Paste's Definitive All-Time Top 10 Rock 'n' Roll Documentaries List

Paste magazine has taken a shot at listing the top ten rock n' roll documentaries of all time. Note that Paste has excluded what it views as pure concert films. Thus, Martin Scorcese Last Waltz does not make the list. I think, however, that his PBS documentary on Bob Dylan, No Direction Home should have made the list.

Take a look and let me know if you have any additions.

Folk City 100 Most Essential Folk Songs

Folk Alley has compiled a list of its 100 most essential folk songs as reported at today at NPR. I took a quick look, and would probably revise this some. Unless I missed something the Carter Family (or members there of) show only once at 61 with [Can??] the Circle Be Unbroken (always thought this was Will the Circle Be Unbroken). This is an extreme oversight. Woody Guthrie, Seeger and Weavers and Bill Monroe and a few others are there, but mostly Dylan and post Dylan. And, I believe these are performances of songs, as Goodnight Irene was not written by the Weavers, but by Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter). Suggest getting Shared Vision tribute to Guthrie/Ledbetter or any of the three Will the Circle Be Unbroken anthologies by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

June 23, 2009

A reader commented off line:

I am pretty weak on folk (which is not to suggest I am strong in other areas), so my views would not be worth much.

Whether the Band and the Byrds qualify as folk singers, I would have some doubt; and Barry McGuire, “Eve of Destruction,” is not too folkish to me – but what do I know?

My response:

That was my reaction. Will have to check out Folk Alley, as I think they have strayed down other streets.

If you are interested, a great folk resource is Roger McGuinn's (of the Byrds) Folk Den at: http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/mcguinn/index.html

and his related podcast, through which he is trying to keep true folk music alive by recording and releasing by podcast versions of traditional folk songs. The podcast is free at iTunes as McGuinn's Folk Den. He releases one new song a month. At iTunes there are links to other folk podcasts, including a Folk Alley podcast that I was unaware of.

Rust Never Sleeps . . .

The "Better to Burn Out Than It Is To Rust" Club proposes the following 2009 summer/early fall I-95 Concerts/Events:

• Friday, July 10 - Wilco - Frawley Stadium, Wilmington, Delaware.

• Friday, July 24 - Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson & John Mellencamp - Ripken Stadium, Aberdeen, Maryland.
  

• Sunday, August 16 - Route 29 Revue - Old Crow Medicine Show, Levon Helm, Iron & Wine, Grace Potter and Nocturnals, The Ferlice Brothers and Justin Jones - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland.
  

• Saturday, October 10 - Ira Glass - (This American Life) Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland.

• Tuesday, October 13 - Richard Thompson & Loudon Wainright, III, Krauscher Auditorium, Goucher College, Towson, Maryland.

Tickets should still be available for all these events.