Tag: USA

Nickel Creek | Love of Mine

Acoustic trio Nickel Creek‘s first self-released recordings appeared in the 1990s; its platinum-selling eponymous major label debut was in 2000. 2014’s A Dotted Line appeared after a break of nearly a decade. “There’s a fluid confidence that takes (Nickel Creek’s) precocious virtuosity into a musicianship that is as supple as it is kinetic,” (Paste). “…the progressive bluegrass they embraced as teenagers is a mere starting point—integrating the places the trio explored during the seven years since they released a studio project.

(Mandolinist/vocalist) Chris Thile emerges as perhaps the unrepentant romantic. ‘Love of Mine,’ with his voice tenderly tentative, weightlessly caresses what might be (then later might not). The see-saw of emotions is so well-reflected in how the instruments tangle, merge and fall out—paralleling what’s being sung … Not merely a product of maturity, Nickel Creek has grown without losing its palpable joy or wondrous ability to make musicianship as accessible as the engaging way their voices draw listeners to them.”

After a start in F# minor, a brief foray into F minor appears at 0:44 before reverting to the original key at 0:51. The two keys then proceed to quarrel it out to a draw, the intensity of the upward key changes only magnified by the common melody note on either side of the modulation.

Dwight Twilley | Girls

Released in 1984, “Girls” was one of singer/songwriter Dwight Tilley’s most popular songs, peaking at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In an interview with Songfacts in 2010, Tilley elaborated on his inspiration for the tune:

Well, as I sit and look back over the years, I’ve written quite a damn number of songs. So to specifically go back and think of the stories for each and every one of them… But I’m a songwriter, so I’m always thinking about what is a song, what does a songwriter do, and really, a person who writes songs is just a communicator. A song is a communication. Sometimes it’s the simplest way that you can say something that everybody knows but hasn’t been said quite the same way. And so it catches their attention, and you make that little bit of communication.

I remember at one point thinking to myself, it’s so basic, but how many people have ever said just “girls”? And what is that all about? What are all the good and bad and the problems, and what is that whole really confusing but really simple problem all about? And after maybe two or three weeks of going around and asking people in a dumb way, “What’s this about? What’s that about?”, it was like summing the whole thing up to three and a half minutes. And so it’s sometimes just that simple.

The tune begins in G and modulates up to A at 3:13.

Gary Burton | Reunion

JazzJournal.UK reviewed Reunion, led by vibraphonist Gary Burton and featuring Pat Metheny on guitar, Mitch Forman (who also wrote the title track) on keys, Will Lee on bass (yes, the guy from the Letterman show band), and Peter Erskine on drums.

“Jazzmen are so unpredictable. Writing on the sleeve of his 1988 Times Like These album, Burton said ‘I still don’t feel that I’m going to work with guitarists any­time soon.’ Yet within 12 months or so, he has taken up with his old sideman Pat Metheny after a break of 12 years. Buoyant and Latinate, this set contrasts significantly with ear­lier Burton/Metheny liaisons. Bur­ton, reticent as ever about his writing abilities, has employed five composers across 11 tracks (including the excellent Vince Mendoza), but there is no lack of cohesion. Everything is beauti­fully executed, and Burton and Metheny take a host of solos.”

From the album’s liner notes: “(Burton and Metheny) have been called prodigies. Burton joined George Shearing’s group in 1963 at the age of 19. He met Metheny at the Wichita Jazz Festival in 1973 when Metheny was 18 years old. After welcoming him as a teaching colleague at the Berklee College of Music, he hired Metheny for the newly expanded Gary Burton Quintet in 1974. Metheny left Burton’s group in 1977 to form his own quartet with Lyle Mays.” The two artists had next to no contact for over a decade, until the 1988 Montreal Jazz Festival. “‘My apprehension was immediately erased when I saw how easy it was for us to play together, even after 12 years,’ said Burton. This led to their collaboration on Reunion (1990).”

The album’s title track starts in G minor, followed by a modulation up to Bb minor at 3:21. At 4:23, we’ve reverted to the original key for a final chorus of melody.

