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Song of the Day #88: ‘Moonshiner’ – Bob Dylan

This week’s theme marks my first official repeat of an artist I’ve already covered in my Songs of the Day, and I’ve given that honor to the worthiest of performers. Today through Friday I will highlight tracks from Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series.

Dylan was the first widely bootlegged rock artist and 30 years after those first bootlegs showed up he decided to release many of the hidden gems officially. The Bootleg Series started with three extraordinary volumes in 1991 covering that entire 30-year span. The next three volumes chronicle live shows throughout the years, including the famous “Judas” concert in Manchester. Volume Seven is the companion soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s seminal Dylan documentary No Direction Home. And Volume Eight, released just two weeks ago, covers outtakes and unreleased material from the last 20 years. I’ll pull this week’s selections from the lot of them.

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Song of the Day #87: ‘I Don’t Trust Myself (with Loving You) – John Mayer

John Mayer is one of those artists who is too talented to be as successful as he is. He’s young and brash, he dates hot women, his albums go multi-platinum, his videos are always on… this is the kind of guy who is supposed to be all flash and no substance. Easy to dismiss as a symptom of what’s wrong with America.

But when you actually listen to his albums, it becomes pretty clear pretty fast that he’s among the most talented songwriters and musicians working today. I hear a lot of Sting and Eric Clapton influences in his work, but I much prefer him to either of those great artists.

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Song of the Day #86: ‘Do Right Woman – Do Right Man’ – Aretha Franklin

My impression of Aretha Franklin (by which I mean my thoughts about her, not an actual impression I do… though that would be cool) was always that she’s a washed-up has-been who is trotted on stage at the Grammys to lend weak backup vocals to some up-and-comer. I know, that’s a very harsh assessment, and I admit it’s a completely ignorant one.

That’s because for the longest time I had no concept of what Aretha Franklin meant, and accomplished, when she was at her peak. Sure, I had heard ‘Respect,’ but that was pretty much it.

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Song of the Day #85: ‘Already Gone’ – Sugarland

I’ve already written a bit about Sugarland on this blog, both in reviewing their latest album and appreciating how good lead singer Jennifer Nettles looks wearing a hat and suspenders, so it’s about time I showed them some love in the Song of the Day series.

The album Love On the Inside is my happiest surprise so far this year. I picked it up because I’d read a lot of good things about it, and about the group in general, but I didn’t expect to love it half as much as I do.

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Song of the Day #84: ‘Hackensack’ by Fountains of Wayne

Fountains of Wayne is one of my happiest discoveries in recent years (actually, it’s not so recent… I first heard them in 2000).

It was the song ‘Denise’ from the Utopia Parkway album that caught my attention. It was on a sampler CD in an indie music magazine and I loved it instantly. For some reason, I thought FOW was a Christian rock band… maybe I was confusing them with Jars of Clay. So it was a happy surprise to learn they were actually fierce, clever ironists with a great sense of humor and a knack for killer hooks.

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