Wednesday Video Spotlight: Amber Hayes “Any Day Is a Good Day” lyric video
Weleetka native Amber Hayes has released a lyric video for her uplifting current single “Any Day Is A Good Day.”
The A-OK Entertainment/GMV Nashville recording artist is featured in the colorful video, which was shot and edited by Thomas Newton and illustrated by Christen Cole.
The single is the first release off her new album, “Any Day Is A Good Day,” and it is currently at country radio.
Billboard Magazine recently reviewed “Any Day Is A Good Day” for the current issue, and Billboard journalist Jill Menze wrote, “Country hotshot Hayes is full of wide-eyed optimism on her latest single, which may prove to be her breakout.” To read the full review, visit here.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Vince Gill talks reuniting with Universal Music Group, pays tribute to Mindy McCready
Vince Gill (AP file)
Norman-born and Oklahoma City-bred country music star Vince Gill recently played a Universal Music Group showcase for radio broadcasters at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. In his usual droll way, he talked about reuniting with the label, as you can see in this fan-shot YouTube video.
“I’m surprised to be back, I must say. I came last year and I had spent 23 years with MCA Records and UMG … and loved that relationship. And I came in last year and just said, ‘You know, my contract’s done and I’m no longer there.’ There was no weirdness and then all the sudden I see everywhere that they’re talking about it, this and that, ‘They split up,’ and I was like, ‘Man, all that happened is the contract ran out.’ And then the neatest thing happened: Mike Duncan, after he took over, called me up and he said, ‘Hey, I want to make a record with you.’ So I said, ‘Done,’ and I went back.”
The Country Music Hall of Famer said he planned to start on the new album soon. Since he didn’t have any new songs, he decided to play “in this holy place” a tribute to Mindy McCready, the former country star who committed suicide in February.
Gill played his lovely ode “Go Rest High Upon that Mountain,” which as previously reported, he also performed last week at George Jones’ funeral. Such a beautiful song:
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Flaming Lips talk about their 30 years in the music business
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Oklahoma City-based experimental rockers The Flaming Lips, which formed in 1983.
The band has been staying busy, recently releasing their new album “The Terror,” a special Record Store Day remastered vinyl of their 1997 experimental opus “Zaireeka” and various music videos, as well as playing shows.
Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd also have been doing interviews with various publications about their 30th anniversary and recent activities, including these chats with Forbes and Billboard:
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Samantha Crain named Rolling Stone Artist to Watch
Samantha Crain (Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman)
Shawnee singer-songwriter Samantha Crain has been named a Rolling Stone Artist to Watch.
As part of the feature, RollingStone.com is featuring her cover of Sufjan Stevens’ “Romulus” with Norman fiddler Daniel Foulks.
According to RollingStone.com, the Dale High School graduate first heard the track while on a family vacation at age 17, as her dad drove through mountain roads in Colorado and New Mexico.
“I had a very histrionic reaction to the song the first time I heard it,” Crain tells Rolling Stone. “The combination of the fog sleeping in the valleys, the pine branches cumbersome with moisture, and the slow, winding path of the truck really supplemented the anguish of the song.”
Nine years after first hearing “Romulus,” Crain was visiting Wayne Coyne’s Oklahoma City art space, the Womb Gallery, around Christmas when she noted a “muffled holiday solitude.” She decided to play some songs, filming them in single takes.
“I like that it is a bit antithetical that we recorded such a melancholy song at a place that is known for radiating joy and celebration,” Crain tells Rolling Stone.
Crain will play The Opolis in Norman with Tallows and Sheree Chamberlain on May 30. For more information, go to http://opolis.org.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: “Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center” to premiere on PBS, CD+DVD
“Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center” pays homage to the artistry of American folk musician Woody Guthrie
The new CD+DVD commemorative package captures the historic all-star concert staged in the Okemah native’s honor last October in Washington, D.C. Featuring performances from Jackson Browne, Rosanne Cash, Judy Collins, Jeff Daniels (reading a letter, not singing), Ani DiFranco, Donovan, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, John Mellencamp, Tom Morello, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lucinda Williams, and many others, the set will be available June 11 through Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, according to a news release.
The release coincides with the televised premiere of “Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center” in June on PBS. (Check your local listings.) The CD+DVD package features eight performances not seen in the one-hour PBS broadcast, including two spoken word performances from actor Jeff Daniels and six musical performances from Old Crow Medicine Show, Jimmy LaFave, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Judy Collins, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Tracklists for the CD and DVD differ so see full details after the break.
In October 2012 (the same month as the concert), “Woody Guthrie: Ain’t Got No Home,” written, produced and directed by Peter Frumkin as part of the award-winning American Masters biography series, premiered on PBS.
