Tuesday Tunes 308: Four Easy Pieces

Posted on by

 

Yes, I know the movie has five, but this is only my fourth post of easy songs! I have something different planned for next week so I thought I’d finish off my collection of easy songs with a final set. I had difficulty deciding on the final five so in the end I was my usual indecisive self – you’re getting a bumper edition of seven tunes this week, as I couldn’t leave any of these out!

I’m starting today with one that has been suggested a couple of times in comments on previous posts in this series. It isn’t an especial favourite of mine but I do quite like it, so it just about crosses my threshold of only playing songs I like. So, for those who asked for it, here are the two Philips:

OK, a Philip and a Phil, but that counts, right?

As I’m sure you already knew, that was Philip Bailey and Phil Collins with Easy Lover, which was jointly written by them with Nathan East, who played bass for them. It first appeared on Bailey’s 1984 solo album, Chinese Wall, which Collins produced. Collins has performed the song in his live concerts, and it appears on his 1990 album, Serious Hits… Live! (with Fred White and Arnold McCuller both sharing to perform Bailey’s original part), his 1998 compilation album, …Hits, and his 2016 career-spanning compilation The Singles. It was a massive hit when first released as a single in November 1984, spending four weeks at #1 in the UK, also topping charts in Canada, Ireland and The Netherlands, and reaching #2 in the US, selling more than a million in the US and 600,000 in the UK.

My next tune is by a favourite of mine, about whom I have written before when playing her songs. This is the fabulous Molly Tuttle:

Molly Tuttle released Easy in August 2025 on her fifth album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine, which got to #1 on the US Bluegrass chart, #11 on their Americana chart, #45 on the Album Sales listing and #32 on the UK version of that. It was nominated for a Grammy, though it didn’t win. I played another track from the album back then, and told her story: Molly has suffered from Alopecia Areata since childhood, and wears a wig most of the time. She has said in interviews about how being stared at in public from an early age has enabled her to develop an inner strength, and to become aware of what feminism means for her. The video for her cover of the Rolling Stones’ song She’s A Rainbow saw her standing up and supporting others, and her version of the song is absolutely gorgeous.

This next one is from a longtime favourite of mine. It is an album track, which means that the only videos of it are audio-only and are heavily region-restricted, but I found this lovely live version instead. The song is by Ralph McTell, seen here with Maggie Boyle on vocals:

That was Let Me Down Easy, which as Ralph said in the intro was from his sixth album, Easy, though he was a little out on the dates: it was actually released in March 1974. I played another track from that album last Tuesday, reflecting the fact that it and he are both favourites of mine. The album reached #31 in the UK and went on to achieve Silver Disc status. Maggie Boyle was an English folk singer, who also played flute, whistle and bodhrán. In 2012, she began a website-based travelogue-style project to capture performances and collaborations with various folk songwriters she admired. Entitled Kitchen Songs, it includes performances and duets with Ralph McTell, Jez Lowe, Pete Coe and Steve Tilston – all recorded in their respective kitchens when she visited their homes. Sadly, we lost her to cancer in November 2014 at just 57. By all accounts she was a lovely person and, as you can see from this, a good singer.

I started off with a familiar tune today, and here’s another:

Need I say more? That was, of course, Adele with Easy On Me, which was a track on her fourth album, 30, which was released in November 2021 and made #1 in far too many countries for me to list here, though of course the UK and the US were among them. It has to date sold more than 5m copies worldwide, 3m of those in the US and nearly a million in the UK. The track was actually released as the lead single, in October 2021, and also made #1 just about everywhere. It has so far sold more than 4m in the US and 2.4m in the UK – phenomenal figures! It’s a beautiful song, too.

Now for one I expect you won’t know:

That was Larkin Poe with a live in-studio performance of Easy Street, which was the closing track on Self Made Man, their fourth album, which was released in June 2020 and reached #76 in the UK, whilst making #1 on the UK Americana and Indie Albums charts. It also reached three of the specialist albums charts in the US: #1 on Top Blues, #8 on Americana/Folk, and #39 on Indie Albums. The band is the Lovell sisters, Rebecca (lead guitar and vocals) and Megan (lap steel and background vocals). I first came across them in their earlier, folk-based days, and have all of their albums in my Apple Music library. This is fairly typical of their style: they play their music with a degree of attack!

For the two bonus tracks I’m starting with a familiar artist, but not one of her better known songs, I think:

Linda Ronstadt, with It Won’t Be Easy, a track from her January 2006 compilation album The Best Of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years. As far as I can tell it wasn’t on a previous album, but it was apparently an outtake from the sessions that became her 1969 album Hand Sown: Home Grown. It has that early country feel to it, doesn’t it, and I love it for the clarity of Linda’s voice with the banjo.

