Johnny J. Blair "Singer at Large"

peter chauncey’s SONG OF THE WEEK! “A Search for Home (Remix Edit)” https://peterchauncey1.bandcamp.com/track/a-search-for-home-remix-edit peter takes the song from it’s earlier ambient jazz mode and casts it in a new light. Listening to it feels like sitting in the back of a cab, watching the lights of London go by on a wet and freezing night. Or walking the beaches of Antigua. Or threading a two-lane in a five-speed roadster, hugging the cliffs overlooking the ocean. With Will Mandell’s muted trumpet held over from the original session, remixer DJ Luxxury added samba-like rhythms and a rolling bass line. The song becomes stylish and timeless—a sonic passport to anywhere in the world your brain longs to go on your own search for home. On a cosmic jukebox it would play next to David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, and Sade.https://peterchauncey1.bandcamp.com/track/a-search-for-home-remix-edit

SONG OF THE WEEK “Lonely Room” by Kris Ryder a.k.a. Chris Andrews.https://timchrisandrews.bandcamp.com/track/lonely-room ...This wouldn’t be the first song about breaking out of a lonely room, but Chris Andrews a.k.a. Kris Ryder put a funky synthpop spark into the theme, joined by bassist Mo Foster, guitarist Phil Palmer, and synthesizer work by the late Billy Lyall (Bay City Rollers, Alan Parson’s Project, Pilot). Released in 1979, the Kris Ryder debut LP forecasted the sounds of the 80s, mixing classic rock, New Wave, and synthpop. It was produced by Christopher Neil (a-ha, Sheena Easton). On a cosmic jukebox this would play somewhere between The Cars and Christopher Cross. Listen here:

If this is your introduction to Chris Andrews, he’s a British singer-songwriter and recording artist whose songs have been covered by Roger Daltrey, David Essex, and Davy Jones (Monkees). Under the name Tim Andrews he was a champion of late 60s psychedelic pop and was part of the seminal 60s freakbeat band Fleur de Lys.

“See the lazy windmill slowly turning ah…carving up the marble canyons of the sky. See the dust around my feet go churning ah…moving down the winds of the highways of goodbye…”

SONG OF THE WEEK: “Silver Moon” (a Mike Nesmith song) https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/track/silver-moon ...There’s been a critical reappraisal of Mike Nesmith’s production and songwriting, specifically his ground-breaking 70s country rock material with The First National Band. The FNB rhythm section included bassist John London (a key player in many Monkees sessions) and drummer John Ware (Emmylou Harris, Stone Poneys), both of whom had connected with Nez from his days in home state of Texas. Another crown in the FNB line-up was former Wrecking Crew legend Red Rhodes, whose pedal steel guitar is heard on sessions for The Beach Boys, The Byrds, James Taylor, and countless others. 

Nez and the FNB made a trilogy of albums that fused old school country with post-psychedelic rock, Tin Pan Alley, and Latin styles. Truth is, Nez was dabbling at this fusion before and during The Monkees; The FNB just elaborated on it (even if people didn’t “get it” then). Decades later this phase of Nez has a fresh audience, with some arguing whether Gram Parsons or Nez was The Original Cosmic Cowboy. The fusion of country and rock had been going on for years, pioneered by The Beatles, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Rick Nelson, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt, and Buck Owens, but it was sidebarred as a subgenre; an experimental novelty. Then, in summer 1972, The Eagles broke out with it big time in with the single “Take It Easy.” From there, country rock went mainstream and artists galore announced themselves as “country rockers.” The genre caught on around the world—particularly in the U.K. as Richard Thompson and Fairport Convention-spinoffs dabbled in the style.

There may be two reasons why Nez’s highly articulate brand of country rock didn’t catch fire. There was slight blowback from his being an ex-Monkee, and Nez also had a tendency to be ahead of his time. It didn’t help that his manager sent the FNB on an ill-timed promotional tour of England that same year. Nez’s new set might’ve played well in the United States, where Americana and country had a growing audience,but country music (let alone a country rock fusion) was just plain odd to The Brits, and Nez’s “new sound” barely made a dent in the U.K. Even Jimi Hendrix and Ringo Starr promoted Nez at a London press conference, but the U.K. tour went bust. The FNB were too burned out to do a proper tour of the U.S. even though their 1st single, the atmospheric country ballad “Joanne” was a Top 10 hit.

