Tag: youtube

Watch J Mascis Jam with Wilco on a Cover of Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer”

I love, love, loved Dinosaur Jr. when I was a teenager. A bad breakup with a girl in college kept me away from them for a long time, but I’ve since come back to enjoy their brand of music.

Wilco is one of my very favorite bands. Wilco invited Dinosaur Jr to play on their Sky Blue Sky festival in Mexico this week. During Wilco’s set J joined them for a fiery version of Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer.”

Three lead guitar players is always a challenge but I love the way they pulled it off here. Jeff, J, and Nels all get a chance to solo, but when they aren’t doing that they still add plenty of texture. I love how Jeff seems to almost forget about the final verse and just kind of throw it out there at the end.

Watch The Ramparts Perform “Fairytale of New York”

The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” is one of my favorite songs. It is the perfect Christmas song. I love that it is slightly irreverent, and funny. And sad. It makes me cry every time I listen to it (and I listen to it a lot this time of year.) I love that it is a song for everyone, not just the churchgoing folk. I love its structure and its lyrics. Like I said, it is one of my favorite Christmas songs.

I just discovered this a cappella version of it from an Irish group called The Ramparts. It is quite lovely, and now I’m sharing it with you.

Watch Jeff Tweedy Play Two Covers in Tulsa

I meant to write a full review of the Jeff Tweedy concert me and my daughter attended last week, but instead I just wrote about it for Five Cool Things.

It was a great show, even if I didn’t know all the songs (he played most of his new album and a few songs from previous solo albums, but nothing from Wilco).

On this tour for the encore he’s been playing one or two cover songs from artists who came to fame somewhere near the town he’s playing at. For the Tulsa show he covered “Wish I Had Not Said That” by JJ Cale and then (of course) “Do Re Mi” by Woody Guthrie. Both versions were excellent.