Dolly Parton Dies at 80

Musician, actress, humanitarian, and cultural icon Dolly Parton has passed away at the age of 80 after a brief battle with cancer. Her nephew Bryan Seaver announced her death via her Instagram.

Born into poverty on January 19, 1946, in a one-bedroom cabin, Dolly Parton was one of 12 siblings raised in Pittman Center, Tennessee. At the age of 13, she recorded her first song, “Puppy Love,” and debuted at the Grand Ole Opry. After she graduated from high school, she moved to Nashville to pursue her professional music career and met her longtime husband, Carl Dean as well.

In 1976, she released her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly, Parton appeared on Porter Wagoner’s television program and toured with him. During her time on television and Grand Ole Opry, she released songs such as “Coat of Many Colors” and “Jolene.” After leaving The Porter Wagoner Show, she wrote “I Will Always Love You,” a hit that was later performed by Whitney Houston for the film The Bodyguard.

She was also acclaimed for her collaborations such as the album Trio, which she recorded with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris and “Islands in the Stream” with Kenny Rogers.

Parton’s personality also landed her roles in movies such as Steel Magnolias and 9 to 5.

Dolly Parton was also known for her philanthropic endeavors, such as her Imagination Library, a literacy program.

A small, private service will be held for her family, according to her publicist. Her family has asked anyone wanting to honor Parton’s legacy to make a donation to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Thurston Moore, Anne Waldman, and More Collaborate on William S. Burroughs Project via Infrequent Seams

New York City-based label, Infrequent Seams has announced The Travel Agency is on Fire, a collaborative project featuring Thurston Moore, Anne Waldman, and James Ilgenfritz reading from previously unpublished William S. Burroughs cut-ups that were uncovered by Alex Wermer-Colan in 2015 broken up into four discs. Each boxset is hand-assembled and will feature a hand painted a decorative slip cover, and a 12 page booklet to go along with the CDs. Find the tracklist below.

23 others are featured as collaborators as well, either as a part of the Anagram Ensemble or as individual artists playing accompaniments to the reads. Some of the featured artists include Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ drummer, Brian Chase, Elliott Sharp and Kerosene Jones.

The first single from the project, “Vampire Lips,” is out today, August 13. The song features improvisations from Anagram Ensemble while Thurman and Waldman read over the track.

The first two discs will feature readings and instrumentals while the last two will feature selections of recordings from the Anagram Ensemble’s recording sessions.

Wermer-Colan, a Burroughs scholar, originally published The Travel Agency Is On Fire in 2015 by Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative. He has previously worked with Bernhard Lang to release an album of the same name in 2020.

Burroughs pioneered the cut-up technique by using the texts of J.D. Salinger, William Shakespeare and as well as his peers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

Tracklist:

DISC 1

  1. Man Like Goodbye — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  2. Fading Violins of Autumn — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  3. Vampire Lips — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  4. Alien On Tracks — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  5. The Flesh Of My Fathers Dream — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  6. Soccer Scores Vaudeville Voices — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  7. Taste My Mouth In Your Ear — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  8. Implacable Hostility — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  9. Jack Kerouac Come In Please — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  10. Crazy Automatic Room — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  11. Hunger of Fruitful Suburbs — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  12. Memory Fading In The Brain — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  13. Serene As Dogs On A Public Square — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  14. I Am I Old Father Fisheye — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  15. So Putrid I Couldn’t Take My Eyes Off It — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  16. Silence Man Bleeds Black — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  17. What He Did Not Know — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  18. The Sadness of Empty Human Dreams — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  19. They Were Projecting The Ray Of Their Love Into Infinity — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  20. Soil Linen Land — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz
  21. The Great Call of Bacteria Invading the Brain — Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore, James Ilgenfritz

DISC 2

  1. Like Invasion Now Not Practice — JG Thirlwell, Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore
  2. Mechanical Cherries Are Frozen In Other Words — AC Diamond, Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore
  3. Heat Lightning — Bob Bellerue, Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore
  4. Vultures In The Street — Chuck Bettis, Anne Waldman
  5. Fossil Orgasm — Sarah Belle Reid, Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore
  6. Thrilled With My Deathlessness — Elliott Sharp, Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore
  7. Paris Repopulates Hard-Ons — Dustin Krcatovich, Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore
  8. Virginal Cuelties of Children — Teerath Majumder, Anne Waldman
  9. Me And They And Them — Jiryis Ballan, Anne Waldman
  10. Desire Out Of The Graveyard — Chuck Bettis, Thurston Moore
  11. God Blood Leaking All Over — Jonah Rosenberg, Thurston Moore
  12. Expectancy Growing In Vaudeville Voices — JG Thirlwell, Thurston Moore
  13. Truckloads of Angel Hearts — Mark Trecka, Anne Waldman
  14. Aliens On Tracks Mr Bradly — Elliott Sharp, Thurston Moore
  15. Fire Advantage — Dustin Krcatovich, Anne Waldman, Thurston Moore
  16. An Abyss Welded By Fear — Sarah Belle Reid, Anne Waldman
  17. Dreams Made In Setting Forth — Jiryis Ballan, Anne Waldman, Thurstone Moore

