Videos by American Songwriter
U2’s Bono and the Edge appeared on Elvis Costello’s show Spectacle on Sundance the other night, and videos of the episode’s musical performances have hit the ‘net. U2’s “Get On Your Boots” and Costello’s “Pump It Up” are mashed up, so seemlessly that it’s hard to tell them apart (Bono throws a snippet of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” in there for good measure). There’s also a beautiful acoustic rendition of “Stay (Far Away, So Close)”, and a reading of “Two Shots Of Happy, One Shot Of Sad,” the song U2 wrote for Frank Sinatra. Costello tackles the band’s “Mysterious Ways,” and joins them on “Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.” Highly reccomended.
Congratulations to The Stooges, ABBA, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff and The Hollies. They’ll be getting into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 15. Songwriters Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell, as well as record business legend David Geffen, will join them in the non-peforming catagory.
Iggy Pop of the Stooges tells Rolling Stone, “We’ve been rejected several times, and we would have set a record, I think, if it happened again. It started to feel like Charlie Brown and the football.” Your a good band, Charlie Brown.
Sly Stone has signed on with Los Angeles label Cleopatra Records to release an album in early summer 2010, Billboard.com reports. The album will feature new original material and re-recorded versions of classic Sly and the Family Stone material. That is, if it’s ever actually released. It is, after all, Sly Stone, a man who’s become infamous for dissapearing just when you thought he’d arrived.
A deluxe edition of Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johannson’s debut album, Break Up, has hit iTunes, featuring six bonus live cuts recorded on Morning Becomes Eclectic, including a cover of the Kinks’ “Stop Your Sobbin'” (also covered by the Pretenders).
Check out a video for “Lets Shake Hands” from The White Stripes’ upcoming concert film, Under Great White Northern Lights, out March 16, here. Bagpipes included.
Bluegrass great Ricky Skaggs and “mayor of bluegrass” Wichita Rutherford have bottled up Ricky’s “G-Run” (a common bluegrass scale in the key of G) in a jar, and they’re auctioning it off to raise money for the charity World Vision. Head here to get on board.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1970’s recording of “Mr. Bojangles” (written by Jerry Jeff Walker) will be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for 2010. The Hall Of Fame celebrates the triumphs and achievements of the recording arts; selections are drawn from all categories of music, acknowledging the diversity of musical expression for which The Recording Academy has become renowned.
Jeff Hanna of the NGDB says: “We’re really proud to be so closely associated with a song that has now become an American standard. God bless Jerry Jeff for writing such a beautiful tune.”
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