Sherpa Music Vol 6. Americana

It’s the time of year to listen to our roots.

My earliest memory of the 4th of July is standing on the boardwalk in Asbury Park New Jersey (where we Manhattanites spent most of the summer) with my folks and brother, sometime in the mid-1950s, watching fireworks launched from barges anchored just past the breakers. The air was filled with the smell of the sea, explosives, and waffles being made in the stalls behind us.

It’s that time of year, in this very challenging year. The 4th is upon us. My current internal soundtrack conjures up our many musical cultures. It runs the gamut of folk, gospel, country to rock and roll the blues, and jazz. I hear the sounds of great songwriters singing from the heart and bands playing with wild abandon. It’s guitars, banjos, mandolins, and accordions.  Piano, church organs, and tubas.

This playlist taps into that internal soundtrack of Americana. It’s admittedly long and meant to be the musical journey of your 4th and beyond. Some of these tunes are like a cool drink of water and others are like a stiff shot of bourbon.  They take us on a zigzagging path from the streets of New York to the mountains of New Mexico, out to LA, East to Memphis, down to New Orleans, and up to the Midwest, leaving us at sunset in Ohio. The musicians are American (ok there’s a couple of Canadians thrown in).  The Swan Silvertones, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, and Mavis Staples are here to guide us, providing the foundation for the vision, stomp, and vigor of what came next.

Turn up the volume.  Let this playlist be the soundtrack for however you gather on the 4th. Feel free to share it with your friends.

Stay safe, be well, have fun,  Jim