AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Moloney O'Connell & Keane

Artist:Moloney O'Connell & Keane

Song:Kilkelly

Album:Kilkelly

Kilkelly is probably the best known song recorded by Irish singer songwriter Robbie O'Connell. But he didn't record it on one of his own albums. He recorded it on this 1987 album by a trio he formed with banjoist Mick Moloney and accordionist Jimmy Keane. O'Connell received so many requests for Kilkelly that he self released a comp. I guess fans couldn't find Kilkelly anywhere. That album is out of print. But you can find Kilkelly on this album where O'Connell originally recorded it. I'm going to talk mostly about O'Connell because he is featured. He was born Dec. 28, 1950 in St. John's Parish, Waterford, Ireland. His mother was a Clancy so he's a nephew of The Clancy Brothers. He replaced Liam Clancy in 1977, moved to the US and toured with The Clancy Brothers for five years. He joined the band Green Fields of America. Maloney and Keane were in that band and the trio Maloney O'Connell & Keane was an offshoot of that band. Kilkelly was one of two albums they recorded for the Irish folk label Green Linnett. That company was based in the US. His recording of the song Kilkelly has become very popular. Peter Jones wrote Kilkelly after he found some old family letters detailing a son moving from Ireland to America. He based the song on those letters. One of the first to record the song was Irish singer Danny Doyle. And that is where O'Connell heard it and decided to record it on this album. Kilkelly was popularized by the 1991 BBC TV series Bringing It All Back Home. This was a five part series featuring many Irish musicians. And fans have been searching for Kilkelly since then. Moloney O'Connell & Keane only recorded two albums. O'Connell returned to The Clancy Brothers until their 1996 retirement. Since then O'Connell has recorded solo and performed with many Irish musicians. He lives in Boston. Here's the video for Kilkelly by Moloney O'Connell & Keane. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Dick & Dee Dee

Artist:Dick & Dee Dee

Song:Turn Around

Album:The Best of Dick & Dee Dee

The pop duo Dick & Dee Dee had success in the early 60s before the British Invasion wiped them out. This 1963 cover of the folk song Turn Around was a top 30 hit. According to a site that I use, it was their fourth biggest hit. But I have a good video clip and it was the best song that was played this morning. Richard Gosling and Mary Sperling met while they were students at Paul Revere Junior High in Los Angeles. They attended different high schools but reconnected after graduation at See's Candy Store in Los Angeles. Mary was attending college and working part time at the store. Gosling was looking for a job and he started working at the store. When they discovered a common interest in music, they began writing songs together. They were never romantically involved. They signed with the very small Lama label owned by The Wilder Brothers and producer Don Ralke. They were called Dick & Dee Dee on the 1961 single The Mountain's High which they wrote together. When The Mountain's High started getting radio airplay in California, Lama leased it to Liberty Records to get national distribution. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. This would turn out to be Dick & Dee Dee's biggest hit. Mary quit college and Dick & Dee Dee went on tour. Liberty released the 1961 album Tell Me-The Mountain's High. When Dick & Dee Dee were unhappy with Liberty's promotional efforts, Ralke got them out of their Liberty contract and got them a new record deal with Warner Bros. The 1963 single Young and in Love was a top 20 hit and Turn Around was a top 30 hit. It was from the album Turn Around and was produced by Ralke. Turn Around was was written by folksinger Malvina Reynolds and musicologist. Alan Greene. When Harry Belafonte recorded Turn Around in 1959, he made changes and got a songwriting credit. The Kingston Trio recorded it in 1963 and it was covered by many artists after Dick & Dee Dee recorded it. Dick & Dee Dee recorded four albums for Warners and appeared on The Dick Van Dyke Show and were regulars on the TV show Shindig. This comp from Varese has all their hits. Mary married Dick Clark's producer Bill Lee. So they continued to appear on Clark's TV shows. But the British Invasion killed lots of musical acts and Dick & Dee Dee were no different. They split up in 1969 after recording a couple of albums for Dot Records. Gosling continued to write songs and he revived Dick & Dee Dee with his wife in the 80s. He died in 2003. Mary got married a second time and retired. After writing her 2006 autobiography, she revived Dick & Dee Dee with actor Michael Dunn and they performed for a couple of years. Here's Dick & Dee Dee performing Turn Around on the Dr. Pepper Celebrity Party 1963.

