To commemorate the 25th Anniversary of “We Are The World”, USA for Africa is re-release the historic 1985 recording of the song as the lead track on the digital compilation We Are The World/United In Song. USA for Africa has assembled a stellar line-up of international artists to contribute songs to the project with proceeds from this effort going to assist Africa and Africans with the current challenges facing the continent. Besides the original song, the record features contributed tracks from some really big names including Michael Franti & Spearhead, Abigail Washburn & The Shanghai Restoration Project, Youssou N’ Dour, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Vieux Farka Touré, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Thievery Corporation, and G. Love & Special Sauce. The record is a fantastic update on a monumental classic and a fantastic way to support a really great charity.

Here’s the original 1985 performance:

And here’s last years re-recording of the single with a dazzling new array of huge artists who once again joined together to benefit Haiti:

Artist: Various Artists
Title: We Are The World / United In Song
Label: USA for Africa
Genre: Pop : World
Release Date: 12.07.10
UPC: 847108086495
Territory: Worldwide


Artist: U.S.A. For Africa
Title: We Are The World
Label: USA for Africa
Genre: Pop : Pop
Release Date: 01.18.05
UPC: 180968000912
Territory: Worldwide


Artist: Artists for Haiti
Title: We Are the World 25 for Haiti – Single
Label: We Are The World Foundation
Genre: Pop : Urban
Release Date: 05.10.10
UPC: 844185045414
Territory: World Ex Greece & Finland

San Francisco, CA — December 6, 2010 — IODA, the global leader in digital distribution, marketing, and technology solutions for the independent music industry, today announced that among the 53rd annual Grammy nominations, 49 are from the IODA family of rightsholders. The nominations reflect the success of more than 35 artists from more than 25 independent record labels distributed by IODA. IODA clients received nominations in more than 15 genres, showcasing the significant contributions and success of independents across the music industry.

“IODA has the pleasure of working with some of the most accomplished labels and artists in independent music,” said Kevin Arnold, Founder and CEO of IODA. “We congratulate our clients on receiving the prestigious Grammy nominations and look forward to continuing to connect their great music with fans around the world.”

The nominations spanned more than 35 categories, including Best Classical Album (Gil Rose, Boston Modern Orchestra), Best Americana Album (Willie Nelson and Robert Plant), Best New Age Album (Kitaro), Best Contemporary Jazz Album (John McLaughlin), Best Bluegrass Album (The SteelDrivers), Best Reggae Album (Lee “Scratch” Perry and Andrew Tosh), Best Classical Crossover Album (The Silk Road Ensemble).

The complete nominations from the IODA family of independent labels and artists are:

Best Pop Instrumental Album – Kirk Whalum – Everything if Everything: The Music of Donny Hathaway [Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue]

Best Americana Album – Willie Nelson – Country Music [Rounder]

Best Americana Album – Robert Plant – Band of Joy [Rounder]

Best Bluegrass Album – The SteelDrivers – Reckless [Rounder]

Best Contemporary Folk Album – Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Age of Miracles [Zoe Records]

Best Reggae Album – Andrew Tosh – Legacy An Acoustic Tribute to Peter Tosh [Box10/Tuff Gong]

Read on for the rest of the nominations.

Best Reggae Album – Lee “Scratch” Perry – Revelation [Megawave Records]

Best New Age Album – Kitaro – Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai, Volume 4 [Domo Records]

Best Traditional World Music Album – Gyuto Monks Of Tibet – Pure Sounds [New Earth Records]

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance – Robert Plant, Band of Joy – Silver Rider [Rounder]

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance – Kelly Price – Tired [My Block/ Sang Girl!/ Malaco]

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance – (Kirk Whalum &) Musiq Soulchild, Everything is Everything – We’re Still Friends [Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue]

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals – The SteelDrivers, Reckless – Where Rainbows Never Die [Rounder]

Best Contemporary Jazz Album – John McLaughlin – To The One [Abstract Logix]

Best Jazz Vocal Album – Lorraine Feather – Ages [Jazzed Media]

Best Jazz Vocal Album – Gregory Porter – Water [Motéma Music]

Best Jazz Instrumental Album – John Beasley – Positootly [Resonance Records]

Best Jazz Instrumental Album – James Moody – Moody 4B [IPO Recordings]

Best Jazz Instrumental Album – Danilo Perez – Providencia [Mack Avenue Records]

Best Gospel Performance – Kirk Whalum & Lalah Hathaway – He’s Been Just That Good – The Gospel According to Jazz Chapter III [Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue Records]

