Garland Jeffreys & Carmen McRae - Studio Recordings?

Maybe this is a reach, but in a way seeing him was like seeing Jonathan Richman or Alex Chilton-although he is not as ornery as those two, in fact seems super well-adjusted- because it's not necessarily a big loud rock show that's being put on, but the guy has such a strong personality and approach that you end up getting what you came for, whether he plays all your favorite hits or not.

Contemporaneous college kid review of Escape Artist seems to hold up pretty well: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1981/4/10/the-great-escape-pbabmerica-has-always/

Or does it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PJF46u8tho

He or his proxy posted this on social media recently. Really nice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plsQMB1o6Vg

Sooner or later, should start talking about Carmen McRae as well. Always like her Monk interpretations, right now learning a tune by one of her favorite accompanists, Jimmy Rowles. https://indianapublicmedia.org/afterglow/jimmy-rowles-jazzs-secret-weapon.php

I should listen more to both

Well since we're talking McRae -- Mainstream Records is now officially on Bandcamp and they've put up the live album Woman Talk:

https://cramenmcrae.bandcamp.com/

(They should fix that spelling, though! Link works.)

Yeah, several things (incl. ones I hadn't heard of) recently emerged from the Mainstream vault, posted a press release on Rolling Reissues.

Mainstream's Big Brother & The Holding Company, def. incl. Joplin, was a demo, sounds like, only issued when they became famous elsewhere, but worth hearing if you're into them/her at all; I especially like the Moondog round "All Is Loneliness."

Yesterday "Graveyard Rock" popped up on a playlist and I was instantly transported to 1981. I didn't realize it was a Jeffreys track until I looked it up, and I was surprised to see it wasn't released as a single. Was my local college radio station the only one that had this in heavy rotation?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLInOChfc1k

I found Escape Artist in a used bin a few months ago and it's been in my own heavy rotation since. The only song of his I recall getting any airplay at the time was his cover of "96 Tears", and that was on the rock stations. I love his version but have never really liked the original. And they're not that different! Garland just makes it swing more. His music seems tailor-made for The Sopranos though I don't think they used any of it.