Earlier this month we shared the news that Mavis Staples will be releasing a new album called One True Vine, produced by Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy, that’s due on June 25. When the track list was revealed, we were excited to see a cover of Funkadelic’s Can You Get To That on there.
Can You Get To That is the second track on Funkadelic’s landmark 1971 album Maggot Brain. This wasn’t your typical Funkadelic joint as it was acoustic-based has a gospel feel. Staples’s iconic voice is almost hidden in her version of the tune, but comes out at the most opportune times. Check it out…
Jeff Tweedy is one busy dude. In addition to all the work he puts in as the front man and mastermind of Wilco, he’s also an in-demand producer. Not only is Tweedy working with White Denim, but he’s reprising his role as Mavis Staples’ producer on her new album – One True Vine.
The name “One True Vine” may ring a bell for Wilco fans, as it’s the name of a criminally underlooked Sky Blue Sky outtake. Mavis’s version of the tune closes out the 10-track album which is set for a June 25th release via Anti-. Take a listen to Wilco’s version of One True Vine… READ ON
On Monday we kicked off the week with Polyphonic Spree’s gorgeous rendition of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s anti-war song – Happy Xmas (War Is Over), which can be found on the psychedelic choral-rock act’s new studio album, Holidaydream: Sounds of the Holidays Vol. One. Today we’ve got our second cover of the Lennon-Ono classic, that has some direct ties to the original, as last night the impressive pairing of Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples, the Harlem Gospel Choir and John and Yoko’s son Sean Lennon performed the song on The Colbert Report.
In the spirit of the season both Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Good King Weneceles are currently available as digital downloads via iTunes with all proceeds going to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
Armed with a semi-planned out schedule and a list of bands I absolutely could not miss, this past weekend I took to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for my first Outside Lands with 60,000 other fans of live music. From what I have heard, getting to the park was not as difficult as in years past thanks in part to a paid shuttle being run all day from SF’s Civic Center straight to the festival grounds. Enough with the background, let’s get right into it.
Friday, August 12th
The first set I was able to catch was Phantogram who performed at Sutro Stage (the best stage of the festival, sunken down a little, a great place to catch a sunset act), whose material from their album Eyelid Moves translates very well to the live stage. In my biggest regret of the weekend, I opted out of seeing Foster The People to go check out the original lineup of The Meters. Unfortunately, The Meters spent a lot of time complaining about the gear they were provided, with guitarist Leo Nocentelli having the most issues. I don’t know if it was the trouble hearing or not, but the quartet seemed pretty confused and shockingly sloppy throughout their set – not what you expect from the godfathers of New Orleans. MGMT then delivered a tight set on the mainstage that included a cover of English Glory’s Broken Arrows. Their performance of the epic 11+ minute Siberian Breaks impressed me. The omission of their hit Kids from the setlist kept us all in hopes that somehow that it would be incorporated into one of Phish’s two sets, but it was not to be.
Phish delivered two safe sets filled with choice cover selections (this blogger’s first time seeing Frank Zappa’s Peaches en Regalia in 115+ shows), repertoire staples and a welcome performance of the band’s newest original, Steam, which segued nicely out of Velvet Underground’s Rock and Roll. One thing is for sure, Phish playing inside Golden Gate Park is a welcome upgrade over the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View.
READ ON for more of Dave’s Outside Lands 2011 Journal…
As we’ve previously mentioned, next month legendary gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples will release her highly anticipated new album You Are Not Alone, which was produced by Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy. The duo, who have appeared on-stage together a couple times already this summer, have released this video of their cover of CCR’s socio-political tune – Wrote A Song For Everyone, which also appears on Mavis’ new record…
Last week we shared a video of Mavis Staples in the studio with Jeff Tweedy previewing her new album, You’re Not Alone. Today we’ve got video of Jeff and Mavis performing the title track at Lollapalooza…
Lollapalooza is well underway at Grant Park in Chicago. If you’ve been following our man on the scene, Benji Feldheim’s, twitter feed then you already knew that Jeff Tweedy sat in with Mavis Staples and her band during their set at the fest. Benji will be tweeting all weekend long and we’ll post his long-form thoughts on the event throughout the weekend.
Finally, last night’s Arcade Fire webcast was about the best quality live broadcast we’ve seen on the web. If you missed the show – which was directed by Terry Gilliam – you can watch Rococo, Empty Room and other clips from the ‘cast on the band’s VEVO channel.
We’re eagerly anticipating You Are Not Alone the new album from legendary gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples, which is being produced by Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy. The album, which comes out on September 14, will feature a mix of traditional gospel tunes with covers of tunes by Randy Newman, John Fogerty and Allen Toussaint, as well as two newly penned Tweedy originals.
Here’s the duo talking about the release. We’re pretty confident that Mavis might be the only person who can get away with calling Jeff – Tweedy…
, which was produced by Wilco front man 
