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MUSIC
HUFFINGTON
01.26.14
Dog Ears
In which we spotlight music from a diversity of genres and
decades, lending an insider’s ear to what deserves to be heard.
BY THE EVERLASTING PHIL RAMONE AND DANIELLE EVIN
RUBE LACY
MOONDOG
ROBERT FRANCIS
Singer Rube Lacy, a.k.a. the Reverend Rubin Lacy, was born in 1901 in
Pelahatchie, Miss. By his teens, Lacy
learned guitar and shortly thereafter
became one of the Mississippi Delta
region’s most sought after bottleneck guitarists. Lacy recorded a few
sides for Paramount Records, and
by 1932, he became a minister and
preached until his death in 1972. The
title “Mississippi Jail House Groan,”
recorded in 1928 and included in the
collection Before the Blues: The Early
American Black Music Scene, is as
authentic as it gets.
Avant street-sound composer and
multi-instrumentalist Moondog (a.k.a.
Louis Thomas Hardin Jr.) was born in
1916 in Kansas. At the age of 16, he
lost his sight in an enigmatic blast,
and soon after discovered the world of
sound art. By his late 20s, he relocated
to New York. Surrounded by avantmodern sound architects, Moondog,
with his unconventional musings and
Viking attire, held court on NYC’s
music scene for decades. Among his
diehards are Elvis Costello, Antony and
the Johnsons, Jens Lekman, Lenny
Bruce, Kronos Quartet and Janis Joplin. In the mid-’70s, Moondog relocated to Germany, where he died in 1999.
With a trove of releases to collect,
start with “High on a Rocky Ledge,”
from his 1978 project H’art Songs.
Singer/songwriter Robert Francis was
born in the late ’80s and raised in a
classical-sheet-music dynasty. Robert
hit the ivories in very early boyhood.
Soon after, family friend Ry Cooder
gifted him a guitar, and in time he
went on to study with Red Hot Chili
Pepper John Frusciante. Wanderlust
struck Robert in his junior year of
high school, and he set out to make
his mark. Three full-lengths later, his
collaborations/shared stages have
grown to include John Butler, Dave
Sardy, Hello Stranger, Priscilla Ahn and
Juliette Commagere. Mr. Francis gives
us something to feel about. Open your
ears to “Star Crossed Memories,” from
his 2012 Strangers in the First Place.
BUY: Amazon
GENRE: Folk/Blues
ARTIST: Rube Lacy
SONG: Mississippi Jail House Groan
ALBUM: Before the Blues, Vol. 1
BUY: iTunes
GENRE: Experimental
ARTIST: Moondog
SONG: High on a Rocky Ledge
ALBUM: H’art Songs
BUY: iTunes
GENRE: Singer/Songwriter
ARTIST: Robert Francis
SONG: Star Crossed Memories
ALBUM: Strangers in the First Place