Yes cover-band singer Benoit David gets chance to front the real thing

Yes without Jon Anderson? It's a little like thinking about Led Zeppelin without Robert Plant. (Of course, that's exactly what Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones are thinking about these days.)

Of course, Yes has a history of fluid membership - even briefly replacing its singer once before, when Trevor Horn subbed for Anderson on 1980's Drama. And the band new singer Benoit David fronts on the tour starting Nov. 4 isn't exactly Yes - though it will feature bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Alan White and it will play Yes songs. (Oliver Wakeman will fill in for his father, Rick Wakeman, on keyboards.)

My USA Today story covers the basics (feel free to go read it and click the "recommend" button so my bosses know you liked it), but I thought fans of the band might enjoy the longer interview I had with Benoit David earlier this month.

How did you get into the music of Yes in the first place?

Benoit David: I’ve always been playing in bands – Top 40, rock ’n’ roll bands, playing in clubs and so forth. I had this garage band at one point – that was back in the early ’90s, I guess – and there was this bassist. He used to tell me, ‘Man, you should sing Yes music. You’ve got the pitch, you’ve got the voice for that.’

I knew a couple of the songs. I knew the stuff from the 90125 album and a couple of other songs, the songs I heard on the radio – 'Roundabout' and 'All Good People,' all that stuff.

It so happened that a couple of years later, this guy met somebody that was looking for people to form a tribute band. That was in 1994. So this guitarist gives me a call and says, ‘Somebody told me you could sing that.’ I went and passed an audition, and it was an instant hit. We put the band together. That’s when I got familiar with Close to the Edge, The Yes Album and Fragile, Tales From Topographic Oceans. I thought it was just fantastic.



So it was because you had the voice that other people brought you into the music.

To be honest with you, that’s the way it happened. Some musicians that knew that material thought I had the voice for it.

That was Close to the Edge that formed back in 1994?

Back then it was called Gaia, with most of the members of the Close to the Edge band.

I’m betting that fronting a Yes cover band doesn’t pay all the bills.

No, it doesn’t – especially not in Montreal!

Do you have a day job as well?

Yes, I do. I own a business in which I repair car interiors – plastic, leathers, fabrics, that sort of thing. All kinds of damage you can find inside a car, a boat or RVs.

I understand you also have another band, called Mystery.

Mystery is a progressive-rock band that is basically one man, called Michele St-Pere, who is the owner of the Unicorn Record company. He does pretty much all Mystery’s music. He writes the lyrics, he writes the music. He performs a lot of the music. He actually lives very close to my place. He actually had come to one of Gaia’s concerts back when. He liked what he heard, so at one point he was able to find my number and give me a call, so that’s when we started to work together.

What was your first contact with the members of Yes?

My first contact with the members of Yes was on the phone when Chris called me. It was mid-June, and I was working. I remember – I was in the river, fixing seats on a boat. Chris Squire gives me a call, and I almost fell in the river. I thought somebody was pranking me! I was looking all over for cameras. I couldn’t believe. But, yes, it was Chris Squire calling me. That was the first contact. He’s a cool dude, a really nice guy.

Tell me about that conversation — What did he say? What did you say?

He had just spoken with Richard Lanthier, our band manager and bass player. They had a conversation before, a couple of conversations, actually. Richard had ordered a re-release of a vintage album Chris had made. Chris and his wife, Scotty, were taking care of that in their own kitchen. At one point, they give Richard a call. Richard, while he had them on the phone, said, ‘We have this Yes tribute band, you might want to check it out. Just go on the web – ctte.net.’ So that’s what Chris did. Then, he was very pleased with that, so he wrote that he liked us very much, that he would send the coordinates to the other band members.

It so happened that, a couple weeks after, Jon went sick. So Chris called Richard and said, I thought maybe we could borrow your singer for the tour. Would it be okay if we borrowed your singer? Richard said, I can’t answer for him. Give him a call. That’s when Chris called me.

So Chris says, I just spoke with Richard. I asked him if we could borrow you. He says, well, you know, we’re just getting ready to go on the road, then you heard the news, Jon got sick. We don’t have a singer anymore. So I thought maybe you’d be available to come and tour with us. That’s what he told me. I was so surprised.

