Live From Nowhere Near You Volume II Art 2011
A new compilation CD featuring members of Pearl Jam, the Strokes and the Decemberists will be released on July 19 via Greyday Records. Called Live From Nowhere Near You Volume II, the “benefit concept CD” pairs street musicians and professionals, with proceeds going to Outside In, a Portland-based organization serving homeless youth and other marginalized people.
Tracks on the three-disc set include a collaboration between Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Spoon’s Britt Daniel as well as tunes from Modest Mouse, the Shins’ James Mercer, Wilco, Ryan Adams, Elliott Smith, Josh Homme, Daniel Johnston, and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard and Mike McCready.
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One of the tunes, a cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me” from Vedder, Homme, Julian Casablancas and Fabrizio Moretti can be heard on the Antiquiet website.
The first edition of Live From Nowhere Near You came out in 2003. Producer Kevin Moyer explained the genesis of the project in a statement via Pitchfork: “I was outside a venue after a show waiting on friends and sat down with an amazing street musician. He was better than the band we had just seen and all of these ‘music fans’ were leaving the show with their $20 t-shirt merch purchases tucked under their arms and not paying any attention to this guy playing at their feet for free.
“It made me wonder if these people were consuming music with their eyes, brains, or EARS and how people would react to hearing something and not knowing the source, not having skewed perception or social stigmas influencing them… like, would a Keith Richards guitar riff be perceived as garbage if a guy on the street was playing it asking for a dollar? What about other way around, if Keith was up on stage next to a dancing Jagger playing the song written by the shoeless guy I was sitting and sharing a smoke with?
“I decided to see what would happen if I combined the two, telling a story through the music and giving profits to homeless and street youth programs.”
Works by X’s John Doe, Mike Watt and Woodie Guthrie are also part of the set.
