When I was a student at St. Bonaventure University, I was a college radio DJ. I was on late night and played what was known at the time as "alternative" or "New wave" music. It was typical college/indie music of the period.
As you know from my two blogs 1) this is where and how I met my former co-writer, Scott Colvin, and 2) I am a fan of somewhat guilty pleasure music, so I pushed the envelope of definition of that format, which was mostly met positively.
Coincidentally, I discovered an alt-county artist named Kelly Willis. At the time, MCA Records was trying to sell her as some sexpot artist - but she was - IS - much more than that.
Take this cover of Dave Alvin's "Little Honey", which originally appeared on the soundtrack to the motion picture Thelma and Louise. Her huge emotive voice brings a different, angrier and yet still heartbroken feeling to the song. This is a live performance from 2016, 25 years after the original version was released.
I closed almost every show I did on WSBU from 1991 on with this song. Was it an odd choice for someone who regularly played rock, new-wave, and punk music? Maybe. I didn't care. It's a beautiful song, and alternative is alternative, be it rock or country. It resonated with me and had a good end-of-show feel.
So, this is the last song I played as a college radio DJ. So, for that reason and so many more, it retains a lot of personal feeling for me to this day.
Here's the studio version of the song. It was as fantastic then as it is today, almost three decades later.
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