Billy Joe Shaver- Black Rose

Here’s Texas country music legend Billy Joe Shaver performing “Black Rose” on Austin City Limits, on August 14, 1984.

Steve Young, from the cover of Blue Canyon’s Seven Bridges Road re-issue LP.

Bringing back a classic. Steve McQueen with a trout in 1972.

Suzi Quatro- If You Can’t Give Me Love

Suzi Quatro performing “If You Can’t Give Me Love” in 1978.  Anyone else think this would make a really good country song? I think it might be time for the second installment of our collaborative mixtape series, We All Go Twang. Details coming soon!

The Eagles- Take It Easy

Tonight , Friday, February 15th, 2013,  at 8pm ET/PT, the Showtime cable network will debut the first of a two-part documentary on the Eagles, called History Of The Eagles – The Story Of An American Band (the documentary will conclude tomorrow night, Saturday, February 16th, 8pm ET/PT). Produced by Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), and directed by Alison Ellwood, this new documentary apparently will feature an “intimate, meticulously crafted patchwork of rare archival material, concert footage and never-before-seen home movies.” The filmmakers were given the equivalent of an all-access backstage pass to the band’s past and present membership.

Meanwhile, here’s a live clip from the California Jam ’74 of their oft-played FM classic, “Take It Easy,” featuring the original Eagles lineup of Glenn Frey (on lead vocals and rhythm guitar), bassist Randy Meisner, lead guitarist Bernie Leadon (he also plays the distinctive banjo parts on the studio version) and Don Henley on drums. There’s more about the song’s origin, which you may not know, after the jump. (more…)

Graham Nash on meeting Cass Elliot, from Go Where You Wanna Go: The Oral History of The Mamas & The Papas by Matthew Greenwald: “I got to talking with Cass, and the first thing she asked me aside from, ‘Oh you’re part of the British Invasion, etc.’ was, ‘Do you know John Lennon?’ And I told her, yeah, I knew them before they were The Beatles, and we had done a show with them in 1959, when they were Johnny and The Moondogs. And she said to me, ‘What do you think John would think of our music?’ I told her, ‘Knowing John the way I do, he’ll probably put you down.’ And she burst out crying. Little did I realize that Cass has a great crush on John Lennon and this is the last thing she wanted to hear. I explained to her that John always did that at first, and he did that in an effort to keep you away until he was comfortable to let you in a little further. He would be facetious, and he would be pointed, and he would put you down. And I thought, ‘Holy shit, I meet this woman for the first time, and all of the sudden she’s crying.’ Anyway, we got around that, and it was fine and we became great friends.”

Last October, we told you that L.A.’s Rod Melancon was heading back to Nashville to record with Dave Cobb, who has previously produced the likes of Jamey Johnson, George Jones and Shooter Jennings. We’re happy to announce that Rod’s first recording from that session has just dropped from the heavens, and it’s a muscular bad boy rocker featuring Jamey Johnson’s band — Jason “Rowdy” Cope (guitar), Brian Allen (bass), Chris Powell (drums) — plus producer Dave Cobb on acoustic guitar and Kristen Rogers on backing vocals.

“When I was 9 years old I had an Elvis cassette tape and a framed photo of him on my wall,” Rod recently told us. “Those songs brought something out of me. They made me feel like I was on fire! Thats the kind of music I wanna make, the kind that you feel deep down in your gut. Rock ‘n’ Roll the way it was when guys like Elvis roamed the earth.” Have a listen at this Soundcloud link, and check out Rod at next month’s South-by-Southwest, when he’ll be playing the Grand Ole Echo showcase and the Sin City showcase, both shows at Maria’s Taco Xpress, dates and times to be announced soon. (Photos by Courtney Sudbrink)
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We are giving away two pairs of tix to M. Ward on Thursday, February 7th at The Orpheum in Los Angeles. The show is 18+ with Karen Elson and Soul-Junk supporting. To win tix, e-mail whenyouawakela at gmail dot com (subject: M Ward) and tell us what your favorite love song is (in honor of that little holiday coming up known as Valentine’s Day). Include your first and last name in the email. Two winners will be chosen and contacted. More details about the show are here.

M. Ward- Primitive Girl