10-16-19 | Songs for Listening | Andy Tennille
Photographer, filmmaker, and writer, Andy Tennille, picked tunes for Wednesday, October 16 at Songs for Listening
Here's Andy's picks with his annotations:
'Wartilla' by Tinariwen
"We were lucky enough to host Tinariwen at The Ramkat in September & the Western African band of nomadic Tuaregs from Mali did not disappoint. 'Wartilla' is the second to last track on their fantastic new album & the band began their encore with it for their show here in Winston-Salem. Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni emerged from backstage with only an acoustic guitar and began the song, and one by one, the other members filtered onstage and joined in. One of my favorite live music moments of 2019."
'Goat Head' by Brittany Howard from 'Jaime'
"Brittany Howard’s talents are frightening & they are on maximum display on her new album. Who could have predicted that the former front woman of Alabama Shakes would put out an album as expansive, cinematic, and genre-shattering as this?!?"
'Country Squire' by Tyler Childers
"This is a perfect little piece of pop songwriting, something more akin to The Beatles than anything labeled country music these days. Tyler Childers may be one of the best songwriters working today. The man can turn a phrase:
Spending my nights in the barrooms, Lord
Turning those songs into two by fours.
Dreaming about the day I can sit by the fire
Huddled with my honey in the Country Squire."
'Days Between' by Grateful Dead
Like so many of us, I’ve been listening to a lot of Robert Hunter since his passing. Much is made of his early collaborations with the Grateful Dead, & rightly so; rumor is he penned 'Brokendown Palace', 'Ripple', and 'To Lay Me Down' all in one day. But I’ve really gravitated to Hunter’s later co-writes with Jerry Garcia, perhaps best exemplified by 'Days Between', a haunting ballad whose lyrics are wide open, allowing the listener to interpret them how they may — a Hunter hallmark.
'Book of Rules' by The Heptones
One of the things I’ve enjoyed since focusing my digital music consumption to Spotify is being turned on to new music or artists I’d never heard from playlists created by artists or friends. Mike Taylor of the mighty, mighty Hiss Golden Messenger made an exceptional reggae playlist earlier this year that he sent around, and The Heptones’ 'Book of Rules' was the opening track and title of the playlist. I fell hard, and have subsequently dove down The Heptones’ rabbit hole.
Andy has had his work featured in Rolling Stone, NPR, Washington Post, and The NYTimes, among many others. From 2010 to the band’s final tour in 2017, Andy was the official photographer and documentarian for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Andy’s photos are featured on several Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers official releases, including Kiss My Amps (2011), Kiss My Amps, Vol. 2 (2013), Hypnotic Eye (2014) and the American Treasure box set (2018).
Beyond his time with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Andy has also toured with Widespread Panic and, most recently, Leon Bridges. His work has been featured in album and DVD releases for Jonathan Wilson, Hiss Golden Messenger, Tedeschi Trucks Band and Bob Weir.
In 2011, Andy launched Crossroads @ SECCA, a quarterly concert series in partnership with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem that’s hosted musicians including Gillian Welch, Béla Fleck, Leon Russell, David Grisman & Del McCoury, Preservation Hall Jazz Band & the Blind Boys of Alabama.
He is also a co-managing partner of The Ramkat, a performance space and concert hall in Winston-Salem that opened in March 2018.
'Wartilla' by Tinariwen from 'Amajdar'
'Goat Head' by Brittany Howard from 'Jaime'
'Country Squire' by Tyler Childers
'Days Between' by Grateful Dead from 'So Many Roads'
'Book of Rules' by The Heptones from 'Night Food'
