This Week on the Front Porch (Second Hour)

Continuing on with the second hour of the Front Porch.

1. Lyle lovett checks in with "Up in Indiana" from his eighth album titled It's Not Big It's Large. This is just one of 12 tracks on the album that are typical Lyle Lovett. www.lylelovett.com.

2. From the very first Seldom Scene album Act 1 (1972, Rebel) comes the opening cut of 12 songs that make up an impeccable album. "Raised by the Railroad Line" sets the stage for the album that started a run for Seldom Scene that included three straight "must-have" albums. www.seldomscene.com

3. "Radio Boogie" is the title cut from the second album from Hot Rize (1981, Flying Fish). Hot Rize is Tim O'Brien, Nick Forster, Charles Sawtell and Pete Wernick.

4. Atlanta-based bluegrass band The Dappled Grays play "Night Life" From their new release Doin My Job (2007, Band Ranch). www.dappledgraysmusic.com

5. As far as I know Larry Keel makes his debut on the Front Porch by teaming up with Wyatt Rice to do "Lonesome Rueben" from the compilation album Flatpicking Favorites: Hot and Spicy (2004, FGM).

6. Massachusetts native Deb Talan presents "Comfort" from her 2004 solo work A Bird Flies Out. Talan is also a member of the pop group The Weepies.

7. Steve Earle with "Sparkle and Shine" from his latest release Washington Square Serenade (2007, New West). www.steveearle.com

8. Throughout the '90s, Boston-based singer and fiddler Rani Arbo was a member of Salamander Crossing. Around 2000 Arbo set out on her own with supporting band Daisy Mayhem. We hear the title cut from her third album Big Old Life (2007, Signature Sounds). www.raniarbo.com

9. The Grass Cats have to be the first bluegrass band to cover Pete Townsends' song "Let My Love Open the Door". This comes from their 2006 release Home to Carolina (New Time). www.grasscats.com

10. From Russ Barenberg's 1988 Rounder Records album Moving Pictures we hear "Through the Gates".

11. Another in a long line of Boston influenced folk artists Christine Kane debuts on the Front Porch with "Made of Steel" from her 2004 release Right Outta Nowhere. Kane graduated from Boston College before relocating to North Carolina to pursue her recording career. Right Outta Nowhere is the 5th of her albums and she also has a new live CD available titled A Friday Night in One Lifetime (2007, Firepink). www.christinekane.com

12. John Hartford plays "Where Does an Old Time River Man Go" from the Live at Mountain Stage album which was recorded between 1994 and 1996 and released on Blue Plate Music in 2000. It was only the second time that Mountain Stage had released an album that concentrates on one artist (the first featured Bill Monroe).

Take a gander at Hartford in this video from a different performance but doing the same song with Mark O'Connor on mandolin, Vassar Clements on Fiddle, Tony Rice on guitar and Jerry Douglas on dobro. MAN! What a lineup!

13. "It's Not You It's Me" is a swinging little ditty that comes from the incredible 2003 self-titled release from The Little Willie's(Milking Bull). The band consists of Lee Alexander on bass, Jim Campilongo on electric guitar, Jon Dryden on organ and accordion, Norah Jones adding piano and vocals, Richard Julian on guitar and vocals, and Dan Rieser on drums. www.thelittlewillies.com

14. John Prine checks in with the cut "Long Monday" from his 2005 Oh Boy Records release Fair & Square. www.johnprine.net

15. From her 2004 Red House Records project Land of Milk & Honey Eliza Gilkyson brings us "Tender Mercies".

16. Closing out the second hour is Psychograss with "Look What the Dogs Brought Home" from the album Now Hear This (2005, Adventure Music). www.darolanger.com/psychograss.html


More to come in the third hour but I probably won't get the notes blogged until later tonight so check back.