He’s dead. And so is the person who turned me on to him.

I was riding the lift in Blue Sky Basin checking my phone. Something weird is happening in that I hear the ding when I get a new e-mail, but it doesn’t show up on the home screen. Maybe I’ll call Apple at some point, but it’s such a hassle to have to deal with the low level tech before they kick you upstairs. They ask if your device is plugged-in/charged, did you reboot, there should be a separate line for those who are tech-savvy.

Of course I researched the problem online. There’s a plethora of information there. And usually when I end up calling Apple it turns out to be a bug. But I like to have everything work perfectly, I’m trying to let go of that.

So it was sunny enough to leave my hand out of my mitten and scroll. I was reading the story in the “Wall Street Journal” about the cover-up of Biden’s cognitive abilities, and then about Elon Musk’s blowing up of the budget deal, and after cruising the WSJ, the WaPo and the NYT, I went to the LAT, the “Los Angeles Times,” which Mark McGrath quipped to me back in 2015 was a pamphlet, and now it’s even worse, the app doesn’t even lead with the big news but some trivial thing that the paper is promoting, if the LAT is your sole source of info you’re missing out on so much.

But as I scrolled down the page I saw that Slim Dunlap died. You know, the last guitarist of the Replacements. You don’t know?

The hype finally got to me and I bought “Don’t Tell a Soul.” I couldn’t understand it. Then again, it was about the earlier albums, “Let It Be” and “Tim.” This was a different era, you couldn’t hear about a band and check out their tunes instantly, you had to buy it to hear it, and sometimes you got burned with critics’ darlings.

I know, I know, you love the Mats. They’re loose and drunk and… Maybe I’ll still get it, there’s time, but it hasn’t happened yet.

But in 1993, Kevin Sutter sent Slim Dunlap’s first solo album to me and insisted I listen to it. He used to call once a week. I was starved for interaction, I was broke, I couldn’t go places.

Kevin was an independent promotion person. He’d made the rounds at the labels and this was the last stop. You worked relationships to find indie artists who would pay you and you worked them to stations oftentimes to no results. It wasn’t radically different from today, if you’re nostalgic for this era you’re delusional. Then again, back then the barrier to entry was so much higher, if you actually had a CD you probably were pretty good, had some talent, otherwise it was too expensive.

So I put on Slim Dunlap’s album “The Old New Me”…

And thirty years later I’m reading the obit in the LAT, which is quite extensive and good. It’s just not the facts.

I learned that Slim had been a cab driver, and a janitor at First Avenue.

And that Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle loved his albums.

HUH? I’d never heard that, but I subsequently did research and found out this was true, the Boss went on record in the new millennium. Then again, the Boss’s endorsement never could make a star out of Joe Grushecky. I actually bought the Iron City Houserockers’ album “Have a Good Time but Get Out Alive!” I won’t say I was the only one, but despite the positive reviews that had me laying down my cash, that album made no impact.

So Jeff Laufer had worked with Kevin, and Joe Reichling was working with Jeff over at a Capitol label and they called me not long after I’d gotten into that Slim Dunlap album and I was raving and told them I was going to play the opening cut over the phone. You know, you cranked your stereo, but…

The dynamics were such that they couldn’t hear the music! I’d laid the receiver in front of one of the JBLs, figuring they were digging it, and when I picked up the receiver they were laughing at me.

So went turning people on to “The Old New Me.”

But thinking about this, riding the Orient Express, I decided to pull up Spotify and listen to the album, if they even had it. But they did!

I pressed play and…

The music sounded small.

I was listening via earbuds. And it’s just not like listening through a big rig, with all that power, enveloping the room. That’s how rock needs to be played, not so loud that your ears hurt, but loud enough that it envelops you and demands attention.

And that’s when I thought about writing this, as I was listening to the music and the memories were pouring through my brain.

And there was something wrong with the lift. It kept stopping and starting. So I had time to let the album play out and to check the Google News for more Slim Dunlap information.

