Tag: lists

The Songs of ‘So Long, So Wrong’ Ranked

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

So Long, So Wrong is an iconic album. It signaled Alison Krauss & Union Station’s shift from a bluegrass-centered aesthetic to the signature post-grass, adult contemporary, mainstream sound that solidified their astronomical success. Ostensibly a bluegrass album, it rose through the ranks to land at number 4 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart in 1997, the year it was released. But the objective markers of its success really don’t matter here. What does matter is that this album brought up a generation of bluegrass pickers, and mashers, and emotive songwriters who are rabidly, unapologetically, all-encompassingly in love with this album. This author falls into more than one of the categories listed prior.

So it’s a given, then, that we’re going to rank the songs of So Long, So Wrong from worst to best, right?

Right.

Keep in mind that even the lowest ranked of this set of fourteen songs are still superlative and are beacons of bluegrass artistry for all who adore the form. Yes, even you, “Looking In the Eyes of Love.”

14. “Looking In The Eyes Of Love”

Yes, you read that right. It’s cheesy, it’s overplayed, and it’s time bluegrass had a better go-to wedding song. Oh, and it’s in Ab. Whyyyyy?

13. “There Is A Reason”

The cinematic intro and reprise that bookend this song are absolutely delectable. It’s a faith-oriented song with a compelling message and it would rank higher if it didn’t, by its nature, exclude folks of differing beliefs from enjoying its whole delectability.

12. “I’ll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers”

Besides giving us a rare glimpse at a world in which the grammar of bluegrass song titles is formatted correctly (except for the capitalized preposition), this track has only given us scores upon scores upon scores of mash jams pounding the everlovin’ shit out of what once was a nuanced folk song, sung in a timeless Appalachian style.

Damn, but it’s good.

11. “I Can Let Go Now”

It’s a gorgeous, deft, brooding testament to the beauty of reverb. And we know not to ever turn down an opportunity for Ron Block to pick up his guitar. Still, this is Alison Krauss we’re talking about, and we’ve been taught to demand a higher level of quality from our brooding, reverb-soaked, AK songs. Sorry if this offends you, but someday, you’ll no longer care. You can let go now.

10. “Pain Of A Troubled Life”

It’s actually quite nice to hear each of the boys sing lead on this album (except Barry?), but this poor song is up against some steep competition. And that strange internal rhyme (double/troubled) is just… strange.

9. “Happiness”

You can’t always trust happiness. This one, you can trust — with those ethereal fiddle pads and the impeccable harmonies and swooping and swirling “ah’s” and “oo’s.” It’s immaculate. “Happiness” only happens to fall this low in the lineup because of the strength of its competition. Splitting hairs and all that.

8. “Blue Trail of Sorrow”

The mark of a truly adept bluegrass band is being able to play a song at this exact tempo. They didn’t just find the pocket, they pulled up a chair and sat down in it.

7. “Little Liza Jane”

Moral of the story? DON’T SLEEP ON ALISON’S FIDDLE PLAYING SHE IS A BEAST. And that chop though. (Honorable mention goes to Steffey’s picking being so clean you can make your brain tune into his pick noise alone just by thinking about it.)

6. “Deeper Than Crying”

What is this intro?? How does it conjure a DVD home menu soundtrack loop while still sounding like pure delight?? What is this voodoo? Well, no, the true voodoo in this song is the harmonies. These are not your mama’s harmony contours, but we are here for them.

5. “No Place to Hide”

This, my friends, is what mash can be. The Spotify embed for this song ought to be next to the entry for “mash” in the dictionary. And they may have captured the very best banjo intro ever played. Just give me more of that mando chop, that molasses voice (Steffey, Steffey, Steffey!!), that head-bobbin’ groove, and that catchy af hook.

4. “Find My Way Back To My Heart”

“I used to laugh at all those songs/ ‘bout the rambling life, the nights so long and lonely/
But I ain’t laughin’ now./”
And in 17 seconds, you’re already crying. And there’s no one but me gonna take my part!

3. “The Road Is A Lover”

The combination of somewhat random subject matter with the asymmetry of the lyrical structures and the odd chord progression makes this an absolutely classic AKUS song. What’s with that overdubbed fiddle bowing during the banjo solo? WHO CARES, IT BOPS. If you haven’t screamed a third part to this song along with Dan and Alison at some point, you haven’t yet lived.

