http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtJNH4K4zyk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LtVywM11Mg
Backstage with Elvis & version of 15 petals
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History History
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Re: Backstage with Elvis & version of 15 petals
Astonishing cover by Jamie T Commons , reminds me of Rodriguez . Besides this youTube clip , the track seems to be only available as a download from Amazon Germany. http://www.amazon.de/15-Petals/dp/B00DV ... +15+petals
Elvis , apparently, likes this cover
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oc ... -interview
One to watch: Jamie N Commons
Jamie N Commons's dad took him to see the Allman Brothers when he was a boy, and now the 22-year-old blues singer counts Elvis Costello among his fans
Morwenna Ferrier
The Observer, Sunday 2 October 2011
In the backroom of a spruce but empty pub, the sort that increasingly defines London's King's Cross, Jamie N Commons is telling the story of an evangelical preacher from Alabama who strangled his wife, chopped her up and popped her body in a freezer. Thankfully, there's context: this is the story of "The Preacher", the first (and arguably best) song on Commons's debut blues EP, The Baron. Still, dark stuff.
Commons smiles: "A lot of my songs touch on religion," he explains. "I find it interesting. But the songs I write tend to be more…" Hellfire and fury? "Exactly. There are many sides to religion and that is one of them." Suffice to say, "The Preacher" is a rumbling, spit-furious punch of a song, all crucixes and wayward flocks. Very Grinderman. In fact, the entire EP is heavy on Nick Cave-esque themes: executions ("The Preacher"), heartbreak ("Lola"), and suicide ("Hold On"), to name a few. Unlike Cave, though, 22-year-old Commons has a lax view of religion. While his father, a printer, isn't religious, Commons happily attended church as a child with his mother, the secretary of their local church in Gloucester. Any probing for religious discord in the family proves unproductive: "Religion wasn't a raging issue at home," he says. "I'm open to it."
Born in Bristol, Commons moved to Chicago with his family at the age of six after his father's job transferred there. Home to Muddy Waters et al, the Windy City was pivotal in his discovery of the blues. The first gig his father took him to was the Allman Brothers: "I have strong memories of strange-smelling smoke and the guy next to us howling like a wolf."
Returning to the West Country at 16 with a skewed accent, he taught himself the brass tacks of the guitar and, aged 18, moved to London to study music at Goldsmiths in New Cross, a requisite for any modern musician: recent alumni include singer Katy B and electro-composer, and classmate, James Blake, "Although I didn't really know what he [James] did. It wasn't until the third year that suddenly he was off to meet Universal and it was like, oh." A graduate in the guise of Struwwelpeter, Commons certainly dresses New Cross: plaid shirt, tight-ish black jeans and felt Preacher's hat bought (alarmingly) from TK Maxx: "Not cool, nope, but I lost my other hat."
Singing the blues at 22 is a tough call. It's not just the baggage and breadth of the subject matter: you also need the right pipes and without them you risk parody. Fortunately Commons has them. After spending years trying and failing to imitate Gregg Allman, he found a substitute and the resulting sound is both rasping and lovely but inevitably studied, something he defends: "If I didn't think it was genuine I wouldn't sing in that way."
With the aid of his highly proficient five-piece band, it all comes together. The EP is a sombre, five-track traipse through some deep south backwater, and that he once sent them mixtapes of the Band and JJ Cale to emulate is unsurprising. But it's also a sound at odds with the man in person. Commons is actually terribly polite, self-effacing, nervous even. After all, this is his first interview and "no, blues singers don't get media training". We leave the pub in favour of a windy terrace where, two Guinnesses and two cigarettes down, he is finally relaxed enough to blow his own trumpet. Apparently Elvis Costello is a fan (he loved Commons's cover of "15 Petals"), as is swamp-rock legend CC Adcock – an artist featured heavily throughout HBO vampire drama True Blood – who has invited Commons to New Orleans. "So yes, maybe I'll get a new hat there. Not a preacher's though," he says. "I'm on the search for a wide-rim Stetson."
