Yeah, me too. I was thrilled enough with that mix to go and buy a couple of his albums on iTunes.

im really liking the Tony Joe White, the Tommy Womak, and even the Dead tenners

Yeah, all these were great. I also really loved the Green on Red, again, enough so that I went and sought out the original records. Which I guess is the whole point of this.

green on red is a great band

Yes.

I gave that Pagliaro a listen today and enjoyed it, for the most part, which really serves as irrefutable evidence of it's alleged cheesiness.

I'm actually playing the Blue Rodeo mix I put together, and while I'm sure other CDNs would like cringe at the song choices, I think it's a pretty spectacular group of tracks. These 10 songs were just ubiquitous on the radio here in the late 80s and early 90s. One I may just do for myself is a tenner of Greg songs and Jim songs, similar to what F*ck You Dave did for Sloan.

Oh I used to have that too, my first year in college, on cassette taped from the 12".

Critics slammed Knife and said the title track was horrible. It's one of my favorite songs and has been for almost a quarter century. But I think they wanted Roddy to stay a wunderkind shuffle-pop ditty-monger.

I feel the same way about Aztec Camera and Proclaimers and Violent Femmes. They were given up on but kept putting out good albums.

I'll do a Proclaimers one when I get time, with stuff like "Don't Turn Out Like Your Mother," and "Here It Comes Again" on it.

Always been a Proclaimers fan as well. I think they have a new one out. Funny, about your Violent Femmes tenner, A few weeks ago I grabbed the albums I had and made a short mix for ol' times sake, of course, I had to put a few of the driven in the ground songs on there especially because "gone daddy gone" and "please do not go" are so great.

rparis' Sexsmith mix is providing some great early morning music here. I'm not quite sure why I've been so hesitant about listening to this guy. I have the debut, but like I said in another thread, it's just never really compelled me to seek out more. While he doesn't have much in terms of voice, it's spare quality works well with the the mood he evokes with the music and lyrics; definitely red wine, late at night in autumn. I really liked 'Gold in Them Hills'. I'm putting on caputo's mix next.

billy, your Isaac mix is fantastic. 'Feelin' Alright' is blaring right now and I don't want it to end.

Just finished rparis' Tim Easton mix. Reminds me a lot of Pete Droge, mid-tempo regular rock with a twist of Dylan & Earle, which I like very much. Nothing hits the highs of 'Dear Old Song & Dance', but it's a solid ten songs. I'd be interested in checking out actual albums.

Solid is a good word to describe him.

I used to work in a shitkicker bar and the jukebox was loaded with crap. There were a few songs like "Five Days In May" that helped me keep my sanity. For a band that got a fair amount of airplay I still think they're underrated.

billy's John Howard mix is really good. Definitely reminds me of some Nilsson and early Elton with a smattering of Beatles & Beach Boys. I liked 'Oh Do Give it A Rest' in spite of itself. I generally hate topically referenced songs but this just buries itself in your brain with a cancerous melody. Another I'll be interested in checking out further, particularly the 70s records.

Terry Callier - dude's got a vocal tone on some tracks that reminds me of Willie Nile, and that's a good thing. Another artist to look into further.

Syl Johnson - I remember "Is It Because I'm Black" being a standout on an old BG mix, and this tenner doesn't disappoint. Great old school R&B.

Blue Rodeo - I've only bothered to get Diamond Mine and Five Days in July in digital form, so this gave me an opportunity to hear some stuff I haven't listened to in ages. They certainly craft a good tune, but IMO their achilles heel is a tendency towards perfectionism. So I still think their career highlight is Diamond Mine, because Bob Wiseman was still in the band, and he was like Garth Hudson on brown acid. Just fucking messed with Keelor and Cuddy's polite songcraft, which is what they needed.

Andrew Bird - I like individual songs ("Heretics" especially), but Bird always ruins a good tune by either whistling or fiddling. Yeah, I know that's what he does. Don't care.

Vulgar Boatmen - I only have Please Panic, so this is a welcome collection. This band is all about those mid 80s "college rock" days, sort of like REM without the vision. Definitely worth hearing. "You Don't Love Me Yet" remains one of my faves.

