We recently heard of the sad passing of seasoned songwriter Kris Kristofferson. While I was not his biggest fan, I did enjoy his music and had a few of his titles in my music collection. I decided to reminisce and chose
"The Austin Sessions" for a listen. While enjoying this music, I heard a lovely background vocal on the song, "For The Good TImes". Further research determined it was provided by Matraca Berg. While I did not recognize this name, additional investigation revealed an artist I needed to check out.
If you don't recognize this name (like me), here is some more info. I headed straight to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matraca_Berg) for a deeper dive. A couple of things jumped out to me about this Singer/Songwriter:
Matraca was nominated for Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1991, losing to Shelby Lynne.
NOTE: At several listening sessions I see members pulling out Shelby Lynne music to demo their systems, especially the cut "Just A Little Lovin'" so being runner up to this great artist isn't bad.
In 2004 and 2005, Berg was nominated for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, making her one of the youngest nominees in history. She was eventually inducted in 2008. In 2018 she received the Poet's Award from the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Over the course of her career, Matraca Berg has seen more than 50 of her songs recorded by some of the most prominent names in the industry – Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, The (Dixie) Chicks, Patty Loveless, Linda Ronstadt, Dusty Springfield, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Mindy McCready, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell…the list goes on and on and on. She was the writer of choice for many female artists in the 90s and early 2000s and her songs are still regularly covered by a wide range of americana artists.
Discogs is showing 7 albums by this artist.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/622504-Matraca-Berg?superFilter=Releases&subFilter=Albums
For a taste of Matraca's music, check out "Slow Poison" from her album "The Speed Of Grace" and a few others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=NZNrbAmlCc4
"Strawberry Wine"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu_vh9Tbt0E
From her album "Lying To The Moon", here is a music video clip of "I Got It Bad". Even mentions O.J. Simpson! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL29QVQjmIQ
"The Resurrection" from "Sunday Morning To Saturday Night"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4YQXtar2DE
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Another musical revelation occurred while scanning through Facebook. A post caught my eye that offered a autographed FREE CD to me if I just paid the shipping cost. Ever seen one of those? Anyway, I checked out the band, King Cardinal (https://www.kingcardinal.com/) based in Colorado and I enjoyed what I read and heard.
Denver's King Cardinal push raw roots rock into lush, sonically daring territory with hints of cosmic country and delicate folk. Building off the success of two acclaimed EPs as well as dates with Ben Sollee, Sam Outlaw, and Darlingside (in addition to a performance at the iconic Telluride Bluegrass Festival), the band's debut album, 'Great Lakes,' was recorded over seven days at Texas' famed Sonic Ranch studio with GRAMMY-winning producer/engineer Ted Young (Israel Nash, Banditos).
“King Cardinal draws from a natural palette, painting vivid sonic portraits with elements of folk, roots rock and cosmic country.”
-Impose Magazine
“excellently crafted Americana”
-Marquee Magazine
“There’s enough intrigue within these grooves to convince a more adventurous admirer to undertake a series of subsequent encounters.”
-No Depression
I ordered the CDs (yes I wound up with 2 for $10). In just a few days I received the autographed CDs with a personal note card from Brennan Mackey. I received "Once A Giant" (https://kingcardinal.bandcamp.com/album/once-a-giant) and "Great Lakes" (https://kingcardinal.bandcamp.com/album/great-lakes).
There are 2 duplicate tracks on these albums, "Gasoline" and "Standing Down". The later track is an expanded version of over 28 minutes! It includes quite a bit of expanded ambient sounds using loopers, distortion, echo, flanging, etc. to highlight Jonah Wisneski's guitar skills and elaborate pedal board of effects. It is reminiscient of some early Pink Floyd extended tunes. Quite a surprise at the end of the "Once A Giant" CD.
I wrote to Brennan and asked him about this tune. Here is what he had to say.
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Hey Larry,
I'm so glad you enjoyed the albums! It's funny you ask about standing down. I just got an email from someone earlier this week that enjoyed everything BUT that song! It usually takes people a while to get through it. When we first released the album, people would tell me they enjoyed the record, then a month later say "I really liked that last one"!
The story of the song is interesting. I found a notebook on a bench in Cheeseman Park here in Denver. It was a journal that a girl had written. She had just started dating a new guy and wanted to write a page a day and give it to him when she completed the book. What it turned out to be is the documentation of a short lived weird, young relationship.
As for the recording of the song - we weren't really sure what we wanted to do, so we just started rolling the tape. The idea to do an ambient intro kind of emerged from jamming on it. We turned off the lights, lit some candles, and just got weird. When we did guitar and fiddle overdubs we even made them sit in a dark room with candles lit. The idea to repeat one chord for a long time until it becomes almost hypnotizing at the end I kind of stole from the song Goodbye Sky Harbor by Jimmy Eat World.
It was a super fun one to figure out and took a ton of time putting together. However, we knew not everyone could handle it, so we made a tight 8 minute version for the next record haha.
I haven't listened to that one in probably 5 years. I'm going to go back and take a listen.
Thanks again Larry!!
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Here is the "short" version of "Standing Down".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsQGc7NxWjo&list=OLAK5uy_lwfL1Bc8-74H9rfyKw9n5ilUkjbRsRCoY&index=8
"Gasoline"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQAUfqQLmI8&list=OLAK5uy_lwfL1Bc8-74H9rfyKw9n5ilUkjbRsRCoY&index=3
"Trouble" video. Take a tour through the recording studio in this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytTN3YEdtdM&list=OLAK5uy_lwfL1Bc8-74H9rfyKw9n5ilUkjbRsRCoY&index=6
Further links for your listening enjoyment!
https://www.kingcardinal.com/epk