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Tag: Todd Snider

  • Unlikely collaborations…

    Unlikely collaborations…

    Every day, I run across something that reminds me that unlikely collaborations can lead to amazing creations…

    I was home alone last night. My husband, Bill, was on his way home from New York City, where he attended a job interview. The interview seemed to go well; we should know the outcome within the next week or so. Anyway, as is my habit, I was trying not to drink alcohol while he was gone. I think it’s a good practice not to and a good exercise in self-discipline. I lasted until about 8:00pm, then cracked open a beer. Bill was on his way home, after all. Oftentimes, when I start drinking beer, I get to a point at which I want to listen to music. That’s what happened last night. I realized that my music collection has quite a few unlikely collaborations in it. You know, music that was made by people you wouldn’t expect to get together…

    I kind of touched on this theme last week, when I wrote my post about oddly awesome covers. Maybe, once I listened to it, it wasn’t a huge stretch for Ricky Skaggs to make a record with Bruce Hornsby… though on the surface, it seems like their collaborations would be unlikely. As I was listening last night, I ran across some other unlikely collaborations. Texas legend Willie Nelson is pretty good for this practice. A few years ago, he made an album with Wynton Marsalis, famed jazz trumpeter.


    “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” is one of my favorite tracks from the unlikely collaboration of Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson. This was on their album, Two Men With The Blues.

    I ran across a very cool song Willie Nelson did with Santana back in the 1980s…


    I found this unlikely collaboration a few years ago, when I decided to download some Santana. It works.

    The great opera star Pavorotti had a very successful album series in the early 90s. He got together with rock stars like Sting, Bryan Adams, and even Barry White…


    Sting and Pavorotti


    Pavorotti and Barry White??? Wow… I wouldn’t have put them together.

    A few days ago, I read a very interesting article about funny country-alt singer and author Todd Snider. I own a few Todd Snider albums, having discovered his hilarious song “Beer Run”. I wouldn’t imagine he’d want to collaborate with a singer like Garth Brooks. But wouldn’t you know it? The “Friends In Low Places” country star sure enough wanted to cover one of Todd Snider’s songs. Garth Brooks was interested in recording Snider’s “Alright Guy” for his 1999 album, In the Life of Chris Gaines and even wanted Snider to play guitar on the project. It turned out Brooks didn’t end up putting the song on his album because his mother objected to the subject matter. But still, it’s a pretty cool story about two seemingly unrelated artists getting together to create something different.


    Todd Snider plays “Alright Guy” live.

    A few years ago, Emmylou Harris got together with Mark Knopfler and they made a fine album.


    Here they sing “Done With Bonaparte”… I love this!

    One might wonder why a country folk singer would hook up with a legendary rock guitarist like Mark Knopfler, who was the front man for Dire Straits for years and brought us songs like “Money For Nothing” and “Walk of Life”. But they blend pretty damn well, I think… kind of like Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.


    Alison Krauss and Robert Plant get together on a cover of “Black Dog”…

    I remember when I first heard about Alison Krauss and Robert Plant teaming up. It seemed like an unlikely collaboration, but their 2007 album Raising Sand was a huge success. I started thinking about other people I’d love to hear Alison Krauss play with… like Mark Knopfler! Why not?

    Music is a universal language and like any art, it can be expanded and shaped into new and unusual directions. I love finding unlikely collaborations among musicians I admire.

  • Happy anniversary to me!

    Happy anniversary to me!

    Bill and me today!
    Bill and me today!

    I’m delighted to report that after eleven years of marriage, I still feel like saying “Happy anniversary to me!”

    My husband Bill and I were married on a rainy Saturday at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. The date was November 16th, 2002. It was Bill’s second trip down the aisle and my first. It’s hard to believe all that has transpired since that fateful day eleven years ago. For the most part, time has really flown. I love Bill more today than I ever have. Every day, I find new reasons to be glad we found each other. In the spirit of my celebratory mood, I have decided to write a post about the music that has meant a lot to me in my relationship with Bill.

    The Ceremony

    I will never forget planning our nuptials. It was a stressful time, mainly because for half the time leading up to our wedding, I was finishing graduate school. We were also really broke. Nevertheless, I determined that I would choose music for the wedding that meant a lot to us. Bill and I are both of Celtic descent. I have more Scottish ancestry, while he is very Irish. I wanted our wedding to be kind of Celtic, while it was also military. No one wore a kilt, with the exception of the guy who played the bagpipes during my walk down the aisle. I chose to eschew the usual “Bridal Chorus” in lieu of a beautiful piece called “Highland Cathedral”. “Highland Cathedral” was composed by two Germans in 1985, yet it sounds like it could be an ancient Scottish piece. The first time I heard it, it was 2001 and I was at a kirk’in of the tartans in Columbia, South Carolina. I was moved to tears and determined that I would use that piece in my wedding if I ever got married. Sure enough, I used it to great success.


    This is a video I made after Bill and I visited Scotland for our 10th anniversary. I used Phil Coulter’s version of “Highland Cathedral” followed by Amy Grant’s very different version of “Highland Cathedral”.

    At my wedding, we had an organist and bagpiper play “Highland Cathedral” together and it sounded something like this…

    Other music used in our ceremony were basic hymns. I also had people sing hymns for us, since I am always singing for them!

    Love songs

    There are quite a few love songs that make me think of my relationship with Bill. Our first dance was to “Someone To Watch Over Me”, a classic Gershwin tune.


    Amy Winehouse singing “our song”.

    But there are plenty of other mushy songs that make me go weak in the knees when I hear them. For instance, I gave serious thought to us dancing to this song by Lyle Lovett…


    It captures my sense of humor, but doesn’t really reflect the truth…

    A better song might have been this one by Beth Nielsen Chapman.


    “All I Have” is a gorgeous wedding song, but harder to dance to.


    My version of Beth Nielsen Chapman’s pretty love song.

    Other songs that come to mind are Judy Collins’ version of “In My Life” and Don Henley’s “Taking You Home”, both of which I recorded recently.


    Judy Collins singing in 1966.


    I covered Judy Collins’ cover of the Beatles’ “In My Life”.

    There have been other, less lovey songs that have inspired Bill and me. While we are in love with each other, our marriage is really more like a great friendship. And we do a lot of things that great friends do together, like drink a lot of beer.


    This video includes “King of Beers” by Too Much Joy and “Beer Run” by Todd Snider, as well as photos of Bill enjoying our favorite pastime.

    In any case, I feel pretty sure tomorrow we’ll have a great time. We usually take trips for our anniversary, but this year’s move and my recent dental woes precluded that. I have high hopes for next year, though! Have a great weekend, y’all!