The commemorative CD+DVD release will include a 12-page booklet containing rare photographs and a personal note from Woody’s daughter, Nora Guthrie, who administers the nonprofit Woody Guthrie Foundation & Archives, and Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Cover art for the CD+DVD package is based on artist Shepard Fairey’s screen print designed for the 2012 Woody Guthrie Centennial.
“Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center” presents the ultimate live collection of the most famous songs written and (mostly) recorded by Woody Guthrie (b. July 14, 1912 – d. Oct. 3, 1967). They are performed by artists who have all proclaimed Woody’s influence on their craft down the years. The set starts with a familiar pair from Nashville’s Old Crow Medicine Show (“Howdi Do,” “Union Maid”), followed by touchstones from Judy Collins (“Pastures Of Plenty”), Jimmy LaFave (“Hard Travelin’”), Donovan (the children’s favorite, “Riding In My Car”), Ani DiFranco (“Deportee” aka “Plane Wreck At Los Gatos”), Sweet Honey In The Rock (“I’ve Got To Know”), and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott (“1913 Massacre”).
Rosanne Cash delivers a pair of Woody’s finest (“I Ain’t Got No Home” and “Pretty Boy Floyd”); likewise John Mellencamp, an avowed Woody Guthrie disciple, offers up one of his favorites (“Do Re Mi”). Bluegrass giants the Del McCoury Band team with singer-songwriter Tim O’Brien on “So Long, It’s Been Good To Know Yuh” and special guest Tony Trischka (on banjo) joins the group for Woody’s only instrumental song, “Woody’s Rag.” The entire cast takes the stage to close the concert with “This Train Is Bound For Glory” and, of course, Woody’s timeless “This Land Is Your Land.”
Over the past two decades, at the invitation of Nora Guthrie, contemporary musicians have composed music to Woody’s previously unpublished lyrics. Several of these artists presented their new songs at the concert, including Joel Rafael (“Ramblin’ Reckless Hobo”) and Lucinda Williams (“House Of Earth”). In collaboration with Nora Guthrie, bassist/producer Rob Wasserman assembled a full album of these new songs in 2011, Note of Hope. Two artists reprise their contributions from that album, namely Jackson Browne (“You Know The Night”) and Tom Morello (“Ease My Revolutionary Mind”).
The final contributor to “Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center”is Woody h imself. The DVD bonus features include rare footage of Woody singing “John Henry,” “Ranger’s Command” and “Greenback Dollar,” as well as spoken pieces by Woody (and others) that are illustrated by archival photographs and documentary footage. These portraits of Woody are reminders of how the songs of Okemah’s favorite son took off around the world like a fast train on a well-oiled track.
“Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center” is the chronicle of a major, post-modern hootenanny. It took place in Washington, DC, on Oct. 14, 2012, and was the culmination of the yearlong celebration, following events in Woody’s native Oklahoma, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and New York. More than 75 subsequent centennial events (dozens of concerts, tributes and dedications in folk, jazz and classical realms, conferences, seminars, exhibits, dance festivals, a stage musical) took place across the U.S. and Canada – “From California to the New York Island” – and across the U.K. and Europe. Most of those events, as well as the Kennedy Center concert, were organized and presented by the Grammy Museum, in association with Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. and the Woody Guthrie Foundation & Archives.
Playing a major role in the centennial campaign is Robert Santelli, Executive Director of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, which curated the Woody Guthrie Centennial. Santelli is the award-winning author of “This Land Is Your Land: Woody Guthrie and the Journey of an American Folk Song” (Running Press, 2012), and co-editor of “Hard Travelin’: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie” (Wesleyan, 1999). Santelli also co-produced and co-annotated “Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial” (Smithsonian Folkways). The coffee table-sized, 3-CD (and 150-page book) box set was released July 10, 2012, four days before Woody’s actual 100th birth date on July 14. The box set went on to win this year’s Grammy Award for Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package.
In February, HarperCollins published “House Of Earth,” a previously unpublished completed manuscript by Woody Guthrie that had been lost to readers since its creation in 1947. The book was edited and introduced by presidential historian Douglas Brinkley and Johnny Depp, and published on Depp’s imprint, Infinitum Nihil. “House Of Earth” finally provides a complement to Woody’s classic autobiography “Bound For Glory” (E.P. Dutton, 1943), a book that has exerted enormous influence on generations of musicians around the world, including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, Joe Strummer, and countless others.
“Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center” is produced and directed by four-time Emmy Award-winner Jim Brown of Ginger Group Productions. Brown, an associate professor at NYU’s Tisch School Of the Arts, is one of America’s most accomplished music documentary filmmakers, with a concentration in American folk music, and has created some of the most enduring films in that genre. He received Emmys for “The Weavers: Wasn’t That A Time!” (1981), “We Shall Overcome” (1989), and “Pete Seeger: The Power of Song” (2007). Two of Brown’s films, “A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly” (1988) and “Songs Of the Civil War” (1991), were released with Columbia Records CD counterparts. Other titles include “Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin’” (1984), “Pete Seeger Family Concert” (1991), “Peter, Paul, and Mary: Carry It on – A Musical Legacy” (2004), and two Harry Belafonte films, “An Evening with Harry Belafonte & Friends” (1997) and the biography “Sing Your Song” (2011). Most of Jim Brown’s folk music films are very familiar to PBS viewers, as a result of being screened frequently for decades.
“Woody Guthrie never forgot about the people for whom the American Dream was far out of reach,” Santelli has written. “It was as if he had made a promise blessed in blood never to ignore the plight of the struggling American, no matter who he was, where he came from, or why he had hit hard times. Woody Guthrie sought to be the voice of the jobless, the homeless, and voiceless. And he was. Here’s hoping that Woody and his songs continue to be that voice for the next hundred years.”
Wednesday Video Spotlight: Kelli O’Hara and Nathan Gunn star in “Live from Lincoln Center’s” “Carousel”
Four-time Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara, an Oklahoma native, and opera star Nathan Gunn recently starred in a production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Carousel” that aired on PBS’s “Live at Lincoln Center.”
As previously reported, O’Hara and Matthew Broderick are currently starring in the Broadway musical “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” which will be closing in June.
Here are some excellent highlights and behind-the-scenes looks at “Carousel”:
Watch "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel" Program Highlights on PBS. See more from pbs.
Watch "The Bench Scene" from Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel on PBS. See more from pbs.
Watch "Playing Jigger Craigin" in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel on PBS. See more from pbs.
Watch "Soliloquy" from Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel on PBS. See more from pbs.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Bob Wills Day activities going on today at the Oklahoma Capitol
Bob Wills
Lawmakers, along with the citizens of Oklahoma, are celebrating Bob Wills Day today at the Oklahoma Capitol.
This morning, Oklahoma state fiddlers were planing to perform in the House Chamber. From 1 to 3 p.m. today, activities will occur on the Fourth Floor Rotunda.
“All Oklahomans are invited to come enjoy the celebration,” said state Rep. Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, in a news release. “I’m looking forward to celebrating this day with the rest of the state and I hope to see a great turnout.”
Here’s some video from previous Bob Wills Days at the Capitol:
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Fleetwood Mac’s “Sad Angel” and “Without You” live
Drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham perform during a Fleetwood Mac concert at Madison Square Garden, Monday, April 8, 2013, in New York. (AP file)
As previously reported, Fleetwood Mac, who is playing Tulsa’s BOK Center tonight, debuted its first new music in a decade on Tuesday, when the band dropped an EP appropriately titled “Extended Play” on iTunes. Click here to download and listen.
The EP includes four songs: the poppy tracks “Sad Angel” and “Miss Fantasy,” the wistful piano ballad “It Takes Time” and “Without You” and a previously unreleased track that singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks penned about singer/songwriter/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham back in their pre-Fleetwood Mac Buckingham Nicks duo days.
The majority of Fleetwood Mac’s most famous lineup — drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, Buckingham and Nicks — is touring North American to mark the 35th anniversary reissue of their most iconic album, “Rumours,” as well as celebrating the release of new music.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are bringing their “Fleetwood Mac Live 2013” trek to the BOK Center at 8 tonight. The legendary band previously played the Tulsa venue the last time it hit the road together, on 2009′s sold-out “Unleashed Tour.”
Fleetwood spoke enthusiastically about the planned EP in a phone interview prior to the tour’s April 4 launch in Ohio. Hopefully, the EP will herald the coming of a full-length follow-up to 2003′s “Say You Will,” he said.
“You know, we work when we feel good. And now we work when everyone has been able to — especially Stevie. She has a hugely successful solo career and she loves that world that is her world. And Lindsey also does great stuff, as do I. You know, I have my fun, not on such a profound level,” said Fleetwood, who plays with The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band Featuring Rick Vito.
“But we’re musicians at work, and now we have the grace just to say ‘When this is right, we’ll do it.’ And Stevie’s ready to do it and wants to do it, and off we go. And we’ll be wrapped around each other for the better part of probably 18 months, you know, working all over the world.”