Tower of Power | Maybe It’ll Rub Off

“In the realm of power funk and jazz-rock, Tower of Power was an original voice, one carved from a unique place within an exceptionally heady moment,” (AllAboutJazz). “And this convergence of forces, clearly, has yet to cool some 53 years hence. Horns? They’ve carried up to six at a time, to hell with diminished door splits. A big band of scorching funk, Tower of Power traces its roots to 1968 Oakland, where it flourished in a thicket of sound tearing at industry barriers. The band, initially dubbed the Motowns, was founded at the juncture which begat Blood Sweat and Tears, Chicago Transit Authority, and Earth Wind and Fire. Even then, the soul—if you will—of Tower of Power was born in the muscular arrangements and searing leads of the former as much as the latter’s R&B core.”

Tower of Power released Urban Renewal in 1974 — one of three releases by the band that year, just four years into its history. Although the album lacked an uptempo hit like “What is Hip?” or a stand-out lush ballad like “So Very Hard to Go” or “You’re Still a Young Man,” the release was a snapshot of the band hitting its stride.

“Maybe It’ll Rub Off,” built in F major overall, features an instrumental mid-section that meanders through several other keys between 1:45 and 2:31, when it returns to the initial key.

Deniece Williams | It’s Gonna Take a Miracle

Written by Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Weinstein and Lou Stallman, “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle” was first released in 1965 by The Royalettes, a four-girl soul/Motown group. The song describes the desperation of someone who is so heartbroken from a breakup that it will take a miracle for them to fall in love again. R&B and gospel singer Deniece Williams released her cover of the tune in 1982, and it sat at the top of the R&B chart for two weeks. The tune moves through multiple tonalities in the bridge starting at 1:52, and returns to the home key of G for the verse at 2:24.

Lucky Daye | How Much Can a Heart Take (feat. Yebba)

Lucky Daye established a solid career as a songwriter before trying his hand as a performer, writing for the likes of Keith Sweat, Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, and others. “Neither explicitly retro nor overtly commercial, Lucky Daye is a singer/songwriter with a modern, slightly left-of-center approach to R&B with a foundation in classic soul,” (AllMusic).

From Exclaim.ca‘s review of Daye’s 2021 sophomore album, the duets-only Table for Two: “‘How Much Can a Heart Take,’ which features an assist from Arkansan songstress Yebba, is the EP’s crown jewel. It’s a bitter break-up track that plays like whiskey with a honey chaser. The verses are full of fiery attitude but thanks to Yebba’s spotlight-stealing vocals, the song unfolds into something lush and sweet near the chorus. Though the EP is light on ‘I love yous,’ it’s not nearly as depressing as it sounds. The instrumentals are deceptively warm and soulful throughout and Daye’s honeyed voice betrays the biting, sometimes tortured lyrics. It’s that juxtaposition that makes Table for Two so much fun.” 

After a start in C# minor, the wordy but relatively harmonically static verse opens up into a new vista with the chorus, which shifts into a G maj – C maj – A/B progression (G major-ish?) and then back to the original key. The pattern continues from there.

In addition to the live performance video below, don’t miss the original video as well, which features the two vocalists swapping roles while miming each other’s vocals.

Kristin Chenoweth | Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Emmy and Tony-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenowith released her second holiday album, Happiness Is…Christmas, in October. “I hope that they smile, and I hope that they are eating food and opening presents…and I hope they just are happy,” Chenowith said in an interview with The Christophers blog, discussing what she hopes people take away from the album. “And then when they come upon a song like ‘The Stories That You Told,’ I hope they remember somebody that they’ve lost and their smile…There’s been so much to be bummed out about and you have to really look – seek and ye shall find – and you will find happiness. That’s what I want people to find in this album.”

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is the penultimate track on the album, and modulates from G to Ab at 2:54.

Kelly Clarkson | Merry Christmas (To The One I Used To Know)

Kelly Clarkson released her second Christmas album, When Christmas Comes Around…, last October. “My purpose for choosing this lyric as the title of this project was to bring forth a sense of reality to the fact that we are probably in very different places emotionally When Christmas Comes Around…,” Clarkson said, explaining how she settled on the name. “Some of us are consumed with a new love, some of us reminded of loss, some filled with optimism for the coming new year, others elated for some much deserved time away from the chaos our work lives can sometimes bring us. Wherever you are, and whatever you may be experiencing, I wanted everyone to be able to connect to a message on this album. Each year you may even have a new favorite depending on where you are in your life, but while change can be unpredictable there is no better time of year, in my opinion, to breathe hope into one’s life and let possibility wander.”

This song, co-written by Clarkson and album producers Jason Halbert and Aben Eubanks, is the fourth track on the record; it modulates from F up to Gb at 1:20.