Duluth Music In A Blue Haze

I've got another local (Duluth, MN) artist for you today. Also a friend of mine and also someone I met through my kids.

Some months ago, there was some "culture day" or something like that at my kids' school and I was invited (along with numerous other parents) to make a brief presentation in my daughter's class on my Indian heritage. One of the other parents there brought a guitar and performed some great folk songs.

Later I found out that Greg Tiburzi has released a couple of CDs locally and I recently bought his latest CD release. The songs here are taken from his newest album, In a Blue Haze. These are delightfully simple folk songs that will have you hummin' and enjoying the lyrics.

As usual, I had a hard time selecting a couple of songs to feature. I really liked How You Gonna Get Up? and almost picked Blue Feelin' as my second song. At the last moment, I switched to the Musquetor Two-Step because I had to laugh out loud when listening to it. Anyone who has spent any time in Minnesota during the summer will be able to relate to this song. If you haven't spent any time enjoying the state bird of Minnesota during the summer (the "musquetor"), consider yourself lucky!

You can read a brief review of the CD here. The easiest way to buy a copy of the CD is by emailing Greg at gregtiburzi@yahoo.com. The CD costs a mere $12.

1. Greg Tiburzi - How You Gonna Get Up? (3.3 MB; 128kbps MP3)

2. Greg Tiburzi - Musquetor Two-Step (4.48 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Listen to the pouring rain ...

Many years ago, I owned an album by Jose Feliciano. Although I think it was a greatest hits album, I recall the one song I instantly fell in love with was Rain. It has all the elements of a song I tend to like - simple lyrics sung in a heartfelt manner and a catchy melody.

It is easy to generate the visual imagery of a cool, cloudy, rainy evening with you all alone at home thinking of your love who is far away. The loneliness coupled with the mild depression brought on by the weather makes you realize how much you love the one you're missing and how much better it would be if she was there with you. The lyrics in this song just seem natural in that context. Even though the words seem to be sung to someone in the room with him, I see it more as the singer sitting alone and reassuring himself of his love for a woman. He almost seems to be trying to cheer himself up by singing about her.

Or, I could be reading way too much into all of this ...

Jose is a unique singer and a virtuoso guitarist. Some of his greatest hits were covers of other hit songs (probably his biggest hit was his exceptional and unique cover of Light My Fire). The second song I feature here is a cover of Lennon-McCartney's In My Life. Again, he puts his own stamp on it and doesn't try to recreate the original. According to his bio on wikipedia, he was born blind and taught himself to play the guitar by locking himself up in a room and practicing 14 hours a day. Now if that doesn't lead to passionate playing, I don't know what will.

As usual, if you're as enthralled by Jose Feliciano as I was when I first heard him, you can find most of his discography at Amazon here. As a start, I would recommend The Definite Best which seems to be a fairly comprehensive coverage of his hits at a reasonable price. You'll love the passion in Hitchcock Railway and enjoy his spin on the many covers on the disc.

As long as we're together, who cares about the weather ...

UPDATE (5/17/2010): MP3s deleted at the request of DMCA and Google. Don't bother trying to sample music here before buying.

1. Jose Feliciano - Rain (2.25 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Jose Feliciano - In My Life (3.09 MB; 128 Kbps MP3)

Your Next Boyfriend - Cam Waters

After suggesting in my last post that music is universal and that melody is paramount, I'm going to do an about face. If you focus on catchy melodies and beat, you miss the emotion conveyed by the lyrics. Now, I'll admit that I'm not a "lyrics man." I almost never pay attention to song lyrics (about the only album I know all the lyrics to is Jesus Christ Superstar). But people who write their own songs generally seem to have something real to say - in a clever way. For example, read this lyric from Cam Waters' "Like Normal People Do."

And he said let's go to the living room and turn on the TV
And I won't speak to you and you won't even look at me
Then we'll be talking to each other like normal people do

Now isn't that a clever way to make a statement? Beautiful!

One of the things I enjoyed doing is (when possible) to pop into bars and listen to some local band. The best part of traveling in this country is that you can often find excellent singers in the smallest and pokiest bars and restaurants. These tend to be people who genuinely love the music and perform for peanuts. It just offers them a release for their pent up emotions. These are not the voices you're going to find on American Idol (Thank God for that!), but the music tends to be heartfelt. I'm not talking of the cover bands. I'm talking of the independent musicians - singers and songwriters who use music to express themselves - who don't perform to make a buck. Some are awful, some you feel sorry for, some are decent, some are great, but all are genuine.

So, I was in Rochester, Minnesota several years ago and stopped in a bar with Cam Waters. Not the voice that'll win awards, but he seemed to be enjoying himself while pouring his heart into his singing. I had such a great time that I could not resist buying his CD. Here are a couple of selections of pure American folk-blues from Mr. Cam Waters. The first song has simple, spontaneous lyrics with a catchy tune and the second also seems to have been written after a personal experience!

You can find Cam Waters' CDs on his web site http://www.camwaters.com. Both the selections here are from his album Shoetown. Unfortunately, when I checked his "gigs" page, it was empty. Sad.

1. Cam Waters - Your Next Boyfriend (2.01 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Cam Waters - Never Have Been Satisfied (3.11 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Justin Roth - Singer, Songwriter

I teach at a University in the business school and am fortunate to have musicians as students every now and then. One of my former students is Justin Roth who I would describe as a troubadour (he may object, in which case I'd be happy to alter this description). While I enjoyed his first album, I think his 2003 album Shine is a particular joy to listen to. I think it is well recorded, well balanced, and I also think his voice has developed to have a better tonal quality than on his first album.

Although I missed him on his last visit to town, I did get the album and have listened to it many times since then. Both the songs I am featuring here are from Shine. However, the "fun" frolic titled "Dead Horse Trampoline" is not written by Justin (almost all the other songs on the album are written by him). I challenge you to listen to Dead Horse Trampoline without smiling.

You can find out more about Justin here. His touring schedule is here. Please buy his CDs here.

1. Justin Roth - Dead Horse Trampoline (2.85 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Justin Roth - Pull (3.21 MB; 128kbps MP3)