Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's Reunion Tour in 1999 and 2000

The E Street Band (from left) Danny Federici, Max Weinberg, Nils Lofgren, Roy Bittan, Clarence Clemons, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, Steven Van Zandt, & Garry W. Tallent

After going their seperate ways following the Tunnel of Love tour, Bruce Springsteen first decided to reunite with the E Street Band in 1995 to record new tracks for his Greatest Hits record. Some of these tracks ended up on the Blood Brothers EP and documentary, which you can read about in another post on this blog here.

A tour was discussed and by some accounts all set to go forward, but Bruce decided to wait, taking time to record an acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad and to embark on a solo tour in support of it. The Tom Joad tour was excellent and it was an important step in Bruce's development as an artist. Additionally, time away from the band for the other members of E Street allowed them the chance to grow and develop their skills and bring a lot back to the table when it was finally time for the reunion tour in 1999, shortly after Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Springsteen referred to the tour as the "rebirth and rededication of our band and our commitment to serve you." They did so by performing the best music of their career together.

This was especially evident in the now three guitar attack of Springsteen, Nils Lofgren, and the returning Steven Van Zandt. Most notably, this was demonstrated in the one-two punch of "Youngstown" and "Murder Incorporated," shown here in the DVD Live in New York City.






Springsteen also used different arrangements of old songs to cast them in a new light. The best example of this was an acoustic and powerfully poignant rendition of "Born in the USA," also from the Live in New York City DVD.



My favorite video from the Reunion Tour didn't occur live on stage, but was produced on a soundstage and served as a nice ending to the DVD release of the Bruce Springsteen Video Anthology. Here is the entire band joining in on a brilliant, moving reworking of "If I Should Fall Behind."



The audio for this performance is the opening track on this compilation I put together of some of the best moments from the E Street Band's Reunion Tour.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Reunion Tour Rarities

01 - If I Should Fall Behind (from Video Anthology DVD)
02 - Racing in the Street (10/26/99 Oakland, CA)
03 - Light of Day (10/23/99 Los Angeles, CA)
04 - The Ghost of Tom Joad (10/23/99 Los Angeles, CA)
05 - Roulette (5/08/00 Hartford, CT)
06 - Honky Tonk Women/Darlington County (5/08/00 Hartford, CT)
07 - New York City Serenade (6/20/00 MSG - NY, NY)
08 - The Promise (7/01/00 MSG - NY, NY)
09 - Blood Brothers (7/01/00 MSG - NY, NY)
10 - American Skin (41 Shots) (Studio)

If you want to hear more, I'd encourage you to seek out the full shows that these tracks appear on at the Bruce Springsteen MP3 Bootleg Index here.

Thanks for checking this out. Look for a future post that focuses on live renditions of songs from the box set Tracks during this tour coming soon.

Marah's debut album "Let's Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later On Tonight"

If I had to pick a favorite band above all the rest, it would have to have been Marah. They've went through too many lineups to keep track of over the years, but at the heart of it was always two brothers from Conshohocken, PA, David and Serge Bielanko. Marah has went through some pretty distressing changes over the last few years, but regardless of what happens in the future, Dave and Serge worked with some great musicians to make their songs that were brilliant, poignant, and sometimes hilarious really come alive on stage and on record in all kinds of amazing ways. I cant really put into words how much it has all meant to me, so I'll hold back before I embarrass myself and just say that Marah was a great rock and roll band like no other, and if you have not done so, you need to investigate their music further.

On record, this all started with Marah's first album Let's Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later Tonight, which was recorded in 1998 above an auto garage in South Philly. The band members at the time were David and Serge Bielanko, Danny Metz, and Ronnie Vance. Together, they threw all kinds of instruments, influences, and genres into the mix to make a record that is loose, sometimes a little wild, but always interesting and a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. Here's a few of my favorites.

A beautiful video made by Serge's wife, Monica, for "Formula Cola Dollar Draft."



Marah - Formula Cola Dollar Draft

Dave, Serge, and Kirk Henderson playing "Firecracker" at a Harley Davidson Rally in Oxford, England on October 1, 2005.



Marah - Firecracker

If you want to see my level of past Marah fanaticism on full display, you can check out the Marah Videos blog I've mantained over the past few years right here.

There will be plenty more posts on Marah in the future. Thanks for checking this out.

Download Marah's first album Let's Cut The Crap and Hook Up Later On Tonight at amazon.com

Patty Griffin's Unreleased Album from 2000 "Silver Bell"

The follow up to Patty Griffin's 1998 album Flaming Red, was supposed to be a record called Silver Bell, but it went unreleased by her label at the time, A&M records. It was recorded in March of 2000 at Kingsway Studio in New Orleans. The musicians were Patty (vocals, guitar, piano), Doug Lancio (guitar), John Deaderick (keyboards), Frank Swart (bass), and Billy Beard (percussion).

This copy was originally from a CD-R that a band member who worked on the sessions had and is the best copy yet of all the finished versions of the songs that were recorded for the album. Unlike some unreleased recordings, a final sequence was never decided upon and promo copies were never released. The music here was cleaned up and sequenced by a good soul who runs the blog Omnipop, which you can check out here.

