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Off Topic - Music for "in" crowd - canoeists

Waterdog

Waterdog

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Folks,

I'm starting this thread to share some of my favorite music. Like your favorite craft beers, there's a lot of artists out there that don't get played on the radio or have slick packaged promotions during half time shows. Youtube is a great place to find sounds that you might not hear from that radio at work or in your car. We all have different tastes of course. So here is my first contribution: Charlie Parr from Duluth MN. I think that Duluth is pretty awesome because that's where Frost River packs are made and Charlie lives there. What are you listening to?
 
Never heard of him, but wish I had. Great sound, does he have any CD's out. I am a fan of Jerry Vandiver, his music is all about canoeing.
 
Greywolf,

I'm a Vandiver fan as well. Charlie Parr has a website where you can buy a bunch of CD's and he also puts stuff out in vinyl if you're inclined. Some of his stuff is on iTunes too.

Barry
 
JJ Cale was pretty awesome...that would be a great song to listen to trying to get through the loop around Chicago. Trips to the BWCA are 23 hours for me. Music on my Ipod is what gets me there since there's no one to talk to. Winter hasn't really made and appearance here in PA but when it does, these songs are great to listen to while you prep your gear and plan your trips.

Barry
 
Thanks for the thread. I would gladly pay to see and hear Charlie Parr, a local treasure. The Grateful Dead has covered that song for years.

It would seem that traditional, folk, and bluegrass tunes go naturally with canoeing. Outdoor themes, acoustic instruments and vocal harmony. Robert Earl Keene, John Prine, and Bob Dylan, come to mind. I like some of the new bluegrass bands, Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers.

I listen to a lot of western music, try Mike Beck, Ian Tyson, Tom Russell, or Corb Lund and the Hurtin Albertans.
I like alt country like Jason Isbell, Lucinda Williams, Iris Dement,

I like to watch canoeing and rafting videos to get a feel for some new rivers. Plenty of good sound tracks, but some have annoying heavy metal which is hard to understand. Music is important and adds a lot to canoe adventures. I remember floating the Grand Canyon on a commercial trip. We had a big crowd and the last night we played some serious percussion with sticks, pots and pans and glass bottles. After playing for about 45 minutes we quit. A large whoop echoed down the canyon from another group of boaters that had heard the concert. Good times.
 
Another one of my favorites. I sing songs from this guy in my head a lot when I'm paddling alone. His solo live stuff is a bit different then his album recordings.
 
Nice thread. Music goes with just about everything in life; after all, it is about everything in life. We two here at home will put on some tunes to match the mood we're in. I have an eclectic mix to match my interests; from Coldplay to Cocker, Birdy to Blue Rodeo, Beatles to Boccelli...the list, and the beat, goes on. I'll check out some of the names mentioned I'm not familiar with. Charlie Parr indeed looks like a treasure. I haven't canoe tripped with any music other than what's bouncing around my brain. I try to hear a favourite disc just before our first put-in. No need to have an errant radio jingle play silly games with my mind, when I'm trying to get into and stay in the tripping mood. My favourite might be a bit old school uncool for most of you, but it works for me. I hum it and quietly sing it to myself when I'm out there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzo6Otpgj-E
Actually, a few more of his sneak along for the trip too in-between my ears. Here's just two of many.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yQc-wGeYvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4anOSSGm6U
 
Odyssey said:
I try to hear a favourite disc just before our first put-in. No need to have an errant radio jingle play silly games with my mind, when I'm trying to get into and stay in the tripping mood.
Click to expand...

It is funny you said that, I have heard that from others as well. We though tend to go the other way, no radio on at all for the drive to. In fact, the 25 hour round trip drive to and grom G'Town in August and we never even turned the radio on. Radio silence. More paying attention and watching what is out the windows.
I have discs I could play, but more often than not I listen to either the constant ringing in my ears or the voices in my head. I love silence anywhere and it is decidedly more difficult to come by.

Otherwise my tastes are eclectic. A couple years ago we saved several boxes of LP's that had been abandoned at the house we rented. Recently we sorted it and found a nice collection of 60's, 70's and 80's rock, mostly. Also found a working turntable to spin them on. Nothing like the hiss and crackle of albums.
 
You'll remember the crowded radio dial we have down here? I hear an absolute cacophony of thoughts bouncing off the inside 8 corners of my head. A little music helps to quieten them. I poke at the preselect buttons as I drive, bring a CD, or just get fed up and drive in silence. That's generally where and when I get most of my brainstorm'n ideas, driving in silence. I dictate long blog- like blabberings to nobody as I cruise. Yes, the scenery is bucolic down here (to me, along the right roads), and stunning up there in the north. No sound track needed. But even driving music can add to a driving trip. Summertime cruise'n to the country? Roll the windows down and turn up some country (Charlie Major) or some rock (Tragically Hip)... I just pretend I'm driving an old Cadillac. Or an old pickup. Or an old Cadillac pickup? Much beyond Sudbury the radio stations fade to few and I generally start the out loud dictating blabberings again. My trouble is even the most distant and annoying jingle will creep back into my memory, and get stuck in rewind for a whole trip. That's why I "flush & fill 'er up" on our drive to the put-in. I don't want to suddenly have The Bee Gees- Night Fever I overheard in a store last week pop into my head on the second portage. Eeek!
Vinyl LPs. I remember those, and their scratchy hissing goodness. (I even remember 45's!) Once upon a time I owned a few dozen, and then accrued a few dozen more from brothers and in-laws. Storage became unmanageable, especially since we'd move every couple years. I shed the albums, but never replaced them with enough tape cassettes. Then came the CDs. I have a cedar chest of those. I've weaned myself off those, but occasionally buy iTunes. Sometimes I get waylaid walking past a vinyl selection in a flea market. I'll flip through dusty memories of days gone by, but I won't buy. But gosh there are memories there.
If we do the G-town trip I'll definitely bring along some CDs for the drive. It'll have to be something special with a northern feel to it. Any suggestions?
 