The follow-up to “Joanne” was “Silver Moon” released as a single 55 years ago this week. The “Silver Moon” session was filled out by Glen D. Hardin, pianist for Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, The Wrecking Crew, and TV’s Shindig. The catchy song is has a straight-up Tex-Mex shuffle framed by subdued rock’n’roll chord changes similar to another great Texan, Buddy Holly. “Silver Moon” charted in several countries and Nez played it in his live set as long as he lived. 

In the late 80s I added Nez’s “Silver Moon” to my solo set, carrying into the 90s with The Gypsy Lizards, a folk-pop trio I joined with singer-songwriter Paul Farnham. Then in 1992, I began to work with Davy Jones, the British Monkee. He heard me do “Silver Moon” at a gig, then he started singing it (there’s a bootleg of us doing it in Ohio). In 1996 I met Nez during the JUSTUS recording sessions in Nashville (JUSTUS was a reunion album with all 4 Monkees). I told him about the coverage “Silver Moon” was getting, and he was amused and surprised. A year later I convened with a Nez tribute act called The Third National Band (Donna Bailey, Gary Owen, Scott Ringle). We cut this version of “Silver Moon” that imagines Buddy Holly with cranked pre-amps. John Bechdel (Killing Joke, Ministry) is at the mixing board (remastered/remixed by Chris von Sneidern in 2025).

Chris Andrews MONDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO “Like a Dream” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEf3dhNEDGQ When life and loss are overwhelming, dreams enter in to help us heal…This micro-musical fantasy ballad features some of Chris’s best keyboard and vocal work. On a cosmic jukebox this song would play next to Elton John, Cliff Richard, and Leo Sayer. 

If this is your introduction to Chris, he’s a British singer-songwriter and recording artist whose songs have been covered by Roger Daltrey, David Essex, and Davy Jones (Monkees). Under the name Tim Andrews he was a champion of late 60s psychedelic pop and he was part of the seminal “freakbeat” band, Fleur de Lys. Later, under the name Kris Ryder, Chris released New Wave synthpop sides in the 80s, and he’s still releasing new material to a global audience! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEf3dhNEDGQ

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lola Albright, drummer Tony Allen, the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing, the Billboard Singles Charts (1940), music aficionado & influencer John Bonato, Tantoo Cardinal, Kim Carnes, Paul Cook, Chris Cornell, Omar Epps, Franz Fanon, Tim Ferriss, Jem Finer, Radney Foster, Mort Garson, Stone Gossard, Saginaw Grant, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sally Ann Howes, Iron Butterfly’s 1968 IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA album, Buddy Knox, John Lodge, Mick MacNeil (Simple Minds), Cormac McCarthy, Gregor Mendel, Sandra Oh, Petrarch, Diana Rigg, T.G. Sheppard, the 1961 musical STOP THE WORLD I WANT TO GET OFF, songwriter Cindy Walker, Natalie Wood, Dennis Yost, and the visionary guitarist and band-leader Carlos Santana. His music has been in my orbit ever since I saw Santana’s sizzling performance in the WOODSTOCK movie. I marvel at his fusion of Latin and world music, jazz, psychedelic rock, and pop, and he’s King of the Long-Sustained Note, milking the full potential of a tone. I didn’t grasp the depth of his music till recent years, amplified when I lived near the San Francisco neighborhood where Santana grew up + I’ve worked with musicians who’ve played with Santana. 

In 2009 I was honored to participate in a Santana tribute concert produced by The Uptown Music Collective, performing Santana’s arrangement of “Oye Como Va.” Because of the song’s American, Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican roots, it’s now a badge of interconnectedness and hybridity for Latin music in the USA and beyond. Here we are performing it at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport PA—with “more cowbell” and superb lead guitar by Scott Francis. Meanwhile, thank you Carlos for your years of music-making and bringing people together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffCOM6W62v8

SUNDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO! “Daydream Believer” / “It’s Going to be Different Today” live @ San Francisco Lighthouse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4biM3K_QCX8  2 songs I did while hosting an Open Mic at San Francisco Lighthouse. I shared a memory about the many times I've played "Daydream Believer" with Davy Jones and The Monkees. The second song (my original composition) was later released on my current album WE’RE GETTING CLOSER TO THE SUN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4biM3K_QCX8