A bit of chit chat – that’s about all I remember, to be honest with you. It was very surprising.

I assume there was some sort of audition.

Yes, there was, for sure.

I met them in a rehearsal room. We played a bit of music, got to chit-chat a bit. I thought they were very simple – you know, like band members. Like different bands that I was into. We were together to play music. Very respectful. It didn’t feel at all like I was this little guy from Montreal meeting with the big guys from London. It just felt like meeting with guys to put a band together and play music. It was very simple.

What’s the difference between rehearsing with those guys and with Close to the Edge? You’re playing the same music, but you’ve got completely different people.

I never asked myself the question. I’m trying to see. Obviously, it’s playing with the real guys. That’s special. They’re there. I mean – Chris, Alan, Steve – they’re the real McCoys, you know? Otherwise, it’s playing music with the boys.

So what you had done with Close to the Edge had really prepared you. You knew this music, which is pretty complex stuff.

Yes, oh yes, that’s for sure. I learned the music and the most complicated songs anyway. Yes, I was very well prepared for that.

How has the announcement that you’d be touring with Chris, Alan and Steve changed your day-to-day life?

Well, my life has changed completely. I had to put aside my business and become a full-time singer, which I hadn’t been since I was 25, when I was touring in bars and those places. So, yes, I had to put away my business for a little while and arrange for somebody to take care of my kids for the time that I’ll be away and basically focus on the singing and learning the songs.

How many kids do you have?

I have two boys.

You said you own your business. Do you have a storefront, or do you work out of your home?

It’s a mobile business. I work out of my truck. I referred my customers to somebody who can take care of them while I’m away. It’s fairly simple. But I’ve worked hard for a while. It took me a little while to get used to the idea.

Close to the Edge focuses on Yes music from 1971 to 1974. What will the In the Present sets draw from?

The set lists are not done completely now. We’re working on that. We’ll rehearse different songs of different eras and just trying out different things, to try to make it as good as possible. It’s going to be more than just the 71 to 74 period, obviously. We’re not sure yet exactly what it’s going to be.

Which Yes songs do you most enjoy singing?

I get a pretty big thrill out of all of them, to be honest with you. I really get a big kick out of 'And You and I,' 'Heart of the Sunrise.' I love to sing 'Soon.' 'Close to the Edge' is great as well. They’re great songs. Just to tell you, you can’t imagine, I mean – you’ve listened to Yes music, haven’t you?

Definitely.

Listening to Jon Anderson sing, how does that make somebody feel? Can you just imagine what it’s like to sing it yourself? It’s indescribable!

Are there any songs that are especially difficult for you to nail?

The nailing period is when I have to learn it. When that is done, then it’s okay. So I’m okay with all of them now. Sometimes, they’re difficult, because they’re complicated. They’re hard to sing, in a vocal point of view, because it’s Jon Anderson singing. It’s not always easy to do that, for starters. And the music is – I don’t know if this is the right word, I always have to translate from French to English when I speak – ‘complicated’ music. It’s not easy to do. Sometimes, it takes a lot of rehearsing. It takes a lot of figuring out. It’s hard work sometimes.

Have you discussed with Chris or anyone else in the band plans beyond this tour?

What happened was ... Yes hasn’t toured for four years. They’re ready to go on tour, then Jon went sick. They really wanted to do this tour, so they asked me to do the singing for now. But everybody hopes that Jon gets well as soon as possible and comes back. So, for the time being, we’re talking about this six-week period. That’s what it is for now.

At one point, Jon posted something on his website saying he felt disrespected by the other band members and was disappointed they didn’t wait till next year to tour, when he was fully recovered. They've apparently smoothed things over since then, but how did you feel when you heard that?

To be honest with you, it doesn’t really concern me that much. It doesn’t have much to do with me. How I felt is, I’m just putting myself in Jon’s shoes for a second. He’s been singing for 45 years or so. He’s been singing with that great voice, having all that success and writing all those great songs. All of a sudden, his health doesn’t permit him to do it anymore. I can just imagine how he feels.

