Doin' That Old Year Rag

Get it here. 

WAH WAH COWBOYS VOLUME 1
00:00 Cross County :: Mickey Jupp
03:21 Petaluma :: Norman Greenbaum
05:59 Florida :: Lonnie Mack
09:05 When The Truth Finally Comes :: Brewer & Shipley
11:39 The Body Song :: Thomas Jefferson Kaye
15:51 Ogla Mahula :: Augie Meyers
17:53 Bon Soir Blues :: Gib Guilbeau
20:46 We’re Running Out :: Phil Everly
23:20 Hamburger Midnight :: Little Feat
25:49 Scorpio Woman :: Mordecai Jones
29:35 Seeds & Stems (Again) :: Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen
33:22 Losin’ Streak :: The Crickets
36:04 Jerry’s Bar & Grill :: B.W. Stevenson
39:39 Hello, I Am Your Heart :: Dennis Linde
42:33 Sing My Way Home :: Bonnie & Delaney

ENJOY.

Sweet Days

Backyard; Haw River trek; flood; Tarkovsky; Dead 73 Baltimore; Greenwitch; Warren Cty native

Late-September Things I Like

Frogs


Marantz


Fresh eggs with roughage


Morning dew


Books, generally speaking


Well-kitted kitchens


Future chickens




Rooms with views


Elric

Also: Harold Budd, Mel Tillis, Mike Nesmith, Garland Frady, Pita pockets

New Dig

A couple weeks ago we moved to a root nook tucked deep in the woods over the Chatham County Line in Pittsboro. We're still getting our spot together. Lij and I went out for a walk this morning.

Breaking the silence: Packing up Eaglewing Farm for a place down the road in Pittsboro. Pictures soon. Need a job. Stop. Baby boy growing big. Reading John Crowley's Little, Big. A masterpiece. Stop. Moving is unsettling, but we've got a spot for chickens now. Live Hiss Golden Messenger record coming soon, edition of 100 on vinyl for anyone who might care. Sometime late fall. Stop. Record collection is packed, making do with Tusk, Charles Tyler's Saga of the Outlaws, Jethro Tull, Dollar Brand. Thanks Pete J. for flowing me all that new music, I'm stoked to check it.

Terry Reid is on the youtube right now. I'm pretty sure that's David Lindley on the lap steel.

RAMBLE TAMBLE

Friends,
Lots of Hiss Golden Messenger news & blues percolating in the pot! So whilst the summer thunderstorm yawps and rips through Eaglewing Estates and Mahavishnu rages in dire sympathy with the lightning and the rain, I here deliver the latest missive from HGM oblivion. Jumping in feet first:

I. UPCOMING SHOWS

We’ve got a few shows on the near horizon.

Thursday, July 23rd @ Bruar Falls
245 Grand Street (in Williamsburg), Brooklyn, NY

Hiss Golden Messenger plays with Family Band and One Hundred Dollars. The cost is six dollars and we play first, about 8 PM they say. Get there early, stay late.

HANG TENDER

Saturday, July 25th @ Julian & Juliette's Homeplace
Bovina Center, Upstate New York

This is our yearly epic ramble on a princely piece of land belonging to our friends Julian and Juliette. Responsible and dedicated parties are welcome. We share an all-day bill with P.G. Six, Meg Baird, D. Charles Speer & The Helix, Family Band, One Hundred Dollars, Joan, and The Disciples of Agriculture. This is a camping situation. More information is available HERE. Hippies semi-welcome. Just kidding, we'll take all comers.

Anyone interested in finding out more about this event, drop me a line at hissgoldenmessenger at yahoo dot com.

Also: I would like to play some more shows. But where? Email me at the above address if you have any suggestions. Less interested in clubs, more interested in houses, barns, churches, and the like.


II. FREE LIVE ASHEVILLE DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE NOW

On January 29, 2009, I played a solo show at the incredible Harvest Records in Asheville, NC, opening for natural born ramblers Matt Valentine and Erika Elder. This is a warts and all recording with its fair share of flubs, but there is something that I like about it. Simply cut and paste http://www.echo-magic.com/mp3downloads/Solo_Show_Asheville.zip into a new browser and your download should start. Enjoy!

