3 ARTISTS I TURNED MY KIDS ONTO

by Norah Wilson (the Wilson in Wilson Doherty)

I posted earlier about must my kids had introduced me to. Believe it or not, I actually introduced my kids to a couple of artists they still love today. And when I say love, I mean it in the sense that they think these artists totally rock, not in the sense that concede they don’t completely suck.

Warren Zevon. Warren made amazing music for three decades until his death in 2003 at the age of 56 from mesotheliomia. In the face of his inoperable disease, Warren made one last album (The Wind), in which he was joined by dozens of fellow musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam and many more. He won two posthumous Grammys for that CD. Warren is best known for “Werewolves of London” and “Lawyers, Guns and Money”, both of which he must have been heartily sick of performing. Here’s a young Warren singing “Jeannie Needs a Shooter”, which he co-wrote with The Boss.

RIP, WZ. We love you.

The Lemonheads. An alt rock band with guitarist Evan Dando at its center, the Lemonheads will always be one of my favorites. They have sort of a grunge/mellow rock vibe that’s hard to resist. Like many people, I hadn’t really noticed them until 1992’s It’s a Shame About Ray, but I fell hard and fast. I think my favorite CD might be Car Button Cloth. Cool fact:  Evan Dando was in a movie with Liv Tyler (Heavy). And when you watch this video for “It’s a Shame About Ray”, you’ll see why they stuck him in a movie. He’s quite pretty.

And speaking of movie connections, do you recognize the actor -- also quite pretty -- in this Lemonheads music video?

Wilco. First there was Uncle Tupelo, which I loved, but the band split up and Jay Farrar went one way (Son Volt) and Jeff Tweedy went another (Wilco). I went with Wilco. And I’ve actually seen them perform here in tiny Fredericton! One of my all-time favorite CDs is Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which Rolling Stone Magazine voted #3 on its list of top 100 albums of the decade. The song I chose is from that CD -- "Jesus, Etc."

So, who was the last artist you turned your parents/children/siblings/friends onto? And what makes them so amazing?