This week's musical miscellany

This week the cable/satellite TV network Ovation has been celebrating "American Revolutionaries: Rock N Soul" with a series of fine music films and documentaries.  So far, the lineup has featured Johnny Cash: Half A Mile A Day, Jim Jarmusch's Neil Young: Year Of The Horse, Legends of Rock 'N' Roll  Live, Jimi Hendrix: American Landing, and Mahalia Jackson: The Power And The Glory - all highly recommended.

Tonight, Ken Mandel's Masters Of American Music: Bluesland airs at 9 pm EST.  The 1993 PBS doc traces the development and influence of the blues on American music and culture; the artists profiled include B. B. King, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, and Chuck Berry.  I've not seen this before, and I'm looking forward to it.  Ditto for tomorrow night's Janis; the 1974 Howard Alk biopic of rock's first female superstar will also air at 9 pm EST.

Both films have encore showings immediately following at 11 pm EST, and if you missed any of the others, Ovation will rebroadcast them at various times over the weekend.  Check out their schedule here.

Other items I've enjoyed this week: to celebrate the recent release of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series Vol. 9 and the Original Mono Recordings box set, Columbia Records has produced both a short documentary film about the recording of the Witmark Demos and a cute faux-retro PSA advising us all to "Stick With Mono!"



Rolling Stone also debuted a new music video for Dylan's "Guess I'm Doing Fine," which uses archival footage of both Dylan and New York in the '60s.



If you're on the fence as to whether or not the Mono box is worth it, this review on Soundspike details the sonic differences between these remastered reissues and their previous CD incarnations.  I know what I want for Christmas this year!

I discovered a great new (to me) music blog the other day, courtesy of the fine folks at No Depression. Dustin Ogdin's tale of how he finally came to appreciate the music of Dylan and Peter Rowan in some ways mirrors my own musical journey.

One producer/musician I'm always eager to listen to is Daniel Lanois.  He's about to take to the road with his latest project, Black Dub, and you can preview the band's new album on NPR.

Robert Plant's recent appearance with the reformed Band of Joy at the BBC Electric Proms is available for listening here.  Better hurry, though - it will only be online for one more day!

While I'm waiting for Life and Vintage Vinos to arrive in my mailbox, I see Keith Richards has just told BBC Radio 6 that the Rolling Stones are working on new material and that a tour is in the works for 2011.  Listen to the interview here:



And in other Keef news, proof that sometimes angels do indeed have dirty faces.