I have songs that fit that category for me as well. I don't love every tune of his and typically an album of his is about 2/3 love it and 1/3 leave it for me. There are/were two albums I didn't use that were released prior to the ones I did make the tenner from and I despise them both. It's boring crap that was more reminiscent of his Squirrel Nut Zippers involvement. Later on he began coming into his own thing. The whistling is okay in small doses for me, but I love the violin. I think it's probably my favorite instrument, and how he uses it on "Why?" always gets me. I just listen to it and say to myself, "dammit, that is bad ass".

I do love Heretics, Fatal Flower Garden, and Fake Palindromes probably the most.

I know exactly what you mean. He can be overly dramatic at times and there are songs that I debated whether to include based on some cringeworthy moments but usually the melodies win me over.

Kid in a big World is the place to start. The other 70's work was never fully developed and is more demo in quality. I'm still digesting a couple of his albums but I'd rank most of his recent work above the other 70's albums.

some of my thoughts on some tenners:

Al Kooper: I was already a big fan. I bought "New York City, You're a Woman" last year after finding it on some lost classics list and fell in love with it. I later bought "I Stand Alone" but for some reason stopped there with his solo work. I think the most highly rated ones by AMG other than those two were out of print. I instead went down the track of buying non-solo work/session work, all of which is great. Its always dangerous putting too much stock in what AMG says though, and this is proof of that. Everything on this tenner is really solid. I'm obviously going to have to dig deeper.

Bobby Bare: My only previous exposure was that "Drunk & Crazy...Plus" that Tentoze recommended earlier in the year and a few misc. songs on comps. This is pretty much what I expected and damn good. Also great to hear the original version of Streets of Baltimore.

Allman Brothers Band: I'm not sure what's kept me from checking out the Allman Brothers for so long. I guess I'd unfairly grouped them with other southern rock bands that I've never been a big fan of. I found myself really digging a lot of Duanne Allman's session work over the last couple of years though (Herbie Mann, Boz Scaggs, Derek & the Dominos, Aretha Franklin) and decided that I'd been much to quick to judge. This tenner was one of my requests and DJ provided a great introduction. It exceeded expectations. I know have to figure out whether to start with a live set (Fillmore) or studio (Eat a Peach, presumably).

Bo Diddley: Another request of mine. I only have Gunslinger which came paired with some ep. I haven't compared track lists but to see what kind of overlap there is, but this sounds very similar to the albums i have, which I guess is no surprise. I should probably pick up more.

Go-Betweens: There's probably no more frustrating band for me than the Go-Betweens. They seem exactly the sort of band that i should love but everything I've heard by them leaves me a little cold. I love GW McLennan's solo albums but everything I've heard by the Go-Betweens lacks the pop hooks of those albums. Thanks for the mix though Rod, I think I can finally give up trying to like them.

Rads' Sparklehorse Mix: I bought "Its a Wonderful Life" years ago after reading great reviews for it. I found it pretty boring and traded it in pretty quickly. I never delved any further despite Rads saying that was by far their worst album. This tenner is proof of that. Some surprisingly good stuff on here, much catchier than what I'd heard before. I didn't check out the second tenner someone else did but will probably eventually do so.

Thelonius Monster: I like everything rads has ever put on a mix by Bob Forrestt and I've seen Bob Forrestt live and enjoyed his show. However,I bought the Bicycle Thief album on the strength of one song from a monger mix and found that he cherry-picked the one truly great song off of it. Rads has a tendency of doing that so I was skeptical that I'd really like this, but everything on here is good. I think I'm still a little scared to just jump in with both feet and start buying albums. Any recommendations for ones with the least filler?

Peter Case: I've always really enjoyed the Plimsouls "Everywhere at Once." This is pretty good too. He's got a great voice and is a really good songwriter. I'd dled one of his solo albums off of emusic back in the unlimited dl days and just didn't think it was very good at all. Somehow Rads found a pretty good song from it to include though. I like this but I don't think I need to dig any deeper in his solo work.

