Ear Bliss looks at the Oxford American Magazine music issue
As we do each year at this time, Ear Bliss takes a look at the annual Oxford American Magazine music issue. We also give a brief look at an expansive new box set focusing on the songwriters behind the legendary Stax Records label. Leading off with the Oxford American Magazine annual music issue, this year marks the 25th annual edition and closes the publication year for the magazine which now in its fourth decade has consistently brought enriching writing with a focus on the South to its readers. The music Amyissue is the premier literary quarterly’s largest selling issue year in and year out. Each music issue has come with a focus or a theme be it celebrating a particular state of style of music. This year’s issue takes a bit of a different turn focusing on ballads across the long history of music originating in the South. From country weepers to slow jams, the issue covers the performers, songwriters, and stories behind the songs. In addition to the plenty of terrific writing and the availability of an associated and highly curated Spotify playlist, the “Ballads” issue also includes a free companion CD for old school types out there. If you’re in search of that last-minute holiday gift for the open-minded music devotee on your shopping list, you’d be hard-pressed to find something more eclectic and interesting than Oxford American’s annual music issue. Joining it in the Ear Bliss spotlight this week is a look at the new multi-disc box set Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos. It offers a behind-the-scenes and insightful look at a mix of classic songs in their demo stages as well as many never-before-heard songs that never made it to vinyl from Stax’s revered roster of songwriters. Let’s get to it.
Oxford American Magazine
Southern Music Issue #25: Ballads
Being a long-time subscriber, November of each year always finds me anxiously awaiting the arrival of the annual Southern music issue from the quarterly Oxford American Magazine. If you are unfamiliar with the publication, the Oxford American Magazine is a literary-leaning periodical that refers to itself as “A Magazine of the South” with its mission to feature high quality Southern writing. Having been a continuous subscriber for over 25 years, I can vouch for it meeting its mission with each and every issue. The Oxford’s annual Southern music issue continues to be its best-selling and largest issue each year with its biggest draw, aside from the terrific writing, being the compilation CD that accompanies it. After years of focusing on artists from a particular Southern state, recent years has seen the music issue focus on a particular music style. For this year’s 25th annual, the OA puts the spotlight on ballads of all shapes and colors and what music lover does not fall for a great ballad. From Appalachian folk songs to regional story songs to tearin-the-beer country to slow jams to Southern rock and various points in between, the Southern Music Issue #25 and its accompanying soundtrack offers up a big tent of balladry. The 162page issue is wide-ranging. Via personal essays, profiles, visual art, experimental narratives, short stories, and more, contributors to the music issue representing both the literary and music worlds do a deep dive on ballads and their place in Southern storytelling. Featuring a striking photo of the great Roberta Flack (who’s equally striking ballad “Be Real Black for Me” with partner Donny Hathway is included on the accompanying CD and Spotify playlist), contributors to the issue span established writers and visual artists to up-and-coming ones pondering on subjects from how Beyonce’s “Listen” became the unofficial anthem of the Philippines to the Athens, Georgia of the early days of R.E.M. to a deep dive on the Stevie Nicks-Tom Petty collaborations. Add to that the eclectic 18-track compilation CD of ballads with tracks spanning from R.E.M., Otis Redding, and LeAnn Rimes to a brand-new traditional ballad by “The American Songster” Dom Flemons, plus the availability of a curated Spotify playlist. Year in and year out the OA keeps the bar high with its annual Southern Music issue and the 2023 edition is no exception. Visit www. oxfordamerican.org.
