-
Jan 17, 2025 | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Danny Carnahan |Alan Barnosky |Adam Perlmutter
In 1908, song collector and writer Nathan Howard “Jack” Thorp (1867–1940) published Songs of the Cowboys, a pivotal collection that helped establish the Western song repertoire. Thorp opened the book with “Little Joe the Wrangler,” a song inspired by an event he witnessed on the range. In his autobiography, Pardner of the Wind, Thorp recalls meeting Black cowboys in the camp of Addison Jones, one of the Southwest’s few Black ranch foremen.
-
Sep 8, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Adam Perlmutter |Kate Koenig |Danny Carnahan
“It Ain’t Me, Babe,” first released on Bob Dylan’s 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan, quickly became a defining piece of the singer-songwriter’s early catalog, marking his shift from political protest songs to more introspective, personal themes. The song’s message of emotional distance and self-definition struck a chord with listeners, leading to a wide range of covers over the years.
-
Jul 12, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Adam Perlmutter |Maurice Tani |Danny Carnahan
Mississippi John Hurt (1893–1966) was one of the great country blues singer-songwriters, and a superb, subtly eccentric guitarist whose work was teeming with colorful details. One of his most well-known recordings, “I’m Satisfied,” related to the Memphis Jug Band piece “You May Leave, But This Will Bring You Back,” offers a glimpse into what made his accompaniment work so interesting.
-
Jun 14, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Adam Perlmutter |David Hamburger |Danny Carnahan
This month’s Patreon song is “The Lakes of Pontchartrain,” a ballad that originated in the Southern United States that chronicles a wandering and cash-strapped man who is offered shelter by a Louisiana Creole woman. He falls in love and proposes to her, but as his luck would have it, she is already engaged to be married.
-
Jun 2, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Danny Carnahan |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Andrew DuBrock |Maurice Tani
“I Can’t Give You Anything but Love, Baby” is one of the most recorded songs in American popular music. The tune was written by the team of Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, who also penned beloved standards like “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and “I’m in the Mood for Love.” “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love, Baby” was first featured in the hit 1928 Broadway show Blackbirds.
-
Apr 26, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Andrew DuBrock |Danny Carnahan |Adam Perlmutter
In 1927, singer-songwriter Jimmie Rodgers had a disagreement with his band and stepped out on his own to record a batch of songs, first in Bristol, Tennessee, and then in Camden, New Jersey.
-
Mar 31, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Danny Carnahan |Adam Perlmutter |Maurice Tani
One of the most popular American pop songs was originally written not in English but in German by playwright Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill for their 1928 musical drama, The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper). Tangling the roots even further is the fact that Brecht and Weill’s work was adapted from an English-to-German translation of John Gay’s 1728 play, The Beggar’s Opera.
-
Feb 14, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Alan Barnosky |Adam Perlmutter |Danny Carnahan |Maurice Tani
Written by Irving Berlin for Florenz Ziegfeld’s short-lived 1926 musical Betsy, “Blue Skies” was a last-minute addition to the show after its star, Belle Baker, called up Berlin complaining the Rodgers and Hart score didn’t have a “Belle Baker” song. At that point, Berlin was an established big dog on the scene and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart were the new whiz kids in town, already being compared to Gilbert and Sullivan—a delicate situation with a bunch of large and fragile egos on the line.
-
Jan 21, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Danny Carnahan |Kate Koenig |Adam Perlmutter
It is difficult to overstate the popularity of the Eagles song “Hotel California,” from the 1977 album of the same name.
-
Dec 31, 2023 | 
acousticguitar.com | Greg Olwell |Danny Carnahan |Joseph Skibell |Whit Smith
You never know when you’re going to see somebody for the last time, and I was fortunate enough to have dinner with Michael Chapdelaine and his wife, Suzanne Dove, in September, just two months before the guitarist-composer died unexpectedly on November 16. They were in Atlanta for a conference Suzanne was attending, and we met at a wonderful vegan Caribbean-fusion restaurant in Midtown where we were able to sit outside. I’d known Michael for about ten years.