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Mads Tolling Quartet

Artist:Mads Tolling Quartet

Song:Beatrice

Album:Celebrating Jean-Luc Ponty: Live at Yoshi's

Mads Tolling is a Danish jazz violinist in the tradition of Stephane Grappelli but especially Jean-Luc Ponty. This 2011 album is a live tribute to Ponty. Tolling was a member of the Grammy award winning group Turtle Island Quartet. He was born July 5, 1980 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He started playing violin at age six. Tolling and his sister busked on Copenhagen streets. While in high school, Tolling earned a scholarship to attend Berklee School of Music in Boston. His teachers at Berklee were jazz musicians Joanne Brackeen, Hal Crook and Joe Lovano. And that's also where he met French jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. And Ponty recommended Tolling to join bassist Stanley Clarke's band which he did after graduating from Berklee in 2003. Tolling recorded and toured with Clarke until 2010. He was also a member of Turtle Island Quartet until 2012. They were very successful and won two Grammys in the Classical Crossover category. Meanwhile, Tolling started recording and touring with his own band in 2008. He usually records for his own label. Beatrice is from the album Celebrating Jean-Luc Ponty. As it says in the title, it was recorded live at Yoshi's in Oakland, CA. May 30, 2011. Tolling currently lives in San Francisco. The album is made up of songs popularized by Ponty including the Sam Rivers song Beatrice. The musicians were Tolling's touring band at the time of Mike Abraham on guitar, George Ban-Weiss on bass and Eric Garland on drums. This album is available as a budget CD. Tolling's latest album Masters of Jazz Violin with Jacob Fischer on guitar and Matthias Petri on bass was released last year. He is currently playing shows in California. He also teaches violin online if you are interested. Here's the video for Beatrice by Mads Tolling.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Freddie Hubbard

Artist:Freddie Hubbard

Song:Blues for Duane

Album:The Hub of Hubbard

Most jazz fans are familiar with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's 60s albums on Blue Note and his early 70s albums on CTI. But you may not be familiar with the albums he recorded for Atlantic in the late 60s. But you have probably never heard of the 1970 album The Hub of Hubbard. He recorded that for the German label MPS. Hubbard recorded for Blue Note until 1966 when Alfred Lion sold Blue Note to Liberty Records which in turn was sold United Artists. So a lot of guys left Blue Note including Hubbard. He formed a new band with James Spaulding on sax, Kenny Barron on piano and Louis Hayes on drums. Hubbard was looking for a more commercial sound at Atlantic. The funny part is Blue Note transitioned to a more commercial sound in the late 60s. Maybe he didn't like the new owners. Hubbard recorded five albums for Atlantic. That's when former A&M Records producer Creed Taylor started CTI Records and Hubbard knew that Taylor would produce the kind of sound he wanted. But before he went to CTI, he recorded the 1970 album The Hub of Hubbard for the German label MPS. MPS was started by the electronics company SABA and then sold to audio tape manufacturer BASF. Oscar Peterson recorded for them after he left MGM. At the time, Hubbard was on a European tour. And he thought this wiould be a good opportunity to record with that band. The band was Eddie Daniels on tenor sax, Roland Hanna on piano, Richard Davis on bass and Louis Hayes on drums. It was always intended as a one off album because he started with CTI immediately after the tour. But it's a good album and it's available on CD. MPS went through several ownership changes before Universal acquired them in 1999. They sold MPS to the German label Edel AG in 2014. Here's Freddie Hubbard with Donald Braden on tenor sax, Benny Green on piano, Jeff Chambers on bass ande Louis Hayes on drums performing Blues for Duane in Spain 1991.  

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Christian French

Artist:Christian French

Song:Head First

EP:Bright Side of the Moon

Singer songwriter Christian French has mostly had viral success. He has never placed on the Billboard chart. If you want to see how he is doing, you have to check out the site Chartmetric which compiles digital download statistics. According to them, the 2019 single Head First is his most popular song. He doesn't release albums, just EPs and singles. Why is he doing this? Originally, I think French was trying to save money. But then his record label bought into it. French was born Mar. 17, 1997 in Fishers, IN. He learned to play piano through You Tube tutorials and in high school he posted covers on SoundCloud. He started writing songs while he was a pre-med student at Indiana University. But he got the music bug, quit school and moved to Los Angeles. I'm sure his parents were thrilled. Excuse my sarcasm. He released a few singles and a couple made Spotify's Viral 50. In 2018, he worked with producer Dru DeCaro and he produced the EP Natural Colors and the single Sweet Home. He toured with Chelsea Cutler and appeared on rapper Hoodie Allen's single Come Around. Then he signed with Disruptor Records with Sony distribution. And that's when the EP Bright Side of the Moon was released. Disruptor is owned by Adam Alpert. He's the manager of the popular EDM duo The Chainsmokers. Though French originally decided to release music digitally because he didn't have the money to do it traditionally, Disruptor and Sony could have insisted it be changed to the traditional way, Alpert decided to go along with French and see how things go. The thinking is that streaming reaches a younger demographic. So the 2019 EP Bright Side of the Moon and the single Head First were very successful. To date, Head First is French's most downloaded song on Spotify. It's been streamed on Spotify over 32 million times. This EP is available as a digital download. French continues to release EPs and singles, most recently in 2023. According to his Facebook, he may have new music coming soon. Would French be more successful if he used traditional release strategy. I dunno. I think he should use both strategies. But I also think using streaming only makes him seem special to his fans. In reality, I don't think French's music is anything special. There are plenty of guys who sound similar. So maybe the exclusivity of streaming only is part of the attraction. Here's the video for Head First by Christian French.

