I’ve received numerous emails in the past month asking me the same question again and again: “Phillip, why are you leaving Steel White Table?” My answer: Because one blog is enough, and that blog is Mud Songs. It’s about beekeeping. Now let us take a journey back in time… The Littlest Birds Will Eat Peanuts From Your Hand is probably the best thing I posted to Steel White Table. Then
Zero days to go! Regular posts, until this blog expires, will appear below this post, and there will be at least one every day.
I miscounted how many days I have left. Tomorrow’s my last day here, not today. So I’m adding one more song to my list of 30 Songs. It’s “This Goddamn House” by a multi-instrumentalist group called The Low Anthem. I discovered them last night while searching for YouTube videos of Jolie Holland. They don’t exactly make upbeat music (from what I’ve heard so far), yet it’s not depressed or forlorn.
I put all my MP3s into one big playlist, hit the “Shuffle” button and this is first song that came up: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s cover of Randy Newman’s “Sail Away.” Good enough. Thus ends my list of 30 songs that left a strong impression on me at some point in my life. Some of the songs still resonate with me. Some don’t. The Buena Vista Social Club, Chirstine
Tom Waits is heard in my house more than anyone else, so he gets two entries on the big 30 Songs list. I can understand how Tom Waits isn’t everyone’s cup of coffee. He’s got a style that leaves most people wondering, “What the hell is that?” He doesn’t make radio-friendly music. I doubt “Black Wings” was ever a big hit. (These are good things, by the way.) My appreciation