Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts

Friday, May 31, 2019

Keb’ Mo’ “This is My Home” released

This Is My Home

Keb’ Mo’ with Jaci Velasquez

Writer(s): Kevin Moore, John Lewis Parker (see lyrics here)


Released: May 31, 2019


First Charted: --


Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): --


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.14 video, 2.92 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Blues singer/songwriter and guitarist Kevin Roosevelt Moore (stage name “Keb’ Mo’”) was born in South Los Angeles, California, on October 3, 1951. He began his musical career playing steel drums in a calypso band before playing blues in various backup bands in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He released his first album, Rainmaker, in 1980 but it was fourteen more years before he put out a follow-up. It was at that point that his career as a solo artist really took off.

To date, he has won four Grammys for Best Contemporary Blues Album and a Grammy for Best American Album. The latter award was for his 2019 album, Oklahoma, which featured the track “This Is My Home.” The song “considers the immigrant experience” AM by telling “a trio of stories about people searching for a better life.” AM

He said, Americans need “a reminder that…the longest most of us have been here is 400 years…So we’re all immigrants.” AM “When people start getting down on immigrants, it makes me want to tell a story about Americans who I really respect.” AM The song was inspired by Lupe, his housekeeper in L.A., and the people she introduced him to as well as Mohammed, an Iranian taxi driver who was very kind to Keb’ Mo’ when he didn’t have his wallet.

He explained that he opted for a stripped-down arrangement featuring just steel guitar, accordion, and backing vocals from Jack Velasquez. He said, “the point was to not overshadow the story.” AM He also said, “I wanted the guitar to sound a little more exotic, more like world music, tribal, just different, like something from a foreign land.” AM


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First posted 3/13/2025.

Wednesday, March 7, 2001

RIAA/NEA’s Top Albums of the 20th Century

First posted 3/7/2012; updated 11/20/2020.

RIAA/NEA:

Top Albums of the 20th Century

On March 7, 2001, The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) revealed the top ten songs from its list of the top 365 songs of the 20th century. According to the RIAA’s press release, the list was created “to promote a better understanding of America’s musical and cultural heritage in our schools.” Strangely, though, there were a handful of albums included on the list. I have listed the albums on this page and you can see the song list here.

Note: Links on albums lead to dedicated DMDB pages.

Click here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations.

  1. West Side Story (cast album, 1957)
  2. The Sound of Music (cast album, 1959)
  3. Oklahoma! (cast album, 1943)
  4. George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin/Dubose Heyward Porgy and Bess (1935)
  5. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959)
  6. My Fair Lady (cast album, 1956)
  7. John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965)
  8. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
  9. Hair (cast album, 1967)
  10. Charlie Parker Ornithology (1946)
  11. South Pacific (cast album, 1949)
  12. Miles Davis Bitches Brew (1970)
  13. The King and I (cast album, 1951)
  14. The Music Man (cast album, 1957)
  15. Various Artists (including Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta) Grease (soundtrack, 1978)
  16. Show Boat (cast album, 1927)
  17. Mary Lou Williams Zodiac Suite: Town Hall Concert (live, 1945)

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