The drummer said he, John McVie and Buckingham assembled several months ago in Los Angeles and recorded about nine “really fresh and vibrant” songs they hoped would be the starting point for a new album from the group. Nicks was busy with her own tour and then her mother’s death, but before the quartet hit the road, she added her vocals to a few tracks and recorded “Without You.”
“(The EP) will be, I hope, the beginning of maybe something that could transform in some of the free time we have in between sections of this now very long tour. I would love to think that we could do three or four things with Stevie, and in truth, you would then have a Fleetwood Mac album. Yes. I hope,” Fleetwood said.
He added, “We’re just taking it step by step and not doing things that don’t feel naturally comfortable. But if you’re asking me, I would love to see it happen, and Lindsey would be ahead of the game — and I know that he’d be incredibly excited to think that we could do that.”
To read more of my interview with Mick Fleetwood, click here.
The band already has been playing a couple of the tracks from the new EP in concert, as you can see from these YouTube videos featuring “Sad Angel” and “Without You” live.
IN CONCERT
Fleetwood Mac
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Where: BOK Center, 200 S Denver, Tulsa.
Information: (866) 726-5287 or www.bokcenter.com.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Christine McVie and Steven Tyler play with Mick Fleetwood Blues Band
Members of Fleetwood Mac, from left, bassist John McVie, singer Stevie Nicks, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham perform during a concert at Madison Square Garden, Monday, April 8, 2013, in New York. (AP file)
The majority of Fleetwood Mac’s most famous lineup – drummer Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, singer/songwriter/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks – will take the stage at 8 tonight at Tulsa’s BOK Center.
The band is touring North America to mark the 35th anniversary reissue of their most iconic album, “Rumours,” but they’re also celebrating the release of new music. On Tuesday, the band dropped on iTunes a four-track EP appropriately titled “Extended Play.”
The EP is the first new music from the band since its 2003 LP “Say You Will.” “Say You Will,” in turn, was the first Fleetwood Mac album since 1970′s “Kiln House” that did not include tracks written by singer/keyboardist Christine McVie, who retired from the group in 1998.
Although she won’t be onstage with Fleetwood Mac tonight in Tulsa, Fleetwood told me in a recent phone interview that he and Christine McVie had their own reunion earlier this year on Maui, the Hawaiian island he now calls home.
It seems Christine McVie joined The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band Featuring Rick Vito for a show at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. As you can see from the YouTube videos, Aerosmith frontman Steve Tyler, who also makes his home on Maui, was a special guest at the concert, too.
“Christine McVie came and played and sang for the first time in 16 years, which was unbelievably cool. She’s not in Fleetwood Mac (anymore), as we know, but it was so inspiring to see her. And she was really, ‘Oh, no, I just want to come and see you play,’ and she came on a holiday, which I was greatly happy about, to see her out and about. She’s very private and stays and lives in England. Actually, Christine really doesn’t like flying at all, and I was in England doing press for Fleetwood Mac and we arranged that she would make the journey to Maui holding my hand. So she did. And Steven Tyler came and we filmed it and I don’t know what we’re gonna do with it, but … that was fun,” Fleetwood told me in our interview.
“I’m active and that band plays any downtime I have. I go off and do things that no one knows about. You know, pop tours in Australia and stuff. So yeah, the blues is alive and well from time to time, and I have fun doing that. So we’re all in the Fleetwood Mac boat right now and busy rehearsing.”
Along with making music with Fleetwood Mac or his eponymous blues band, Fleetwood, 65, opened his restaurant, Fleetwood’s On Front Street, on Maui last year.
“That’s alive and well. And going through all the things you see on TV are true: Running a restaurant is a nightmare. But I love it,” he said with a laugh. “It’s been challenging, but I won’t get bored that’s for sure when I come back off the road.”
To read more of my interview with Mick Fleetwood, click here.
IN CONCERT
Fleetwood Mac
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Where: BOK Center, 200 S Denver, Tulsa.
Information: (866) 726-5287 or www.bokcenter.com.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Hanson’s “Fired Up” used as Thunder playoff anthem – and the playoffs continue tonight!
Get ready for tonight’s Game 2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Western Conference quarterfinal series vs. the Houston Rockets with this video featuring Tulsa pop-rock trio Hanson’s new song “Fired Up.”
Taylor, Zach and especially Isaac Hanson are well-known Thunder fans, and last season, they even performed the national anthem before a home game. “Fired Up” is featured on the band’s new album “Anthem,” set for June 18 release.
The Thunder lead the Rocket’s 1-0 in the series. Game 2 tips off at 6 tonight at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Oklahoma and TNT.
Thunder up!
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