I’m closing today with one of my occasional forays into the pop music world. I love the music of Noah Cyrus, and have played her several times previously, but know nothing about Demi Lovato, other than that she sells a lot of records. I came across a collaboration they had made for one of Demi’s records and was instantly taken with it. The official version is very good, but this live performance is magnificent:

Demi Lovato and Noah Cyrus with Easy, a track from Demi’s seventh album, Dancing With The Devil…The Art Of Starting Over, which was released in April 2021 and made #2 in both the UK and the US, and reached the top ten in many other countries, including Canada where it peaked at #6. As I said earlier, I know little of Demi’s music, but perhaps I should seek out more. This performance, supported by The Trans Chorus of LA, is stunning. June is Pride Month, much though the current US regime is trying to ignore it, so count this as my contribution towards supporting it.

That’s it for today and, for a while, for easy as a theme. It may return, but I think four episodes is enough for now.  Tune in next week to see what replaces it! I’m off to catch up on some World Cup highlights – very inconsiderate of them to play the games in the middle of the night – and I’ll see you again in a couple of days. Until then, take care and have fun 👍

 

[As usual, I’m closing with a reminder of where I’m sharing this post. Firstly, at Esme’s Senior Salon Pit Stop, and then at Cathy’s Monday’s (On Sundays) Music Moves Me. Do drop in on them – plenty more to see there]

38 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 308: Four Easy Pieces”

  1. I’m late to the party again, but glad I made it! Wonderful songs! Phil Collins, Adele, and all the others, too. 🙂

    Yes, how dare the World Cup play at night. LOL!
    My son has been watching it too. Uruguay won the very first year that they were in it. He would love it if they would win this year. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. I used to find myself singing along to ‘Easy Lover’ on the car radio, but would never have bought the record. As a singer/songwriter, Adele can do no wrong for me, and as a bonus, she is a Londoner! (Okay, she lives in the USA now, but you know what I mean.)

    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Okay, six out of seven for me this week, Clive. The only one that didn’t do anything for me was by Ralph McTell and Maggie Boyle. I recommended Easy Lover, so you obviously know I like that one, but I’m going with Adele as my favorite.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. It’s easy to say that this was a selection of easy listening music for the most part. I enjoyed Linda Ronstadt and Larkin Poe the most. I’m probably the only person out there who isn’t an Adele fan (although the Saturday Night Live satire of the Hello video from several years back was hysterically funny to me). Linda and that banjo really grabbed me. Alana ramblinwitham

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Those two have been popular so far, and you aren’t the only non-fan of Adele! We don’t get SNL here so I’ll have to see if I can find that on YouTube.

      That’s a very obscure Linda track, which I only knew from the compilation album. Her voice and the banjo work well together, I think 👍

      Like

      Reply

  5. Nice collection as per usual Clive. A friend of mine’s been a big Larkin Poe fan for years and I enjoy their songs a fair bit too. They do a lot of covers of old (to them!) songs too, and usually do them well. Fine performance and lyrics in the Noah/Demi song too.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Phil Collins is a favorite. Gosh, hearing him again makes me think of the 80s & 90s! I enjoyed the introduction to Molly Tuttle. Her voice sounds familiar, but her name doesn’t. I’m definitely going to check out more of her music. 🙂 Thanks for joining the 4M party. Have a boogietastic week, Clive!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’m happy to have found a favourite for you! Molly Tuttle has a solo career and has recently got engaged to Ketch Secor of the Old Crow Medicine Show, with whom she has also recorded. If you want to try more, did you follow the link in the post? It’s one of the best covers of recent years.

      You have a great week too 👍

      Like

      Reply

  9. Being a big fan of English folk-rock, like you, I’ve always admired Ralph McTell. This is a sweet song, and I like Maggie Boyle’s voice. The Ronstadt song does sound like an outtake, but fun to hear a stripped-down, pre-platinum Ronstadt. (BTW, my uncle, a banjo player, knew her and her family in Tucson, Arizona.)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I’ve been a fan of Ralph McTell since he first started out, and was pleased to find this version of a lovely song from one of my favourite Ralph albums. I almost went with his version of The Girl From The Hiring Fair – also played in Maggie’s session – for last week’s post on history in songs, but the Fairports just won out.

      I have that Linda Ronstadt album and have always liked this one. It’s not your uncle playing banjo on it, is it?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. I can certainly understand why it wasn’t easy for you to narrow down your selection! I enjoyed all these songs, but the one that really put a smile on my face was Larkin Poe; those ladies are so talented and they really seem to be enjoying themselves. It comes easy to them! Thanks Clive 😊

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  14. As ever Clive a great start to my day I liked them all … no not all of them …as you know I can’t stand Adle… yes I can appreciate her talent but all her songs are so similar…depressing and so self-pitying/ indulgent.. Sorry can’t get off the fence… loved everything else Especially Linda Ronstadt and the as you predicted the new to me Larkin Poe . A great post 💜

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

Please leave a reply, I'd like to know what you think