🌵Catchgroove’s The Desert Sessions: Milestones 🌵

A few recent milestones in our Arizona adventure:

• Purchased first ticket to a concert in Arizona – Bob Dylan at the Arizona Federal Theater (Phoenix)
• Purchased my first LP for the new home – Lucinda Williams Lu’s Jukebox Vol. 6: You Are Cordially Invited… A Tribute to The Rolling Stones
• Purchased a Bluesound Node streaming device for the desert stereo

Dylan’s 2020 album, Rough And Rowdy Ways, was a late career masterpiece. After an obsessive few years with the Great American Songbook, I was starting to worry Bob had lost his muse. In the early 90s when he went down a similar rabbit hole with traditional folk, he came out the other side in 1997 with Time Out Of Mind (one of my favorites in his catalog). I assumed that was his last magic trick. But he did it again with Rough And Rowdy Ways.

Dylan toured last fall and the reviews were pretty good. Most importantly, as the tour went on he played more and more of Rough And Rowdy Ways. Unfortunately, he did not stop by the Twin Cities. But the tour is starting again and he will be commencing the next leg of the tour in Phoenix and I will be there.

I am a longtime fan of Lucinda Williams. I first saw her in the late 80s in support of her 1987 self titled album at the 7th St Entry. During Covid lockdown she did a series of virtual live shows that were focused on an artist or genre. She has been slowly releasing them as physical media and downloads (no streaming). I have enjoyed her Tom Petty and Bob Dylan versions.

This album focuses on the Stones. Lucinda selected a nice mix of hits and deep tracks. Her band is top notch and her drawl, as always, is the perfect vessel for the material.

I said in the opening blog of the Desert Sessions that I would be dependent on streaming. I got through the first three weeks with a cheap Bluetooth device for the big boy stereo or AudioQuest Dragonfly Black connected to my iPhone. That is all behind me now with the ultimate upgrade: a Bluesound Node.

I have a Bluesound Node 2i back in Minneapolis. I love it and have grown dependent on it. I picked up the third generation Node (interesting branding to simplify the name for an upgrade) and believe it sounds a touch better. Without access to my large collection of CDs and LPs , this streamer is going to be essential to my musical sanity.