Musings

Sally Jo and I soldiered on through “George and Tammy.” We finally finished it tonight. This series failed to capture any joy, any fun, any LIFE of its subjects, George Jones and Tammy Wynette. It’s what rock critics used to refer to as “soulless.”

Yesterday was an intense, nine-hour labor session doing upgrades and maintenance on the Scully record lathe with Jacob Horowitz. Jacob and his Uncle Len are the two guys on planet Earth who are the authority on Scully lathes, and I’m lucky enough to have them here in Los Angeles.

I love going to estate sales. Most of you know that about me. Occasionally I’ll buy a book, or a record, or some tools, but the thing that truly piques my interest is getting a glimpse into the past. Like walking through archaeological ruins, estate sales fascinate me.

Since the seven-foot Baldwin grand piano arrived at my house, I started paying attention to grand pianos. I always thought that all the famous recording studios must have had Steinways. But I discovered that most of that music I loved had been made with…Baldwin grand pianos.

Sad to hear of the death of Freddie Roulette, the legendary African American blues steel guitarist. What a unique cat Freddie was. His playing style was honestly just an extension of his unique (you might say strange) personality coming through his hands.

I didn’t expect a documentary. I expected a trashy, cash-in bio-series that would be fun to watch. I really like both Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain and figured they would make it entertaining even if the script was bad.

After a couple of retrospectives and buried headlines, a few weeks after Jerry Lee Lewis has passed it’s almost like he’s been forgotten.

I love Howlin’ Wolf because everything that comes out of his mouth, whether it’s singin’ or talkin’, sounds like the truth. What an incredible human being.

Here’s a cool new Christmas classic! I’ve been working a lot with Grey DeLisle this year, on her own stuff and a batch of kids-oriented tunes with Eddie Clendening under the band name “The Roughhousers.”

Charlie Gracie was a force of nature. You wouldn’t know it by his best-known songs (“Butterfly” and “Fabulous,” which were pop hits), but he was one of the true originators of the style that became rock ’n’ roll music.