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Jay & The Americans

Artist:Jay & the Americans

Song:This Magic Moment

Album:Come a Little Bit Closer: The Best of Jay & the Americans

Considering that they were a doo wop throwback group, Jay & the Americans had a pretty good run in the 60s. After the top ten singles She Cried (1962), Come a Little Bit Closer (1964) and Cara Mia (1965), they went through a dry spell. Just when it looked like they were through, Jay & the Americans scored their final top ten hit with the 1968 single This Magic Moment. Of course in their initial run, they had to compete with British Invasion bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. They even opened for those bands. The group in those days was Jay Black, Howard Kane, Kenny Vance, Sandy Deanne and Marty Sanders. Black was usually lead singer and Sanders played guitar. They never wrote their own songs. After Cara Mia was a hit in 1965, they didn't have much success. Cara Mia was produced by DJ Gerry Granahan. After United Artists released a 1965 Greatest Hits album, Jay & the Americans released the 1966 album Sunday and Me. Granahan produced this album and Artie Butler wrote the arrangements. As with their previous albums, the songs were mostly covers. But with the exception of Roy Orbison's Crying, none of the songs were hits elsewhere. They did score a top 20 hit with the Neil Diamond song Sunday and Me. That was Diamond's first chart hit as a songwriter. Meanwhile, Jay & the Americans appeared in the 1966 film Wild Wild Winter. And they decided to start their own production and publishing company. They had the same problem with the albums Livin' Above Your Head (1966) and Try Some of This! (1967). They even brought in Jeff Barry and Lieber and Stoller to write and produce some songs on Try Some of This!. It didn't help. So for the 1969 album Sands of Time, Jay & the Americans decided to return to recording classic covers. Their cover of The Drifters classic This Magic Moment reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. That song was written by the legendary team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. Jay & the Americans produced the album. But Thomas Jefferson Kaye arranged and conducted. He had previously produced The Shirelles at Scepter Records. He brought in Donald Fagan and Walter Becker to write arrangements. And of course they went on to lead Steely Dan in the 70s. But they couldn't keep it going. The 1970 album Wax Museum was again produced by Kaye. The single Walkin' in the Rain reached #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. After Black took over and wrote and produced most of the 1970 album Capture the Moment and it was a failure, Jay & the Americans split up though Black continued to lead a version of the group. Due to gambling debts, Black filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and lost the rights to the name Jay & the Americans to Sandy Deanne. He continues to lead a version of the group today. They have released a couple of albums and tour the oldies circuit. The new lead singer John Reincke led a Jay & the Americans tribute band for 30 years. Sanders is also in the band. Kenny Vance leads his band The Planotones. Jay Black died in 2021 and Howard Kane died in 2023. You can get all of Jay & the Americans hits on this comp. Here's Jay & the Americans performing This Magic Moment.

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Layla Zoe

Artist:Layla Zoe

Song: You Won't Call

Album:Shades of Blue

Layla Zoe is a Canadian blues rocker who has recorded mostly for her own label since 2006. I call her a blues rocker because though she performs in the blues style, she writes her own songs. She is similar to women like Susan Tedeschi and Bonnie Raitt but not as successful. She was born May 26, 1970 in Nanaimo, BC. By age four, she was performing in her father's band. Then she led his band as a teen and started writing poetry. Then she moved to Toronto because that's capital of the music business in Canada. After releasing a 2005 EP, she released her 2006 debut album Shades of Blue on her own label. She wrote and produced everything with guitarist Chris Raines. It seems to be his only credit. She even produced a video for You Won't Call. The album is available on CD. She played with Jeff Healey in his Toronto club. It's just that this kind of music is a crowded marketplace and if an artist is not on a label like Alligator, it's an uphill climb. So Layla has played a lot of European blues festivals. Guitarist Henrik Freischlader liked her and released a couple of her albums on his Cable Car label. She also released albums on Ruf Records owned by Luther Allison's manager Thomas Ruf. She moved to Germany in 2013 mainly because she was touring Europe a lot. She currently lives in The Netherlands. Her latest album Back to the Spirit of 66 was released in 2023. It's a 2CD set. She wrote and produced it. I think the move to Europe is a good move for Layla as there are more opportunities there for her brand of blues rock. Here's the video for You Won't Call by Layla Zoe.