Music Recommendations for Dinner Party Needed

[Klaus_K]

Hi,

 

long time reader here - this is my first post and it starts with a question

 

My wife and I are doing regular themed cooking parties with befriended couples and this time we will have "Southern US cuisine". I am responsible for the drinks and the music...

 

I'm on track with the drinks, but still looking for good music to run with the food. So I thought I ask the community for any suggestions. I am looking for an interesting mix of music you would consider typical for the US south - from California to Florida. All genres welcome.

 

Looking forward to your suggestions!

 

Thanks a lot

Klaus

[pvanosta]

Assuming nothing too rowdy and without knowing your audience make up or age,

 

- most albums by Ry Cooder but definitely Paris, Texas

- some Willy Nelson perhaps:

 

- Anything from Louisiana

 

- Emmylou Harris

[Klaus_K]

Hi,

 

thanks a lot.

This looks like a good start. We are all in our mid-forties to fifties...

 

Myself being a classical music person, I do like a lot of good other music but normally don't bother to remember the musicians... So your recommendations are very welcome.

 

Klaus

[pvanosta]

You're welcome. Yes, classical (or modern jazz for that matter) doesn't provide much in terms of 'southern recognizability' (Copland's Appalachian Spring perhaps). And most New Orleans jazz is too upbeat for a dinner party environment. Some acoustic blues can also do the job (Muddy Waters' Folk Singer, anything by Junior Wells or Lightnin' Hopkins, ...)

[rando]

I feel somewhat odd bringing this album up twice in a week. First being an open question of what you use to put life into new speakers. If your cuisine won't venture that far South maybe you shouldn't even play too heavily to thematic music. Safe and modern choices could go over better.

[sedest]

[The Computer Audiophile]

If you want some new southern rock, check out Black Stone Cherry - Black Stone Cherry

 

Old southern rock - Lynyrd Skynyrd

[wwaldmanfan]

Assuming nothing too rowdy and without knowing your audience make up or age,

 

- most albums by Ry Cooder but definitely Paris, Texas[ATTACH=CONFIG]30787[/ATTACH]

- some Willy Nelson perhaps: [ATTACH=CONFIG]30788[/ATTACH]

 

- Anything from Louisiana[ATTACH=CONFIG]30786[/ATTACH]

 

- Emmylou Harris[ATTACH=CONFIG]30789[/ATTACH]

 

All excellent suggestions. I love Ry Cooder, and Paris, Texas was a good movie. Then again, I'd watch Nastassja Kinski read the phone book.

if I were you, I'd stick to instrumental music for background. Vocal music can be distracting from conversation. Just my 2¢.

Here's a couple more good Ry Cooder soundtracks that might be appropriate:

 

[Jud]

Hi,

 

long time reader here - this is my first post and it starts with a question

 

My wife and I are doing regular themed cooking parties with befriended couples and this time we will have "Southern US cuisine". I am responsible for the drinks and the music...

 

I'm on track with the drinks, but still looking for good music to run with the food. So I thought I ask the community for any suggestions. I am looking for an interesting mix of music you would consider typical for the US south - from California to Florida. All genres welcome.

 

Looking forward to your suggestions!

 

Thanks a lot

Klaus

 

Nice question.

 

Recommendation(s) (one artist, two albums):

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Single-Mothers-Justin-Townes-Earle/dp/B00LWLZRYK/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_1

 

https://www.amazon.com/Absent-Fathers-Justin-Townes-Earle/dp/B00PVBCMX6/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_2

[sphinxsix]

And if you want the guests out late at night - I recommend John Coltrane 'Live in Japan'

(but he was born in North Carolina)

[Ralf11]

you could start at one end of the South (Gullah music) and move west

 

you'd hit old timey mrtn. music, 'modern' offshoots (like Bluegrass, and then newgrass)

 

delta blues

 

once you get to Louisiana things would get very complicated, as you have old Creole operas etc., jazz (I strongly recommend some CDs from Buddy Bolden), Funk (which arguably started in NoLa), whatever Quintron & Miss Kitty are up to right now, marching bands, Bounce music...