When things like that happen, sometimes, as a person, you can feel bad, you know, and say different things. He didn’t say anything bad against me. I’ve never met him. I think things have smoothed out now.

Have you ever had a chance to speak with Jon – or Trevor Horn, for that matter?

No, I haven’t, actually, no.

Have you followed what fans have said online on Yes message boards?

I haven’t. My buddies, my bandmates, every now and then, give me a couple of things on that. But, no, I haven’t read them.

How do you mentally prepare yourself to go in and replace somebody who’s so important to you, as well as to so many other people?

I just do what I usually do, and I do it my best. I’m getting my voice ready. I’m learning the songs and all those things. I’m not Jon Anderson. I can’t replace Jon Anderson. I’ll just do my best. I’ll just sing the songs and do my best, but I can’t replace Jon Anderson – nobody can.

'Fearless' Gets Covered, Swiftly

For a song that's not a single, that's not commercially available, that's not even out for another three months, a lot of people sure do know Taylor Swift's "Fearless." As I note in a story for USA Today, if you search for the words "taylor," "swift" and "fearless" at YouTube, you'll get results showing nearly 100 aspiring singers who've already learned the song, covered it and made their own videos. I counted more than 80 this morning, but I probably missed some.

To save you the time of searching for them all, I'm posting them here. Have fun.

Haleybop5726 - 15-year-old from Kenosha, Wisc. One of the most popular versions. Quoted in my story.


mmcherry7 - also quoted in the story.


Lanetteee


strappleberry012 - fuzzy video, but she sure does have a nice voice


Itsemilybroussard - gets some reverb by sitting on the edge of her bathtub.


Guitartutee – this is a guy showing how to play it on acoustic guitar


californiasunshinex3 – a cappella, in the dark


rodeogirl4life234 – singing along with some recording


Xsurfhardliveezx


TheJen429


SammFisher


Joyandcarrie


Sheenagm


TearDropsOnMyGuitar5


proudbrunette52


Charridom


horsechik1001


Boomfernickel


Lisakonopinski


CountryChicks


country601cutie


musicismyantidrug99


halgal014


bubbles121896


FaithFan4Life


kayeeel13


ChesCsings


Dawneevang


o0JT0o


Tehhawtchix


danigirl789


Megobutt


kfo0312


MusicIsMyLight


Christinepaopao


xcgirl01


sugarandspice095


JodyLynnJackson


IluvJTnewhouse


Imasongwriter


Dabomb


Sugarandink


jazibaby14


Megarie24


Vickyxanne


soumaya000


CBandEB


sarahbab178


stephsmusic00


katyvd08


sloanekrazi789


HoLlYw0oDhErEiCoMe


XoStayBeautifulox


Drawpaintplay


Luluhornpuckle


sherripickle007


Jlofluteplayer


Pshawnuh


lilpunkerr12


Shanirona


Peacelovetaylorswift


beautifulove3


ness171990


coolbeans412


HannahAndKristen


sglny9000


angeloutside17


jesayka


modelingmaniac


LaurenTaylorB


beccasue1130


HowDxoxox


barbthebookworm


taylorswiftfreak32


pinkisware65


claytryon


rachelclerc


BullRidinGirl08


b4marti


tbsjunkie


mandyxalwaysxknows


Emmz120152


Sweetmelodym


Had enough yet?

Sunday Morning Gospel: The Swanee Quintet

Roundabout way to this performance: I first learned this Charles Tindley song on a Washington Phillips collection that T-Bone Burnett recommended to me. I've since heard Vince Gill perform it, and it's now being used, via a Lilly Brothers recording, in a commercial for Blue Bell Ice Cream.



The Swanee Quintet started in Augusta, Georgia, in 1940. Fellow Augusta native James Brown helped popularize the group, a version of which continues to perform today.

Saturday Morning Cartoon - George of the Jungle

Sunday Morning Gospel: The Trumpeteers

One of my favorite gospel tunes, "Milky White Way" (I first learned it from Elvis Presley's version). The Trumpeteers came out of Maryland and were reputed to have sold a million copies of their recording for Score Records in 1948.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Space Ghost

"The Robot Monster," from 1966 - Space Ghost's original run.

