Category: 2000-2004

The Puerto Rican trovador (master of traditional song) Miguel Santiago Díaz assembled the first configuration of his group Ecos de Borinquen in the late seventies. The name translates to “echoes of Puerto Rico,” with the word “Borinquen” being the original name of the island before the Spaniards arrived. The title of this 2003 Smithsonian Folkways release—recorded with a new batch of younger musicians—translates to “Jibaro (mountain person) to the bone,” and the mountain music contained therein, with its ten-stringed cuatros at the forefront, is the very sound of Puerto Rican cultural heritage. Miguel composed the lyrics for most of the songs, including “Somos Los Puertoriqueños” (we are the Puerto Ricans).  A translation of some of its words, as taken from the liner notes: “Honest and generous, honorable, hardworking, tireless fighters, polite and religious, nice, caring, forgers of dreams with their most noble efforts, filled with profound love, an example for the world, we are the Puerto Ricans.”

“Blowin’ in the Wind” (2001) – Kek Lang * Written by Bob Dylan * LP: Chants from Kek Lang: Summer Moons, Winter Moons, Romany Songs * Label: Long Distance

In 2013, the Buda Musique label based in France released a compilation called From Another World: A Tribute to Bob Dylan with an eye-catching cover featuring an image of Dylan’s profile as the borders of a nation. It comes off as a visual joke—no Dylan nation could be conceivable for such a border-defying body of work. A standout track among that CD’s rather exotic offerings, though, is this Hungarian gypsy folk version of “Blowin’ in the Wind” by the group Kek Lang, originally released in 2001 on the French Long Distance label. You’ll need to listen well beyond the one-minute mark, when the tempo picks up and the euphoria kicks in.

“Back to the Bridge” (1994) – Asie Payton * Trad. arrangement by Asie Payton * CD: Just Do Me Right (2002) * Recorded by Matthew Johnson * Label: Fat Possum

In the 2002 documentary You See Me Laughin’, Fat Possum Record owner Matthew Johnson explains how he’d need to wait for rainy weather to persuade Asie Payton of Holly Springs, Mississippi, to get off of his tractor long enough to make some recordings. In 1994, three years before Payton would die of a heart attack, Johnson was able to round up enough tracks for two posthumous CDs: Worried (1999) and Just Do Me Right (2002). On certain songs, such as “Back to the Bridge,” Payton has a way of digging into a groove that tunnels through his own Delta dirt straight into the earth’s fiery core. The track drips with originality, but the album notes credit it (and all the others) as a traditional arrangement. Maybe that’s just a matter of headache relief. All songs, after all, are carried by “Big Legal Mess Publishing,” which is probably as truthful as a company title can get. The last song on the Just Do Me Right album is a worthy remix of “Back to the Bridge”—maybe Beck listened to it before doing “E-Pro.” 

“There’s a Story in Your Voice” (2004) – Elvis Costello and the Imposters (with Lucinda Williams) * Written and produced by Elvis Costello * LP: The Delivery Man * Label: Lost Highway

Take a whole sack of one liners, equal parts chord changes, douse it in prepared angst, put a hat on it, and you’ve got yourself an Elvis Costello song circa 2004. The hookiest track on The Delivery Man is called “There’s a Story in Your Voice” and it’s also the most annoying, vying for a “love to hate” reaction in the listener. It’s that aforementioned prepared angst that’s the “story” in the voices of both Costello and guest Lucinda Williams, causing Williams to oversnarl. When cats do this outside your window, you throw things at them.