I haven’t gotten into the Amnesty International FOUR disc release of Dylan covers yet, but I have heard two or three of the cuts and this one struck me the most. Adele really can deliver an amazing cover. Chimes Of Freedom features what seems like an endless list of artists covering Dylan tunes…there are about 75 in all.

Adele
Chimes Of Freedom

I definitely have mixed feelings about the latest Wilco album, The Whole Love. There are a few tracks on there that I really don’t like…but others, like this one, that are great. Ultimately I do love Wilco, and videos like this make me smile! Watch and suddenly you’re in Popeye’s world…it’s really clever and well done:

Wilco

I’ve blogged about this duo before…for fans of Kings Of Convenience, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, or even Simon & Garfunkel. They open up for Ryan Montbleau tonight at Club Passim. Here’s one of my favorite tunes they do:

Tall Heights

LOVE this tune from Erik White. Almost 2 years ago now, I saw Erik perform at an open mic competition and was totally drawn in. More recently, Ryan Montbleau saw him live and felt the same way… Erik opens for Ryan tonight at Club Passim in Cambridge.

Erik White

I cannot get enough of this tune. The Brew are a jam band (of sorts) from the Boston area and they’ve been out there working hard for years. I’ve seen them live a few times and have always been impressed, but I didn’t envision that their music would become “mainstream”. Then a few months ago I heard “When Darkness Comes”. It’s by no means pop, but it’s got everything a radio single should have. It sounds so damn good on mvy. Turns out these guys just put out THREE albums…if the single is any indication of their other new material, The Brew are definitely on the brink of getting a bigger and broader audience.  A tune like this cannot be ignored.

The Brew

This tune is off of the Note Of Hope album, which is a celebration of Woody Guthrie. I had listened to the song so many times before I actually heard this lyric, but when I did, I certainly was struck by it. No surprise, these are Woody Guthrie’s lyrics…he’s got such an amazing way with words.

“I just felt like you feel
when you feel like
the angels are curling your hair
and you feel like
the devil is scratching your heel”

Note Of Hope

This song and video are so delightful! And that’s the best way to describe Lisa Hannigan… she’s just so endlessly delightful. I’ve really been into her latest album Passenger the past few weeks. This is one of the more fun, upbeat tracks on the album, and the idea of riding an amusement park ride for the simple, one-shot video was brilliant!

Lisa Hannigan

It seems impossible to even wrap my mind around all that I experienced on Jam Cruise, so it’s definitely not easy to wrap it up in a single blog post. But I have to move on from the experience at some point (on my blog at least). So I’ll try to express how special this cruise really is.

Any cruise is special. If you’ve been on one of these luxury ships, you know…the cabins, the lounges, the restaurants, the theatre, the bars, the pool deck, the spa, the VIEW – the MSC Poesia was certainly a nice place to stay for a few days! So imagine this ship (pictured above), and add 30 or so amazing musical acts and 3,000 cruisers ready to party. Now imagine there are about 75 scheduled performances in 6 different ‘venues’ on the ship all over the course of just 5 days. Jam Cruise is basically a huge music festival ON A CRUISE SHIP. Sounds fun, right?

But what REALLY sets this event apart from others is the fact that musicians and fans are experiencing the whole thing together. When I took my first ride in the elevator on night one, it was with George Porter Jr. and his wife. For my first meal on board, I sat behind Marco Benevento and his family (really cute kids!). And when I went into the gym to work out, I saw Brad Barr coming out of the sauna in a towel. These interactions add a sort of surreal feeling to it all. But what’s really special about everyone being ‘stuck’ on a boat together, is that musical magic is bound to happen. Over and over and over again. And fans and musicians alike are WOWed.

Surprise sit ins, jams, impromptu performances, unexpected covers, rogue sets all over the boat…and all night long. Nobody wants to miss these magical moments, so sleeping is not a priority. Theme nights encourage creative costumes, so everyone dresses however the hell they want! The energy on board is heightened, the attitude in general is extremely positive, and oh yea, it’s 75 degrees and sunny. Put that in a ship and sail it…Jam Cruise is really like nothing else out there. Everyone leaves thinking – did that just happen? And… it did!

Jam Cruise

Before his band began to play in the Zebra bar, Surprise Me Mr. Davis front man Nathan Moore said to the crowd, “It’s not every day you start your set at 2am…usually they’re kicking your butt out at that time.” Nothing on Jam Cruise is the usual, and this eclectic super group is another example of just that. I should mention – although I said ‘crowd’, there couldn’t have been more than 50 people gathered in front of the stage for this set; it was a light crowd for Jam Cruise. But what was evident (and telling) were the amount of musicians in the audience.

SMMD consists of The Slip, Nathan Moore, and Marco Benevento. The distinctive differences in these three acts make the scope of their collective sound practically limitless. There were songs during their late night set that could be described simply as folk…others were rock…while most tunes could not be neatly classified. While it’s difficult to describe the music, it’s easy to say that this band is even better than the sum of its parts.

With very few acts on Jam Cruise focused on ‘the song’ (it’s called JAM cruise for a reason), it was a breath of fresh air to hear brilliant lyrics and vocals from Nathan Moore. With the backing of such solid musicians and a bond of friendship clearly guiding their tight sound, SMMD delighted many cruisers who appreciated their skill for crafting a song.

Surprise Me Mr. Davis

Jam Cruise was an amazing learning experience for me. There’s SO MUCH MUSIC in the world and I’m only exposed to a tiny fraction of it. I love being immersed in something new musically…and Jam Cruise was exactly that. By asking a lot of questions, I became aware of certain players in the jam scene and who was in what band with who, etc. And of course I got to hear some incredible collaborations.

Garage A Trois, for example, is Stanton Moore (of Galactic) on drums, with Mike Dillon on vibes and percussion, Skerik on sax and the newly added Marco Benevento (Benevento/Russo Duo) on keys (replacing Charlie Hunter). These four create some of the most experimental, OUT THERE music I’ve ever heard! There were plenty of drugs on Jam Cruise, but no drugs were needed while listening to this quartet’s trippy tunes.

I lean towards the term jazz/punk to try to explain what this band does, but it really is indescribable and so different from song to song. Thickly layered instrumentation, complex changes in time signature, and frequent improvisation makes this band’s live show completely mesmerizing. At any sort of festival with multiple stages, you tend to think about what you might be missing elsewhere, but Garage A Trois had me completely immersed in their theater set on night 4.

Garage A Trois