This is my version of an old, southern, Mississippi Delta spiritual. The song was first recorded by “Cryin” Sam Collins in 1927. It is a year in time that I have become quite fascinated with. I have modified the lyrics slightly from the original.
Recorded to a 1953 Webcor Royal Coronet Tape recorder and the ribbon microphone that accompanied the machine.
Samuel Stiles: Vox, Classical Guitar, Banjo, Shaker
You will be hearing two separate takes of the song fused into one. I performed the song once with guitar and voice, and then again with banjo and voice.
Both times, I was listening to a shaker recorded for a click track. I couldn’t decide which version I like better, so I just got experimental and fused them into one. On the left speaker, you will hear the guitar/voice take, and the right speaker you will hear the banjo/voice take.
While tricky, I am proud of the way it turned out.
I’m walking down that lonesome lane Hung down my head and cried I weeped and I cried under a willow tree ‘n’ my fate’s in the deep blue sea My mama’s dead, papa can’t be found And my brother’s on the county road
You did cause me to weep you did cause me to mourn You did cause me to leave my home
I cried last night and the night before And I swore not to cry no more I got no money and they call me no honey I have to weep and moan In eighteen hundred in that ninety nine He got killed on that streetcar line
You did cause me to weep you did cause me to mourn You did cause me to leave my home
Your fast mail train comin’ round the curve It done killed my little blue-eyed girl Her head was ground in that driver wheel And her body it done never been seen Says I done been to that long plank walk And I’m on my way back home
You did cause me to weep you did cause me to mourn You did cause me to leave my home Beauty caused me to weep Beauty caused me to mourn Beauty caused me to leave my home
Yesterday I did an interview for Deutschlandradio Wissen, a nationwide German public radio station. I am told that Deutschlandradio Wissen is the German equivalent of the BBC Network/NPR.
Here’s a 6 minute sample of what turned into about an hour an a half interview:
The reporters who contacted me, Christian Grasse and Jochen Dreier, are both passionate radio-journalists from Germany. They are also open source and creative commons fanatics. Two years ago Christian and Jochen launched their own netlabel, www.aaahh-records.net.
Now they want to bring together their two passions and introduce the creative commons movement to a wide range of people. They are working to gain exposure for the rapidly developing internet music scene that creative commons has spawned.
Here is a quote from Christian and Jochen, “Because for us, creative commons and open source means a culture of sharing and that there is always a further development of a creative product and we like to see this in (radio) journalism too.”
You are most cordially invited to Rock Proper’s Summer House Party at the Gallery Cabaret (2020 N Oakley, Chicago) for a sweet rock show featuring Jitney, Nervous Parts (a new Steve Walters / Jason Frederick / Jason Grey project) and Chris Burney (of The Sun).
The show will get rolling around 10pm.
Admission is FREE. There will also be FREE Arturos Tacos served.
Jitney is a four piece rock band, headed up by Rock Proper founder, Casey Meehan. Listen to our music here: Jitney Band
Nervous Parts is a new improv / experimental project which includes legendary Chicago screen-printer, Steve Walters (founder of Screwball Press) teaming up with the prolific Chicago illustrator / musician Jason Frederick and drummer Jason Grey.
Chris Burney founded a band called The Sun who’s recent Rock Proper release was recorded with Mike McCarthy (producer of many Spoon records).
We are very excited to announce Rock Proper’s new partnership with Chicago band, Jonny Rumble.
These boys come to us by way of Michigan, Florida and the altered state of Blam Studios where they have been huddled for the past several months, living on pop-corn and sweet-tarts, risking it all to create one of the best albums I have heard in years.
The record, JR, starts with the immediately accessible, Cox Road. The hooks and ear candy here make it hard to deny. However, by the time you get to the breakdown of the third tune, BRZRKR it becomes quite evident that this is much more than a slick pop record. It is an all out psychedelic journey reminiscent of one of Rock Proper’s original hit downloads, Where the Moon Came From’s Twin of Pangaea.
The record release show will be held June 25th at Beat Kitchen (Chicago).
Like a stressed out, half-drunken, under-stimulated waste of a wage-slave with a sexual dysfunction, summer is finally coming. And with this happy release from our heads, our apartments, and, for some of us, our jobs, comes an even greater release—a release from the long night of winter music. In the depths of winter, covered in snow, a song may come on (or a whole album even) that you feel could only be experienced in the hot, sunshiney summer; at any other time, listening to even one or two of these songs feels like cheating. Now we can throw off the mantle of guilt—burn it!—and use these songs from Chicago-based online hit-delivering machine rockproper.com to welcome back the summer and its bright rays of rock.
It may seem strange for a city that limps through 8 months of winter to produce these surprisingly summery songs. Jason Frederick’s vocals in “Perfect” (Love Story in Blood Red) have the sound of someone who has been drinking for hours at a sunny barbeque, and the shimmery sounds of the cymbals behind them waver like a mirage in a desert. Cruise down a hot, lonely road with “Something’s Watching” (Andy Wagner, Horse Year), peering through heat waves at what’s to come. “Locusts” by Go Home Robot uses a wiped clean guitar and precise, full-band breaks, recalling the trees and phone lines sliding past the open sunroof.
