My Nine Albums #my9albums

There's a thing going around called #my9albums where you select your nine most formative albums. Here are my nine.

Reckoning by Grateful Dead - Without this album, none of these others would have been as easy to come by. It’s the nucleus from which everything else springs.

Barren County by New Grass Revival - Before Leftover Salmon, before String Cheese Incident, before Yonder Mountain String Band, there was New Grass Revival. This album likely also led me to Norman Blake, Tony Rice, John Hartford, Red Clay Ramblers, and Hot Rize. And it also made me a fan of Flying Fish records.

John Prine by John Prine - Although I don’t listen to as much singer-songwriter music as I used to, there’s definitely a wide, wide cosmic portal that was opened just by listening to this CD on repeat, which has shaped my musical identity. I may not have gotten to Gillan Welch, Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith, or Cowboy Junkies without stopping here first.

Junta by Phish - What can I say? Thanks to my good friend Mike Goff, this was the first Phish album that I heard, before any live recordings. It was out of left field but it hooked me and almost 35 years later, and 70 shows later, has never let go! The four members of Phish set a standard of excellence by which all other music falls short. I’ve spent more time listening to Phish than any other artist or band. Just last night I watched their 3.5 hour+ live webcast from Huntsville, Alabama! Without Phish I may not have discovered Ween or My Morning Jacket. Who knows?

Telephone Free Landslide Victory by Camper Van Beethoven - Long before he opened Deep Groove records in Richmond, VA, Jay Leavitt made me a cassette copy of this album burned from vinyl. When I eventually started playing music of my own, the faux-ethnic instrumentals such as Yanqui Go Home, Mao Reminisces About His Days in Southern China, Border Ska, and Opi Rides Again would be very much in the back of my mind! And the irreverent and snarky songs would share a commonality with Richmond, VA’s Special Ed and the Shortbus who would later become a local live music favorite of mine.

Two Sevens Clash by Culture - This is another one that Jay Leavitt turned me on to. Not all reggae is good, but a few outliers such as this album stand out as exceptional. I consider it formative because it led me to Jamaican mento music as well as other music of the Caribbean islands. And it never gets old. Side A of the tape was Two Sevens Clash and Side B was Harder Than The Rest. It was just one big double album to me.

Lanquidity by Sun Ra - Henry Cook, a former co-worker of mine at Community Idea Stations, put this CD into my hands and forever altered my pathways. Henry also gave me a copy of Blue Breakbeats by Grant Green, which narrowly missed this 9 albums list. Lanquidity opened my mind as much as anything else I can think of. Sun Ra represents an eccentric, artistic freedom and a permission to follow creativity wherever it may lead.

Yvonne Casey by Yvonne Casey - This was my introduction to Irish traditional music*. Laura and I heard it playing at the Doolin Café during dinner on our first ever night in Ireland back in November 2004, bought the CD that night and then went to the CD release party the next night featuring Yvonne Casey, Eoinn O’Neil, Quentin Cooper, and many more. Even though lots of Guinness, Smithwick’s and Bulmers were drunk that night, I still distinctly remember the feeling that my life is changing RIGHT NOW. I wouldn’t start playing music until two years after this, but the ignition energy started here. *Not strictly trad, it also features some Camper Van Beethoven style instrumentals - Skatallites and Buena Vista Social Club covers - courtesy of Quentin Cooper!

Harlem Banjo! by Elmer Snowden - In 2006 I got a tenor banjo on a whim and didn’t know what to play on it. Peter Solomon, the WCVE-FM jazz host at that time, told me about Elmer Snowden, the Black 4-string banjo player who tuned his tenor banjo GDAE and made a legendary studio recording on December 9, 1960 that would become the Harlem Banjo! LP. Peter burned a vinyl to CD copy of this out of print record for me along with a George Guesnon CD. (Peter also gave me a Rufus Harley CD but thankfully that didn’t lead to bagpipes). Even though I ended up playing fiddle tunes and Irish jigs on tenor banjo instead of trad jazz, this recording proved that tenor banjo could be “cool” and now I had a buffer for all those banjo naysayers out there. Sticks and stones.

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