I've been revisiting Tracy Chapman lately, and she holds up quite well indeed. I couldn't pick what to single out among her own great songs, so I'll just showcase her voice in a cover: Stand by Me

I'm confident calling this one great. Sister Rosetta Sharpe, Up Above My Head

And one more by her, Didn't It Rain.

Sierra Hill doing “Mad World.” What she does with a mandolin has to be heard.

https://youtu.be/sFIQgPAms88?si=1gvxzSKCmMAjy_ua

John, so nice to find another bluegrass fan. Sierra Hull is wonderful, though I don't think she is the best mandolin player out there. She's definitely great, but there are greater.

Anyway, she is one of the many incredible musicians in this cover of With a Little Help from My Friends.

And here's another bluegrass cover of a mainstream hit by the Grateful Dead. I think they do it better than the Dead did! And it has some great mandolin.

But Sierra is fantastic as well. Don't mean to say otherwise. Here's another by her that I love.

The most enjoyable concert I ever attended had just two musicians: Dave Grisman and Del McCoury. If anyone has ever played the mandolin better than Grisman did that night, I can't imagine. And McCoury is pretty much as good as it gets in bluegrass. But I can't find any decent quality recordings of the duo on YouTube.

You can only imagine how much bluegrass I’ve heard here in NC. My father-in-law is still fiddling away at ninety-two. So much of it sounds alike that being stuck at a bluegrass show is torture. But these are new approaches. Thanks.

I only discovered my love of bluegrass when Trump was elected. Before then, I listened to political talk radio when I was in the car, but I couldn't bring myself to do that in the weeks and months following the election in 2016. It was too upsetting. Then I discovered the bluegrass channel of Sirius/XM and loved what I found. So at least something good came of Trump's election!

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I am not a jazz fan but make an exception for New Orleans style jazz. There’s just something joyous about the way the music is cranked out. I may have already posted a clip of this group, but because we’ve veered into bluegrass it worth another post.

https://youtu.be/jft3BVoxqjo?si=5EaJm71tQTlmyPT1

I see/listen to them in the same spirit as I do Abby Roach The Spoon Lady that Julie posted earlier in the thread (#44).

They are “busker great”. The clarinet player, trombone player and the band’s leader the coronet player are all virtuosos, IMO.

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Here's "Attaboy" by the Goat Rodeo Sessions: https://youtube.com/watch?v=d-31e8Nlujw

And on an entirely different note, since we're doing comedians, one of my favourite Brian Regan bits, "Stupid in School": https://youtube.com/watch?v=CafPNEWnDhk

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I liked Joe's Stewart Lee clip and I liked your Brian Regan.
Tina Fey is naturally funny. This clip of her as a guest on the Craig Ferguson Show is as good as a comedic interview gets. 15 minutes of sustained, improvised exchanges between the two that just keeps getting funnier. The final two minutes are the epitome of visual comedy.

https://youtu.be/sCrzWes-b7Q?si=a5Wz1-CQntYfwcEF


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Jim, if you would listen to jazz for a while. Don't judge or analyze just listen you will begin to hear the inside of it, the rhythms and the melodies and the stories and it'll open up. Maybe start with someone like Art Pepper or Bill Evans or Frank Morgan and it'll get you.

Please listen to this. It's the Bill Evan's trio playing "Waltz for Debbie." It's light and fundamental at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCINvavqFXk