(Nicole: Nonny's last guest post for the LNMC was so popular, I asked her to contribute another)

I have a confession to make: I like drums. I mean, I really like drums. There is something deeply primordial about the pounding rhythm of a drum, which just possibly may be the oldest musical instrument in the world since Homo erectus first did a solo riff with a couple antelope femurs on a rock, a la Stanley Kubric's version of Also Sprach Zarathustra. It may be the only musical instrument to be native to every single country and civilization on earth, and found everywhere from the poshest symphony orchestra to Rastafarian bongos on the beach. I love drums.

But there is one sort of drumming I don't like - the constant beat of the war drums coming from the White House. So tonight's challenge is to post links to any joyous, rhythmic drum or percussion work, from every country around the world, anything that gets your buttocks twitching in your seat, foot stomping, thigh slapping, heart thumping, get up on your feet and embarrass the neighbourhood kids by shaking your bootie, and shouting for joy. Drown out the drums of war.

And to get you started, here are two very different, very jubilant pieces that I hope you like as much as I do. The first is a performance by the amazing Top Secret Swiss Drum Corp at the 2006 Edinburgh tattoo:

And the second is by an artist who is a particular favourite of mine, Australian Tommy Emmanuel, whose virtuosity with just a single guitar is quite simply mindbogglingly awesome:

Hard Bargain (Deluxe Edition)
	Artist: Emmylou Harris

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Emmylou Harris' new album, Hard Bargain, is full of all kinds of goodness. Perhaps the most impressive thing about it is that Emmylou, who has made a career out of singing other people's songs beautifully, wrote most of the songs herself (though there have been previous albums, notably The Ballad of Sally Rose, that she wrote everything on as well).

"Big Black Dog" is one of the most charming, parly because it's kind of goofy and out of character for Emmy. This is the video from her bonus DVD where she talks about how she came about writing it: She's become heavily involved in animal rescue in the past few years, and this is about one of her friends.

Emmy has a site devoted to facilitating at-risk dog recovery called Bonaparte's Retreat (though it looks like it's still a work in progress at this point). And you can see the organizational info here. An Associated Press reporter even penned a story about the work.

[You can see a live performance of Emmy doing the song, without the voiceover, here.]

[Psssst, Anne Laurie.]

Country legend Charlie Louvin died today at 83 from pancreatic cancer. Charlie's music was influential across time and genres, and The Louvin Brothers were one of the greatest duos in country music history. Charlie continued to record and tour after the tragic death of his brother Ira in 1965, and his cancer diagnosis did not diminish his work ethic. He played shows as recently as December and was booked for future dates. He will truly be missed here in Nashville and across the world.

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The Loving Kind from Howie Klein.

When I mentioned to Rolling Stone writer (and author) Eric Boehlert that I was going to be talking with Nanci Griffith, his response was positively over the top. "I'm such a big fan. Right after college I discovered her. Sorta weird, I was such a huge rock fan and suddenly at 22 and 24 years old I'm listening to "Spin On A Red Brick Floor," and "Gulf Coast Highway." My friends thought I was nuts." Now they probably think he was prescient. Eric reminded me that Nanci was part of the proud and breathtaking legacy of MCA/Nashville President Tony Brown, along with Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett. Brown produced her biggest charting country album, Lone Star State of Mind but these days most people think of her as a folk singer.

Funny, she always has seen herself that way. "I've always written about social issues," she told me on the phone a couple of days ago, "because I consider myself a folk song writer. I started writing "Not Innocent Enough," [the chillingly gorgeous song about the 2007 execution of Philip Workman from The Loving Kind] 4 years ago, long before Philip was executed. It just didn't have an ending. Sometimes an issue like that one... it just takes a while to see how it's going to reconcile itself." A decade and a half ago Nanci won a Grammy (Best Contemporary Folk Album for Other Voices, Other Rooms.

And the death penalty is hardly the only contentious issue Nanci has taken on with her new album-- which will be out June 9. The title track is what hooked me to the album and opened me up to her new record. "The Loving Kind" floored me and I couldn't wait to make a clip for it and write about it. I had never heard about the precedent-setting Loving v Virginia Supreme Court case, which led to an ending to dozens of states' laws that criminalized interracial marriage, until I listened to Nanci sing it. She had never heard about it until she read Mildred Loving's obituary in 2007. "I read that obituary and I just broke down in tears, that I had never heard of this case. It really struck me, especially Mildred's comments about gay marriage. It just brings the whole thing home-- her hopes and her dreams that someday, although she was not a political person, that their case, Loving v Virginia would make a difference for people who are in love with each other. Government does not belong in love."

