The muse for this mixtape is my home-state - Kentucky.  All artists on this mix are either born, raised, based or have spent significant time in the state.  Some are well-known, others are not known at all – but together they represent the best of what bellows through these hills and hollers.  Hope you enjoy.  Also, TURN IT UP AND SHAKE YO SILLY ASS!

 

1.      Cunninlynguists – Intro.  This is a local hip-hop group that’s pretty decent if you like that sort of thing.

2.      The Legendary Shackshakers – Shake Your Hips.  Rarely do covers get better than the original, but I think this one does.  I used to see these guys every few weeks while I was in college.  They played a local dive bar all the time.

3.      Richard Hell – Blank Generation.  Grandaddy of Punk.  Nuff said.

4.      Bill Monroe – White House Blues.  Grandaddy of Bluegrass.  Nuff said.  And, yes – they go very well back-to-back.

5.      The Apparitions – Electricity + Drums.  Local kids with a good pop/rock style. 

6.      VHS or Beta – Dynamize.  I usually do not like this band – but this instrumental is just too rad to ignore.  Raddy Radness.

7.      A goofy segue

8.      Exile – Kiss You All Over.  Still sounds fresh.  Why they went away from this style is beyond me.

9.      Sunday Valley – Sometimes Wine.  My favorite local band.  They are sort-of broken up, but once in awhile, they patch things up and play out.  If you like it – like,  a lot, a lot – I’ll send you a copy of their CD.  It’s the only thing in the mix not available on iTunes.

10.   Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose.  This song gives me chills every time I hear it.  Must. Love. Loretta.

11.   Joan Osborne – Nobody’s Fault But Mine.  I generally am not a fan of Joan, but I do love Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and this is a very fine version of her best-known and most covered song.

12.   Wilson Pickett – Bring It On Home To Me.  This is somewhat of a stretch, as the original Wicked Mr. Pickett was best known for his time spent in Memphis, but he spent his youth in Louisville and he took his final rest there – right next to his Momma.  So…in 100 years, he will have been in Kentucky longer than most anyone on the list.  This is also the point in the mix where I wish Sam Cooke were from Kentucky.  This song and the next are Sam Cooke covers.

13.   Ben Sollee – A Change Gonna Come.  Ben Sollee is an amazing cello player with a really nice voice.  He also happens to be a really nice guy and is on the verge of some real national attention.  You Tube him and watch him play.  That’s half the treat of a Ben Sollee show.  He’s ridiculously talented and plays the cello like every instrument but a cello.  Try not to fall in love.  Just try.

14.   Another goofy segue

15.   My Morning Jacket – What a Wonderful Man.  Either you dig it the most or you are groaning with discontent.  I am a big fan and I’ve probably seen them a dozen times or more.  You probably already know this song, but it’s a good representation.

16.   The Legendary Shackshakers.  Blood on the Bluegrass.  Another one.  I know – it means I’m lazy.  But this one represents the title of the mix really well and it’s a murder ballad.  I am fascinated by murder ballads and I almost made a whole mix of them, but I thought that might not be the best way to introduce myself.

17.   Dwight Yoakam – Two Doors Down.  This is one of my favorite Dwight songs and it’s an acoustic version, which makes it even better.  You’ll be singing this one in the shower tomorrow.  With a beer.

18.   Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Cursed Sleep.  My favorite Kentucky artist.  Will Oldham is B“P”B and he is also Palace Music and Palace Brothers and I love it all.  It’s not for everyone, but if it hits you, it hits hard.

19.   Rosemary Clooney – What’ll I Do.  Gets me every time.

 

I have died and gone to Heaven.

Umm, yes. pee-yem me.

 Zep wrote:

Wanna do a 3-way with Me & Welly? 

SWAP.  3-way CD swap! 

Thanks, R.  Glad you liked it.

I'm actually dropping one in the mail tomorrow for another RPeep, so if anyone out there would like of a copy of my mixtape (scroll, baby, to see the tracklist), let me know and I will take care of all my USPS bidness at once. 

I'm hoping mine is waiting in the mailbox when I get home today...

WOW!!!  I love this mix!!!!!!!!!!!!   Thank you so much!!!!!!!   really great.   what i need more of.

selections form the dark & bloody ground.    be cool if it was on amazon for the rest of you to enjoy :)

 Zep wrote:

Wanna do a 3-way with Me & Welly? 

SWAP.  3-way CD swap! 

Amazon neither. Guess I'll have to hit Bittorrent.

Just listened to the CD, it's a very cool mix and great artwork. It gets better towards the end. You've made me listen to some stuff I haven't heard in a long time and haven't heard at all. I'm definately going to listen to it again.

It's such a great idea. I'm glad I joined. Even though I'm truely seldom seen.

*edit*  You'll certainly like Underworld.

Never heard of it!

iTunes doesn't have that much trance really. Not compared to this friend of mine who sent me all the cd's!

CD swap perhaps? 

Never heard of it!

iTunes doesn't have that much trance really. Not compared to this friend of mine who sent me all the cd's!

CD swap perhaps? 

I can't find Rose's first track listing on iTunes. 

Me too - I have loads of Underworld. Do you like their stuff?

Love it.

Oh wait, you weren't asking me.

Well, love it anyway.

Me too - I have loads of Underworld. Do you like their stuff?

Yay!  Thanks. 

That first track is from an Oakenfold techno CD.  I love trance, and a friend sent me, like, 40 CDs of trance.  That track was on one of em.   My son also loves trance, and somehow we came across that song again, and were both totally into it, and just ripped that one track off the CD (the rest of that particular CD is kinda meh.)

I've never gotten around to getting more Oysterband.  I gotta see what else their stuff is like because that guy's voice makes me melt.  oooooooh. 

Glad you liked it.