Rock-n-jocks
Tofay's Hemingway says music and sports belong together
Good morning and happy (?) Black Friday to all that celebrate. I’m Jason Johantges and I filled in a few times a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago and figured if Paul can come out of retirement so can I. I’m a local Cincinnati sports fan and host a podcast, The All Things Blues and Southern Rock Podcast and still play in my Dayton area band Ghost Town Silence (LIKE US ON FACEBOOK, Bandcamp,etc). Ok, enough shameless shilling… for now.
My theme today is the intersection of sports and music, two of my favorite things. Both create strong emotion and passion in their audiences. Each play/shot/song/solo can raise your pulse, change an emotion or set a mood.
Sports venues use music to fire up fans and the players or to annoy the opposing team. Baseball players get to choose walk-up music. Baseball and hockey arenas employ organists which are beloved and key parts of the team and audience experiences. Speaking of this, football and basketball need to get on board.
People have emotional attachments to certain songs or albums because of the memories attached. Your favorite sports teams and players do the same. How many of you can recall where you were, what you were doing and how you felt when the ‘90 Reds won the World Series? How about the last-minute Joe Montana 49ers drive to win the super bowl in ‘89? The amazing playoff run last year for the Bengals and the BS penalty that gave the Rams multiple tries to score the game-winning TD?
What can you recall about the best concerts you’ve attended? The best performances, sports or music, make you feel like that is the only thing happening at that moment.
Baseball seems to be the overwhelming favorite theme for music. Where are all the football, basketball and hockey songs? Why does baseball dominate?
Listening to music while exercising or playing sports absolutely impacts performance. There are many studies on this but here is a succinct article on the subject.
I always hear that athletes want to be rockstars and rockstars want to be athletes but I’m not sure I agree with that. I’ve done both for long periods of time, know many of both, and I’m one of the few people that fit into that category.
Who are the best athletes as musicians and musicians and athletes? We know Prince could play some serious hoops AND cook some mean pancakes.
What’s your favorite intersection of sports and music? Here’s one of mine…say what you want about the band but this was peak 90’s music and sports.
Who watched Rock n Jock Basketball and Softball? Thankfully Youtube has ‘em all. Someone needs to bring this back. Too bad MTV ceased to exist 15 years ago.
I said in the intro I co host The All Things Blues and Southern Rock podcast with my buddy from Fargo (Brrrrrr) ND, Brian Jones. We focus a lot on new or lesser known acts that are blues or southern rock aka rock from the south. You hear some episodes with legends or artists outside that blues and southern rock genre as well since we love all things rock.
We are seeing an incredible amount of rock musicians these days that don’t get a lot of exposure because rock music hasn’t been mainstream in forever. I love seeing the new generation pick up and excel at playing instruments while paying homage to rock heroes. Some of my favorites:
Best Bands in the Land Division
Blackberry Smoke (Atlanta) - These are the southern rock flag bearers and are one of the top live performers out there. They perfectly mix Skynyrd, Zeppelin, Stones with a bit of country flair at times. Their most recent album “You Hear Georgia” is a great starting point but their masterpiece is “The Whippoorwill” of which they’re currently on tour celebrating the 10th anniversary. Their live show is not to be missed.
Local(ish) Talent Division
The Cold Stares (Evansville, IN) - Mix of Zep, Muddy, Guy and Rage Against the Machine. Heavy Hitters and great dudes. PLEASE check ‘em out with their latest record “Heavy Shoes.”
Mojo Thunder (Lexington, KY) - AC/DC meets Skynyrd. “Hymns from the Electric Church” will get you fired up.
Erin Coburn (Cincinnati, OH) - Incredibly talented 21 year old blues/rock guitarist and singer. She even shreds on electric ukulele. Always on tour. Check her out on youtube and all her social media accounts.
Scotty Bratcher (Dayton, OH) - Veteran Blues rock guitarist. He’s back doing solo work. Check out his album “That Album.”
Nashville Division
Goodbye June - Total heavy hitter rock with blues and southern touches. Their latest album “See Where the Night Goes” is on my top three for the year. Also incredible live performers.
Them Dirty Roses - Country fried Guns n Roses. Road dogs are always on tour, somewhere.
Leilani Kilgore - Up and coming blues rock guitarist and singer. One of the next big things. Think Samantha Fish mixed with Joe Bonammassa with some Jone Jett thrown in. She has six great singles out, each with video on youtube. Here’s a live performance.
Jax Hollow - Another up and coming female guitarist and singer. Much more rock influence and she can shred. Her first album was produced by the legendary Michael Wagener. New album is coming early next year. Think of her as Jimmy Page and Robert Plant rolled into one.
Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown - Rock, blues, metal with a classic rock pedigree as second guitar player, Graham Whitford, is the son of Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford. Their latest album “Shake the Roots” is incredible.
The All Others Division
Bourbon House (Milwaukee - ish, WI) - Female fronted Zeppelin and Janis Joplin. Their latest album “Into the Red” is a great choice. Plenty of videos on youtube as well.
Joyous Wolf (Anaheim, CA) - The new sound of classic/modern rock. Their frontman, Nick Reese, is high energy and known for his on stage acrobatics.
Marcus King - MAYBE, the most talented young guitarist on the planet. Check out “Young Blood”.
Go follow, like and subscribe to my podcast to learn about new rock music. Because rock ain’t dead, not even close. It’s just back to being underground and rebellious. Go support some of these great artist.
The first time I heard B Smoke they were opening for Zac Brown Band at US Bank Arena. Since that time, I include several of their songs every morning when I work out. ‘Good One Coming On” is the quintessential southern rock song.
As it happens on TML from time to time, something Doc writes about was on some mobster’s mind just a few days earlier. Today, reading that you host a southern rock podcast makes me smile because 3 days ago I was downloading albums of bands of my youth that I had somehow forgotten about; Molly Hatchet, Black Oak Arkansas, 38 Special, and Blackfoot.
Oddly, a month or so ago, one mobster mentioned a new band, new to me, at least. With apologies to tomorrow’s important football game up north with that “dot the i“ crew, the best damn band in the land is from Jacksonville, Florida…Tedeschi Trucks Band. And me, the first time I read their name I thought it was a band sponsored by a Japanese truck manufacturer. :)
Oh, and about B Smoke at US Bank with Zac Brown. B Smoke’s wives/girlfriends were outside handing out flyers, yes, PAPER FLYERS, for the next show which I believe was in Dayton at a small venue. I’ve always admired that dedication in trying to spread their words.
"Eye of the Tiger"usually proceeds Bengal's Season on local Radio Stations. We couldn't hear enough of it this year, or early enough, when the Reds Team was sold. Football season was the long awaited medication for this dead time. Eye of the Tiger was the Prologue of New Hope...and Here We Are!