How do we come up with all these musical posts you might ask.
Part of it is of course that we’re all nerds in a way and easily get excited by underrated/weird/obscure artists/groups.
But other times it can be just a small thing that brings back vague memories…
In this case it was a post by Sal Nunziato, about his ‘Songs of the Week’ in which he wrote: Ocean In Your Eyes- Smokey & Miho
(Never a fan of Cibo Matto, but Miho's collab with the great Smokey Hormel pushed a few buttons. Something about this track really gets to me in a good way.)
Part of it is of course that we’re all nerds in a way and easily get excited by underrated/weird/obscure artists/groups.
But other times it can be just a small thing that brings back vague memories…
In this case it was a post by Sal Nunziato, about his ‘Songs of the Week’ in which he wrote: Ocean In Your Eyes- Smokey & Miho
(Never a fan of Cibo Matto, but Miho's collab with the great Smokey Hormel pushed a few buttons. Something about this track really gets to me in a good way.)
I didn’t even reply at there time, but somehow ‘Smokey Hormel’ triggered something, I knew that guy, he played with other artists, but whom?
And that started it all, before I knew I was going down a slippery digital slope looking for information on Smokey and found plenty…
In many ways Smokey resembles Marc Ribot, another very active session guitar player, at times they even played on the same artist albums, e.g. Tom Waits, but not on the same sessions.
Biggest difference perhaps is that Ribot released quite a few solo albums, whereas Smokey made only one: Smokey's Secret Family, which he describes as ‘a dynamic horn and percussion ensemble in an exploration of 1950's African dance music’!
Anyway, here’s a ‘brief’ overview of what he has been up to:
1980s Radio Ranch Straight Shooters, The Blasters, Lester Butler
1990s John Doe, Beck, Tom Waits
2000s Miho Hatori, Forro In the Dark, Johnny Cash, Smokey's Secret Family (playing Brazilian-, Caribbean-, and African-styled surf music), Smokey's Roundup (playing western swing), Norah Jones, Neil Diamond + various soundtracks
And that’s really the tip of the iceberg as he has also recorded or performed with Adele, Lee Allen, R. L. Burnside, Jim Carroll, Rosanne Cash, Cibo Matto, Bo Diddley, John Doe, Dixie Chicks, Erasmo Carlos, Steve Earle, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Allen Ginsberg, Josh Groban, Marianne Faithfull, Joe Houston, Wanda Jackson, Mick Jagger, David Johansen, K. D. Lang, Al Kooper, Bettye Lavette, Sean Lennon, Chris Martin, The Manhattan Transfer, Patsy Montana, Jennifer Nettles, Beth Orton, Kid Rock, Timothy B Schmit, Joe Strummer, Justin Timberlake, Rufus Wainwright, Yebba and Yo La Tengo…
I’ve made a 3 CD compilation which gives a pretty decent impression of his guitar style.
It starts with a live track by The Blasters and ends with Bettye Lavette!
More info (interviews, etc.) can be found here.
Link: https://mega.nz/file/uFcFEJIA#FmRCvLzLBTTgXsRD402USaa5hvQ8P5tXWzcqwKYVeO0
ReplyDeleteQuestion: What's your favorite Smokey track (if any!)?
Note: Session details where I could find them were added in the songs' info (iTunes...), either comments or lyrics!
I'm unfamiliar with him--which is surprising, because The Blasters, John Doe, & Yo La Tengo are all favorites of mine. Thanks, Koen.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Stinky. Here is an extensive interview with Smokey about his days with The Blasters: https://whiskeyclone.net/beyond/smokey.html
DeleteCame back to download again today but still shows file size of 555.5 Mb on MEGA but each time I download it only one song is delivered. I've tried the new Windows 11 extractor but says error when extracting that folder is empty. Then i tried my WINRAR and it shows end of file error in Diagnostic messages and only file shown is then 1-01 Okie Dokie Stomp (ft. Smokey Hormel).mp3 as only song. I then tried to open with my switch program extractor that I use to convert FLAC files from those high-maintenance blogs and that was a fail also since it said my trial period had expired! so I nixed that idea pronto since I need that FLAC converter to MP3.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, I'm at wit's end with it all and hope you the best. Those kiddos must have a new trick for the old kiddo like me! Great research and must needed highlight for this artist anyways.
I had a similar problem with MEGA this past weekend. Today I was able to download Koen's 3 disc share and opened it with 7Zip.
DeleteI then compressed Koen's mp3's into 3 CD length sets. Might be easier to download them separately as smaller files. I hope you're able to get them!
CD1: https://www.imagenetz.de/mHbmv
CD2: https://www.imagenetz.de/g9e2y
CD3: https://www.imagenetz.de/fgMqp
Success! Thanks Jonder (and Art58Koen)!!!
DeleteThanks, Jon. I couldn't get the single link to work either.
ReplyDeleteGlad to help! This looks like another great job by Koen (judging only by the tracklist, as I haven't had time to listen yet). Smokey's name is new to me, but I have heard some of these songs, and I'm looking forward to hearing the rest!
DeleteSorry to hear about all the download problems guys, no idea what happened. I just tried it myself and it took much more time than usual + several error messages too... Thanks Jonder for helping out here!
DeleteI think Koen did a great job, and sorry you could not open the file (except the superb mastermind Jonder) I did succesfully downloaded and extracted from the original link. I first thought my computer played tricks. (I can't use music-players like winamp, windows music player, it has to go through movieplayers, and I can't use note-pad) but my bulk-downloader did the job nicely.
ReplyDeleteThanks Koen, didn't know him, and I am suspicious of any band making generic african music, but I will give it a go.