DISC 3

  1. AC Diamond, Kerosene Jones — Anagram Ensemble
  2. Daniel Carter — Anagram Ensemble
  3. Brian Chase, Zeena Parkins, William Winant — Anagram Ensemble
  4. James Ilgenfritz, Ras Moshe, Devin Waldman — Anagram Ensemble
  5. Devin Waldman — Anagram Ensemble
  6. Daniel Carter, AC Diamond — Anagram Ensemble
  7. Michael Foster, Pauline Kim Harris, Brian Chase — Anagram Ensemble
  8. David First, Michael Foster, William Winant — Anagram Ensemble
  9. Daniel Carter — Anagram Ensemble
  10. James Ilgenfritz, Ras Moshe, Kerosene Jones — Anagram Ensemble
  11. M Lamar — Anagram Ensemble
  12. Zeena Parkins, Pauline Kim Harris — Anagram Ensemble
  13. David First, James Ilgenfritz, William Winant — Anagram Ensemble
  14. James Ilgenfritz, Zeena Parkins, William Winant — Anagram Ensemble
  15. Pauline Kim Harris — Anagram Ensemble
  16. Brian Chase, James Ilgenfritz, Zeena Parkins — Anagram Ensemble
  17. David First — Anagram Ensemble
  18. James Ilgenfritz, Michael Foster, David First, Zeena Parkins — Anagram Ensemble
  19. Michael Foster, Zeena Parkins — Anagram Ensemble
  20. James Ilgenfritz — Anagram Ensemble
  21. David First, Pauline Kim Harris — Anagram Ensemble
  22. James Ilgenfritz, Zeena Parkins — Anagram Ensemble
  23. Michael Foster, James Ilgenfritz, William Winant — Anagram Ensemble

DISC 4

  1. Daniel Carter, Ras Moshe, Devin Waldman — Anagram Ensemble
  2. James Ilgenfritz, Michael Foster, William Winant — Anagram Ensemble
  3. Ras Moshe — Anagram Ensemble
  4. Michael Foster, Pauline Kim Harris, James Ilgenfritz — Anagram Ensemble
  5. William Winant — Anagram Ensemble
  6. Ras Moshe, Kerosene Jones — Anagram Ensemble
  7. Brian Chase, David First, James Ilgenfritz — Anagram Ensemble
  8. Daniel Carter, Ras Moshe — Anagram Ensemble
  9. David First — Anagram Ensemble
  10. Kerosene Jones, Daniel Carter — Anagram Ensemble
  11. Michael Foster — Anagram Ensemble
  12. James Ilgenfritz, David First, William Winant — Anagram Ensemble
  13. Brian Chase, David First — Anagram Ensemble
  14. James Ilgenfritz, Robbie Lee, Elliott Sharp — Anagram Ensemble
  15. James Ilgenfritz — Anagram Ensemble
Photo by Allen Ginsberg, courtesy of The Allen Ginsberg Estate

Same Fangs – Spencer Krug Review

Spencer Krug, of Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown, released his solo album, Same Fangs, on May 15th. This album followed a resurgence in interest in his and Wolf Parade’s music after Crave’s Heated Rivalry used their song, “I’ll Believe in Anything,” as the needle-drop moment in the first season’s penultimate episode.

Krug, having hand-selected the track list from his Patreon’s Song-of-the-Month series, from 2024 to 2025, recorded the album over the course of a week on Gabriola Island at The Noise Floor studio in British Columbia. Throughout the album, Krug explores themes of family, the end of friendships, and what it can mean to be creative in 2026.

Same Fang opens with “Get to Live,” a nostalgic track with simple lyrics about having to live with yourself and your choices. The song begins with an editorial voice note about tracks on the album. The following song, “Hasn’t It Always,” is a more reflective piece about growing older and thinking about the past. It is one of the stand out tracks on the album, adding to its almost cinematic mood. “List of Names” is a reflective piece about how bitterness towards lost friends can spiral.