I was stunned how much there was! Most people quoted Minnesota’s “Star Tribune,” but for someone whose footprint was so small, the attention was outsized.

And this guy was full of quotes, Slim, about being a musician.

That’s what he was, a working musician. He played what was required, it wasn’t always rock, sometimes it was bluegrass.

And he talked about the long odds of making it.

And obviously he wasn’t rolling in dough, although he was married and had a few kids.

But in 2012 Slim had a stroke. I knew that. These acts that you follow, you always think they’re capable of coming back, at least you hope so. You want to hear the new music, maybe they’ve got one good fastball left. But after a stroke…

Slim could no longer play.

And now he’s dead.

And I’m contemplating all this as Spotify slips into the third cut from “The Old New Me,” “…Isn’t It.” I KNOW THIS SONG!

I hadn’t listened to it in decades, but as it streamed I remembered playing it, I realized I’d played the album multiple times. And thought about Dunlap, wondering how he survived.

Well, he lived for thirty years after that initial solo album. He actually made one more in 1996, then crickets. I mean who wanted to fund a solo album by a guy who’d been in the final edition of a band that never really had commercial success?

And there are so many of these people who’ve stopped making music, yet are still alive.

I’ve heard from many, like Jon Pousette-Dart, but what is Andy Pratt up to? But didn’t he come from a wealthy family? At least that was the rumor.

But the truth is…

If they didn’t die young from misadventure, many of these musicians are still alive. Most saw the handwriting on the wall and got day jobs. We used to respect musicians, they escaped the grind, they didn’t have to work day jobs. But now the musicians are in thrall to the billionaires, they want to be brands, it’s just not the same religious experience, the same belief.

But no one was hiring Slim Dunlap for a private. No one would buy his perfume. He’d be lucky if people bought a t-shirt.

And now he’s gone.

That’s the life of a rocker, a musician. Fame is nice, but it’s really about the playing.

At least it used to be.

“The Old New Me” on Spotify: https://t.ly/0KEna

BritBox trailer: https://t.ly/Af-z4

“The New York Times” said “Until I Kill You” was one of the ten best foreign TV series of 2024.

But it’s probably not for you.

When people ask me for streaming recommendations…they usually tell me they want something like “Ted Lasso,” upbeat, that will leave them with a smile on their face.

That is not “Until I Kill You.”

“Until I Kill You” is about a serial killer. And it’s true. And it’s vivid and dark and you can’t take your eyes off it.

So what we’ve got here is Delia, played by Anna Maxwell Martin. It’s certainly one of the best performances of the year. You truly believe Martin is Delia Balmer.

As for her love interest, John Sweeney,” Shaun Evans plays him with that charm we’re all susceptible to, and his good looks are enticing. Shaun is warm until…

He’s not.

Actually, at first you won’t know who is the serial killer. Because Delia is so strange. But by the end of the first episode…

There are only four, just under an hour long.

And one of the main messages here is you can’t trust the police, they’re not really in it for you. It’s just like the press, if you’re called to give a quote, or to be on TV, make no mistake that they’re using you, and you can instantly be replaced. The cops would rather not fight crime, they’d rather not be bothered/overwhelmed. And you’ve got to convince them your story is true and then they say there’s not enough manpower to make sure you’re safe and ultimately they can’t prove the case, so you’re SOL.

So you live in danger. Or do you? Is it all in your head or…

And what are the psychological effects of violence, and do you really want to tell your story again and again on the stand? No one seems to care about you, that you’re falling apart.

I don’t think they’d make this show in the U.S, Because we can’t handle something this dark. It’d be gussied up with a movie star, who supersedes the role, rendering the whole thing less than believable, probably some icon slumming for awards season.

We want to believe there are answers in America, that it all works out. But most times it doesn’t, or there is carnage along the way.

You probably don’t have BritBox and based on the above you probably won’t sign up for it. You probably stick to HBO and the Netflix algorithm.

But foreign television is almost always better than the American product.

