Something To Cheer Us Up

Josh Turner (without guitar!) focuses on the singing this time, with Martina DaSilva, Sonny Step, Luke Bob Robinson, and David Linard. Written by Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, and Harry James, with lyrics by Don George.

More at Josh Turner Guitar

Fentanyl: Jesse Welles

Monday morning, a world runs on its favorite drug.

More at Jesse Welles

Scarlet Macaws

(Click to enlarge)

They have to be my favorite birds ever, otherworldly in their beauty. The macaws would fly by our hotel room balcony in twos or threes, around twice a day. Fortunately, their raucous call alerts one to drop everything else and pick up a camera.

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Summer Tanager

(Click to enlarge)

While slipping down the trail, we couldn’t miss this lovely tanager when we looked up! A lifer for me.

Trail to Playa Biesanz, Manuel Antonio,

Costa Rica

The Best Folk Singer/Songwriter Of His Generation?

“Jesse Welles has got a voice like John Prine, plays guitar like Bob Dylan, and can write a song that’s as topical and clever as the songs of Phil Ochs or Tom Paxton or Woody Guthrie. It turns out, despite his handsome shaggy-haired babyface look, he has been making songs for a long time. In an age where so much music is artificially created with plastic lyrics and digitally manipulated instruments, it is refreshing to hear a protest song on a simple acoustic folk guitar that doesn’t just talk about generalities, but actually names names, and has a political point of view…”

Click on the mp3 link or triangle above to hear the rest of my commentary on Welles, as broadcast this week on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.