David Bazan covering Vic Chesnutt’s “Flirted With You All My Life” for Radio Happy Hour. It’s a heavy listen.

Previously: “One of our Great Ones” :: Vic Chesnutt (1964-2009)

MP3: Vic Chsenutt – “Flirted With You All My Life”

It’s still hard to believe that Jay Bennett is gone. Now almost a year since his passing, his contributions both as a solo artists and as with Wilco are impossible to ignore. I feel strongly that Jay’s personal output was criminally overlooked in the aftermath of his departure from Wilco. There are plenty of gems to be found in his personal catalog. Do the digging and reap the rewards. Trust me.

To coincide with the one-year anniversary of his death, The Jay Bennett Foundation will launch on May 24. Coming later this summer (July 10), fans can support the foundation by downloading Kicking at the Perfumed Air, “the album Jay was completing at the time of his death.” This download comes at no cost, but fans are encouraged to support the release by making a monetary donation of their choosing. It will also be available for purchase on CD.

Below, download “M Plates” and “Twice A Year,” two tracks from the forthcoming Kicking at the Perfumed Air

MP3: Jay Bennett – “M Plates”
MP3: Jay Bennett – “Twice A Year”

I was late getting into Mogwai. I blew all previous chances to see them live. I’ve spent the better half of the last year devouring their albums start-to-finish on headphones. They’re now atop my short lists of bands I need to see live. Soon. Despite coming late to the party, there’s a lot to look forward to if you’re a fan of the band.

On August 24th, the band will release a live DVD entitled Burning that was directed by Vincent Moon & Nathanael Le Scouarnac of La Blogotheque fame. If this is the first you’ve heard of the release, I urge you to watch the trailer above. The release is accompanied Special Moves, an 11-track live album. Plenty to get excited about.

Download/Listen: Mogwai Live at Turner Hall Ballroom (May 9, 2009)

Buy: Mogwai

A good road trip can cure a stale record collection. Recently, I had the good fortune of spending quality car hours en route to Minneapolis with some friends. The eleven hours of round-trip travel afforded three guys ample time to swap musical knowledge and sharing unknown and overlooked gems. A downloading of each-others musical DNA if you will.

One such discovery was Arizona’s Friends of Dean Martinez, specifically their 1997 release Retrograde, which features members from Calexico, Giant Sand, and Naked Pray. Seeing those names together should give you an idea of what you’ll find with this collaboration. It’s a perfect sunny day collection, top-notch background music, and, as I can attest, sounds great staring out the window of a car barreling down the interstate en route to some drunken revelry.

Buy: Friends of Dean Martinez – Retrograde
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MP3: Friends of Dean Martinez – “Rattler”
MP3: Friends of Dean Martinez – “Cabeza De Mojado”

(Sad Songs & Waltzes is a recurring feature on Muzzle of Bees, where artists share their favorite sad songs. Previous contributors include Damien Jurado and Kasey Anderson.)

By Will Phalen

April the 14th pt 1 / Ruination Day pt 2
Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)

I clearly remember the first time I heard Time (The Revelator). In fact it was the first time I really listened to Gillian Welch. Though I had heard her voice on the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack, I hadn’t yet recognized her genius. I put the record on in the background while I was working on some things on a day in late Spring. I was still living in Madison at the time, and my first “serious” band had just split up. I was feeling pretty down in general. This record turned out to be the perfect accompaniment to my somber mood.

I got about three-quarters through the album when it suddenly struck me that I was hearing something special. I dropped what I was doing, started the record over and sat down and listened to the whole thing mesmerized. I’ve probably listened to the record 500 times since that day.

It really is one of the saddest albums I know, so I could have picked just about any cut to write about for this essay. But the two-part time travel ballad, April the 14th/Ruination Day is particularly sad and poignant on so many levels: it brings me down every time I hear it.

Essentially, the song strikes at the album’s two central themes: time (as the title track would suggest) and the state of American popular music (addressed in songs such as Everything is Free Now, Elvis Presley Blues and I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll).

Somehow Welch and Rawlings discovered that April 14th is the anniversary of three fateful events in American history: Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in 1865; the wreck of the Titanic in 1912; and Black Sunday, a deadly dust storm that struck during the Dust Bowl migration of 1935. They weave these three tragic tales into a time travel story which, oddly enough, begins at a local rock concert. After briefly glimpsing the moment when the Titanic collided with the infamous iceberg, we’re suddenly transported to a present day rock club. And it’s this strand of the story that actually turns out to be the most depressing and visceral.

It was a five-band bill,
A two-dollar show.
I saw the van out in front
From Idaho,

And the iceberg broke,
And the Okies fled,
And the Great Emancipator
Took a bullet in the back of the head…

While the story and subject matter are sad and real enough (especially for someone in my line of work), it’s really the loping tempo and the bittersweet delivery of Welch’s vocal (aided by Dave Rawlings’ sublime harmonies) that breaks your heart.

Part II, Ruination Day, grants more focus to the historical significance of April 14th, and it sounds like it. The music has a stark, old-timey feel with a thumping repetitive bass note hammered out on the guitar. Without even changing verses Welch travels from the decks of the sinking Titanic to the box at the Ford Theatre and then sweeps back out to the dusty fields of Oklahoma. The old engineer, Casey Jones, even makes an appearance. And it hits you: this really is one of the saddest days of American history — made all the more mournful by Welch’s ominous chord structures and her sad voice. Somehow, I feel and understand the tragedy of these events more through listening to these two songs than I’ve ever felt reading a book about Lincoln or seeing a movie about the Titanic.

Not long after I first heard Time (The Revelator) I got myself back together and put out a record of my own made with the help of my friends. Today I play in a rock & roll band. And as sad as it is to hear Gillian sing that story about the band from Idaho (and to realize how real that story is for so many touring musicians), I know that there’s nothing else I’d rather do.

But I watched them walk
Through the bottom land,
And I wished that I played
In a rock & roll band.

Sometimes it just feels really good to feel really low. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will take you there if you want to go.

Buy: Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator) | Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts – Middle West
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MP3: Gillian Welch – “April the 14th pt 1″
MP3: Gillian Welch – “Ruination Day pt 2″
MP3: Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts – “I Can Run”
MP3: Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts – “Like Rain”
MP3: Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts – “This Time”

My Morning Jacket will play Chicago’s Charter One Pavilion on Tuesday, August 17th. They will also be opening for Tom Petty on select tour dates.

My Morning Jacket Tour Dates:

08/11: San Diego, CA – SDSU Outdoor Theatre #
08/12: Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theatre #
08/15: Denver, CO – Mile High Festival

08/17: Chicago, IL @ Charter One Pavilion
08/19: Boston, MA – Comcast *

08/20: Burlington, VT – Champlain Valley Lawn
08/21: Boston, MA – Comcast *
08/24: Newark, NJ @ Izod Center *
08/25: Holyoke, MA @ Mountain Park
08/27: Pittsburgh, PA @ Station Square Amphitheater
08/28: Rochester, NY @ CMAC
08/29: Philadelphia, PA @ Great Plaza

* = supporting slot for Tom Petty
# = with Avi Buffalo

+Bookmark our upcoming shows page for all your concert announcements+