2. “It Doesn’t Matter”
The angst. The minor-key nihilism. The sheer melodramatic depression of it all. The breathy, gasping, echo-y background vocals with the arco bass. It’s everything — at least it was to a certain 16-year-old who used to die for the reharmonization beneath the vocal tag. It doesn’t matter if I pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaad!!

1. “So Long, So Wrong”

That vibey fade in. That hook on the flattop. That unflinching right hand on Ron Block. That signature wonky chord progression. That bridge. Those twisting and winding background vocals. That reverb. Those bends on the banjo solo. This stunner is pulling much more weight than a typical title track. Wow, put it on repeat. A well-deserved number one.

A Few of Our Favorite Things from William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak

Posted on by Editor

Tucked away in a lush, wooded pocket of the otherwise bustling college town of Oxford, Mississippi, is Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner. Built in 1844 and purchased by Faulkner in 1930, the stately white antebellum home sits on 29 wooded acres. Faulkner, one of the most celebrated Southern authors of all time, purchased the then-vacant property for himself, his wife Estelle, and her two children. The property was originally owned by Irish planter Colonel Robert Sheegog and served as Faulkner's home until his death from complications following a horseback riding accident in 1962. 

The home is full of Faullkner artifacts — original artwork, clothing and accessories, and many of the supplies the author used in writing such famous novels as Absalom, Absalom!, The Unvanquished, and Go Down, Moses. The grounds, which are connected to a short hiking trail that leads to the University of Mississippi campus, feature a number of Faulkner's outdoor buildings, as well as remnants of original landscaping. 

The University of Mississippi now owns the property, and the house is open to the public for tours. We checked it out, and below are a few highlights from our visit.

Paintings by Maud Butler Falkner

Faulkner’s mother, Maud Butler Falkner (the “u” in Faulkner’s last name wasn’t added until 1918), painted frequently, and several of her paintings are displayed at Rowan Oak, including one of Faulkner, himself. Falkner often painted copies of famous works of art. 

Hand-written Plot Notes

Faulkner had an unusual writing practice — drafting plots for his novels on his walls. The walls of his office at Rowan Oak show a day-by-day plot breakdown of his 1954 novel, A Fable. That book would go on to net Faulkner both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award in 1955. 

Estelle Faulkner’s Painting Supplies

Like Faulkner’s mother, his wife Estelle loved to paint. Her bedroom, separate from his, features a painting area bathed in natural light. Estelle's and William's bedrooms were separate, though right next door to one another.

Faulkner’s Riding Boots

Faulkner was an avid rider, as shown by Rowan Oak’s stables and the assortment of riding equipment still found in his bedroom. He died following a thrombosis-related heart attack after suffering a major riding accident in 1962. He previously had a serious accident in 1959.

Cedar and Rowan Trees

Adding to the majesty of the house is a row of tall, thin cedar trees flanking the driveway, a landscaping feature that was prominent around the time of the home’s construction. Though the property was originally called "The Bailey Place" (named for the surrounding Bailey's Woods), Faulkner dubbed it Rowan Oak in homage to its numerous rowan trees.

Circle Garden

Added by its original owner, the garden was a feature of the property that had grown dilapidated by the time Faulkner purchased Rowan Oak, but he kept the remaining assortment of bricks, shrubs, and trees in tact. An avid teller of ghost stories and tall tales, Faulkner asserted that the garden was protected by the ghost of Judith Sheegog, the alleged daughter of Colonel Robert Sheegog. Legend has it, Judith flung herself to her death out of the home's second story window after a love affair gone wrong, and that her body is buried on the property.

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12 Ways to Maximize Touring Income

Posted on by Editor

We know the road is long. You get weary and restless as the miles turn into days and the days turn into nights, hoping the seats and tip jars are full. We at the BGS care about your take-home earnings and wanted to offer some tips to help make sure you’re coming home in the black.

1. Offer to clean the bathrooms at the venue, yielding a potential take-home increase of 15 percent … or $12.

2. Route the tour so all meals can be eaten at KFC Buffets.

3. Hire street urchins to steal wallets from the audience. Sell them back to the owners at the merch table.

4. Institute capitalism instead of communism with regard to road earnings and immediately name yourself the bank. If you must loan out tour income to other band members, do so at a crippling interest rate.