Dave Alvin: I like the Blasters and have enjoyed his contributions to X and John Doe's solo albums. I'd never heard any of Dave Alvin's solo work. I like it. I think I'll need to pick some of his albums up. I like the X version of Fourth of July better though.

Bobby Bare Jr.: I just have Young Criminal's Starvation League. I like it but probably not as much as his biggest obner fans. I again had avoided digging any deeper based on AMG rating it alot higher than his other albums. Again, a mistake to put too much faith in AMG. I don't hear any real dropoff in the non-YCSL tracks.

David Kilgour: I like the Clean. This is a little meh based on one listen.

Zachary Richard: I liked it. Probably not enough to dig any deeper though.

Elliot Murphy: I also liked it. Again though, probably not enough to dig any deeper. I do hear the springsteen similaritys, I'm just not that big a springsteen fan.

Taj Mahal: This is really good and not really what I expected. It also provided an excellent soundtrack to vodka infusing. I'm sure It will provide an excellent soundtrack to infused vodka drinking as well. Where do I start with studio albums?

David Olney: I'd heard the comparisons to Townes Van Zandt and had been intrigued for awhile but didn't know where to start. This was my favorite tenner. I've already picked up one album (which I still haven't listened to yet) and will be picking up more.

Still have a bunch to listen to.

i would like to do some of these...but encountering a problem

everytime i try to save songs from disk to my hard drive, and then try to play them - itunes opens up. How can i get all these songs nicely in a folder on my C drive without itunes getting in the way? Also worried that if i find a way to shut down itunes - everything i have in it will be erased

any help would be appreciated - ill do some good 10 song compilations. thanks

I listened to billyg's Matt Keating mix this morning. I hope rparis downloaded this one because it seems like something he'd really like. Not that I didn't, because while there's nothing wholly remarkable about these songs there's a particular quality that makes one keep listening. I'm not sure what the quality is, a shimmering of something dark maybe? I was reminded of Freedy Johnston at times and others I was actually reminded of a Canadian singer-songwriter named Sarah Harmer, specifically on 'Lonely Blue', whose chorus echoed Sarah's 2000 hit 'Basement Apartment', which was one of my favourite songs that year. Anyway billy, at the risk of sounding repetitive, thanks again for another great mix, I really enjoyed this.

Also mcaputo's Tom T. Hall was absolutely fantastic and frankly very emotionally nostalgic for me all at once. I haven't heard some of those tracks in many, many years and was instantly transported to my dad's old F-150 where this, Bobby Bare and JC were constant presences. Listening to some of these songs, 'Margie's at the Lincoln Park Inn' in particular, were like getting in a time machine. If anyone is a fan of 60's country/singer songwriter music, I would implore you to check this set out. I really need to grab a full on greatest hits set from Tom T. asap.

I don't really know what you're aiming at here. But I'm pretty sure that if you shut down iTunes nothing will disappear since everything is stored on your hard drive in files, instead of being a part of the program. Even playlists are just text files.

Glad you enjoyed it, DJ. I agree Rod would like him.

Also, I added a link to my original post for the Emmylou Harris last night in case people missed it.

I'm a pushover for Kooper. His "comeback" album from a couple of years ago, Black Coffee, is damned good. Damned good. Damned good.




He has a pretty big catalog, and he's gone through phases of genre-blending over the years. I like it all, so take this with a dose of vodka:

From the early years, hard to top the 2 lp Giant Step/ De Ole Folks At Home- one acoustic, one electric- all good. Taj doing country blues on a banjo is a treat.

From the mid-70's, and a dabbling in West Indian steel drum type music, Music Fuh Ya- not 100% sure if that is still in print, but thoroughly excellent. I saw him touring in support of this in '77.

From the '80's, Taj- this one's infused with Polynesian themes, as he was living over there some damn where at the time.

90's- from his Private Music years, Like Never Before- some covers, some originals- recording quality is great. One song on this one I can't listen to- Squat That Rabbit, but he more than offsets it with the others. The song Scattered on that tenner comes from this album. From '97, Senor Blues- lots of styles on this one, all good, too.