Various Artists Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos
Craft Records There is no denying Stax Records’ place as one of the most important record labels in the annals of American music. It was where iconic artists from Otis Redding to Sam & Dave to The Staple Singers to Isaac Hayes and more made their respective marks on the American music landscape delivering classic songs aplenty. Behind every one of those songs is a songwriter and the demo of the song that first interested the label and/or singer in tackling it. It is the unsung side of the business, while at the same time a building block to a hit. Without those songs and what it took to get them there, a label and its artists would never have scaled such high heights and that is where the new box set called Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos comes in. The expansive 7-CD box set, which is also available digitally, includes 146 demos (140 of them previously unreleased) from Stax’s revered roster of songwriters such as Bettye Crutcher, Homer Banks, and William Bell, most of whom were far from household names. The set is broken into three categories. They include demos that were released by artists at Stax or its subsidiary imprints such as Volt, We Produce, and Enterprise. Then there are demos by Stax songwriters that were released by artists on other labels such as Atlantic and Decca. Finally, there is the treasure trove of recordings worthy of being hits that were never released. You hear the first versions of such smashes as Luther Ingram’s “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right” and The Staple Singers’ “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)” as performed in demo form by the co-writer of each song, Homer Banks, and “Woman to Woman” as performed by its co-writer,
Henderson Thigpen, which Shirley Brown took to the top of the soul chart in 1974. And that is all just the tip of the iceberg of this massive collection. The tracks vary from raw demos to those with full-on arrangements. In all, the collection offers a highly insightful cross-section of songs in their initial stages before the ultimate singing voice and fine-tuning were done. As compiler and producer Cheryl Pawelski explains, “Demo recordings are often tossed off without inhibition, just writer and tape recorder sharing an intimate space. I love all these songs as they tumbled out for the first time. They’re filled with the joy and magic of discovering something that wasn’t there moments before. Suddenly, there it is, a song filled with the hope of finding an audience, of saying something, of moving someone.” Written In Their Soul contains moments like this in abundance.
LIVE SHOTS:
With Christmas upon us, things will begin quieting down on the live music front, however, we still have Friday and Saturday evenings for activity, not to mention later next week. Beginning as usual in South County, it is the GUESSMAS! holiday canned food benefit at The Ocean Mist in Matunuck on Friday night with Guess Method, Dudemanbro and The Water Project all scheduled to perform. Greg Piccolo is at the Mist on December 28. Don’t forget New Year’s Eve at The Mist with Sublime tribute Badfish. The
Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston is also off until New Year’s Eve when it hosts Neal and the Vipers starting at 8 pm. Pump House Music Works (164 Kingstown Road) in Peace Dale hosts its Winter Ball benefit for the South Kingstown Animal Shelter on Friday night. Saturday evening is a holiday show featuring Wet Bandits, Fave, Morning Glory, Brian Flamand, Bill Bartholomew, and
Chris Knott. Wednesdays are an acoustic lounge and open mic hosted by Matt Fraza. In Jamestown at The Narragansett Café, Steve Smith & The Nakeds ring in the holidays on Friday night. The Greenwich Odeum in East Greenwich is off until January 5 when it presents the show Direct from Sweden – The Music of Abba. The Wood River Inn in Wyoming next presents music on January 5 with Dos Amigos preforming at 7 pm. The Knickerbocker Music Center (35 Railroad Ave) in Westerly presents Roger Ceresi’s All Starz on Friday evening.
Neal Vitullo & The Vipers are at The Knick on Saturday evening. The Founders play music for your listening and dancing pleasure at The Knick on Wednesday evening and Jeff Pitchell & Texas Flood is there on December 29. To our North, celebrate the holidays on Friday night when Allman’s tribute Peacheaters presents its Ghost of Christmas Peach show at Chan’s Restaurant in Woonsocket. The Chan’s Annual Holiday Extravaganza with
Jimmy “2 Suits” Capone and the Chan’s All -Star Chan Clan Band happens on Saturday evening. The legendary Judy Collins brings her Holidays & Hits show to The Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket on
Friday evening. On Saturday night at The Stadium, it’s Holiday Pops with the Stadium Theatre Orchestra. The Blackstone River Theatre in Cumberland is off until January 20 when it presents a Saturday matinee performance by the Atwater~Donnelly Trio at 3 pm. Next up at The Met Café in Pawtucket on December 29 is an evening of songs, stories and stand up with
Stephen Kellogg called
Sit Down + Stand Up. In Providence, the Rambudikon Agency Fest featuring Scarecrow Hill, She Rides, Barbarian, Intake, The Mighty Fall, Infinity Sequence, and Edjinn comes to The Strand on Saturday night with show time at 7 pm. Sublime tribute Badfish is at The Strand on December 30. Askew on Chesnutt Street in Providence features the Americana sounds of In Lieu of Flowers and Man Made Hills on Friday night. Saturday evening is a holiday showcase featuring Twin
Brook, Hello Atlantic, and the monster guitarist Kris Sobanski, and John Quinn Sullivan is there on Phelps. Finally, after a short December 30. holiday break the Narrows
Center for the Arts in
Fall River is back in action on December 28 with the
Adam Ezra Group performing. GA-20 brings its terrific blues sounds to The
Narrows on December 29
Dan Ferguson is a freelance music writer and host of The Boudin Barndance, broadcast Thursday nights from 6 – 9 pm on WRIUFM 90.3.