Some music for the night watch...

Mavis Staples... covers Creedence!




Mavis seems to be in most of my playlists and for good reason, Mavis Staples keeps singing and makes the world a little better, all you have to do is listen.

Listening to... What do you think?

So it goes...

A little nightwatch music... Los Lobos has a new album!

Some songs and bands really lend themselves to the night watch mix tape... Los Lobos always has a way of winding up hitting just the right note about 4AM.

Check them out...

Enjoy!

Night watch...

Right now the song that is most listened to on the Ipod is "Lukey" by "Great Big Sea" (with The Chieftains doing their thing in support of the cause as well!) a band out of Nova Scotia...

Gaelic influenced music by its very nature just seems to fit on boats and for me, a guy who plays music to keep awake on those long night watches a song like "Lukey" is like a triple shot of Espresso on steroids. The only problem is the needful foot tapping tends to wake up the off watch crew!

I've always wanted to see this band but as of yet have not had the pleasure. Lucky for us there is a pretty good DVD concert which includes a CD that will help make those night watches a little easier... Great Big Sea

and not a cover band in sight...

It's way past time to be further south...Tropical storm Bertha is looking ripe to develop into one of those "H" things and I just realized I really need to sort out a few play lists for the sail down south ( a sailors work is never done!)

I've always been a fan of musicians covering other musicians music...So not surprising that my Ipod has a lot of covers. Covers are also a way to discover new music and artists as I find I am much more likely to find that I like a band if they have covered a song I like AND brought something interesting to the mix in the process. Luckily there are a bunch of people who blog that share my liking of cover and blog on the subject...You might want to check out Cover Freak, Cover Me , Cover Lay down , Fong Songs and Blowin' Your Cover which will get you started...and if you're lucky you might even find Billy Bragg covering "Tracks of my Tears" which will most likely be what I am listening to while we sail past Martinique.

Pirate Music

Pirates of the Caribbean has a lot to answer for and I won't bore you with a rant on what is not a good thing about making a film series ( I won't use the word franchise...) based on an amusement park ride but it has become a part of popular culture and while we who have a long time interest in things maritime,nautical and dare I say pyratical might find it less than it could be it most certainty is popular and when all is said and done that is something of a good ting...One of these days someone will make a good pirate movie but if nothing else POTC was a wonderful exercise for Johnny Depp and that alone was almost in itself sufficient excuse to do the film.

I've always liked music that has something to do with the sea and to say that I am enjoying the numerous and varied music that has been springing forth recently of a pyratical nature would be something of an understatement. Who would ever thought that you could listen to pirate rap or metal ( though I am still waiting for Pirate Country Western to arrive!) and while to be truthful the rap and metal offerings are not quite my cup of grog ( sorry could not help that) I really do admire the spirit and creative bent they represent. My personal tastes tend to be along the lines of the British 70's electric folk groups such as Lindisfarne, Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention with nods to more modern groups like the Bilge Pumps ( I mean how can you not like a band whose album is Brigands with Big uns!) and the Volunteers a great and wonderful Celtic outfit out of Miami...and suchlike as the model of what type pirate music works for me.

Maybe the best single source to dabble in all of this madness is BilgeMunky radio a podcast of various music piratical..Always a good listen and always fun and I always make sure that I have it on my Ipod when doing those late night watches on passage. When Pirate country western makes an appearance I'm sure the first to have it will be BilgeMunky!

Music available from Amazon.com:

• LINDISFARNE
• STEELEYE SPAN
• FAIRPORT CONVENTION
• BILGE PUMPS