I rarely listen to the radio, but last week I did while out of town and a song came out that still keeps creeping back. I detest the song too! To be clear, I don't take music out into the wilds, but I listen to it constantly otherwise. Heck I bought a PLC and GPS about 7 years ago and don't even bring them. I listen to it while I sand gunwales, paint the canvas, wax leather straps, tie flies, and between periods of hockey. I can't drive without it. I drive straight through 23 hours to BWCA (by comparison its only 10 hours to the Ottawa river Main channel) and need to listen to music or the occasional audiobook. This band is named Trampled by Turtles, another Duluth MN. band.

Cheers,
Barry
 
I too have very eclectic tastes, and prefer variety over any particular artists, or genres. I LOVE listening to what others have to show me, and have been pleasantly surprised with new artists, old artists doing new stuff, remakes, etc.

I especially love compilation albums, where musicians of differing genres get together for performances.
 
Odyssey said:
If we do the G-town trip I'll definitely bring along some CDs for the drive. It'll have to be something special with a northern feel to it. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Stompin' Tom.

What you need to do is... Get Mem to record his band at a gig then listen to that on the road!
 
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Mihun09 said:
Stompin' Tom.

What you need to do is... Get Mem to record his band at a gig then listen to that on the road!
Click to expand...

Actually, I have a Stompin Tom disc around here somewhere. There's memories there. In an apartment once upon a time, we threw a party. I insisted it be a themed costume party, just cause I'm weird that way. It was a "lumberjack-bucheron" party. (lumberjack for our anglo friends, bucheron for our french amis). What music did we play? My best friend had some recordings of this eminently wonderful singer composer Gilles Vigneault. My french is so rusty it's practically seized up, but when I want to revisit memories of our lives in Quebec, I listen to this composer poet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AimhTD5oMEY&list=RDAimhTD5oMEY
To balance out the english/french detente we found some Stompin Tom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSHnwiUn9Xw
We drank beer, ate homemade baked beans and meat pies (keeping with the theme), and had a good time. I still have a group photo to remind myself of that crazy night. Beer, beans and a late night is not something I really want to repeat again though. I can handle one, maybe two, but definitely not all three.
I'd love to drop in to see Mem and Co doing their thing in the local tavern in G-town.
They need to write their own rock'n version of (Sudbury) Geraldton Saturday Night.
 
Oh, I almost forgot. I had an old Renault 5 once, with a soft top and manual 4 on the floor. It felt sporty. It was sporty. The "sound system" was 8 track cassette. Wow, was that ever goofy. All my friends laughed. "Where ya gonna find anything to play in that thing?!" I vaguely remember finding a gadget that allowed playing tape cassettes in 8 track format. And when that failed, as it did often, there was always a ready supply of 8 track tapes from garage sales...provided you weren't too hip for Ethel Merman or Bing Crosby. ( I generally popped the top down, even in winter, and listened to the wind instead of "tunes.")
 
I have a Pioneer 8 track deck and some tapes I picked up on eBay a number of years ago. eBay is the place for old school stuff like that. I did finally ditch the Craig 8 track car deck I had, although it had the slide out bracket. Too many years sitting in limbo made it stop working properly. The only real downside of buying from eBay for this old stuff... how do you tell if it is the tapes or tape deck that isn't working properly?

I'll have to see if the Pioneer will plug into the radio out in the shop...
 
I tend to listen to the Wakami Wailers. They're a bunch of guys who used to do an interpretive program and campfire sing-alongs at Wakami Provincial Park. Now they go around the province holding concerts at provincial parks to raise funds for the various friends groups and have gotten quite a following. They write and sing about nature, funny songs for kids, voyageurs, and the history of logging.
Here's one of theirs; https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FGkFcFmcrbc
 
Don't know if you guys have heard of Dutch Mason, famous Canadian East Coast Blues man. I like all kinds of music, blues is a favorite. Here's a smaple of Dutchy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k43LWy6REw

Anyway, heard this story about Dutchy. He was travelling on a subway in New York City, and a punk with his hair all stood up straight and died red, blue and yellow was sitting beside him. Dutchy asked the kid how old he was, and the kid said he was 18. To this, Dutchy replied, "That's funny, cause 18 years ago I got real drunk in New York and slept with a parrot, and I was wondering if it was your mom."

My band, The Smok'n Igloos is playing a big New Years shindig tomorrow night, we play classic rock, blues and even some modern stuff. I'm expecting tomorrow night's gig to get out of hand, kind of like that movie "Roadhouse", where Jeff Healy is playing behind a cage, only we won't have a cage. Life is nothing but exciting out here on the Frontier!
 
I often listen to STYX doing "Come sail Away" prior to launching.
Turtle
 
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