American singer/songwriter Kate Yeager has performed at Radio City and Lincoln Center, and will be out on tour next month. “Furthering the lineage of artists like Carol King, Tracey Chapman, and Janis Joplin,” Yeager’s YouTube bio reads, “25-year old Kate Yeager’s lyrics and soul-infused vocals transcend stats, trends and ages.”
Her single “Keep My Distance” was released in 2019. It begins in F, modulates up half step to Gb at 2:28, and then another half step up to G at 3:00.
“Jon fell in love with this song when he heard the reggae cover by UB40, one of his favorite bands,” The Piano Guys write on their website. “His arranging style often reflects the influence of the classical music and training with which he was raised. These two elements collide in this arrangement. (Think Beethoven meets UB40 with a little tounge-in-cheek thrown in for fun).
Their cover of this song, originally popularized by Elvis, is the penultimate track on their 2013 album The Piano Guys 2. It begins in C and modulates to D at 2:05.
“On Black Radio 2 (2013), the Robert Glasper Experiment attempts the near impossible: create a sequel that delivers fully on the promise of its groundbreaking, Grammy-winning predecessor,” (Qobuz). “Glasper’s group — bassist Derrick Hodge, Casey Benjamin on vocoder and synth, and drummer Mark Colenburg — again enlists a stellar cast of vocalists.
Instead of relying on covers, this set is almost entirely comprised of originals. There is an organic feel as well: there are no programmed loops on the record; everything was played live … Black Radio 2 is much more subtle than its predecessor. While it’s true that it possesses fewer standout performances, it’s wholly consistent, and on some level, it’s braver for relying on original material to carry it. It requires more listening to appreciate fully. Taken as a whole, however, it serves and fulfills the role of a sequel: the album deepens the band’s music-making aesthetic, and further establishes their sound not only as a signature, but even, perhaps, as its own genre.”
Co-written by Glasper and the track’s vocalist, Marsha Ambrosius, “Trust” starts in Eb minor; the chorus shifts into F dorian at 1:08, cycling through an incongruous but compelling G/A chord at the end of each phrase (first heard at 1:12). The short loop occurs a total of four times before the next verse begins at 1:36, reverting to the original key. The two key areas alternate from there.
“Mental Illness (2017) is Aimee Mann’s quintessential statement, tempering the discord of life with elegant chamber folk,” (Pitchfork). ” … Mann doing an album called Mental Illness is a concept so fitting it took her a lifetime to find it. Having already delivered a new wave smash, scored an Academy Award nomination, recorded eight stylistically diverse solo records as well a fiesty collaboration with punk’s Ted Leo, Mann is rightfully pissed that she’s nevertheless pigeonholed as a dreary fabricator of slow, sad-sack songs. So she’s answered her critics with her slowest, sad-sack-iest album yet, one populated by ordinary people struggling against operatic levels of existential pain at odds with their humdrum lives.
Mann has long been an expert of articulating this tension. Originally written about her attraction to a woman on the down low, her 1985 ‘Til Tuesday single ‘Voices Carry’ found its defining shape when record company meddling forced Mann to recast it as a heterosexual melodrama that became a feminist anthem about overcoming male dominance. Yet no one would’ve predicted then that Mann would rank among the few new wave survivors who’d achieve both consistent sales and artistic credibility well into the 21st century … A rocker at heart if not always in practice, Mann has sometimes been muted but never mellow; her new wave training and constitutional angst haven’t allowed it. To prepare for her latest, she studied the gentle craftsmanship of Bread, Dan Fogelberg, and other unhip smoothies that punk tossed on the anti-establishment bonfire with Yes and ELP. Mental Illness is accordingly made of skeletal strings, coolly regulated commentary, and minimal drums. Juxtaposing elegant chamber folk against the discord of lives out of balance, it’s musically more delicate than even her soft rock models.”
After a start in Bb major overall, “Knock It Off” features a soft-spoken breezy bridge between 1:46 – 2:02, shifting us into Db major. Returning to Bb major for the balance of the tune, Mann decisively closes with a simple plagal cadence.
We conclude this year’s holiday season at MotD with Michael W. Smith’s “Christmas Day,” featuring American singer Jennifer Nettles and the Nashville Children’s Choir. The track was first recorded for Smith’s 2007 album It’s A Wonderful Christmas; this new arrangement appears on the 2014 record The Spirit of Christmas.
Beginning in F, there is a downward modulation to D at 0:42, and another to B at 1:17. We return to D at 1:30, and land in Gb at 1:44.
**This is the third installment in a three-part series featuring covers of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”**
American R&B/gospel singer John Stoddart featured five-time Grammy winner Lalah Hathaway (and daughter of Donny Hathaway) for this tune on his 2013 album Only On Christmas Day.
There are too many modulations to count in this cover, and throughout the album.
**This is the second installment in a three-part series featuring covers of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”**
American singer/songwriter Chris Mann featured country singer Martina McBride on his cover, the second track on his 2013 record Home for Christmas. Beginning in A, the tune modulates deceptively to D at 1:33 and then up a fourth to G at 2:31.
MotD favorite Voctave included “Silent Night” on their 2017 album Snow. The track begins in C and modulates up a third to E at 1:21.
Reminiscent of the classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” but leaning more towards a PG-13 rating, “The Naughty List” was written by country singer/songwriter Phil Vassar and released as a single with Vassar and former American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler.
It begins in A and modulates up half step to Bb at 1:57.
“Christmas Spirit” is featured on Richard Marx’s eponymous 2012 holiday album. Marx co-wrote the song with Fee Waybill, the former lead singer of The Tubes and frequent collaborator with Marx.
The track begins in G and modulates down to E for the first chorus at 0:49. It returns to G for the verse at 1:25 and again moves to E for the chorus at 1:54. A final modulation up a step to F# occurs at 2:56.
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