It’s Turntable Tuesday…because life is too short not to listen to great music! Turn that TV OFF! Crank up your local speaker with some of your favorite music or even better crank up some vinyl! This month I am going to feature artists playing at the virtual Farm Aid show on September 26th. One of those artists will be Bonnie Raitt so I decided to break out my 1977 original pressing of “Sweet Forgiveness.” I remember buying this album the year I graduated from high school with money I made from a summer job and I promptly made a cassette recording of the record so it has very limited play. I think I wore the cassette out in my car.
Before I get into the main story…Don’t forget Bonnie Raitt will be in the virtual Farm Aid broadcast on September 26. I wish we could all be there but here we are. I am raising money for Farm Aid as a long time supporter. YOU can help too! Please send even a small donation to my page! I am trying to put together some money for them this year. I have a separate blog post from last week you can check out with the podcast. Think about it like taking care of your neighbor, think about helping the family who is working all day to make sure we all can eat this winter. There are those who have had a tough time this year and Farm Aid can help! All they need is even a small donation to my page to make a difference. $5 or anything is help because it takes a few good people to help another hard working American out sometimes. Here is the link to my page. Take a minute and send even a small donation to Farm Aid. It is very easy and you can even donate anonymously. https://give.farmaid.org/fundraiser/2873149
After you finish the story don’t forget to subscribe to my companion podcast on any of the podcast applications or you can listen on the player below.
I can remember what was happening in music in 1977. I was busy trying to figure out my moves for college and always thinking of how to get close to the people who were listening to good music and always trying to figure out how to get to a live gig if I could. At the time I did not have a clue that I would cross paths with quite a few of the people who created this music but I have several been fortunate to have some moments here and there in fact several times in many cases. I have been on the road chasing this music passion of mine all my life.
This album is so full of people that I was listening to at the time. I was wearing out some Little Feat in my car as I flew up and down the highways of the south. Fred Tackett is on guitars on this one and Billy Payne plays the synthesizer and organ. David Grisman is on mandocello. David has been through North Carolina quite a bit playing and not hard to see in some really cool settings. Will McFarlane is the tall guy on electric and slide guitars. Will is friends with many of my friends and one of the cooler things was to hang either at Mel Melton’s Cajun place in Durham in the glory days or see Will at his birthday party with most of his family on stage at the Blue Note Grill. That was a fun night. Later Fred Tackett and Paul Barrere from Little Feat showed up and Will joined them on stage there. I have some photos on my blog from those nights.
Freebo is on bass on this record. I have crossed paths with Freebo many times and quite a few of them were in Key West. The last time I saw Freebo he was looking for my tv remote to watch something on TV in Key West. I do not remember what year that was. It is all a blur.
JD Souther is on this record and he is quite the talent. I have been to many of his live performances and always enjoy a good chat with him at the end of the evening. He is on the background vocals with amazing artists Michael McDonald and one of my favorites Rosemary Butler. They are on all the vocals from the hits this record put on the FM airwaves. I also cannot leave out the great Sam Clayton from Little Feat. I remember so many times I have watched Sam perform with everyone from Jimmy Buffett to Little Feat. He has always been a favorite of mine and I love his deep voice when he gets a vocal spotlight. “Oh yeah.” He plays on the title track “Sweet Forgiveness.”
If you listen to this album there is some incredible music on both sides. “Sweet Forgiveness” and “Runaway” are masterpieces. There are amazing vocals from some of the best of this era. It is so cool that so many greats ended up in one place to record these tracks. The studio was Sunset Sound Recorders which was a magnet for great musicians. Over 200 million-selling albums have come out of those walls. The late Paul Rothschild produced this record. He put his touches on some great recordings for the short time he was on the planet.
I’ll talk more on the podcast about the record. Sorry about all the photos of me and so and so. I was just enjoying some trips down memory lane even writing this. It is all a part of the passionate musical journey I am still on.
Stay healthy people. I am so looking forward to the day when I can complain about sweaty people being in my personal space at a concert. I really mean that. Better days are ahead. Keep the faith. Until next time I’ll see you , down the road.
As I walk along I wonder what went wrong
With our love, a love that was so strong
And as still walk on I think of the things we’ve done
Together while our hearts were young
I’m a walking in the rain, tears are falling and I feel a pain
Wishing you were here by me to end this misery
And I wonder, I wo wo wo wo wonder
Why, why why why why why you ran away
And I wonder where you will stay
My little runaway, a run run run run runaway