The Baron EP will be released by Luv Luv Luv records on 17 October
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005 ... 496&sr=8-1
http://www.jamiencommons.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/soundof/2012 ... /#p00m9nsc
Elvis , apparently, likes this cover
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oc ... -interview
One to watch: Jamie N Commons
Jamie N Commons's dad took him to see the Allman Brothers when he was a boy, and now the 22-year-old blues singer counts Elvis Costello among his fans
Morwenna Ferrier
The Observer, Sunday 2 October 2011
In the backroom of a spruce but empty pub, the sort that increasingly defines London's King's Cross, Jamie N Commons is telling the story of an evangelical preacher from Alabama who strangled his wife, chopped her up and popped her body in a freezer. Thankfully, there's context: this is the story of "The Preacher", the first (and arguably best) song on Commons's debut blues EP, The Baron. Still, dark stuff.
Commons smiles: "A lot of my songs touch on religion," he explains. "I find it interesting. But the songs I write tend to be more…" Hellfire and fury? "Exactly. There are many sides to religion and that is one of them." Suffice to say, "The Preacher" is a rumbling, spit-furious punch of a song, all crucixes and wayward flocks. Very Grinderman. In fact, the entire EP is heavy on Nick Cave-esque themes: executions ("The Preacher"), heartbreak ("Lola"), and suicide ("Hold On"), to name a few. Unlike Cave, though, 22-year-old Commons has a lax view of religion. While his father, a printer, isn't religious, Commons happily attended church as a child with his mother, the secretary of their local church in Gloucester. Any probing for religious discord in the family proves unproductive: "Religion wasn't a raging issue at home," he says. "I'm open to it."
Born in Bristol, Commons moved to Chicago with his family at the age of six after his father's job transferred there. Home to Muddy Waters et al, the Windy City was pivotal in his discovery of the blues. The first gig his father took him to was the Allman Brothers: "I have strong memories of strange-smelling smoke and the guy next to us howling like a wolf."
Returning to the West Country at 16 with a skewed accent, he taught himself the brass tacks of the guitar and, aged 18, moved to London to study music at Goldsmiths in New Cross, a requisite for any modern musician: recent alumni include singer Katy B and electro-composer, and classmate, James Blake, "Although I didn't really know what he [James] did. It wasn't until the third year that suddenly he was off to meet Universal and it was like, oh." A graduate in the guise of Struwwelpeter, Commons certainly dresses New Cross: plaid shirt, tight-ish black jeans and felt Preacher's hat bought (alarmingly) from TK Maxx: "Not cool, nope, but I lost my other hat."
Singing the blues at 22 is a tough call. It's not just the baggage and breadth of the subject matter: you also need the right pipes and without them you risk parody. Fortunately Commons has them. After spending years trying and failing to imitate Gregg Allman, he found a substitute and the resulting sound is both rasping and lovely but inevitably studied, something he defends: "If I didn't think it was genuine I wouldn't sing in that way."
With the aid of his highly proficient five-piece band, it all comes together. The EP is a sombre, five-track traipse through some deep south backwater, and that he once sent them mixtapes of the Band and JJ Cale to emulate is unsurprising. But it's also a sound at odds with the man in person. Commons is actually terribly polite, self-effacing, nervous even. After all, this is his first interview and "no, blues singers don't get media training". We leave the pub in favour of a windy terrace where, two Guinnesses and two cigarettes down, he is finally relaxed enough to blow his own trumpet. Apparently Elvis Costello is a fan (he loved Commons's cover of "15 Petals"), as is swamp-rock legend CC Adcock – an artist featured heavily throughout HBO vampire drama True Blood – who has invited Commons to New Orleans. "So yes, maybe I'll get a new hat there. Not a preacher's though," he says. "I'm on the search for a wide-rim Stetson."
The Baron EP will be released by Luv Luv Luv records on 17 October
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005 ... 496&sr=8-1
http://www.jamiencommons.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/soundof/2012 ... /#p00m9nsc
Re: Backstage with Elvis & version of 15 petals
The backstage footage is so classic, I don't even know where to begin. Let's face it, there are Spinal Tap moments here. Does anyone agree with me? Love the dude with the fro.
As for the cover by Jamie, well done. Love it.
As for the cover by Jamie, well done. Love it.