III. TARASCAN HUMMINGBIRD T-SHIRTS

I’ve just finished a run of hand-dyed 100% cotton V-neck Hiss Golden Messenger shirts printed with the Tarascan Hummingbird for luck. These shirts are grey with a light tie-dye feel. Medium and large sizes are in stock now, small and extra-larges available upon request. Wash with like colors in cold water. Available for purchase in the Heaven & Earth Magic shop for the trifling sum of $13 plus shipping and handling.


IV. COUNTRY HAI EAST COTTON NOW AVAILABLE DIGITALLY

Country Hai East Cotton is now available digitally through Amazon, iTunes, Lala, eMusic, and most other spots where music is sold electronically. If anyone out there is interested in writing a review of the record on one of these sites (or elsewhere), send me a link to the review; I’ll send you something good in return. I’m not sure what, but it’ll be good.


In other news, we’re just about done with an EP we recorded with Irene Trudel for broadcast on WFMU last summer. It's a collection of live renditions of tunes from Country Hai, and it's sounding solid. Expect it to appear in some form this fall via the Heaven & Earth Magic Recording Co.

Keeping busy down south with Mahavishnu Orchestra and The Crickets, Dominic Reeve's Smoke in the Lanes and a whole mess of Charles Willeford. Keep it nice.

Your golden messenger,
Jai Lil Diamond
Heaven & Earth Magic Recording Co.

Midsummer Ramble

Plant `em in the spring, eat `em in the summer
All winter without `em's a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin' & diggin'
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes
What would life be without homegrown tomatoes?
Only two things that money can't buy:
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes
-Guy Clark

Hey All::

Midsummer's Eve is here, and we're celebrating at Eaglewing Estates with a homemade ginger peach pie and a couple bottles of the good stuff. And since the little one is asleep, I thought I'd also take a minute to spread the gospel on current Hiss Golden Messenger news and blues.


We've got some shows in New York coming up.

Thursday, July 23rd @ Bruar Falls
245 Grand Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
HGM with Family Band and One Hundred Dollars. The cost is six dollars and we play first, about 8 PM they say.

Saturday, July 25th @ Julian & Juliette's
Bovina, NY
HGM with D. Charles Speer & The Helix, Meg Baird, P.G. Six, Family Band, One Hundred Dollars, Endless Boogie, Disciples of Agriculture, and Joan. This is an epic ramble on a princely piece of land, but you've gotta be dedicated. If you're interested in finding out more about this event, drop me a line at hissgoldenmessenger at yahoo dot com.


Also, I just did an interview with my old pal Sarah Rogers at Amoeba Music in San Francisco, which you can read here. Whenever you're in San Francisco, stop by and give Sarah a hug for me.

Finally, for all overseas heads, two more incredible stores are carrying Country Hai East Cotton: Rough Trade in London and Norman Records in Leeds. If you want to buy a copy of the album, but don't want to pay for shipping from NC, those are two more options (along with Piccadilly Records in Manchester, who recently nominated Country Hai as one of their records of the week). My sincerest thanks to my friend Rick Tomlinson (aka Voice of the Seven Woods), and his brother Paul, for facilitating this transcontinental business. Check out Rick's music and Paul's zones. Both truly amazing, and that's no lie.

What are you up to out there? Please, drop me a line. Again, that address is hissgoldenmessenger at yahoo dot com. I want to hear from you.

Bringing you the nice dreams since 2009.

HGM Inc.

P.S. Not to put the scare on ya, but if you're waffling about ordering a copy of Country Hai East Cotton, do it soon. We're running out of these things.

Country Hai East Cotton

Friends::
Hiss Golden Messenger's Country Hai East Cotton, an album assembled by Scott Hirsch and myself over a period of three years in various studios, lofts, and farmhouses in San Francisco, New York, and North Carolina, is ready to be ordered and shipped!

The album is out on our own label, Heaven & Earth Magic Recording Co. We started this label because we think it is important to control each step of the musical recording and dissemination process by ourselves; Scott and I could no longer reconcile leaving something so important to us in the hands of others.

Does the world need another record label? I suppose it depends who you ask. Obviously we think so. I think there is still a place in the world for those dedicated to spreading good art and, despite what the pundits say, I think there always will be. So there.