Best Gospel Performance – BeBe & CeCe Winans – Grade – Still [B&C/Malaco]

Best Gospel Song – Jerry Peters & Kirk Whalum songwriters – It’s What I Do – The Gospel According to Jazz Chapter III [Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue Records; Publishers: Whalumusic/Jerry Peters Music]

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album – BeBe & CeCe Winans – Still [B&C/Malaco]

Best Norteno Album – Principez De La Musica Norteña – Intensamente [A.R.C. Discos]

Best Banda Album – El Güero Y Su Banda Centenario – Enamórate De Mí [A.R.C. Discos]

Best Instrumental Arrangement – Gil Goldstein, arranger (Dave Eggar) – Itsbynne Reel – Kingston Morning [Domo Records]

Best Recording Package – Malene Mathiasson, Malthe Fischer, Kristoffer Rom, Nis Svoldgård & Aske Zidore art directors (Oh No Ono) – Eggs [Friendly Fire Recordings]

Best Album Notes – Gage Averill, album notes writer (Various Artists) – Alan Lomax In Haiti: Recordings For The Library Of Congress, 1936 – 1937 [Harte Recordings]

Best Historical Album – Jeffrey A. Greenberg, David Katznelson & Anna Lomax Wood, compilation producers; Steve Rosenthal & Warren Russell-Smith, mastering engineers (Various Artists) – Alan Lomax In Haiti: Recordings For The Library Of Congress, 1936 – 1937 [Harte Recordings]

Best Surround Sound Album – Keith O. Johnson, surround mix engineer; Keith O. Johnson, surround mastering engineer; David Frost, surround producer (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony – Britten’s Orchestra [Reference Recordings]

Best Classical Album – Gil Rose, conductor; Rinde Eckert; Catch Electric Guitar Quartet; David Frost, producer; David Frost, Tom Lazarus, Steven Mackey & Dirk Sobotka, engineers/mixers; Silas Brown, mastering engineer (Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Synergy Vocals) – Steven Mackey: Dreamhouse [BMOP/sound]

Best Engineered Album, Classical – David Frost, Tom Lazarus, Steven Mackey & Dirk Sobotka, engineers (Gil Rose, Rinde Eckert, Catch Electric Guitar Quartet, Synergy Vocals & Boston Modern Orchestra Project) – Steven Mackey: Dreamhouse [BMOP/sound]

Best Engineered Album, Classical – Leslie Ann Jones, Kory Kruckenberg & David Sabee, engineers (Eliesha Nelson & John McLaughlin Williams) – Quincy Porter: Complete Viola Works [Dorian Sono Luminus]

Best Orchestral Performance – Gil Rose, conductor; Rinde Eckert (Catch Electric Guitar Quartet; Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Synergy Vocals) – Steven Mackey: Dreamhouse [BMOP/sound]

Best Opera Recording – Matthew Dirst, conductor; Jamie Barton & Ava Pine; Keith Weber, producer (Ars Lyrica Houston) – Hasse: Marc’ Antonio E Cleopatra [Dorian Sono Luminus]

Best Opera Recording – Kent Nagano, conductor; Daniel Belcher, Ekaterina Lekhina & Marie-Ange Todorovitch; Martin Sauer, producer (Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Rundfunkchor Berlin) – Saariaho: L’Amour De Loin [Harmonia Mundi]

Best Opera Recording – Valery Gergiev, conductor; Evgeny Akimov, Sergei Aleksashkin & Kristina Kapustinskaya; James Mallinson, producer (Orchestra Of The Mariinsky Theatre; Chorus Of The Mariinsky Theatre) – Shchedrin: The Enchanted Wanderer [Mariinsky]

Best Choral Performance – Paul Hillier, conductor (Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir) – Baltic Runes [Harmonia Mundi]

Best Choral Performance – René Jacobs, conductor; Hans-Christoph Rademann, choir director (Julia Kleiter, Maximilian Schmitt & Johannes Weisser; Freiburger Barockorchester; RIAS Kammerchor) – Haydn: The Creation [Harmonia Mundi]

Best Choral Performance – Daniel Reuss, conductor (Judith Gauthier, Marianne Beate Kielland, Adrian

Thompson, Mattijs Van De Woerd & Konstantin Wolff; Estonian National Symphony Orchestra; Cappella Amsterdam & Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir) – Martin: Golgotha [Harmonia Mundi]

Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) – John McLaughlin Williams, conductor; Eliesha Nelson (Northwest Sinfonia) Track from: Quincy Porter: Complete Viola Works – Quincy Porter: Concerto For Viola & Orchestra [Dorian Sono Luminus]

Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (without Orchestra) – Marc-André Hamelin – Hamelin: Études [Hyperion Records]

Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (without Orchestra) – Sarah Schuster Ericsson – 20^th Century Harp Sonatas [Dorian Sono Luminus]

Best Chamber Music Performance – Isabelle Faust & Alexander Melnikov – Beethoven: Complete Sonatas For Violin & Piano [Harmonia Mundi]

Best Chamber Music Performance – Marc Regnier (Tacy Edwards, Natalia Khoma & Marco Sartor – Gnattali: Solo & Chamber Works For Guitar – Gnattali: Solo & Chamber Works For Guitar [Dorian Sono Luminus]

Best Chamber Music Performance – Eliesha Nelson & John McLaughlin Williams (Douglas Rioth; Northwest Sinfonia) – Quincy Porter: Complete Viola Works [Dorian Sono Luminus]

Best Small Ensemble Performance – Harry Christophers, conductor; The Sixteen – Ceremony And Devotion – Music For The Tudors [CORO]

Best Classical Contemporary Composition – Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (Valery Gergiev) Track from: Shchedrin: The Enchanted Wanderer – Shchedrin, Rodion Konstantinovich: The Enchanted Wanderer [Mariinsky]

Best Classical Crossover Album – The Silk Road Ensemble – Off The Map [World Village]

Asleep at the Wheel, Leon Rausch
“Truck Driver’s Blues (feat. Willie Nelson)” (mp3)
from “It’s a Good Day”
(Bismeaux Records)

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Grand Mal
“Lower Yer Heart (feat. Ken Griffin)” (mp3)
from “Clandestine Songs”
(Groover Recordings)

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Moe Pope
“Rock Me II” (mp3)
from “Life After God”
(Brick Records)

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Oh No Ono
“Icicles” (mp3)
from “Internet Warrior”
(Friendly Fire Recordings)

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Christopher Willits
“Sun Body” (mp3)
from “Tiger Flower Circle Sun”
(Ghostly International/SMM)

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Phronesis
“Eight Hours” (mp3)
from “Alive”
(Edition Records)

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“Truck Driver’s Blues (feat. Willie Nelson)”

Asleep at the Wheel are a group of musicians who have single-handedly kept the timeless and spirited genre of swing-country alive for the past 40 years. Anyone with a proper knowledge of country music’s last few decades would enthusiastically praise this six-piece’s talent, and that’s before mentioning their nine (nine!!) Grammy Awards. Comprised of some of country’s finest musicians, The Wheel have built themselves a legacy of fantastic work and continue to impress, never ceasing to make new music and tour.

Fronted by Ray Bensen, the band is comprised of six other top notch singer-musicians who rotate on vocal duty and harmony. On their newest album, It’s a Good Day, they teamed up with legendary vocalist Leon Rausch, who was one of Bob Wills’ Texas Playboy vocalists. He joined Wills in the late 50′s and his stellar vocal stylings were on par with the greats that preceded him, such as Tommy Duncan, Joe Frank Ferguson and Rusty MacDonald. Rausch has known The Wheel for over 38 years: when they first met in the early 70′s, Leon would sit in with the group. More importantly, at jam sessions he helped teach The Wheel the right way to play this great music. Rausch’s most infamous contribution is his arrangement of their famous version of “Get Your Kicks (on Route 66),” the band’s most popular song. He suggested to Floyd Domino that they take the venerable standard and put a signature boogie-woogie beat to the song.

Leon is 82 years old now but still sports a great voice and sings regularly at western swing events all over Texas, Oklahoma and the world. The song selections for this recording range from Bob Wills classics to Count Basie tunes and jazz standards. The title track is a swingin’ version of Peggy Lee’s famous pop hit (with the Wheel’s signature country twist of course) and throughout the album, Leon shares duets with the band members, as well as the legendary Willie Nelson (with whom the Wheel did their previous record)!

This is some fantastic country music folks; you just can’t find tunes done this well anymore. Be sure to check out It’s a Good Day and hear what 40+ years of experience sounds like!