While often it is not the case, sometimes albums going unreleased can work out for the best. While it had to be rough for this music to not come out at the time, Patty has since had the creative freedom at ATO Records to put out music that is a vast improvement over this. She has made three of the best albums of the past decade with 1000 Kisses, Impossible Dream, and Children Running Through. If you haven't given them a listen, you need to check them out. There is a link to get those records at the bottom of this post.

You can download a zip file of all of Silver Bell on Z-Share here. You can also get it track by track below.

Patty Griffin - Silver Bell (unreleased album from 2000)

01 - Little God
02 - Boston
03 - Perfect White Girls
04 - Truth No. 2 (w/ Emmylou Harris)
05 - What You Are
06 - Silver Bell
07 - Driving
08 - Sooner or Later
09 - Top of the World
10 - Sorry and Sad
11 - Making Pies
12 - Mother of God
13 - One More Girl
14 - Standing w/ bonus track "Kiss Them For Me" (Sioxsie and the Banshees cover)

Thanks for checking this out. Keep checking back for more rare stuff from Patty Griffin later on.

Download Patty Griffin's albums for ATO Records at emusic.com

Eddie Vedder & The Doors - 1/12/93 - LA, CA

On January 12, 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder filled in for the late Jim Morrison and joined surviving band members Robby Krieger (Guitar), Ray Manzarek ( Keyboards), and John Densmore (Drums) at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, CA for this fun three song set.

Here is the video and the mp3s (in 320 kbps) of their performance together.



Eddie Vedder and the Doors - Roadhouse Blues




Eddie Vedder and the Doors - Break on Through




Eddie Vedder and the Doors - Light My Fire


Thanks for checking this out. Look for more posts here on Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam leading up to the release of the new PJ album Backspacer this fall.

Justin Townes Earle's "Yuma" and "The Good Life"

Justin Townes Earle is the son of Steve Earle. He spent a lot of time in various Nashville bands, including his father's touring version of The Dukes, before before beginning his solo career. Like his father, he is a talented artist who has learned a lot from his mentors and struggled with his own demons on his way to crafting his own songs. You can read more about Justin's career in this biography from allmusic.com here.

I first saw Justin when he opened for Jason Isbel in support of his first independently released EP, 2007's Yuma. The song that stuck with me the most was the one that closed the record, "A Desolate Angel's Blues."

Here's Justin and frequent collaborate Cory Younts performing "A Desolate Angel's Blues" on 4/23/08 in Richmond, VA, followed by the track from Yuma.



Justin Townes Earle - A Desolate Angel's Blues

Justin's first full length LP, The Good Life, was released in 2008. This time Justin employed a full band. The results showed a lot of promise of many great things to come. My favorite track from this record was another album closer, "Far Away in Another Town."

Here's Justin and Cory performing "Far Away in Another Town" on 10/11/08 in Chicago, along with the studio track from The Good Life.



Justin Townes Earle - Far Away in Another Town

Everyone should also check out Justin and Cory's excellent four song live session of songs from The Good Life for hearya.com, which you can download here.

I'll leave you with a video my friend John sent me that fits well with the last few posts on this blog. Justin covering two songs from the late great Townes Van Zandt:



Justin recently released a new album, Midnight at the Movies, in March. Look for a post on that record after I've given it a good listen some time soon.

Download Justin Townes Earle's records at emusic.com

Steve Earle's new record "Townes"

On his new record Townes, Steve Earle pays tribute to his mentor Townes Van Zandt's legacy by covering 15 of his classic songs. Their relationship was a complicated and difficult one, as detailed in this interesting New York Times article here.

While some songs work much better than others, the album mantains a level of quality thoughout that does justice to all of these songs. Overall, what had to have seemed like a daunting task became quite an interesting and entertaining record in the end. Here are my two favorites that have really stood out on Townes.

He chose to give the song "White Freightliner Blues" a nice bluegrass feel, which worked out really well.

Steve Earle - White Freightliner Blues (from Townes)

Steve's gritty vocals really added something special to "Marie," one of Townes' most harrowing songs.

Steve Earle - Marie (from Townes)

Steve Earle has two other notable Townes Van Zandt covers that appeared previously on cd.

The first is a cover of "Two Girls" which appeared on the soon to be reissued compilation Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt.

Steve Earle - Two Girls

Also, a medley of a cover of "Rex's Blues" followed by "Fort Worth Blues" a song Steve Earle wrote shortly after learning of Townes' passing appeared on the soundtrack to the 2003 documentary Just An American Boy.

Steve Earle - Rex's Blues/Fort Worth Blues

I've always loved this video of Steve singing "Fort Worth Blues" on Austin City Limits during an in the round tribute to Townes Van Zandt.



If you'd like to read more about Townes, Steve Earle gave his thoughts on each of the songs he chose to record in this post on the blog An Aquarium Drunkard here.

Buy Townes by Steve Earle at amazon.com

Townes Van Zandt in the 1975 film "Heartworn Highways"

Townes Van Zandt was one of the greatest songwriters ever. While there are now tons of audio recordings of Townes' work, thanks to many reissues and releases after his tragic death, there is very little video of him, especially in his prime from the early to mid 1970s.