There is almost a narrative throughout the album about the several attempts at writing a song named “Listening to Music in Cars” for Sunset Rubdown in the tracks “Timebomb” and “Listening to Music in Cars 2.5 (All the Tired Horses),” the latter of which having lush strings and the layered backing vocals. It adds a layer of cohesiveness to the album that otherwise feels like an anthology of nostalgia and experience.

Features from artists like Elbow Face, Jordan Koop and Maria Grigoryeva are welcome bonuses, and they were able to write their own contributions to the songs, adding a more fleshed out feeling to some of the songs on the album.

The album as a whole is intensely sentimental and reflective on lost friendships and life as a touring musician, good to listen to when you want to think back.

South Sound Block Party in photos
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Divided Heaven set to release new album, Oblivion, February 4th

Longtime friend of the website, Jeff Berman, a.k.a. Divided Heaven, is releasing a new album entitled Oblivion on February 4th, 2022 via A-F Records and Gunner Records. The album was produced by four different producers, Frank Turner, Charlie Stavish, and Tim van Doorn, to create a sort of world map of Divided Heaven’s journey up until this point. The album itself was recorded across two continents.

The fourth full length album by Divided Heaven features appearances from artists like Lydia Loveless. The album explores much heavier yet timely topics than previous releases like politics, assault, and misogyny. According to the press release the songwriting process entailed:

“‘I had to write a record that matched the times: delicate to chaotic, heartfelt to dirty,’ says Berman. ‘Before, I would’ve shied away from topics such as sexual assault and victim blaming but this time I called-out the disgusting misogyny (in the track ‘Reckoning’) and threw shade at the abusers in our music scene (in the track ‘Creep’). Before, I might’ve tried to portray some semblance of decency about my fellow citizenry; this time I lament that goodness and kindness are losing the culture war (in the track ‘Panic’) and trolling is rewarded over intelligence (in the track ‘Burn Me’).'”

Oblivion will be released and available to stream/purchase on February 4th. Pre-orders can be purchased for the United States here and in the EU/UK here.

What I’m Listening to Now

It has been a while. As it gets colder, I made a new playlist of what I have been listening to lately and ideas for a dream soundtrack for the movie I am vaguely working on when I am not doing coursework. I know the Smiths are in this playlist. It is as surprising to me as it might be to you all. However, please enjoy! I know I keep apologizing but I am so sorry about the long absences. I will be adding to this playlist periodically.

Melodic Tree’s 7th Anniversary Playlist

Clearly, it has been a rough couple years, the anniversary of this website comes as a surprise because of it. However, even though we can’t celebrate in person like we did for our second and third anniversary, honoring the history of this website as well as trying to make more of an effort to continue to revive Melodic Tree as a website, a playlist is in order!

On this playlist, are songs I (the editor-in-chief) have been listening to curating a personal 30+ hour playlist for a cross country playlist and also songs from years past from the history of this website.

My Bloody Valentine add more EPs to streaming services

My Bloody Valentine have added the EPs You Made Me Realise and Feed Me With Your Kiss to streaming services in North America. These EPs follow the March addition of the band’s catalog from Creation Records which followed the news of band’s signing to Domino.

All the reissues of the band’s records have also been remastered for the upcoming physical editions which come out today. Around that announcement in March of the reissues and streaming service additions, Kevin Shields told The New York Times the band was working on a pair of new albums as well. Listen to Domino’s Spotify playlist of the band’s discography below.

Watch Black Belt Eagle Scout cover Grouper’s “Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping”

For Sounds of Saving’s ongoing series “Song that Found Me at the Right Time,” Black Belt Eagle Scout appeared to cover Grouper’s “Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping” The series has also featured Sharon Van Etten and Madison McFerrin. Black Belt Eagle Scout’s performance is in collaboration with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. 

Black Belt Eagle Scout talks about her experience going to therapy during the video, saying “[i]t’s something that’s helped me tremendously in my life.” Black Belt Eagle Scout also added:

Sharing a message of mental health support and suicide prevention saves lives. The suicide rate within Native / Indigenous communities is high and so it is very important to be able to speak out specifically for my community. There have been many times in my life where I needed that ray of sun coming out over the mountains on a stormy day. Luckily I have been blessed with support systems that have kept me alive and I have seen firsthand just how important these are. I want to be able to spread this awareness so that more people can see that ray of sun like I did.

The cover starts around the 5:51 minute mark, watch below.

Skepta and slowthai release new song “CANCELLED”

slowthai and Skepta have recently released a new song entitled “CANCELLED” as well as a video directed by THE REST with references to Scary Movie, American Psycho, The Silence of The Lambs, Candyman, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Watch it below.

The track will be featured on slowthai’s forthcoming record TYRON, which is set to be released on February 12. slowthai and Skepta also performed “CANCELLED” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch the performance below.