Dancing Mattress Productions: Episode 87: Name Dropping like a Jackass

Audio is spottier this time, and I apologize in advance. I'm still learning the Zoom H2's ins and outs, and I simply held it too close this time ... forgetting it didn't have the spacial limitations of the plug-in mic I'd been using. It'll be better next time; the music still kicks ass.

Here's what you'll hear today (direct download here):

Steve Earle: "Copperhead Road (live at Montreaux 2005)"
Pete Seeger: "Russian Song/Ode to Joy"
Bazza: "Friendship"
Krista Detor: "Robert Johnson Has Left Mississippi"
Blake Leyh: "151 Canal"
Moshe Chouraki: "Frontieres dela Liberte"
Planetakis: "Don't Fuck with Robert Smith"
Steve Kilbey: "Life's Little Luxuries"
Cassandra Kubinski: "Red Hot Romance"
Stefanie Harger: "The Very Thought of You"

Amazon.com Widgets

Tracks 1, 6, 9 and 10 came courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks 2, 4, 7 and 8 came courtesy of the IODA Promonet and may be downloaded below. The remaining two tracks came from CDs provided by the artists.

Blake Leyh was music supervisor for HBO's recently wrapped series The Wire, and he composed "The Fall," the series' end-title music as well as helping pick the show's music (collected on two soundtracks: Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks from THE WIRE and the dialogue-inclusive ... And All the Pieces Matter: Five Years of Music from THE WIRE, which feature overlapping tracks but not exclusively -- you DO need both for the full sonic landscape of the show).

The track from his album X-Ray Yankee Zulu Tango that I'm featuring in today's show, Leyh recently commented either in his blog or elsewhere, is as close to a full-length version of "The Fall" as you're likely to find -- it sounds different, but it features all the same players. Steve Earle had a recurring role on the series as Walon, police informant and one-man Greek chorus Bubbles' sponsor in the 12-step recovery process, and his cover of Tom Waits' song "Way Down in the Hole" (from his album Washington Square Serenade) served as the theme music for the show's fifth and final season.

Various Artists - ...And All the Pieces Matter - Five Years of Music from the Wire