5. Rent economy-sized cars and transport the bass player in the gear trailer.

6. Tell female band members not to be so uptight; every woman on the road is a lot lizard once in a while.

7. Each night, fire your banjo player and then rehire him after you get paid.

8. Make up a serious but undetectable illness. Instead of the encore, sob uncontrollably on your knees telling the crowd the only cure is paper airplane 20s thrown on stage.

9. Make inroads with the Chinese mafia. (Shh, tell you why later.)

10. Insist that the audience Spotify stream your album on repeat for the duration of the show.

11. Have stacks of Monopoly money on hand to make change for the elderly.

12. Leave some room in the van for a few pounds of weed … you’re driving through Madison, anyway, and that dealer Chris said he was looking.

The above is a work of satire. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental … although entirely likely.

Photo credit: Themeplus via Foter.com / CC BY-SA.

12 Sad, Sad Songs by Patty Griffin

Posted on by Editor

Patty Griffin kind of can't help but have sad songs … it's just in her voice. But that's one of the reasons we love her so. Still, it makes the compilation of a "Sad, Sad Songs" list all that much more difficult. After all, the whole of Living with Ghosts could be included on such a list, but we made some effort to pare the picks down … so you don't have to. 

"Moses" from Living with Ghosts

Key Lyric: "Diamonds, roses, I need Moses to cross this sea of loneliness, part this Red River of pain. I don't necessarily buy any key to the future or happiness, but I need a little place in the sun sometimes or I think I will die."

"Goodbye" from Flaming Red

Key Lyric: "Today my heart is big and sore. It's tryin' to push right through my skin. I won't see you anymore — I guess that's finally sinkin' in."

"Coming Home to Me" from Downtown Church

Key Lyric: "When you get to that place that's just under the stars, hanging over the tree at a quarter to three … When you get there, you'll know that's as far as you go. When you get there you'll see, you were already free."

"One More Girl" from Silver Bell

Key Lyric: "You don't know what you want. At this moment, you think it could be me, so you move your hand across my knee, turn me into some novelty."

"Let Him Fly" from Living with Ghosts

Key Lyric: "There's no mercy in a live wire, no rest at all in freedom. Of the choices we are given, it's no choice at all. The proof is in the fire — you touch before it moves away. But you must always know how long to stay … and when to go."

"Rain" from 1,000 Kisses

Key Lyric: "Now I don't wanna beg you, baby, for something maybe you could never give. I'm not looking for the rest of your life — I just want another chance to live."

"That Kind of Lonely" from American Kid

Key Lyric: "Every strand has come unwound. Every heart is all worn down. Everyone in this room wanted to be somewhere else. So tonight I find the key and drive away a little early. It's the last time I wanna be that kind of lonely."

"Long Ride Home" from 1,000 Kisses

Key Lyric: "Forty years go by with someone laying in your bed. Forty years of things you say you wish you'd never said. How hard would it have been to say some kinder words instead? I wonder as I stare up at the sky turning red."

"Someone Else's Tomorrow" from Children Running Through

Key Lyric: "You filed out of the churchyard so cold it was silver, to gold, tan, and blue cars. And the cars drove away. All the memories fade. Send the ghosts on their way. Tell them they've had their day — it's someone else's tomorrow."

"You Never Asked Me" from Servant of Love

Key Lyric: "It was an exercise in catastrophe. It was a dance of destruction. It was the daze of futility. It was the flight of fragile wings."

"Mother of God" from Impossible Dream

Key Lyric: "So I'm wearing my footsteps into this floor. One day, I won't live here anymore. Someone will wonder who lived here before and went on their way."

"Wild Old Dog" from American Kid

Key Lyric: "Dropped him out on 93. Tall grass was waving there just like the sea. He tore off running like we set him free, just disappeared right in front of me. God is a wild old dog someone left out on the highway."

Editor’s Note: Patty Griffin is one of the latest lineup additions for the 15th Edition of Cayamo: A Journey Through Song! BGS is excited to be onboard with Patty and so many other great Americana acts in February. Take a look at our photo recap from last year’s cruise.