Sunday Morning Gospel: The Pilgrim Jubilees

From 1964 - "Testify."

Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Jackson 5ive

No commentary this week, because I cut my two fingers pretty severely, and I'm typing one-handed for a while. So watch and enjoy.

There's a Choice We're Making - We're Saving Our Own Wives

Fellow reporter Edna Gundersen just sent me this YouTube video of Japanese celebrity lookalikes singing "We Are the World." I can't even imagine the context for this performance. Wait for Cyndi Lauper.

Sunday Morning Gospel: Rance Allen

I've had the distinct pleasure of seeing Rance Allen perform twice in the past year - first, at the 50th anniversary celebration for Stax Records in Memphis, then in Nashville at a luncheon honoring the Mighty Clouds of Joy. He's always a showstopper. In fact, when I asked Steve Cropper about his favorite moment of the Stax show - which also included Isaac Hayes, Eddie Floyd and a Booker T & the MGs reunion, he said, "Any night I get to see Rance Allen is a good night." This video of Allen performing "Something About That Name" with Kirk Franklin will give you an idea of what he can do, but there's nothing like seeing him do those vocal runs in person.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Cool McCool

Cool McCool, a secret-agent spoof (think animated Get Smart) from Batman creator Bob Kane, aired on NBC Saturday mornings during the 1966-67 and 1967-68 seasons. But I remember it airing on the local Bozo show. Danger is his business.

Sunday Morning Gospel: Inez Andrews and the Andrewettes

Ex-Caravan Inez Andrews sings a slowed-down version of "Mary Don't You Weep." Hold on for the end, when Inez goes for the big notes. Definitely worth the wait.

Saturday Cartoon - The Mighty Heroes

The Mighty Heroes, which first aired on CBS during the 1966-67 season, was the first cartoon series I ever remember watching. The hero team featured Strong Man, Rope Man, Tornado Man, Cuckoo Man and - my favorite at the time, since I was about 3 years old - Diaper Man.

The series originally aired as part of the Mighty Mouse Playhouse and was created by Ralph Bakshi, who would later helm Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (and do a lot of other stuff, too). The guy who did the voices of Strong Man, Diaper Man and Tornado Man apparently was also the voice of the Jolly Green Giant and Charlie the Tuna.




If this just whets your appetite, you also should check out the 1993 song "The Mighty Heroes" by Indianapolis punk band Sloppy Seconds.

Sunday Morning Gospel - The Swan Silvertones

That's the great Claude Jeter singing lead, y'all. "Only Believe."

Favorite New Band: Beat Union

Didn't post a new Sunday Morning Gospel video yesterday, maybe because I spent too much of the weekend listening to an advance of Beat Union's Disconnected. I'm a sucker for a band with an obvious Jam influence, which this U.K. four-piece acknowledges in the first line of the album's first song. The band starts a tour of the USA in a few days - of course, they're not coming to Nashville and I'm not going to SXSW, so I'm out of luck. For now, I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with the album (out April 22 on Science Records) and a couple of videos.

Here's "Can't Stop the Radio":



"She Is the Gun":

Dave Clark Five Singer Mike Smith, 1943-2008

Here's the official press release:

Mike Smith, the lead singer and keyboard player of The Dave Clark Five, one of the premier bands to emerge during the 1960’s “British Invasion”, died today from pneumonia at Stoke Mandeville Hospital outside of London. His devoted wife, Arlene, who is known as Charlie, was by his side. Smith was 64 years old.

Smith, who was due to be inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame with his band mates on Monday, March 10th, was admitted to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit yesterday morning with a chest infection, a complication from a spinal cord injury he sustained in September, 2003 that left him a tetraplegic (paralyzed below the ribcage with limited use of his upper body). Smith had been in the hospital since the accident, and was just released in December 2007 when he moved into a specially-prepared home near the hospital with his wife. Prior to his hospitalization yesterday, arrangements were being made to transport Smith to New York so he could personally attend the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

After his accident, Smith found tremendous support from his peers including Bruce Springsteen, Little Steven Van Zandt, and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, who helped defray his medical costs through donations and fundraisers. Long-time fan and “Late Show” bandleader, Paul Shaffer, helped organize a benefit concert in New York in August 2005, which featured many of Smith’s fellow “British Invasion” stars, including The Zombies and Peter & Gordon. A DVD of the benefit, Paul Shaffer and his British Invasion: A Tribute to Mike Smith will be released in March by VDI Entertainment.