 

then Cajun & Zydeco

 

then Louisiana Hayride things

 

moving into Texas you pick up Tejano and various other Spanish influences (with a loop back to NoLa for The Iguanas)

 

you could even end in SoCal with the particular flavor of C&W from there

 

that would cover a LOT of parties

[m&m's]

fwiw. every august i have a tex mex party on the patio with all our friends with great tex mex food and drink . and some of the music i play is by doug sahm and the texas tornadoes( freddy fender,flaco jimenez )

[BillJuv]

Nice question.

 

Recommendation(s) (one artist, two albums):

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30795[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30796[/ATTACH]

 

https://www.amazon.com/Single-Mothers-Justin-Townes-Earle/dp/B00LWLZRYK/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_1

 

https://www.amazon.com/Absent-Fathers-Justin-Townes-Earle/dp/B00PVBCMX6/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_2

 

Giving a listen to Jud's recommendation (thanks Jud), I thought of the classic Lyle Lovett "Pontiac" album. Hard to go wrong as background music.

 

Later in the evening, as things get a little noisier, perhaps a little twist on gospel...

"The Word". Featuring John Medeski on keyboards (Medeski, Martin & Wood), Robert Randolph on pedal steel guitar, and The North Mississippi All-Stars

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[jiminlogansquare]

Any of the collaborations by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor (Appalachian Waltz, et al.) would be a good match both for your dinner's theme and your taste for classical music (or at least in this case, classical crossover music).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[Klaus_K]

thank you so much for all the recommendations - currently working on the playlist. Tomorrow's the day. Will report afterwards

[JoseL]

Check the music of Los Lobos , The Super Seven and perhaps Lyla Downs too.

[Lynn124]

Not particularly Southern, but a couple of newer releases with newer old fashioned jazz vocalists; Joan Chamarro and Andrea Motis "Feeling Good" and Vintage Post Modern Jukebox "the essentials". Both are engaging in spots, don't know if you are looking just for background music. PMJ is part jazz vocalist and part jazz show tunes. Haley Reinhart is amazing;

 

 

 

If you like country maybe Zoe Muth or Alyson Krauss. Both sound very Southern to me- Muth is sort of a cross between Dolly Parton and Emmy Lou Harris. She's inspired by John Prine but writes her own material. A sleeper I think.

 

 

Hi,

 

long time reader here - this is my first post and it starts with a question

 

My wife and I are doing regular themed cooking parties with befriended couples and this time we will have "Southern US cuisine". I am responsible for the drinks and the music...

 

I'm on track with the drinks, but still looking for good music to run with the food. So I thought I ask the community for any suggestions. I am looking for an interesting mix of music you would consider typical for the US south - from California to Florida. All genres welcome.

 

Looking forward to your suggestions!

 

Thanks a lot

Klaus

[Lynn124]

Oh, and Mandolin Orange is a northern duet I think, but is Bluegrass and folk. Bluegrass is definitely Southern.

[R1200CL]

[R1200CL]

[R1200CL]

OPS, you requested typical US south I just noticed, I guess disregard my suggestions. I was more thinking dinner and background....., but not elevator music

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[Klaus_K]

Hi there,

 

party was a big success and we had lots of fun. I went through your recommendations with my wife and we created a playlist that also had some other titles that my wife loves (she's a metalhead, but that's not necessarily a good genre for a dinner party where you want to eat and talk ).

 

I'm not too much into country music I guess, but I liked what Jud recommended (my wife not so much, though )

 

Recommendation(s) (one artist, two albums):

 

 

 

I also took parts from the True Blood soundtrack - long time since we last watched the show, but I always liked the music.

Willie Nelson was too much "country" for my taste and Ry Cooder's Paris, Texas is very atmospheric but I had the feeling it was too "lov level" for the party. I also thought that it may require the images from the movie to go with it.

 

Also the Soul Food album worked very nice as the evening progressed...

 

Later in the evening, as things get a little noisier, perhaps a little twist on gospel...

"The Word". Featuring John Medeski on keyboards (Medeski, Martin & Wood), Robert Randolph on pedal steel guitar, and The North Mississippi All-Stars

 

My wife loved Black Stone Cherry a lot (didn't know it before), but we did not put it on the list, because we were not sure whether our friends would also like it.

 

We also had some songs from Boz Scaggs that we found via Roon while browsing and thought that it fitted well.

 

So all in all there were a lot of new discoveries and nice music to explore - thanks again for all your contributions!

 

Cheers

Klaus