SATURDAY MUSIC VIDEO MATINEE: “Dancin’ in the Aisles” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v0hTVxSexw –I composed this during a "rockabilly phase," paying tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, and Little Richard. A vocal version, with slap-back tape echo, exists somewhere. The lyrics imagine a 1950s rock'n'roll movie where an upstart Jeannie C. Riley-type of teacher gets a gig at a college and persuades this uptight professor to cut loose and go dancing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to British singer-songwriter Jeff Christie, best known in the USA for his 1970 single “Yellow River.” He wrote it as a demo for The Tremeloes, then one of the UK’s biggest bands. They recorded it but then scuttled it, so their angry producer took off their vocals and gave the track back to Jeff to sing and record. The result was a phenomenal hit that went to #1 in five countries, Top 40 in nine other countries (#6 in the US), and Top 100 in twelve more countries. Since then, this and other Christie songs have been covered in more than 10 languages. Some critics compared “Yellow River” to The Beatles, perhaps because of the McCartney-ish bass line, but (in my opinion) it bears more of a resemblance to The Kinks. That said, “Yellow River” checks off all the boxes for what makes British Rock great. Jeff said the lyrics were inspired by tales from the American Civil War, but because “Yellow River” was released in 1970 during the Vietnam War, it was interpreted as depicting a modern soldier coming home. My video cover of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbFVyjyRrT4  features images of Dennis Storm, a real-life Vietnam War soldier who purchased a guitar from the Red Cross Doughnut Dollies to write songs while he was there (and has amazing stories to go with). Meanwhile, HB JC and thank you for your gift of enduring songcraft.

SONG OF THE WEEK “Josephine” by Tim Andrews a.k.a Chris Andrews, who wrote and sang this psych-pop anthem to a special woman. https://timchrisandrews.bandcamp.com/track/josephine ...The arrangement comes laden with echoplexed harpsichords and strings—right out of the late 60s “chamber pop” playbook, when classical music forms and instrumentation are integrated with psychedelic rock, a style championed by The Beach Boys, Beatles, Bee Gees, Left Banke, etc. Recorded at Abbey Road, this track (released 1970 as a B-side) was produced by Tony Hall and David Mackay (Gene Pitney, Cliff Richard, Bonnie Tyler) and arranged by Paul Buckmaster—the great composer and orchestrator who’d soon go on to work with Elton John. On a cosmic jukebox this song would play between “See Emily Play” (Pink Floyd) and “Sugar On Sunday” (The Clique). Download the remastered “Josephine” here: https://timchrisandrews.bandcamp.com/track/josephine

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the phenomenal Linda Rondstadt. She built an unsurpassable career on a singular voice and a classic stage sensibility, interpreting hundreds of songs on virtually every musical platform I could name: Classical, country, New Wave rock, opera, pop, showtunes & standards, theatre, and world music (I recommend that musicians and singers read her memoir).

Linda retired from performing and recording in 2011 when she came down with a form of aggressive palsy, but she still gets around. I met her in 2013 when she came into Guitar Center to get her guitar worked on. She and I have mutual acquaintances in the music biz and, once I got over the dazzle of meeting her, the vibe became easeful and low-key, like a multiple award-winning artist was really just another musician hanging out in a music shop with the crew. To me it’s heartening that someone with an affliction such as hers can still go home and enjoy music-making.

Here’s a cover of her breakthrough song “Different Drum.” Mike Nesmith wrote this in 1966 and, a year later, it became a hit for Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys. The original track had a unique blend of Californianized baroque pop and country. Our cover is from a 1998 recording session I did with The Third National Band, a Mike Nesmith tribute project. The original had a strings, but since we didn’t have a string orchestra handy, I played those parts on harpsichord:

https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/track/different-drum

Meanwhile, HB Linda—thank you for your years of innovation and for giving us an incredible body of song!

SONG OF THE WEEK! “Woody Guthrie’s America” https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/track/woody-guthries-america I was contacted by Seth Olinsky (of the furry freaky psychedelic folk band Akron/Family) to cover one of his simple songs. It was part of a worldwide project where other musicians, non-musicians, artists, actresses, etcetera, were invited to record their own takes of this song. Then Seth posted them on a website. For my arrangement, I "took it to church," in a Beach Boys style (circa HOLLAND), playing the piano and all the vocals in 1-2 takes at Mind’s Eye Studio (with Xavier Francis at the board). https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/track/woody-guthries-america