According to Smith’s agent, Margo Lewis of TCI in New York, “These last five years were extremely difficult for Mike. I am incredibly saddened to lose him, his energy and his humor, but I am comforted by the fact that he had the chance to spend his final months and days at home with his loving wife, Charlie, whom he adored, instead of in the hospital, and that he was able to attend a recent concert in London by his good friend, Bruce Springsteen. He was extremely excited and honored to have been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and I am glad that he will be remembered as a “Hall of Famer,” because he was in so many ways.”

Now here's some video:

Sunday Morning Gospel - The Highway Q.C.'s

Sunday Morning Gospel - The Dixie Hummingbirds

The Dixie Hummingbirds, singing "Bedside of a Neighbor." These are the guys that sang behind Paul Simon on "Loves Me Like a Rock."

Marty Stuart, Glasgow, Kentucky, 2/1/2008

I've heard of people feeling like a performer was singing right to them, but I've never had the experience of feeling like someone was playing an entire show just for me. But that's exactly what happened last Friday night when I saw Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives play the Plaza Theater in Glasgow, Kentucky.

My father's from Glasgow, about 80 miles north of Nashville, and my 86-year-old grandmother still lives there. When I was little, I used to occasionally see movies at the Plaza, which sits near one corner of the town square, but it had been shuttered since the ’90s. That abandoned movie house haunted me for years: Often, I asked my grandmother to introduce me to the person who owned the property, hoping I'd be able to convince him to let me have the ticket kiosk, or at least talk my way into an afternoon scavenging the property.

A renovated Plaza re-opened a couple years back, but I hadn't had a chance to visit it. I figured a concert by Marty Stuart - whom I'd often seen perform at the Grand Ole Opry but had never seen do a full show of his own - would be the perfect excuse. So I took my grandmother, my wife, and two of our kids.

Marty couldn't have played a better show for me if he'd let me pick the set list myself. He played the two songs my 6-year-old daughter, Gracelyn, had latched onto during the drive from Nashville - "Hillbilly Rock" and "Tempted." He played "Dark as a Dungeon," a song I've head him do at the Opry but which I don't think he's ever recorded. A coal mining song by the late Merle Travis, "Dark as a Dungeon" was Gracelyn's lullaby as a baby. Marty's performacne put her right to sleep.

Marty also performed his "Dark Bird," which uses the crows that favor the property Marty bought from the Cash estate as a metaphor for the Man in Black's soul. "I like crows," Marty said. "They're really weird birds, and they dress like Johnny Cash."

I'd never heard "Dark Bird" before, but I've associated Cash with crows since the last time I interviewed him, when we sat on the porch of his house and listened to the birds.

"Every time I sit out here and talk to somebody," Cash told me, "crows start up. I have a crow caller. I'll start calling them, and they'll start circling over here to see where the crow is. Because I make it sound like a wounded crow." Cash loved messing with the crows.

Cash tied into Marty's show in another personal way for me when Marty played Bill Monroe's "My Last Days on Earth." It's a relatively obscure instrumental, one of my favorite Monroe tunes, and Johnny Cash is the person who introduced it to me. I'd never heard it performed live.

Marty knew that I was at the concert and in his encore, he gave me a shout out from the stage and dedicated a song to me - "Me & Hank & Jumpin' Jack Flash," which segued into Ola Belle Reed's "High on a Mountain Top." Now, "High on a Mountain Top" may not have been the first Marty Stuart record I ever wrote about, but it was the one that made me a lifelong fan some 15 years ago. If Marty knew that, I'm astonished at his memory. If he didn't, then I'm a little bit spooked.

Marty not only did my favorite hits, he did some of my favorites that he'd never recorded, one my favorites that I didn't even know he played, and a new favorite that I didn't even know he had written. Before the show, I noticed a set list on the audio console and took a peek. Some of the songs he performed that meant the most to me weren't on it. So I think I'm a little bit spooked anyway.