In 2004 Nanci joined with other progressives in the Nashville music scene to form the Music Row Democrats which worked to prevent Bush from getting an undeserved second term. She said she was surprised by the response. "We all came out of the closet because Nashville is pretty much known as a Republican town and all of these record executives and music people and publishers came out as Music Row Democrats. There were people who never in my life would have thought were Democrats." I asked her if she'd ever considered running against Nashville's reactionary Blue Dog congressman, Jim Cooper. Unfortunately, she laughed.

"I could never get into politics; my past doesn't hold up too well. Being on NPR talking about all the LSD I did when I was in my teenage years... I don't think will hold up very well in running for office... The first song I remember writing was 'Where Are You Now, Dr. Timothy Leary' and I clearly wrote the song when I was doing LSD. I made it through typing class on LSD"

Anyway, Nanci has a bigger stage than Jim Cooper anyway and her songs move and effect a lot more people than his speeches. Judging my the artistic growth in evidenced in The Loving Kind she'll be writing songs for many, many years to come. I doubt anything's going to ever shut her up. When I asked her about the Bush Regime allies who savaged the Dixie Chicks and tried putting them out of business, I could hear the edge of anger in her sweet voice. "I never stopped saying whatever I was saying against the Bush administration abroad. I don't care what those people who crucified the Dixie Chicks... they're not my fans anyway."

Before joining us in the comments section below, please give yourself a treat and listen to "The Loving Kind" up at the top of this post.

Probably my favorite Emmylou song -- though it's hard to choose out of so much greatness. It finished just a little ahead of "If I Needed You," but there's no good live version of that available.

This is from her appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in 1992 with her all-star band, the Nash Ramblers (featuring the amazing Sam Bush on mandolin). There's another live version of this with the Hot Band that actually sounds a little better audio-wise, but which isn't embeddable.

Sorrow Tears And Blood from The Best Best of Fela Kuti

Fela Anikulapo Kuti was a man who made many dangerous enemies in his home country Nigeria, yet he lived fearlessly, in open defiance to the police, military and political leaders whom he enraged. He spoke truth to power, and he did so with every breath.

His adopted middle name means "he who carries death in his pouch". His credo was "Music is a weapon". His music speaks for itself, 11 years after his death.

Unless you're a real country music fan-- or Australian-- you may never have heard of Kieran Kane. Your loss-- and it's about to end. Although Kieran got famous after he moved to Nashville, he's originally from NYC. His biggest successes were as a songwriter (think Alan Jackson's "I'll Go On Loving You") and as half of the duo The O'Kanes (think of the #1 song, "Can't Stop My Heart From Loving You"). More recently he's a solo artist and the owner of music collective Dead Reckoning, on which he releases all his albums now. Late in 1999 he and Kevin Welch performed in Australia, where they were wildly successful and recorded 11/12/13: Live in Melbourne which was released in 2000. "Four Questions" is my favorite song from that record.

Another Feel Good Sunday Reggae Night at C&L! And tonight's song, "Take Me Home, Country Road," is dedicated to Jay Rockefeller. Written by John Denver, Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, Denver had a smash hit with it in 1971 (#2 on the Billboard chart). Toots & the Maytals recorded their own version of it in 1974 for In The Dark. It was later released on a U.S.-only compilaton called Funky Kingston (1976) and took off big time. Toots & The Maytals actually have had more #1 smashes in Jamaica than even Bob Marley. (This song was a mega-hit in Asia and Japan, where it is popularly known as Country Load.)

Willie Nelson will be 75 next year. I used to be a dj in a country bar in San Francisco and he was always a national treasure to me. Great singer, great songwriter, great spirit. He did this duet with Susan Tedeschi on the first of his three 2000 album releases, Milk Cow Blues. I'm not going to Kansas City on this trip, but I thought you might like to see what it looked like.

Would you have ever have guessed that conservatives like country and gospel but not world music or punk? There's a study now that correlates cultural preferences with political preferences. One thing all Americans can agree on though is Woody Guthrie-- what a great American. I have a feeling, though, that some people might be more enthusiastic than others about the cover that Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper did of his classic song, "This Land is Your Land" from their 1989 album Root Hog or Die.