Saturday, October 31, 2015

I Heart Heartland Rock

    I realize that when most Americans think of the American "heartland", they're likely to think of the midwest,  But when it comes to heartland rock, at least to my East Coast mind, it's more about a heart on the sleeve emotionalism associated with the Midwest and East Coast, most notably Bruce Springsteen.  Now I was going to write something else about the music' venerability, but it's late and my old brain just isn't up to the task so you'll just have to make up your own mind.

Download
Bastards of Young The Replacements
Stay Lucky The Gaslight Anthem
How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live? The Del-Lords
Big Tornado Hadacol
Mad Old Lady The Skeletons
Still Sober (After All These Beers) Banditos
Firecracker Marah
Indian Motorcycles Fred Eaglesmith
Rain On The Scarecrow John Mellencamp
St Claire Of Cedar Rapids The Hangdogs
Song for the Walls Eric Ambel & Roscoe's Gang
They Will Bury You Tim Easton
She's A Runaway BoDeans
Don't Run Wild The Del Fuegos
Teddy Got Rolled Go to Blazes
Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough) Steve Earle & the Dukes
I Wanna Come Home The Bottle Rockets
Born in the U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen

8 comments:

dogbreath said...

Many thanks for a fine compilation; a nice mix of the usual suspects (e.g. Mellencamp, Springsteen) and some unknowns (to me at any rate, e.g. Hadacol, The Hangdogs). "Heartland" music speaks for itself in such a way that even we non-US citizens can understand and appreciate. I even quite enjoyed Kid Rock's last album which I recall as being described by one reviewer as a shift to heartland territory.

Anonymous said...

Great post!Gonna have to pull out those Fred Eaglesmith & Alt. Country cd's.Forgot how good this stuff is.Wish I saved those Bloodshot Record and Miles of Music catalogs.Love your blog!Thanks again!

Ishkabibliophile said...

@dogbreath,
Quite welcome! I wasn't sure about including Mellencamp and Springsteen - especially those cuts which were so ubiquitous in the 80's. But they are so emblematic of the heartland rock genre that I had to. And even though it's the lead off track to the album Born in the USA, it works perfectly as the closing track.

Ishkabibliophile said...

@anonymous,

Thanks. Always good to return to the music of your youth (or, in my case, extended post-adolescence.)

Drew said...

Hey Ishka,

Love the blog!Is there any chance to you can re-upp Lonesome Bob's Things Fall Apart?Thanks for all your posts!

Ishkabibliophile said...

Drew,

Just re-uppped it. Don't want to deprive anyone of Lonesome Bob!

Ish

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drew said...

Hey Ish,

Thanks for the Lonesome Bob!

Drew