You can see the “Times” list here: https://t.ly/qwOhv

I haven’t seen them all, so I have a lot to look forward to. We burned our way through the “Times”‘s best International TV of the teens, which was very rewarding. You can start here, there are so many winners:

Free link: https://t.ly/tvVZ-

And if you’re the kind of person who reveled in foreign movies in the sixties and seventies, someone who wants to finish a show and be affected, I heartily recommend “Until I Kill You.”

Once again, it’s TRUE!

King of the Dobro!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jerry-douglas/id1316200737?i=1000680954971

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/a29cd3e8-1496-4d9c-b0bf-a819460994f5/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-jerry-douglas

I’m disturbed by the annual Top Ten lists. In many cases, they’re comprised of music I’ve never heard, if not acts I’ve never heard of. And there’s a distinct focus on pop, what is in the Spotify Top 50, and hipster music that is loved by a small slice of the public. Meanwhile when you look at what is selling tickets it is completely different. Pop doesn’t dominate clubs, it’s almost completely absent. And clubs is where live acts start their journeys, where they build their careers. And these are careers that last, that are not dependent upon hit singles.

They’re not sexy for the press, because there’s no flash, no theoretical universal story that appeals to all.

There’s no rock on these lists, nothing that appeared on the Active Rock chart. These acts tour year after year to big bucks, they have dedicated fans, are you telling me that not one of them made worthwhile recorded music this year?

And even though the country is now driven by country, there’s a dearth of music from that genre too. Sure, Zach Bryan is occasionally listed, but let’s be clear, Zach didn’t break from the press, as a matter of fact the press were last, Zach broke via word of mouth long before he had a track in the Spotify Top 50. Zach was selling arenas and could have sold stadiums before the press truly acknowledged him.

The music scene is incomprehensible. Those at mainstream media outlets seem to have forgotten the pre-MTV era, where hits were not everything and lyrics dealt with more than love. Of course there are critical darlings, hip acts akin to those of yore, but most people have never heard of them and most people never will.

As for Sabrina Carpenter… Are we really treating her with gravitas? Teen star makes a pop album with the producer du jour. This isn’t “Jagged Little Pill,” another album made with a not as big teen star with a hot producer, but you’d think from the hosannas it is.

This is a shi*tty way to grow the business. The recorded music business is insular, based on an old model, and the media plays along. Oftentimes massaged tracks made for mass consumption when it’s the authentic and edgy that resonates, there’s a reason Chris Stapleton is the most revered act in Nashville. And in case you missed the memo, Chris Stapleton is a rock act, and plays stadiums himself. The public loves Stapleton, they love country, but since it almost never penetrates the top of the Spotify Top 50 it is ignored.

In case you missed it, we are living in the early sixties in the recorded music world. The lightweight artists that were wiped from the map when the Beatles came along. They are dominating the chart and many people are dismissing music as a result. Music is not hot. Sure, it’s a business with a lot of consumption, but there’s no superstar making everyone pay attention. The last time we had that here was with Adele, over a decade ago.

As for Taylor Swift and BTS and the rest of K-pop, they’re niche acts. Very large niches, and doing boffo at the b.o., but if you’re not interested, you’re not interested and never will be.

People respond when I write about politics and streaming TV. They are hot, they are where the action is, there are issues to be debated. What is there to say about most of the acts in the Spotify Top Ten? NOTHING!

Now “The Guardian” did a Top Ten folk music list. I listened, some very interesting stuff that I’ve never heard of and almost no American is familiar with. But there is a scene there, with dedicated musicians unconcerned with the usual metrics of streams and charts.

Turns out mainstream music criticism is as out of touch as the mainstream media, and derided by the public as a result. The press doesn’t tout an act that breaks or surges on TikTok, the public does.

The system is broken.

And most Americans have no idea what to listen to when it comes to new music.

But never a negative word is heard in the halls of the major labels or major media outlets. It’s a world of constant hype, everything is groovy.

Thank god for the artists that don’t play this game. They are forging their own path and the public is reacting, at venues, irrelevant of the charts.

There are two trains running. And one is being completely ignored.

But that’s the one true music  fans adore.