Tag: country rock

Moot Davis – Randy’s Rarities

randydafoe21 Comments
“Whisky Town” by Moot Davis (2004)

One would think it’s a pretty big break to have one of your songs appear in an Oscar-winning film, but here we are 20 years after Moot’s song “Whisky Town” was in the movie Crash (2004) and I am not sure too many of you have ever heard of him. The song did not appear on the Soundtrack and while he is on Spotify that song/album is not there either. I found it on Apple Music however I think he remains largely unknown. We all have our artists in these niche or undefined genres that just can’t catch a big break, I have many names similar to Moot so he’s a bit of a representative sample.

Moot is from New Jersey and wanted a career in Country Music and with the help of the great Rosie Flores it was off to Nashville with an introduction to Dwight Yoakam’s producer Pete Anderson. This resulted in two albums, the song I just mentioned was from the first in 2004, Moot Davis.

Some of his songs have been used in TV series such as Justified starring Timothy Olyphant (great show btw), not sure how much that helped him either. Five albums have come and gone and I can’t find much about Moot these days. No Wikipedia page and his website has not been updated in some time. No tour dates and his last album was released in 2021. He just hasn’t been able to find a wider audience.

He just announced a new podcast “The Highway Ain’t For The Weak” so I know he’s still around. As I mentioned, he is one of those hard-to-classify artists. He can be straight up Country, to Country Rock, Rockabilly, and the sort of undefined Americana. working with Dwight Yoakam’s producer, he has some Bakersfield sound as well.

I do like his more bar-room/Honky Tonk-style songs. This variation can often be a problem for artists, sometimes finding a lane and sticking to it may be the way to go. Anyway, I enjoy his music and do hope he’s doing well. I will leave you with another Hank Williams-style tune “Highway Kind”. (not the TVZ song)

MootDavis.com

The Mavericks (Music I Like)

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“Dance the Night Away” written by lead singer Raul Malo, released in 1998.

Honestly I don’t know where to start with this band, they are so great and I can’t believe I actually got to see them play! Just going to list some clips, I’m too excited to hear the songs!!!

The Mavericks

“O What a Thrill” written by Jesse Winchester, recorded in 1994.
“Back in Your Arms Again” written by Raul Malo, Gary Nicholson and Seth Walker
“All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down” written by Al Anderson (NRBQ) and Raul Malo
“Pizziricco” written by the great songwriter Kostas and Raul Malo
“What a Crying Shame” also written by Kostas and Raul Malo
“Ride with Me” written by Raul Malo, released in 2017.

“Mama Tried” Between a Rock and a Country Place

randydafoe8 Comments

I am beginning with one of the greatest Country Singer Songwriters ever, Merle Haggard. There will be a song each day for the rest of the month.

I was surprised that there are very few Rock acts that have covered Haggard Songs. Now Merle is a Country Singers Singer and as rooted in the Genre as anyone, so covering his songs as a Rock band is a tall order. I had to really scour the list of his most popularly covered songs to find a Rock version, but hey it’s Merle Haggard so it was worth the effort. Having said that, someone will no doubt find a more obvious choice, but hey I’m not perfect. Merle has had an amazing 179 of his original songs covered, more titles by far than most Country artists (for example Johnny Cash has the most at 195 titles). Merle wrote or co-wrote 138 of those songs himself and there are close to 1,400 versions.

This is his forth most covered song with 77 versions. In 1968 it was his fifth of 38 yes, thirty eight #1 songs. Remarkably that is only third place behind George Strait’s 44 and Conway Twitty with 40.

Here we have what is described as a ‘Punk Rock’ cover by This Saturday.

The Grateful Dead are well known for original songs but they loved to do covers at their live (or is that dead) shows. Perhaps it was a good way to keep the Deadheads from tripping on their toe tags. This was a regular song for the Dead to perform at their concerts and a little more true to the original.

For more on Merle Haggard click here

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Blue Rodeo

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This band was started by high school buddies Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy, after a lot of hard work they released their first album Outskirts in 1987. While the lineup has changed over the years, the bass player Bazil Donovan has been there from the start. To my knowledge they have never charted a song outside of Canada, yet here at home their many accolades and honours, not to mention over 4 million albums sold tell the story of one of the countries greatest bands ever. It’s not like they didn’t try and break into the US market, it just never happened. I do occasionally hear one of their songs on the Sirius XM Outlaw channel. So they do have pocket of fans south of the border and elsewhere. Several of my international blogging pals know of them. They must be doing something right after 36 years and counting.

So I admit to being bias and a bit of a fan, I have seen them play many times and they are some of the best at what they do. Their songwriting is nothing short of brilliant, great voices and their musicianship is first rate. Now, not everyone likes this style of music but if you don’t know them they are at least worth a listen. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite but I think “Try”(1987) is still their most popular and not a bad choice. Ok, I will add one more that is a guaranteed sing-a-long at their live shows, let’s just call it another ‘favorite’ and it’s titled “Lost Together”(1992).

Lot’s more to discover at BlueRodeo.com