Summer is a time for change, for a change in your playlists, for a change in your hair, clothes, attitudes. You can wear that flappy red dress, or those loafers with no socks, if you dare. And you do dare, because it’s summer, and everyone is carefree. You can strut around to “Who will be saved?” (Casey Meehan, Violet) and let the sun burn stripes in your skin. The smashing assertions of “Rabblerouser” (Where the Moon Came From, Twin of Pangaea) are just right for a day so bright that singing can only be done right with sunglasses on. Brother Truck’s “Sex Wax” reminds us that summer is also a time for surfing, or trips to the lake, or, if you’re stuck in the city, throwing water balloons off the porch down at someone. The mood, like a hot and hectic day settling into a steamy night, has just a touch of uneasiness about it, just a hint of subcutaneous troublemaking.
Steve Eck, recording from the lethal humidity of New Orleans, has an edge up on all the rest of the rockproper bands (in respect to heat), as the summers in that steamy city are at least three months longer than anywhere else. When the nights race away from us as summer elongates the day, we often don’t realize that we’ve been at a party for hours and hours, that the bars might be closing soon, that, although an orange burn is still in the sky, it’s time to go home. Then a song like “Just let us rest” comes over the speakers and the spell is broken, and we know it’s late, and it’s been a long night.
Author Anika Balaconis makes up one third of the tremendous trio, Brother Truck.
Hello all, Are you ready for it? The new song this month is called “September Gurls” It comes with a bittersweet twinge of loss.
>>September Gurls<< (left click to listen, right click “save” to download)
As some of you may be aware, Alex Chilton passed away in New Orleans last month at the young age of 59. He was always one of my rock n’ roll heroes. As I grew up playing music myself in New Orleans, I always admired the way that he lived his life. He was simple, unassuming, humble, and a downright undercover rock legend. A lot of people don’t even know that he lived in New Orleans, but he did, and he loved it. You would always hear stories about him like: “Yea, man, dat dude’s cool, he washes dishes at my uncle’s restaurant” “you’d never know he was a bonafide rockstar” “dat’s da dude from Big Star, …..man….” On and on……
I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times on random occasions. He was genuinely happy to know that someone knew his music. I challenge each person I know, to seek out his music. He was a huge inspiration for me, and as a tribute, I humbly have recorded one of his classics, “September Gurls” In the immortal words of Wayne and Garth, “I’m not worthy!!!”
Please check out all of the other amazing records on Rock Proper
My new website is: www.samuelstiles.bandcamp.com There is more free music of mine on this website and it will change every month with the new song.
Let me know what you think, and most importantly, Thanks for listening! To Alex Chilton with Love R.I.P. ~Samuel Stiles a.k.a—————Matt Martin
My wife asked me for slippers for x-mas this year.
Instead, I got her a flight in a high performance aerobatic plane.
This all went down on on April 10th 2010.
Watch It Now:
Hint: Be sure to click the 4 arrows under the YouTube logo on the bottom right of the screen to see it in full screen mode, it’s like being in the cockpit! (Well, not at all really, but it is better)
This offered a great opportunity for a video featuring one of my favorite songs by The Sun, “Cocaine and Tunes”.
Happy St. Patrick’s day! The second of many tracks to come this year. This song is one of my favorite originals. It was originally written and intended as music for a film.
>>New York 1927<< (left click to listen, right click “save” to download)
Credits:
Released 17 March 2010 on RockProper Produced, recorded, and mixed by Joshua Eustis.
Samuel Stiles: vox, guitars, mellotron, keyboards, bass, drums, and percussion.
Andy Wagner: backing vox, electric guitar, fender rhodes
Beautiful imagery created by: Laura Lee Gulledge
I told myself that I wanted to start this new project where I release a new song every month. So far so good.
Rock proper is a wonderful home for great music, and I am thrilled to contribute more to the amazing content that already exists here.
Please check out my other album ”A Love Tragedy“ available on Rock Proper.
Ladies and gentlemen, it has come to my attention that around 12 years ago, your friend and mine, principal singer and songwriter for Love Story in Blood Red and Cool Devices, Jason Wyatt Frederick, appeared on the Ricki Lake show. The topic of this show? Obese Strippers.
To actually receive an email that contains a link to an actual real video of someone you have known for years, who you have heard talk about strippers for years, on a national talk show addressing the topic of obese strippers is a joy I am guessing I will never have again.
Make sure to forward about 30 seconds into the video. The real magic happens when Jason’s disgruntled face appears in a small pink box (lower right) while his “friend” performs a spontaneous striptease for the Ricki Lake audience.
This is clearly an instance of the real life being more strangely beautiful than fiction could ever be.
