Tune of the Day

Iris Dement: "Wasteland Of The Free". This was written and recorded during the Bush Presidency, but is perhaps even more relevant now. This song got her excommunicated from the Far Right Radical Evangelical community.

Iris was born in Arkansas into a Pentecostal family, which moved to Orange County in S. California when she was three years old. She has deep roots in Gospel, Hillbilly, and Folk, and was a frequent collaborator with her close friend John Prine.

Iris has made quite a few albums, all fantastic. This song is from her The Way I Should album. There is a video of the song viewable on YouTube. She’s my favorite living songwriter. I learned of her through Merle Haggard, who recorded her masterpiece song "No Time To Cry". His version is good, hers devastating.

Here’s a timely yet timeless song: "Vigilante Man", written by Woody Guthrie. Being born too late to have heard his recordings when they were contemporary, I heard the song first by my (and a lot of musicians I know) favorite guitarist, Ry Cooder. The song is included on his 3rd album, Into The Purple Valley.

I just watched a fantastic video on YouTube, an interview with Ry Cooder done in England in 1983 (entitled Ry Cooder talks about influences, guitar styles, & more). In the interview, Ry says about the song: "I get a lot of requests for the song. Today, right now, ya know?. It’s not hard to figure out; there’s always somebody who’s the vigilante, and there’s always somebody who’s getting their head beat open."

Or, say, shot dead on the street.