For Meta

Through Plan International (the former Foster Parents Plan), since April 2011 I've sponsored a little girl named Meta Balde in Bafata, Guinea-Bissau. I got word today that she died of malaria on May 31, two months before her eighth birthday.

Having learned to admire Plan from my mother, an early FPP adopter in the 1950s, I've sponsored children since 1982. The financial part happens automatically. Once diligent about writing to them, I've let other commitments get in the way. I have Meta's picture but had never gotten around to writing. It was something I always planned to do tomorrow. Today's letter from the always efficient and gracious staff at Plan in Warwick, Rhode Island left me feeling desolate and ashamed. I've written back offering to sponsor another child in the same community. But no one can replace Meta. For her, I'm forever a day late. Sometimes all we can do is give thanks for the opportunity to do better.

Then this 1993 video of Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Lullaby" came over the transom, thanks to the good people at No Depression. One more kiss and you'll be gone, on the way to to dreamland. Also aboard were Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Denise Williams, Maura O'Connell, Carole King, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Gloria Estafan, and Dionne Warwick.

Fight malaria in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting Nets for Life.

Give rest, dear God, to your beloved child with your saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.

"Sundown," Gordon Lightfoot

She don't always say what she really means. The great Canadian troubadour performing in 1974, with Terry Clements picking that Martin and Rick Haynes on bass.
Hat tip to Paul Arndt

"Raise Your Hand," Tom Jones and Janis Joplin

Open up your big heart. The Welshman and Texan performing in 1969, as though they'd always been meant to.
Hat tip to No Depression

One L And The Big J

I'm not going to get too sentimental, like those other sticky valentines. I was in San Diego, not far from here, when I first heard "Alison" in 1976. It's one of those songs. Elvis Costello, shown performing in 2003, won't say who it's about. If you have any doubt about the underlying emotion, listen for the song he twins it with.
Hat tip to No Depression

40 Years In The Wilderness With Bruce

I came out with my soul untouched. The liberating prophet of rock and roll performing at Max's Kansas City in New York, Aug. 20, 1972.
Hat tip to No Depression

"Wide River to Cross," Levon Helm

I'm only halfway home; I've got to journey on to where I'll find, I'll find the thing that I have lost. Written by Buddy Miller and performed by Helm on his Grammy-winning 2007 album, "Dirt Farmer." He's singing with Teresa Williams and his daughter and co-producer, Amy Helm.

When the album came out and Terry Gross interviewed him for "Fresh Air," he reflected on his recovery from cancer in his vocal cords, which had kept him from singing and sometimes even talking for years:

I've always appreciated my family and friends, you know, and those ties that bind us together. But it's like my music, this much later and after you've almost got everything taken away from you, once you get that back, boy, it's a joyful life that we've all been given.

And, you know, you can really - you know, when you see a young nephew or a young person in your family that's blood related, and you see them for the first time and they're not old enough to know that they're all related, but you can look into their face and you they look into your eyes and you both know it. You know, we take it for granted. You know, we enjoy that kind of thing without even a big thank you most of the time.

I'm pretty sure that preaches. My music buddy Boom Baker and I are offering a big thank you that we had the blessing of making the trip to Levon's Woodstock barn in 2009.

"The Weight," Bruce Springsteen

Put the load right on me. Performing with the expanded E Street Band on May 2 in Newark in a tribute to the late Levon Helm (and to songwriter Robbie Robertson).

"Oh My Sweet Carolina," Ryan Adams

May you one day carry me home. Performing with Laura Marling at Abbey Road Studios in London in 2011.

"Rebels," Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

Y'all watch this here. Tom Petty broke his hand having a temper tantrum during the recording of the studio version of the song in 1984. "Rebels" is also remarkable as an example, along with the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," of how white rock stars could indulge in nostalgia for the Confederacy (though certainly not for slavery) with evident impunity. I love this live version because of the horns at 3:55, twinned with Mike Campbell's guitar. I'm a sucker for a horn section.

And He Shall Be Levon

Levon Helm, the Band's drummer and finest lead singer (they had three), is reported to be near death after battling cancer for several years. In this performance of Marvin Gaye's 1964 classic "Don't Do It," from the Band's legendary late December 1971 run at the Academy of Music in New York, all his gifts are on display. I can't name one thing I'd rather hear than this. At 3:07, listen to him drum when he sings "My biggest mistake was loving you too too much."

He patted my music brother Boom Baker and me on the knee when we saw him and his show band perform in November 2009 at one of his Midnight Rambles at his home in Woodstock, New York. May all the angels of heaven attend him.

"Cats in the Cradle," Harry Chapin

Not today; I got a lot to do. The king of the father-son songs, with moving comments by Chapin's lyricist and widow and their son. Hat tip to No Depression.

"Jesus On The Mainline," Ry Cooder

Tell him what you want. Cooder and David Lindley, Bobby King, Terry Evans, Willie Green, and Joachim Cooder were performing at the 1994 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Hat tip to Boom Baker

"Crossroads Blues," Cream

Where has this been all my life? Thank you, No Depression. Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton performing the Robert Johnson song during their farewell concert on Nov. 26, 1968 at the Royal Albert Hall. Odd camera work; you won't get a good look at Clapton's fretboard until 3:04. Oh, to be at the crossroads in June! Here's the spot, in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

"Everybody Needs Love," Drive-By Truckers

Just like the sun and moon and stars up above. On the June 21, 2011 Letterman show (and he really likes them!). Hat tip to No Depression.

"Islands In The Stream"

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers record cover songs on an iPhone when driving to gigs, this time on the road between San Francisco and Santa Barbara. The song was originally a hit for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. More examples here; check out "You're No Good." Hat tip to No Depression.

"Strawberry Blonde," Ron Sexsmith

Two mothers, two daughters. Hat tip to No Depression.

"Broken," Whitehorse

A new duo from Canada. The song remains the same -- "You've gotta have a heart to have a broken one" -- with wonderful voices and guitars. Hat tip to No Depression.

"Cruel To Be Kind," Nick Lowe and Wilco

Cruel to be kind means that I love you. Performing on Feb. 2 on Austin City Limits. Hat tip to No Depression.

"A Couple More Years," Waylon Jennings

You're going somewhere; I've been to somewhere and found it was nowhere at all. Hat tip to No Depression.

"Handle With Care," Traveling Wilburys

An astonishing musical moment -- Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and George Harrison in 1988