The fantastic Light In The Attic Records has garnered a well-earned reputation as one of the very best reissue and rarity labels active today. Their catalog includes reissues and re-masters from some of music’s most legendary, yet unsung heroes and masters. One of the best new releases they have coming out this year has to be country legend Kris Kristofferson’s Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends: The Publishing Demos 1968-72, a collection of his demos and personal drafts from the musician’s formative years. Included on the album is an early recording of arguably Kristofferson’s most legendary song, “Me and Bobby McGee,” which found itself charting under numerous artists besides Kristofferson over the years including Roger Miller, Janis Joplin (went to #1 posthumously), Jerry Lee Lewis, and later fellow member of The Highwaymen: Johnny Cash. The record is a fantastic look into the original versions of some of the most-covered songs of all time. His songwriting is practically the soundtrack to classic American life. This is true, bad-ass country-western music in its most pure form.

Over the years, Kris Kristofferson has enjoyed a distinguished music career that has encompassed the authorship of such classic American songs as “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” He has also earned cinema stardom from such feature films as Lonestar, the Blade Trilogy, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid and A Star is Born. His honors include induction into the Songwriter Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, three Grammy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as years of outspoken political and social activism. Next November, Kristofferson will be feted as a BMI Icon at the performing rights organization’s Country Awards.

Kristofferson first gained notoriety as a key figure in the Outlaw country that was most popular during the late 1960s and the 1970s (and even into the 1980s in some cases). The focus of the movement has been on self-declared “outlaws,” such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe and his Eli Radish Band, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Hank Williams Jr., and Billy Joe Shaver. The reason for the movement has been attributed to a reaction to the Nashville sound, developed by record producers like Chet Atkins who softened the raw honky tonk sound that was predominant in the music of performers like Jimmie Rodgers, and his successors such as Hank Williams.

Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to parents Mary Ann (née Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson, a U.S. Army Air Corps (later U.S. Air Force) major general. When Kristofferson was a child, his father pushed him toward a military career. Like most “military brats”, Kristofferson moved around frequently as a youth, finally settling down in San Mateo, California. An aspiring writer, Kristofferson enrolled in Pomona College in 1954 where he had many achievements in collegiate rugby union, football, and track and field, graduating in 1958 with a BA, summa cum laude in Literature (he also earned a Rhodes scholarship to the University of Oxford).

In 1967, Kristofferson signed to Epic Records and released a single, “Golden Idol”/”Killing Time”, but the song was not successful, however other songs he composed enjoyed success with other artists. Eventually, he found success as a performer himself, arguably resulting from Johnny Cash’s introduction of Kristofferson at the Newport Folk Festival. Legend has it, the songwriter first grabbed Cash’s attention when he unexpectedly landed his helicopter in Cash’s yard and gave him some tapes including “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” Later on, “For the Good Times” (Ray Price) won “Song of the Year” in 1970 from the Academy of Country Music, while “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (Johnny Cash) won the same award from the Academy’s rival, the Country Music Association in the same year. This is the only time an individual received the same award from these two organizations in the same year for different songs.

Kristofferson released his second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I in 1971; the album was a success and established Kristofferson’s career as a recording artist in his own right. His third album, Border Lord; the album was all-new material and swept the Grammy Awards that year with numerous songs nominated, winning country song of the year for “Help Me Make It through the Night.” He is without doubt one of country’s most referenced and celebrated figures. Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends is a great look back in time to the beginning of a distinguished life, examining some of Kristofferson’s most beloved tunes in their pure, original form.

In 1975, Ray Benson and his band Asleep at the Wheel were riding high with a hit album under their belts and a Grammy nomination (the first of many it seems).

“My roommate was booking this new television show here in Austin,” recalls bandleader Ray Benson. “I told him that we’d do it as long as they invited some of the original Texas Playboys to join in.”
After all, Ray’s good friend Willie Nelson had just taped a pilot episode for the new program in October 1974. That show was “Austin City Limits.” And, when the very first episode was broadcast in 1976, it was Asleep at the Wheel who launched what would become 35 years of music television history.

Now the longest-running music series in American television history, ACL showcases popular music legends and innovators from every genre. In addition to being honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum as a rock and roll landmark, ACL is the only television program to ever receive the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest award for artistic excellence.

This standard of excellence continues in ACL’s 35th anniversary season. And, on November 14, the two artists that started it all team up to perform songs from their critically acclaimed CD release Willie and The Wheel. The album that Rolling Stone gave “****” and The Washington Post hailed as “one of the first great albums of 2009,” is a collection of classic western swing songs hand-picked by the late Jerry Wexler. The very special broadcast also features Nelson hits such “On the Road Again” and “Always on my Mind.”

Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel
“Hesitation Blues” (mp3)
from Willie And The Wheel
(Bismeaux Records)

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