The miniature gatefold cover of Country Hai East Cotton was illustrated by our friend Nathaniel Russell, and printed on 100% recycled materials by Stumptown Printers in Portland, OR. The disk itself is encased in a woven inner sleeve, and the whole CD comes enclosed in a protective plastic outer sleeve. Country Hai East Cotton is limited to 500 copies, each one hand-numbered. Rest assured- if it's your thing- that we have laid hands on every single one of these.

To order Country Hai East Cotton visit the Heaven & Earth Magic Recording Co. You can easily order the disk via Paypal on the "Shop/Downloads" page for $14, plus shipping and handling. Alternately, you can obtain a digital version of the record there; although it's not mandatory, we ask that you consider making a donation- something between $5 and $10- in return for MP3s of the album.

I realize that Country Hai East Cotton will be easily obtained for free on a host of torrent sites and blogs very soon, if it isn't already. That's OK. We appreciate that. But, at the risk of sounding totally romantic and/or naive, we're hoping that those who have heard HGM and like what we do will choose to spend a little money on a disk or download directly from us. And a word for armchair audiophiles: The actual disk sounds better. This is not opinion; it's fact. More sonic information.

Also, if you prefer to buy a copy directly from a store, you can do that too. These fine establishments are all carrying Country Hai East Cotton.

Amoeba Music
6400 W. Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Amoeba Music
1855 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117

Amoeba Music
2455 Telegraph Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704

End of an Ear
2209 South First Street
Austin, TX 78704

Waterloo Records
600A North Lamar Boulevard
Austin, TX 78703

Time-Lag Records
578 Congress Street, 2nd Floor
Portland, Maine 04101-3317

Aquarius Records
1055 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Harvest Records
415B Haywood Road
Asheville, NC

CD Alley
405C West Franklin Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Sonic Boom
2209 NW Market Street
Seattle, WA 98107

Tequila Sunrise
525 W. Girard Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Exiled Records
4628 SE Hawthorne Boulevard
Portland, OR 97215

Piccadilly Records
53 Oldham Street
Manchester, M1 1JR, United Kingdom

Rest assured, we have no idea what we're doing. But as a small organization that cares very much about music, we're trying our best. If you have suggestions about something we could do better, please let us know at hissgoldenmessenger at yahoo dot com. This is not a one way street; we encourage conversation, so get in touch.

We welcome all comers. We want to be friends. Help us do a better job. And we hope that you enjoy Country Hai East Cotton, because we're proud of it.


These two characters are really doing it. Tell somebody.

Roll some inspiration,
Jai Lil Diamond

Taste

Pura Onda

Drake's son in front of his '64 Impala. Elon, N.C.

Boy Child

I fell off the map just for a moment.

I just spent a little while trolling the archives- perhaps having Elijah Lee here is the reason, a prod towards memory, construction of past and present, reckoning of mortality and all that- and this is what I came up with.

Ancient is such a strange concept. I once took guitar lessons from a guy that played in a jazzy, progressive world music group called Ancient Future. The neck of his guitar was scalloped so that he could play notes that don't even exist. He was pretty good and needed that many more notes, I guess. Good band name.

So these pictures feel ancient but they're not necessarily so. Unless you're an insect or a small boy child. Then they are.

I miss all of you and will see you soon. There are some egregious omissions here, and we hope to remedy that tout suite.

Rancho Tonto, AZ, 2ooo-something

Banana. Petaluma, CA. He used to play in The Youngbloods. His solo record Mid-Mountain Ranch is a humble masterpiece.

From Bisbee, AZ.

Heyman.

The Sunday Driver.

Lunch, Maine, 2007.

Snoc, Bob's Big Boy, 2007.

Dia de los Muertos, way back.

BG.

Country Hai East Cotton.

Fitz.

Hirsch.

JK & Mom.

Linda/Nat.

Talbott/Puglisi.


Sorcerer.

Babe in arms, yesterday, 2009.

In other news-and this I swear-Country Hai East Cotton is just about ready to go. Check that cover done by Nat Russell. And the Baldhead Growler wrote up something real to commemorate the voyage. 'Nother record currently in progress and coming up fast.