Sunday Morning Gospel—The Blind Boys of Mississippi

I recently found some treasure troves of old gospel video clips on YouTube. I'm a huge fan of Golden Era gospel - especially the quartets of the late ’30s through the mid-’60s - but had almost never seen footage of them performing. So these clips came as something of a revelation to me. I hope you'll enjoy them, too. If I can get in the habit, I'm going to post one each Sunday.

This first clip comes from the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi (not to be confused with the Five Blind Boys of Alabama). This particular clip comes from the mid-’60s and features Henry Johnson on lead. The Blind Boys original lead, Archie Brownlee, was one of gospel's great hard shouters (check out "Our Father," one of my very favorite performances, to see what I mean), but he died in February 1960. I think you'll like Johnson, though.

Enjoy - and if you know of more clips likes this, please let me know.

This Week's Mix - Feb. 1, 2008

1. Kathy Mattea, Coal (Captain Potato)
2. Dengue Fever, Venus on Earth (M80)
3. Bob Mould, District Line (Anti-)
4. Van Morrison, Keep It Simple (Lost Highway)
5. The Cat Empire, So Many Nights (Velour)
6. James McMurtry, Just Us Kids (Lightning Rod)
7. U2, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Island)
8. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (XL)
9. Ryan Adams, Rock N Roll (Lost Highway)
10. Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker (Lost Highway)

Willie Nelson's Moment of Forever

Willie Nelson might have recorded Kris Kristofferson’s “Moment of Forever” years ago, if he could have taken it seriously. The song, which is the title track of Nelson’s new album and one that Kristofferson sang at Johnny Cash’s funeral, begins like this:

Was it wonderful for you?
Was it holy as it was for me?
Did you feel the hand of destiny
That was guiding us together?

“It’s not the sort of song you want to look at your buddy and sing,” Nelson says. So when Kristofferson sang it for Nelson at his Maui home years ago, the two of them couldn’t stop laughing. It took Buddy Cannon, who co-produced Moment of Forever with Kenny Chesney, to make Nelson listen with fresh ears.

“Once I heard it again, I thought, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’” Nelson says. “I should have cut it last year.”

By the way, if you haven’t seen the video for Nelson's cover of Dave Matthews' "Gravedigger," you should.

The Blind Boys of Alabama at the Grand Ole Opry

Two months ago, without much fanfare, the Blind Boys of Alabama made their first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. I’d hoped to take the opportunity of that appearance to meet the group’s longtime lead singer, Clarence Fountain, who I’d once interviewed by phone. Unfortunately, I learned that he’d recently retired from the group because of health problems related to his diabetes.

Instead, I got to sit down for a few minutes backstage at the Ryman Auditorium with Jimmy Carter, the group’s shouter and now – with the retirement of Fountain and the passing of founding member George Scott in 2005 – its de facto leader.

As it turns out, Carter is a major country fan, from his childhood days. He was positively giddy backstage that night, getting to meet Little Jimmy Dickens, Jimmy C. Newman and John Conlee.

“I go way back,” recalls the native of Birmingham, Alabama. “I remember the Opry when George D. Hay was there, the Solemn Old Judge. That was the early ’40s—George D. Hay, Uncle Dave Macon, Stringbean. Man, I could go on and on.”

Carter says he made a habit of listening to the Opry’s half-hour network broadcast during the late ’30s and ’40s. “The Opry would come on NBC every Saturday night at 9:30 Central time,” he says. “Nine-thirty would find me in front of our little battery-powered RCA Victor radio. And I would listen to the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night.”

The Blind Boys initially booked their Opry appearance with the notion that Porter Wagoner would introduce them. Unfortunately, Wagoner passed away from lung cancer about a month before their appearance. Carter says he did get to speak with Wagoner by phone once.

“He said he would love to have us up here and he would be glad to introduce us,” Carter says. “I told him, ‘Well, I just want to be able to shake your hand. I love your music.’ He said, ‘We’re going to make that happen.’ Unfortunately, it did not happen. But I feel Porter here tonight.”

