson formed his own production company and in 1963 leased his recordings to MGM records. He rerecorded many of his hits in a variety of languages including Spanish, German, Italian and Japanese, as well as songs specifically aimed at overseas territories. He had an Italian hit with Non a Caso il Destino (Ci Ha Fatto Incontrare), which he performed at the 1965 Sanremo music festival, and topped the Japanese chart twice, with Namida Kun Sayonara (Goodbye Mr Tears) and You and Me (both 1965). Tillotson enjoyed some success in other media. He sang the title song (Wait 'Til You See) My Gidget for the TV sitcom Gidget (1965-66), starring Sally Field, and appeared in the films Just for Fun (1963) alongside Bobby Vee, and 1966's The Fat Spy (with Jayne Mansfield, though Tillotson was disappointed that he never actually met her). In the 70s Tillotson returned to music full-time, making regular club appearances in the US and touring internationally. A daughter, Kelli, died in a car crash in 1991. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Nancy, their son, John, a stepdaughter, Genevieve, and four grandchildren, Nia, Jackson, Georgia and Gwyneth, and by Dan. Johnny Tillotson, singer and songwriter, born 20 April 1938; died 1 April 2025
New York Times
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Roberta Flack's 11 Essential Songs
At a New York concert in 1997, Roberta Flack referred to her voice as a 'blessed instrument.' For generations of listeners it was just that, a spellbinding force that could be cool, or luxurious, or swell with suggestive power, often in the same song. Flack, who died on Monday at 88, began her career as a schoolteacher with a solid grounding in both classical music and Black church singing. She ended up one of the supreme voices of the 1970s, scoring multiple No. 1 hits that established her as a star of interpretive pop-soul, capable of stunning radio listeners and critics alike. She was a master of the revelatory reinvention. Her first hit, 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,' was originally a folk ballad by Ewan MacColl. Peggy Seeger's 1957 recording of it is a brisk, warbling take with arpeggiated acoustic guitar — a classic example of the kind of carefree-songbird tunes from the early folk revival. In Flack's hands it is slow, stirring eroticism, with a controlled range of vocal dynamics that moves from whisper-delicate to a kind of power that feels like a carnal memory. She did it again in 1973 with 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' — originally by Lori Lieberman, another folkie — which Flack transformed into a hypnotic meditation. Two decades later, Lauryn Hill and the Fugees shifted its shape again with their own remake. With those tracks, Flack became the first artist to take record of the year at the Grammy Awards two consecutive times, with 'The First Time' winning in 1973 and 'Killing Me Softly' in 1974. Those are just two of Flack's most familiar recordings, in a career that also included hit collaborations with singers like Donny Hathaway and Peabo Bryson, and later explorations into jazz standards. Here are 11 of her essential tracks. Though it would take nearly three years for this track from Flack's debut album to become a hit — a placement in Clint Eastwood's movie 'Play Misty for Me' was the catalyst — it introduced all the elements of Flack's greatness as a vocalist and an interpreter. Turning a folk ballad by Ewan MacColl into a rich, amorous incantation, Flack controls her voice with delicate restraint, letting it swell from a near-whisper to just enough of a cry to reveal a deep passion within. It went to No. 1 and became the top song of 1972. Her first single was a protest song. Written by Gene McDaniels, and earlier recorded by Les McCann — the jazz pianist who discovered Flack and brought her to Atlantic Records — 'Compared to What' has a right-on soul-jazz groove and lyrics like 'The president, he's got his war/Folks don't know just what it's for.' Flack's rhapsodic vocal flights offered a sign of her potential. Another stunning example of Flack's interpretive power, and of her role in curating a new pop songbook in the 1970s. She paints this modern standard — made famous with lachrymose sweetness by the Everly Brothers — with soft blue notes and an expertly calibrated range of vocal dynamics. By the time Flack released her cover of this Shirelles' classic, in late 1971, Carole King (who wrote the song with Gerry Goffin) had already done her own slowed-down version on her megaselling LP 'Tapestry.' But Flack's performance is still striking, a haunting showcase for her voice as well as her delicate and entrancing piano arrangement. In 1971, Flack performed at an Independence Day festival in Ghana, along with Ike and Tina Turner, the Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett and Santana. Her a cappella version of the spiritual 'Oh Freedom' is a heart stopper, both a moaning prayer and a taste of rapture. The soundtrack has long since fallen into obscurity; it was never released on CD in the United States and is unavailable on streaming services. Donny Hathaway, a gifted and troubled singer and songwriter, was one of Flack's most important collaborators, writing early tracks and arranging the songs on her second album. In 1972 they collaborated on a joint LP, 'Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway,' that became a blueprint for '70s romantic soul. 'Where Is the Love,' a No. 1 R&B hit that remains in constant radio rotation, is a perfect duet, a tale of romance lost that still feels like a bonbon. Another surprising song choice that Flack fully remade into a giant, signature hit. She encountered Lori Lieberman's folky original while on a plane, then reworked the chord structure and added a soaring interlude, transforming the tune into a soulful odyssey. She tried it out at a concert with Quincy Jones, who told her, 'Ro, don't sing that daggone song no more until you record it,' as Flack once recalled. The recording became her second No. 1 hit, and got another boost when the Fugees remade the track in 1996. Flack produced her sixth studio album herself, under the name Rubina Flake, with a smooth touch that comes through clearly on this sensuous title track, her third No. 1 hit. The album was delayed by months of strained recording sessions, and was a relative flop upon its eventual release in early 1975. Not written as a duet, this song nonetheless reunited Flack and Hathaway for another gauzy crossover hit, which went No. 1 R&B and No. 2 on the Hot 100. Before Hathaway's death in 1979, the two had begun recording another duets LP, which was released the following year as 'Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway.' Flack found a new partner for romantic duets in Peabo Bryson, whose smooth baritone was radio gold but struck many critics as a bit too squeaky-clean, especially in his appearances on Disney soundtracks. 'Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,' written by Goffin and Michael Masser, was the lead single from their joint album 'Born to Love,' and reached the Top 20. On 'Roberta,' an album of jazz and soul standards, Flack delivered this unorthodox but captivating take on 'Angel Eyes,' a boozy tale of lost love that's long been associated with Ella Fitzgerald. The song drips with pungent blue notes, but Flack — singing over a jazz combo at a ponderous tempo — finds a way to luxuriate in the melody, bending the lyrics enough to make any fan perk up.
