Some gems we've met this year...

This has been a whirlwind year for the Sweetback Sisters. We've traveled to west to California, Colorado, Michigan and south to Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. We've eaten in a lot of gas stations, slept on a lot of couches, and met a lot of amazing musicians along the way. Here's a sampling of music from a few of the folks we have encountered so far in 2010. Enjoy!

We met Eddie Stubbs (in Nashville) and David McLaughlin (in West Virginia) of the Johnson Mountain Boys:



We met Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum in California:



We chilled with the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars at the Green River Festival in Greenfield, MA. And then they proceeded to kick some serious ass on stage:



We spent a lot of time with various members of Lake Street Dive, especially our lovely sister Bridget Kearney:



We didn't actually meet him, but Robert Plant did make a brief appearance at our Music City Roots show in Nashville. Someone told us that she overheard him saying he liked us. But he might have been talking about the biscuits...:



OK. That's just a start. More awesome videos to come.

-Emily

Jesse Polka

This is totally going into the Sweetback Sisters' repertoire. You have to watch both videos. They really are the same tune!

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:


-Emily

New River Train

After perusing dozens of youtube videos of various individuals performing "New River Train" I pronounce this guy the winner:



Andy Griffith gets an honorable mention:



Tony, Doc, Norman, et al... better luck next time.

Why am I watching hours worth of videos of this song? I'm glad you asked. I spent the week in Eggleston, VA recording an album at JoeBass's house, which is right next to the New River and its associated train. We occasionally had to wait for it to pass by before starting a take. I didn't record this song, but I did record two others that mention the New River Train (aka, the C&O Railway.)

-Jesse

Censorship

I wrote an awesome poem today,
At least I saw it that-a-way.

My Girlfriend thought it was too rude,
The subject matter base and crude.

It was coarse, I will concede,
Perhaps a bit too much to read,

For persons of a tender age,
So you won't find it on this page,

My private thoughts, however witty,
Concerning the town of Johnson City.

-Jesse

High Plains Drifters

Colorado's flat and dry, with mountains in the western sky.
Kansas is just flat and hot with no tall features I can spot.
Next we cross into Missouri. After that it all gets blurry.
Iowa? Then Illinois? That whole Midwestern ball of joy.

-Jesse