Nashville has been rocking hard this past week! It has been a joy to behold the likes of Boz Scaggs, Ann Wilson, Wynonna Judd, and Emmylou Harris at DylanFest last Tuesday, The Hard Working Americans block party on Monday and Tom Petty and Mudcrutch a couple of nights ago at The Ryman. It has been a celebration of sorts for me as well, as it was 45 years ago that I started working in the music industry. I think 45 is a nice music biz milestone, it should come with a small disc , 45 RPM, and one of those adaptors that looks like it is a symbol from another civilization.
Being up close to watch careers take hold, it always amazes me about the lottery that leads to the grand prize, becoming a household name. That is ever more difficult to do these days, with limited radio airplay from city to city. It used to be different when rock was new.
We have a premier for you today from someone who should be a household name, Michael Fracasso. His new album comes out next Friday, June 10th. Here's what Michael had to say about writing the title song:
'Here Come the Savages' was written after we heard the news that Davy Jones had died. I wrote it in a stream of consciousness thinking of all the pain this world can inflict on you. It was initially written on mandolin but when we went to record it, the instrument no longer held any mystique. We tried guitar with the same result. Then producer Jim Lewis said play it on piano (where I had to now rewrite the song) and everyone but George Reiff and myself went to lunch. George heard me working on it and said to me it was time to put it down. It was one take and we knew we were finished. —Michael Fracasso
Today, Music Fog brings you the title track, “Here Come the Savages."
- Jessie Scott