The Ballad of Easy Rider
37. John Hurlbut & Jorma Kaukonen, Great Lake Swimmers, The Kinks, Arcade Fire, Bruce Coburn, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Stones, Pretty Reckless, Oliver Anthony, Arthur Lee & Love, Roger Miller
Once a week or so, I share a 10 song playlist of grooviness… My idea is to highlight music I love and to post sweet performances, outstanding videos and great audio recordings which tickle the ears and leave a lasting impression. Play just the ones you want or play dj, lining them up to listen to in succession. An index of all of john’s jukebox songs is here.
The Ballad of Easy Rider by John Hurlbut and Jorma Kaukonen
2020 The River Flows
Your Rocky Spine by Great Lake Swimmers
2017 - The Barbershop Sessions
I’m Not Like Everybody Else by The Kinks
1966 Face to Face
Wake Up by Arcade Fire
2012 Live at Austin City Limits
If I Had A Rocket Launcher by Bruce Coburn with Colin Linden
2012 Austin City Limits
You Worry Me by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Stones
2018 - Recorded at WXPN Studios in Philadelphia on 3/9/2018
Heaven Knows by Pretty Reckless
2014 Going to Hell
Rich Men North Of Richmond by Oliver Anthony
2023 Rich Men North of Richmond
Five String Serenade by Arthur Lee and Love
1992 Arthur Lee and Love
King of the Road by Roger Miller
1965 The Return of Roger Miller
I love The Ballad of Easy Rider... very good! Are you still doing this lists?
John, I had written up responses to each song a couple of days ago, and could have sworn I’d hit “post,” but obviously something distracted me and I didn’t complete the maneuver. Here’s what I intended to say, best as I can reconstruct. Overall, as per our recent discussion on how songs fit together or flow from one to the next, I was listening for that when going through your list and, yes, though there's a variety here, you nailed it again.
I enjoyed the sprawling acoustic sounds of “The Ballad of Easy Rider,” a new one for me, both the song and artists. Then, when I saw Great Lake Swimmers, I immediately set to writing my own post about “My Rocky Spine,” as you’ve already seen. They are just so good, hypnotic in a way I find, especially with some of their songs, like this one for instance. Such a deep, soulful homage to the land. Anyway, after branching out on that song, it took me a few days to get back here, and now a couple more once I realized my comment had not come through two days ago. So here I am again…
I can’t say I have ever been a fan of the Kinks, and can’t say why as I would have been exposed to their music by my older brothers, though I don’t recall them being playing a lot. But “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” lives up to its name; it has an energy that drew me in and I quite liked it.
“Wake Up” is an anthem I remember so well from the first hearing when one of our boys brought the ‘Funeral’ CD home while visiting home from away during the Christmas holidays the year the album came out. That day sparked a long and mostly faithful relationship with Arcade Fire’s music, and seeing them twice in concert; the first with my son Kieran and a few years later with Alys-Lynne. (Long aside here: at about 18, Kieran formed one of his earlier bands, a seven-piece modelled after AF. They won a CBC Manitoba contest for the best young band in the province later in the year this amateur video was made at their first show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMjT9MU1TC4 He is the more active one on stage, singing second… note the development of his voice since then, on the ‘Dark Little Ones’ CD! The MC introducing them, Stephen Eric MacIntyre, was a local anchor of the performing arts world, then went on to star in several TV series. Sadly, Stephen died last year. A very fine fellow who Alys-Lynne and I spoke with at length once, many years ago as he toured us around a near-to-us theatre occupying a long-ago gas station (aptly named the Gas Station Theatre). He seemed to run the place, though wasn’t paid staff, just loved theatre.
Next comes another Austin City Limits video… a show I should pay more attention to. My first time hearing this version of “Rocket Launcher.” A very strong rendition of an important song, the kind Cockburn excels at. And I was quite taken with the deep, soulful sounds of “You Worry Me,” making me want to hear more from this band. “Heaven Knows” gave me a bit of a Joan Jett vibe though with more depth and soul, I want to say? Pretty solid performance. I can’t say the next two tracks did much for me, though Oliver Anthony’s voice was compelling.
“King of the Road” is a great way to end the set; a wonderful, light-hearted kind of song I have so many memories around, with it being another one I associate with my childhood home. No doubt something my parents listened to as opposed to the siblings. Miller had such a terrific voice.