NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA . . . . . Route 66 Theme (opening theme) . . . . . Route 66 and Other Great TV Themes/More Hit TV Themes
MINK DEVILLE . . . . . Just Your Friends . . . . . Cabretta/Return to Magenta
THE DRIFTERS . . . . . There Goes My Baby . . . . . The Very Best of The Drifters
JOHN HIATT & ROSANNE CASH . . . . . The Way We Make A Broken Heart . . . . . Anthology
THE ROLLING STONES . . . . . You Better Move On . . . . . December's Children (And Everybody's)
WILLY DEVILLE . . . . . Spanish Harlem . . . . . Live in Berlin
NICOLE ATKINS . . . . . Cool Enough . . . . . Neptune City
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN . . . . . The Fever . . . . . 18 Tracks
MINK DEVILLE . . . . . Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl . . . . . Cabretta/Return to Magenta

ROBERT PLANT & ALISON CROUSE . . . . . Your Long Journey . . . . . Raising Sand
ALELA DIANE . . . . . To Be Still . . . . . To Be Still
ANTONY HEGARTY & BRYCE DESSNER . . . . . I Was Young When I Left Home . . . . . Dark Was the Night
CALEXICO . . . . . The News About William . . . . . Carried to Dust
THE MINUS 5 . . . . . The Long Hall . . . . . Killingsworth
BOB DYLAN & THE BAND . . . . . This Wheel’s On Fire . . . . . The Basement Tapes
ELVIS PERKINS . . . . . Ash Wednesday . . . . . Elvis Perkins in Dearland

10CC . . . . . Une Nuit A Paris, Pt. 1: One Night In Paris/Pt. 2: The Same Night In Paris . . . . . The Original Soundtrack
THE REAL TUESDAY WELD . . . . . I Loved London . . . . . The London Book of the Dead
DUKE ELLINGTON . . . . . East St. Louis Toodle-Oo . . . . . Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Duke Ellington
JOE HENRY . . . . . The Man I Keep Hid . . . . . Blood from Stars
VAN MORRISON . . . . . Meaning Of Loneliness . . . . . Wavelength

GRIZZLY BEAR . . . . . About Face . . . . . Veckatimest
LOVE . . . . . You Set The Scene . . . . . Forever Changes
JULIAN PLENTI . . . . . Unwind . . . . . Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper
SCOTT WALKER . . . . . Jackie . . . . . It's Raining Today: The Scott Walker Story (1967-70)
THE POSTMARKS . . . . . For Better Or Worse? . . . . . Memoirs at the End of the World (Dig)
PAUL MCCARTNEY . . . . . Live And Let Die . . . . . All the Best
CAMERA OBSCURA . . . . . Swans . . . . . My Maudlin Career
THE HOLLIES . . . . . On A Carousel . . . . . Hollies - Hollies Greatest Hits

It was difficult to read of Willy DeVille's recent death from pancreatic cancer; he was still relatively young (58), and still active with concerts up to the point that his health permitted. After the inital run of success with Mink DeVille in the late '70s and early '80s, his recordings became more sporadic as the depth and breadth of his music expanded. It's the same old story—if the record company geniuses can't figure out how to promote you within the box they want you to fit, they lose interest pretty quickly. Which is a shame, because passion and romance were at the heart of Willy DeVille's music, and this program opened with one of my favorites from the second Mink DeVille record that clearly owes a debt to the Drifters' late-'50s/early-'60s sound. From there we heard tracks from John Hiatt and the Rolling Stones (covering Arthur Alexander)—both tunes were part of the set that Willy DeVille played on his Acoustic Trio tours. We heard them covering a song Ben E. King first did shortly after leaving the Drifters in 1960, and then it was Nicole Atkins with a tune that seems to reference "Spanish Harlem" at a couple of different points. From there we heard a Bruce Springsteen track that wasn't officially released for about a quarter century after it was first recorded, and the romantic pain of that one brought us to the first Mink DeVille tune I remember hearing, which immediately made me want to hear more.

Another musician who passed recently was Mike Seeger, half-brother of Pete and someone who played a primary role in the folk boom of the '50s and '60s. He continued to make music over the decades, and one of his last appearances on record was on the Robert Plant and Alison Krause track that opened this set. The tune happens to be about that final voyage we all must make, and it was followed by an Alela Diane song that has a similar understated appeal. Death showed up again in the Bob Dylan tune covered by Antony along with Bryce Dessner, and it was the suicide of an old friend that inspired Calexico's Joey Burns to write the song that followed. A new one from the Minus 5 seemed to take us back to that last trek, where one might encounter an exploding wheel, courtesy of Dylan with the Band from the infamous days and nights in Big Pink. Finally, we heard Elvis Perkins' cathartic cry of pain at the deaths of his parents—his father was the actor Anthony Perkins, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1992, and his mother was the photographer Berry Berenson, who was killed on 9/11.

A needed change of pace commenced with 10cc at their multi-faceted cinematic best; from there we jumped across the English Channel for a Real Tuesday Weld tune that conjured up an old (1926!) Duke Ellington track, which completed our trilogy of cities-based numbers. A new one from Joe Henry with a bluesy feel seemed to work well coming out of the Duke, and then we finished with Van Morrison hitting upon a universal truth that we all encounter at some point or another.

The final section began with one that's become a favorite from Grizzly Bear's latest disc; the acoustic guitar brings to mind an old one from Love, and the prominent trumpet on that track was echoed in the new tune from Julian Plenti that followed. There were more horns on a galloping version of a Jacques Brel song by Scott Walker that followed, which fed nicely into one from the brand new Postmarks disc that has a powerful forward momentum of its own and brought to mind Paul McCartney's track from the old James Bond movie when I first heard it. Finally, some recent pop magic from Camera Obscura led us to a beauty of British Invasion vintage from the Hollies to bring down the curtain.

Here's another one from Mink DeVille