Part 2 of this four part Laptop Sessions extravaganza comes to you with a song from the Traveling Wilburys, one of my favorite bands of all time.
I grew up listening to their music and find myself going back to their two albums over and over again.
This song is a great one to do acoustically, and like the last one, is sung by Bob Dylan. Watch for the cameo harmonica appearance by Chris Moore in this video!
I’ll be doing PLENTY more Wilburys songs on these sessions, so stay tuned! Now, onto part 3!
Part 4 of this four part Laptop Sessions extravaganza comes to you with another Christmas song!
This classic tune by Bobby Helms has been covered by almost every artist since the song came out. But, I figured the Laptop Sessions could use a jolt of a song everyone knows and can sing to. But, you rarely hear an acoustic cover version of “Jingle Bell Rock”, though. Most of the time, you’ll hear a country artist sing it or someone will try to turn it into a slow, crooning song. Not me, though- I stay pretty true to the original song. But, who says that you can’t rock out on acoustic guitar? Of course, I’m using my nylon-stringed (or “gut” stringed) classical guitar that I bought while on vacation in Italy with one of my dearest friends. I don’t think many people would associate a classical guitar with “Jingle Bell Rock”, but I like to make my acoustic cover videos have an intimate setting. It allows me to sing at a nicer volume without having to worry about getting drowned out by my steel-stringed acoustic guitar.
As far as Christmas songs go, you can’t get more popular than “Jingle Bell Rock”. Sure, some Christmas songs may be AS popular as this classic Bobby Helms tune, but this song is instantly recognizable. Well, that’s kind of a given, seeing that you’ll probably hear it about a hundred times each Christmas. A few years back, my free internet radio station, WCJM Internet Radio, did a Christmas show where we wanted to find out what the best original Christmas song was. I chose the term “original song” because so many classic standards like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town are simply untouchable. We at WCJM Internet Radio wanted to find out which Christmas song other than those standards was the best. And, whatever song won would be “retired” as a classic itself. Well, “Jingle Bell Rock” was very close to the top of the list. Oh, you didn’t think I would just give the list of the Best Original Christmas Songs away here on the music blog, right? You’re going to have to head over to WCJM Radio by clicking here to find out for yourself! Remember, all WCJM Internet Radio programs are absolutely free to listen to online. They’re hilarious and I know you’ll become an instant fan.
So, sit back and sing along to this Bobby Helms Christmas cover song music video- it’s another step on my journey to make your holiday season great!
We finally come to one of my absolute favorite bands of all time: Barenaked Ladies. I originally got into the band after hearing their song “Brian Wilson”.
I have every album from BNL, know every word to every song–a real fanatic. I think Steven Page is the best song writer of my generation, even though he is about 15 years older than me.
This song starts off their album “Maroon”, one of my favorites from them that I played about 100 times in a row. This song is much more “electric” on the album, but I think it stands up well as an acoustic because of the lyrical content.
There will be PLENTY more videos from BNL to come, so if you love any of their songs, don’t hesitate to make a request!!
NOTE: This video was remastered in 2020 for enhanced video and sound.
I’ve always loved this Johnny Cash song; his songs often remind me of my grandfather and father and of my youth. That being said, no, I have never shot a man nor can I personally relate to this song. But, that being said, Jim was reminded today of another Johnny Cash performance that utilized the same chords, so thus there is a little surprise in the middle for all you Fusco-Moore fans out there…
