A half-dozen cool things in music, from two points of view:
6 cool things in music include John Prine, baseball's Dusty Baker, Dwayne Johnson's duet with Kelly Clarkson
Shoutout, too, to Twin Cities bluesman Joe Flip.
October 21, 2022 at 10:00AM
Josh Jacobson of Minneapolis:
1 You Got Gold: Celebrating the Life & Songs of John Prine. Six days of concerts, panel discussions, trolley tours, food, happy hours in Nashville, including live performances at Grimey's records and a White Castle, to celebrate the late, great Prine for what would have been his 76th birthday, with all proceeds going to the Hello in There Foundation.
2 Tributes to John Prine. Performers included Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile, Bob Weir, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Jim James, the War and Treaty, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Margo Price, Kacey Musgraves and dozens of others.
3 You Got Gold organizers. The Prine/Whelan family, Oh Boy Records staff and fans from all over the country came together to honor John. An amazing — and exhausting — time was had by all.
Jon Bream, Star Tribune critic:
1 Dusty Baker, Rolling Stone interview. Turns out the manager of baseball's Houston Astros is quite a music fan. In an interview with podcaster Sama'an Ashrawi, the outfielder-turned-manager explains he went to the Monterey International Pop Festival 1967, smoked pot with Jimi Hendrix, became pals with bluesman John Lee Hooker, digs rap music and saw concerts by Miles Davis, the Mamas & the Papas and Bob Marley, among others. And you thought Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was cool for loving Phish.
2 Joe Flip featuring Swanny Rose, "Toxic." On the Twin Cities bluesman's new album, "Home Sweet Home," filled with both barroom boogie savvy and expressively plaintive guitar, the highlight is Flip and silvery vocalist Rose doing an alluringly slow, swampy treatment of the Britney Spears hit.
3 Kelly Clarkson and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, "Don't Come Home a Drinkin.'" On Clarkson's talk show, the unlikely duo duetted on the Loretta Lynn classic, and he held his own with the original "American Idol" champ. Could the Rock, who has conquered pro wrestling and the movies, be cooking up a country music career? It doesn't matter what you think, as the Rock would say.
to contribute: popmusic@startribune.com
The Australian rock hero will play the Armory with his old band supporting their new album, “Wild God.”
