Showing posts with label larry stewart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label larry stewart. Show all posts

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Restless Heart

I've been watching a Netflix documentary about Laurel Canyon and rock music of the nineteen sixties ~ please check it out ~ it's awesome.

All genres of music have lapped over the edges of others. What the documentary, Echo In The Canyon, labels "folk rock" I would call country rock. The Byrds would have been country had they come on the scene twenty years later. The Eagles aren't folk rock ~ they're country rock.

I'm a sucker for the many manifestations of country; Honky Tonk, Neo-Traditional, the Bakersfield Sound, Western Swing, Americana, some forms of Bluegrass. But I began life as a rock 'n roll child and remnants of a past life linger. While I love and appreciate what can be accomplished with three simple chords, I've always been drawn to more complex melodies and harmonics. Restless Heart wasn't exactly country rock, but they were close. The first track I ever heard from the group was this one, and it sucked me in:



I love "Wheels". There is no live performance video to be found, but this is country rock at its finest:


 

More:







Larry Stewart left the band in 1992, and Restless Heart essentially ended. Larry had one number one hit:



Bands don't last much more than a decade unless you're the Rolling Stones. But a decade is a long-ass time. A decade can be a seminal pillar in one's life.

I thank Larry Stewart and the band for one hell of a seminal pillar.



Saturday, August 27, 2011

Song #1 For My Concept Album


After my snarky post last night (and I have no regrets!), I thought it might be a refreshing change to get back to what it is that I do.

What I do, exactly, is somewhat indeterminable. However, sometimes I write songs.

I've decided to take the "go slow" approach to songwriting. That is, write a new song every six months or so. In that way, I will have my concept album completed in approximately the year 2017. I will, therefore, be age 62, and will have LOTS of fodder for songs that fit my concept of growing older! It's a win-win!

You know us old people ~ we have lots of irons in the fire! We're busy. Busy counting out our daily pills, and trying to get down the stairs.

My one concern with taking six years to complete these songs is that I may become befuddled, and thus unable to form coherent thoughts. You know, sort of like Taylor Swift.

That is the chance one takes, however, when one decides that one is unable to write one measly song in the span of half a year, for God's sake.

You would think, after all that time, that the song would be absolutely FANTABULOUS. Well, I've set my sights a bit lower than that. When you're elderly, you learn to adjust your expectations. I'll settle for "eh, it's okay."

Bear in mind, however, that with the full studio treatment, any piece of festering, rotting garbage can sound exquisite! Again, much like Taylor Swift's songs.

So, without further a-dooo, here is song number one for my concept album, and if you care, or even if you don't (it really doesn't matter, since, as I've learned, mostly imaginary people are "reading" this blog), here are the lyrics:

Things never change
In this rundown town
Except it gets more
Run down

People disappear
And they never come back
And the store windows
Are black

They say why you don’t you go
I say hell if I know
Is it any better someplace else

The devil that you know
Might not give a real good show
But I’ve determined life
Is just like that

I walk down the streets
Of this rundown town
I can close my eyes
And know the way

From time to time somebody goes
Leaves little curios behind
I pick them up
And haul them away

They say why don’t you go
I say hell if I know
It don’t feel like this is my day

The cracks are getting deeper
And my bones startin’ to moan
But I’ve determined life
Is just that way

© Michelle Anderson 08-19-11


I suddenly realized that I'm supposed to include a video here, aren't I? Stupid video blog.

Well, I can't really find anything (or think of anything) that pertains to the subject at hand, so, when all else fails, I like to just fall back on something that I like, so here you go....

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Restless Heart. I realize that Larry Stewart is still out there performing, of course. But really, it's not the same, and it just can't be.

This video is from a time when country music was COOL, and not LAME. And it was still COUNTRY. Us senior citizens still remember that time. That's the advantage to being old, like me. One still remembers when music was GOOD, and not LAME (Oh, I already said that, didn't I? That's what happens....)