I’m looking forward to the end of July and the release of Los Lobos’ new album, “Native Sons.” The band has gone back and recorded covers of Los Angeles bands and musicians that influenced them at the start. So far, there have been previews of songs originally by Thee Midniters, The Beach Boys, and Barrett Strong, who co-wrote “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and Edwin Starr’s “War.” This is Barrett’s “Misery.”

“Native Sons” also includes covers of Buffalo Springfield, Jackson Brown, and The Blasters (which used to include now-Los Lobos member Steve Berlin). This isn’t the first covers album for Los Lobos. They released “Los Lobos Goes Disney” back in 2009 and I directed an unofficial music video for “Heigh-Ho” that actually had all the members of Los Lobos in it. You can go back and read the original post here.

I was listening to Greg Proops’ podcast, “The Smartest Man in the World” (aka “The Proopcast”), and his wife, Jennifer, dropped in a bit of a recent Blue Note Records release from Dr. Lonnie Smith and Iggy Pop. I liked it and maybe you will too.

Dr. Lonnie Smith has been playing the Hammond B-3 organ since his teens. He started in a band with Grover Washington Jr., played as both a sideman and a band leader for decades, and now at 78, has released his 29^th solo album, “Breathe.” Smith is either called “Doctor” because he likes to “doctor up” melodies with improvisations – or maybe because he didn’t want to be confused with keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith.

A lot of “Breathe” is 2017 live cuts, recorded about the same time as Smith’s 2018 record “All in My Mind.” The first and last tracks though are new studio work, both covers with Iggy Pop on vocals and Blue Note President Don Was producing. (Was also took that photo of the two up top.) A big part of the collaboration is that both Smith and Pop live in the Miami area now and Pop sat in on some of Smith’s live shows.

The first song on “Breathe” is Timmy Thomas’ “Why Can’t We Live Together.” Even if you don’t know the tune, it’ll sound familiar because Drake sampled it for “Hotline Bling.” Here’s the final track on the record, Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman.” Iggy Pop is in the crooner mode he’s progressed to over the last decade. The song’s not groundbreaking, but it’s a lot of fun.

It’s a rainy Sunday here in Orlando, so I’m staying dry, hunting for the cat when thunder hits, and diving into England Dan & John Ford Coley.  I think the song most folks know best is 1976’s “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight.” I’ll admit I was one of those folks who thought they were singing “I’m not talking ’bout the linen” even before screenwriter Shane Black called us out in  “The Long Kiss Goodnight.”

And to prove it, here’s a live version from “The Midnight Special” where you can clearly hear “I’m not talkin’ ’bout movin’ in.”

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I’ve been sitting on this one for a while because it’s the perfect example of thinking you know who’s singing that song you’ve heard a million times. “Rock Me Gently” has that flawless Neil Diamond vibe – a voice that both belts and croons, cornball lyrics, a Brill Building level of pop songcraft … but that’s not Neil Diamond. It’s Canadian singer/songwriter Andy Kim.

1974’s “Rock Me Gently” was Kim’s only #1 in the US, but he’s not a one-hit wonder either. Kim had a total of six other songs in the Top 40 between 1968 and 1974. “Baby, I Love You” got to #9 and “Be My Baby” hit #17 – both covers of hits originally by The Ronettes. Kim sings both of those in a higher register than “Rock Me Gently,” although he could have raided Neil Diamond’s closet for this TV appearance.

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I don’t remember the name of my fourth-grade music teacher (or maybe it was fifth grade).

I don’t remember any of the songs we sang from the official music book. What I remember is Teacher handing out purple ditto machine pages of current pop songs. Boys and girls together, we’d all sing in unison. Looking back, none of the songs were really appropriate for schoolkids.

“Seasons in the Sun?”  A dying man saying goodbye. “Rhinestone Cowboy?” A failed singer clinging to dreams. “Beth?” A rock star choosing the band over his girlfriend. Even “Sloop John B” is about a drunken fight, food poisoning, and LSD (“the worst trip I’ve ever been on.”) As a kid, I was just happy to be singing songs I knew from the radio. Complicated harmonies are magical, but there’s also something special about a big pack of children’s voices all singing the melody together in a big room with no acoustics.

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