I've been on the road for longish stretches a few times recently, which in recent years has become a signal for me to tune into Channel 28 on the SiriusXM dial, The Spectrum ("where classic rock meets new rock"). I first learned of The Spectrum a little over a decade ago and it's fair to say the station has been the means by which I've learned the most about new music released over that period. I've discovered I'm not much for the Black Keys or Jack White, but hey, good for the folks who are--there's plenty I hear on the Spectrum to keep me tuning in. Here are a few of the goodies that are currently getting several spins daily:
--Lord Huron, "Nothing I Need"
Currently #1 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart. They were among my first discoveries via The Spectrum; I enjoyed their songs enough to purchase their second album Strange Trails. This is the best thing I've heard from them since--sharp storytelling and a compelling melody make for a winning combination.
--HAIM, "Down to be wrong"
Three sisters from Cali. Like Lord Huron, they've got a new album about to be released. Long gone are the days when bands put out new stuff every year--this will be only their fourth record over a twelve-year span.
--Jesse Welles, "Horses"
On the other hand, Welles has been extraordinarily prolific over roughly the same time period as HAIM, with four times the number of releases. In spite of all that product, he's just now coming to my attention. This one has a powerful message and just might be worth a listen.
--Clover County, "Ultraviolet"
Apparently I'm still drawn to the female singer-songwriter genre. I've listened to a couple other songs from this recent University of Georgia grad, both of which were more country-tinged than this one. I believe I could become a fan.
But it's one other piece I've been hearing on The Spectrum that led me to write something up today, one for which both the title of the tune and the name of the band echo back over a half-century (I still can't believe that "over a half-century" can refer to music I've known for about that long): "Elderberry Wine" by Asheville, NC band Wednesday.
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Back in the day, Wednesday (later Wenzday) was a Canadian group that covered the teen-angsty "Last Kiss." It was a top 10 smash in their homeland but rose only to #34 in a four-month run during the winter of '74 here. My sense now is that I heard the J. Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers version more frequently on the radio then--it was re-released and made #92--but who really knows. What I do know is that I find Wednesday's take really tepid, particularly the drumming.
(While we're here, let's note other songs with the fourth day of the week in their title: a #97 hit in 1967 for the Royal Guardsmen, a charming album cut on Tori Amos's 2002 Scarlet's Walk, and of course the mid-90s #83 Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories tune that lends its title to this post.)
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Dad had bought the 45 for "Crocodile Rock" while it was a hit--no surprise there, since it evoked his favorite era of rock music--but it wound up in the hands of me and my sister a few years later after we started buying singles. So it wasn't until late '76 or early '77 that I would have flipped it over to check out the B-side, "Elderberry Wine." Quite the banger, "Elderberry Wine" went into regular rotation chez Harris over the next few years. I still dig it.
I don't know whether or not I was hoping for a cover when I first saw the words "Elderberry Wine" pop up on my car's screen a couple of weeks ago. But the new song is sweet (no pun intended) and well-executed. This incarnation of Wednesday has been a going concern for about five years. They're seeing their first AAA chart action with "Elderberry Wine;" I'm interested to see how well it does, and in hearing more from them. (Guitarist MJ Lenderman is also cranking up a solo career--his song from last year, the very 90s-sounding "She's Leaving You," has also caught my ear recently.)
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As it happens, the most recent road trip was to Black Mountain, NC, just a bit east of Asheville. We were able to take I-40 between Knoxville and Asheville, though it was one lane in each direction for about twenty miles. It was shocking to see how much damage the normally docile Pigeon River had done when the rains accompanying Hurricane Helene visited the area last fall. Martha and I didn't visit Asheville proper while there, but one afternoon a friend drove us over to Swannanoa to give us a sense of how widespread the devastation had been. There's clearly been a lot of cleanup and recovery work accomplished, but it's also just as clear there's much left to do.
While we were in the mountains on the way to Black Mountain last Thursday, "Elderberry Wine" came up. Mark Demos, the early afternoon DJ on The Spectrum, played a snippet of Sir Elton's piece on the lead-in. I had been certain I wasn't the only one who remembered it.
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