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Polly Bergen, Ingmar Bergman, my sister Jennie Blair, Bebe Buell, Bob Casale, John A. Chapman, Gerald Ford, Lee Friedlander, Rosie Grier, Maulana Karenga, Angélique Kidjo, Gustav Klimt, Jamie Johnson, Paul McCartney’s 1986 “Press” single, Tommy Mottola, Peta Murgatroyd, singer-songwriter Bret Putnam, Adam Quinn, Phil Reeder, Del Reeves, Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons), Dale Robertson, Jerry Rubin, Dirty Dave Rudabaugh, Matthew Seligman, Stan Shaw, Harry Dean Stanton, Rubberlegs Williams, and the social activist and iconic figure in American folk music, Woody Guthrie. The legendary singer-songwriter gave us The Dust Bowl Ballads and “This Land is Your Land.” He was a major influence on Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Sixto Rodriguez, Pete Seeger, and many others. He also fathered a musical family with son Arlo and grandchildren Gabe and Nora (out there with their own legacies, and I’m grateful to have met Arlo and Gabe).

Woody gave us the song, “This Land is Your Land”—a land for all people. He taught people how to view America and social issues through the lens of a song, saying, "I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that." 

Here’s my take of Woody’s autobiographical song “Oklahoma Hills,” co-written with his cousin Jack Guthrie (a cowboy star who went #1 with this in 1945). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aYTpJETVcQ Meanwhile, HB Woody, and thank you for creating “the machine that kills fascists.” 

Chris Andrews VIDEO OF THE WEEK: “In the House” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzWOLcOHD-c —If you’re aching with curiosity, wondering what’s behind someone’s front door, here’s some midtempo finger-snapping synthpop from Chris’s pen (his songs have been covered by Roger Daltrey, David Essex, and Davy Jones of The Monkees). On a cosmic jukebox this would play next to Human League, Pet Shop Boys, and Leo Sayer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzWOLcOHD-c

SUNDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO! “Dumb Angel (live)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1adaRT-TVpU A 2002 live take of my surrealistic pop song that I wrote after a dream that included Brian Wilson, Lewis Carroll, and Elvis Presley. In my dream they all made an appearance where I grew up in the backwater Appalachian village of Avis PA.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1adaRT-TVpU

SATURDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO! “Lei Mi Aspetta” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Jk1dMrHpI Translated from Italian to English, “Lei Mi Aspetta” describes a young man pushing away temptation from a beautiful woman as his heart longs for his true love, waiting at home. In January 1966, this song was presented at the 2-day XVI Festival di Sanremo in Italy. According to Festival rules, every song competes in a double performance by a couple of singers or groups. In this case, “Lei Mi Aspetta” was performed by Nicola Di Bari and Gene Pitney. Di Bari is an actor and singer-songwriter, called one of the “sacred monsters” of Italian pop music. Similarly successful was Gene Pitney, the American singer-songwriter who had a remarkable voice and hits around the world. Both artists released singles of the song in Italian, and it was Pitney’s 1966 version that I fixated on as it resonated with the artistry of later artists that influence me, such as Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music. I finally worked up the nerve to do my own “Lei Mi Aspetta,” if for the challenge of mastering the chords, the melody, and singing phonetic Italian with gusto (please forgive any mispronunciations and misphrasings). Several Italian artists have covered it, and Mexican rock’n’roller Enrique Guzmán did it in Italian and Spanish. In English iterations, the song was retitled “She Believes in Me” and was recorded by Los Bravos in 1967. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Jk1dMrHpI

peter chauncey’s SONG OF THE WEEK "Mother of Pearl"—Cheers to peter for his cover of the Roxy Music song. Here are notes from Johnny J. Blair (who produced & performed on the music track):

“'Mother of Pearl' is a two-tiered rock operetta created by Roxy Music in 1973. The lyrics allude to Boticelli's ‘Birth of Venus’ painting, the Bible, and Frederic Neitzsche. The original RM version opens with a sinister shindig, like a Sam Cooke party crashed by speed freak bikers. Abruptly, the party-groove cuts to a pensive, down-tempo Velvet Underground-style chord meditation. Bryan Ferry's lyrics take the dead end of 'party love' and measures it all against the durability of pure love. “peter extrapolated the second tier of Ferry's operetta, with hypnotic VU-like noise drones (the piano channeling Nicky Hopkins). When I played the piano on this, I didn't know we were tracking, and this is the take peter wanted..." 

Listen here (feedback welcome)… https://peterchauncey1.bandcamp.com/track/mother-of-pearl