The group dedicated their final song – the version of “Amazing Grace” they sing to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” – to Wagoner’s family. (They also sang “Free at Last,” the lead track from the new CD Down in New Orleans, out today, and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”)

Carter also expressed admiration for the late Roy Acuff, particularly his performances of “Don’t Make Me Go to Bed and I’ll Be Good,” a real tearjerker of a childhood-tragedy song. “I would love to get a copy of that somehow,” he told me.

Being practically across the street from the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, the Ryman Auditorium is probably one of the few places in America where one can say, “Just a minute – I’ll go get a copy for you.” Sure enough, they had two copies of one of Acuff’s CDs with that song on it. I bought two – one for him, one for me. It’s not every day you get to buy one of your musical heroes a CD by one of their musical heroes.

If you want to get a sense of the Blind Boys of Alabama in their prime, check out these two videos. The first one features Carter prominently.

This Week's Mix - Jan. 24, 2008

1. The Blind Boys of Alabama, Down in New Orleans (Time Life)
2. Drive-By Truckers, Brighter Than Creation's Dark (New West)
3. Paul Thorn, A Long Way From Tupelo (Perpetual Obscurity)
4. Otis Taylor, Recapturing the Banjo (Telarc Blues)
5. Willie Nelson, "Gravedigger" [from Moment of Forever (Lost Highway)]
6. Love in October, Pontus, The Devil, and Me (The Musik Group)
7. Admiral Twin, Center of the Universe (The Pop Collective)
8. The SpongeTones, Always Carry On: The Best of the SpongeTones 1980-2005 (Loaded Goat)
9. The Youngbloods, "Darkness, Darkness" [from Get Together: The Essential Youngbloods (RCA/BMG Heritage)]
10. Plain White T's, "Hey There Delilah" [From Every Second Counts (Hollywood)]

Plain White T's Singer Gets a Date With Delilah

So Plain White T’s' Tom Higgenson finally got his date with Delilah. They’re going to the Grammys, where the persistent singer and his band are up for two awards, including Song of the Year for “Hey There Delilah.”

Contrary to the story the song tells, there’s no romance between Higgenson and Delilah DiCrescenzo, even now that the song Higgenson wrote for the Olympic track hopeful has become a massive hit.

“If we couldn’t make time to do it for the Grammys, we were never going to hang out,” DiCrescenzo says.

She wondered what took Higgenson so long to ask her to accompany him to the show. After all, on the day the Grammy nominations were announced, she’d read at MTV.com that he was planning to ask her. “I talked to him later that night, and he didn’t ask me, so I just played dumb,” she said. Higgenson didn’t get around to asking her until last week. “I was pretty shocked, because I didn’t actually think he was going to go through with it.”

Asked whether he was more nervous about his Grammy nominations or going out with Delilah for the first time, Higgenson considered choosing Delilah but finally ’fessed up: “I’m definitely more nervous about the Grammys. Ever since I was a little kid, I’d watch the Grammys every year and get so inspired by the performances. It’s a big deal for me. And to be nominated in such a big category – if we win that, it’ll definitely be the craziest moment of my life. Having Delilah there would make it even more crazy. It’s just going to be a weekend to remember.”

The trip to the Grammys will also make a nice late birthday present for DiCrescenzo. She’ll turn 25 the day before the show.

Tim McGraw Guests on Def Leppard's "Sparkle Lounge"

Tim McGraw joins Def Leppard on “Nine Lives,” the first single from the band’s Songs From the Sparkle Lounge album, out March 18.

McGraw met the members of Def Leppard during a 2006 show at the Hollywood Bowl, when he sang “Pour Some Sugar on Me” with them.

“You know what these situations are like," Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott told me in an interview for USA Today. “They normally lead to a lot of what we like to call ‘rock and roll promises.’ I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the phrase ‘we should work together one day’ and it leads to nothing. Fair play to Tim, he came through, and when the opportunity arose, he was there.”

Elliott says “Nine Lives” is “kind of like a cross between ‘Armageddon It’ and ‘Honky Tonk Woman. It’s got a tinge of Stones-y country, as opposed to country country. I wouldn’t say it’s typical Leppard, by any means.”