Townes' best moments on film were captured in the 1975 documentary Heartworn Highways (which was released in 1981). This excellent movie looks at the lives of Texas country singers such as Charlie Daniels, David Allen Coe, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, and Rodney Crowell. The documentary is on DVD and is well worth seeking out. You can read more about it on Wikipedia here.

Heartworn Highways featured footage of Townes at home with his girlfriend Cindy and his good friend Seymour Washington. Townes interviews Seymour, a 79 year old blacksmith, who offered some great insights into his life and some words of wisdom before being visibly moved by the two songs that Townes then sings. Here is the video and the mp3s of both of these classic performances.



Townes Van Zandt - Waitin' Around To Die (from Heartworn Highways)


Townes Van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty


Townes Van Zandt - Pancho and Lefty (from Heartworn Highways)

Look for a post on Steve Earle's new album of TVZ covers, Townes, soon and much more to come about Townes Van Zandt's music in the near future. Thanks for reading.

Download the excellent 26 track long soundtrack to Heartworn Highways for $9.99 at amazon.com

Iris Dement's debut album "Infamous Angel"

Iris Dement's unique voice, classic style, and brilliant songs have allowed her to stand out as one of the most beloved and respected country singers of the past few decades. The youngest of 14 children, Iris was born in Arkansas but grew up singing gospel music with her family in California. After college, Iris moved to Nashville to pursue a music career. Four years later in 1992, she recorded a debut album Infamous Angel, that is one of the best records of the last 20 years.

For those of you who aren't familiar, this should serve as a nice introduction. For those out there who have been blessed with her music before, I hope this brings back some nice memories.

Here are live performances followed by album tracks of two of my favorite songs on Infamous Angel.

Iris performing "Our Town" in her first appearance on Austin City Limits.



Iris Dement - Our Town (from Infamous Angel)

From the DVD of Transatlantic Sessions in 1995, "Let the Mystery Be."



Iris Dement - "Let the Mystery Be" (from Infamous Angel)

The album is one of the rare records to receive 5 stars from allmusic.com in this review by Jim Smith here. Since it is so well written, I'll post the full text of the review:

A remarkable debut, Infamous Angel established Iris DeMent as one of the greatest artists of her generation. With her gift for poignant, confessional songwriting and a voice that makes raw beauty seem like a brand new thing, she invokes the elemental magic of the Carter Family while sounding as fresh and modern as John Prine (who, not surprisingly, is one of her biggest champions). DeMent's concerns are largely family and tradition, and many of these songs deal with memories of life and love. Her Carter influence is revealed in a spirited cover of the classic "Fifty Miles of Elbow Room" as well as "Mama's Opry," a tribute to her mother, who also sings lead on "Higher Ground." These are wonderful, but DeMent's greater talent is the ballad, and she delivers an astonishing handful, including "When Love Was Young," "Sweet Forgiveness," and "After You're Gone," a tribute to her dying father that is so profoundly affecting that one is rendered nearly helpless listening to it. In the end, one finishes this record somber but refreshed by DeMent's charming, almost naïve, outlook on life. That naïveté isn't an act, either — DeMent claims in her liner notes that she's never thought of herself as a great singer. She couldn't be more wrong, and listeners can thank heaven that she changed her mind, for this is an album to be cherished and played as long as one has life to listen.

In short, you need to get this. Look for an upcoming post on Iris Dement's excellent duets with John Prine soon enough. Thanks for checking this out.

Buy Iris Dement's Infamous Angel at amazon.com

Patty Griffin's upcoming album "Downtown Church"

Patty Griffin, on a break from recording at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville

I saw Three Girls and Their Buddy a.k.a. Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, and Buddy Miller in Atlantic City on Friday. It was an excellent show. The best moments for me were when everyone joined in on a few songs from Patty's upcoming album of gospel covers Downtown Church. The album was suggested to Patty and later produced by her friend and bandmate Buddy Miller and recorded with musicians at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. The record will be released on August 11th, but you can preorder it from Amazon here. (Today, June 3, the release date was changed to indefinite on amazon.com, but you can still track the cd through this link).

Gospel music has been an important part of Patty Griffin's work lately. Most recently, she collaborated on a duet of "Waiting For My Child To Come Home" with Mavis Staples for the benefit compliation Oh Happy Day. Here's some footage of Mavis and Patty recording the track, followed by an mp3 of the finished song.



Mavis Staples & Patty Griffin - "Waiting For My Child To Come Home"

Patty's most recent album Children Running Through featured two phenomenal songs which could definitely fit into the genre of gospel music, "Up to the Mountain" and "Heavenly Day." These videos and mp3s are from the DVD Patty Griffin: Live From the Artist's Den which you can also get at Amazon here.



Patty Griffin - "Up To The Mountain" (Live from the Arist's Den)




Patty Griffin - "Heavenly Day" (Live from the Arist's Den)

Thanks for checking this out. Make sure to pick up Downtown Church when it is released.

Download Patty Griffin's music at emusic.com