“There are two or three songs that are what I would call ‘classic Leppard stuff,’” Elliott says. “They would’ve sat nicely on Hysteria or Pyromania.”

Other songs on Songs From the Sparkle Lounge include:

“Bad Actress” – “a humorous, mini-romp at the whole X Factor lifestyle,” Elliott says.

“Come Undone” – “a mid-tempo thing that’s sort of Zeppelin-esque.”

“Cruise Control” – “Very kind of anti-war, very much about the Iraq situation. We never like too push too hard on the political front, because it doesn’t really suit bands like us, but we have managed to express that we do have a bit of a brain with songs like ‘Gods of War.’” … where we can touch on stuff other than ‘Do you want to get rocked.’”

“Come On Come On” – “It’s just straight out of the glam-rock British hit singles in 1973. [Bassist Rick Savage] just went out there and wrote a Chinn & Chapman song. It’s Bowie, Sweet, T. Rex. It’s all that rolled into one.”

What I'm Listening to This Week

1. Marah, Angels of Destruction! (Yep Roc)
2. Rob Jungklas, Gully (Madjack)
3. Matt King, Rube (Montage)
4. Jewly Hight, Darlin' Understand (Jewly Hight)
5. Willie Nelson, Moment of Forever (Lost Highway)
6. Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Lovin' (Lost Highway)
7. Alan Jackson, Good Time (Arista Nashville)
8. The Hooters, Time Stand Still (Hooters Music)
9. Mando Saenz, Bucket (Carnival)
10. We the Kings, We the Kings (S-Curve)

Religion, Politics, Sex, Death and New Tunes

For the two or three of you who continue to check this blog despite my not posting anything for weeks at a time, I promise I'll start doing better. I've been helping someone with a book - more on that another time, as publication dates gets closer - and that took all my available time until Christmas. With a little luck, I'll balance my time better now.

Here's a list of recent favorite tracks that ran Tuesday, Jan. 8 in USA Today. One of the acts on the list, Nashvillle singer/songwriter/music critic Jewly Hight has been kind enough to post a free download of her song on her MySpace page. I don't know how long she plans to keep it there, but, if you're intrigued by the sample, please visit her page and get yourself a copy.I've also linked to some other artists' MySpace pages where you can hear the full versions of songs I mention, although in at least one case you may have to search a bit. Enjoy - and let me know what you think.

> Pick of the week:

Just Got Started Lovin’ You, James Otto: Long overlooked member of Nashville’s MusikMafia finally gets his break with a number that finds a Ronnie Milsap country-soul groove shacking up with a Conway Twitty bedroom growl. Otto’s forthcoming album is called Sunset Man, but Lovin’ You makes him sound as if he could keep going all night long.

> The Playlist:

A Savior on Capitol Hill, Derek Webb: Dissident Christian singer’s take on religion and politics expects little and trusts less. Key line: “You can always trust the Devil or a politician to be the Devil or a politician.”

Like a Rolling Stone, Anberlin: Eighties-influenced alternative band’s Dylan reinterpretation is astonishing not only for its audacity but for how well it works.

Draw the Curtains, Will Hoge: Nashville rocker in the Springsteen/Petty tradition convincingly lists the reasons his lover doesn’t need to go home.

Shanty Town, Matt King: King’s patchwork Southern-gothic rock is one of the most original new sounds out of Nashville. On this download-only track, he comes off as part revivalist preacher, part carnival barker.

White Knuckles, Jewly Hight: The only thing more chilling than this song’s shadowy blues groove is Hight’s fearful moan.

Experiment in Terror, RevOrganDrum: Side project from the Reverend Horton Heat gives Henry Mancini the Booker T & the MG’s treatment.

You Got to Move, Marie Knight: Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s onetime duet partner returns with a tribute to the Rev. Gary Davis.

Last Days, Paschall Brothers: Virginia a cappella group keeps the jubilee quartet tradition alive.

Wilson Pickett, Tim Krekel Orchestra: Pickett died two years ago this month and, according to this song written in the soul great’s style, was buried behind Louisville singer Krekel’s home.

Mystery Train, Shawn Camp & Billy Burnette. Two great Nashville talents put a bluegrass spin on Elvis Presley/Junior Parker classic.