Monday, February 25, 2013

eMusic February


I've gotten so far behind in this, I've actually got two months worth of eMusic downloads to write about this time. It's a long one, so hang on! (And don't miss the videos at the bottom)


* The Beat Generation: Music & Poetry by Various Artists.  This is a massive collection -- 132 tracks that lasts more than nine hours. (All for less than $6 for eMusic members.)

It looks like a major chunk of the 3-Disc Rhino Records Collection The Beat Generation ended up here.

Like the subtitle says, there's music -- including classics by bop and cool jazz giants like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk,  Gerry Mulligan and more -- and there's poetry and other readings by the beat elite -- Jack Keruoac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti ... And there's combinations of poetry and jazz that the beats were so noted. My favorite of these here being Kenneth Rexroth's "Married Blues," recited over a bluesy number by an unidentified jazz combo.

There's also Beat comedy including Lenny Bruce's "Psychopathia Sexualis," and the entire How to Speak Hip album by Del Close and John Brent (plus Close's Do It Yourself Psychoanalysis Kit.) There's a few songs poking fun at the crazy beatniks, such as Perry Como's "Like Young" and Bob McFadden & DOR's song "The Beat Generation." This song, written by Rod McKuen served 20 years later as Richard Hell's inspiration for the punk-rock manifesto "Blank Generation."

And there's several interviews with Beat icons and lengthy news features on the Beatnik phenomenon by journalists like Charles Kuralt and Howard K. Smith.

The best way to listen to this massive, over-stuffed, everything-including-the-kitchen-sink compilation is on shuffle mode. Hearing the inspired music, poetry and writings by these visionary artists juxtaposed with the jokers, the probing, sometimes dismissive interviewers makes me realize the Beats truly were onto something big. The rest of the world seemed torn between wanting to jump in and join the fun or belittle it as something foreign and vaguely threatening. Yes, the Beats were onto something. But most, including the Beats themselves never really figured out what it was.

(And in case you hadn't guessed, this mad collection was the inspiration for my recent Big Enchilada podcast Bargain Basement Beatniks. Dig it!)


* Live at Max's Kansas City by The Troggs. Back in the latter days of the British Invasion, The Troggs were the most overtly primitive of the hitmakers. "Wild Thing" and "I Can't Control Myself" couldn't really be called "garage" music. It was more like something-living-under-the-garage rock.

Troggs frontman Reg Presley died Feb. 4.

This record, originally released in 1981, was recored at the famed New York punk cradle in the late '70s or early '80s. The Stooges unquestionably were influenced by The Troggs, but here The Troggs sound like they've been influenced by The Stooges.

And that's not a bad thing. They sound supercharged. You can hear echoes of Iggy on the cover of The Stones' "Satisfaction" and even on covers of Chuck Berry classics like "No Particular Place to Go" and "Memphis."

Yes, Reg and pals playing the obligatory "Wild Thing" and "Love is All Around," but more exciting are lesser-known songs like "Strange Movie" (a Reg original) and "Gonna Make You."

This makes my heart sing.

* Feel It by The Raunch Hands Bigg Top. Back in 2007, it had been 14 years or so since The Raunch Hands had recorded a studio album (Fuck Me Stupid, 1993) Their guitarist Mike Mariconda was working with another band in Austin when, he decided to call his old Raunch mates, singer Michael Chandler and drummer Mike Edison to help out.

The result was this fine stripped down rock 'n' soul screamer. It's slightly slicker than The Raunch Hands of yore -- but only slightly. There was plenty of filth and fury on this album, starting with the opening cut "Sophisticated Screw."

There's a crunching cover of an Andre Williams song that keeps crossing my path in recent months, "Mojo Hannah," but my favorite is the crazed  "One Way Ride," which has a refrain where Chandler slyly quotes a Bessie Smith song, "Moan all you moaners!"


* The Very Best of Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart. I'm a newcomer to Slim Gaillard. Back a few months ago when I was raving about Harry "The Hipster" Gibson, a friend pointed me the way to Slim, who I realize shared a spiritual kinship with the jive-talking Hipster.

Jive talk? Gaillard invented his own damned language! Seriously. He called it "vout" His performances were so wild, Jack Keruoac even wrote about him in On the Road.


'... one night we suddenly went mad together again; we went to see Slim Gaillard in a little Frisco nightclub. Slim Gaillard is a tall, thin Negro with big sad eyes who's always saying 'Right-orooni' and 'How 'bout a little bourbon-arooni.' In Frisco great eager crowds of young semi-intellectuals sat at his feet and listened to him on the piano, guitar and bongo drums. When he gets warmed up he takes off his undershirt and really goes. He does and says anything that comes into his head. ..."
The material in this generous collection (54 tracks) was recorded a couple of decades before On the Road, when Gaillard  was playing with pianist Slam Stewart as Slim & Slam. It's got the duo's first hit, "The Flat Foot Floogie," as well as novelty hits like "Groove Juice Special," "Dopey Joe," "African Jive," the insane "Laughin' in Rhythm," and perhaps their best known song, "Chinatown, My Chinatown."

I'm no stuffy audiophile, but even my old ears can tell that the sound quality is pretty bad on some cuts. In particular, the pretty ballad "Champagne Lullaby" apparently was recorded off a scratchy old 78 with little, if anything done to mitigate the defects.

But for the most part this album is right-orooni.

* Mr. Supernatural by King Khan & The Shrines.  This was a happy discovery. It's an early (2004) Shrines album, one I didn't have before. None of the songs here even appear on the compilation The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines, so it was all new to me.

For the unitiated, Arish Khan is a Canadian who immigrated to Germany several years ago. The Shrines is a Berlin-based soul band complete with funky horn section (and for live performances, a lovely cheerleader.)

The thing that has amazed me about this band from the first time I ever heard them is how much Khan messes around, how much energy he puts into dirty jokes and silly costumes, and other fucking around. And yet this band is extremely tight and energetic. As I saw for myself at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago a few years ago, thsi band is a powerhouse.

My favorite songs here are "Frogman," an urgent workout showcasing organist Freddy Rococo, and "I Gomez," a fast-paced chugger which at one point seems to borrow the refrain from Steppenwolf's "Sookie Sookie."

* Phosgene Nightmares by The Black Angels. The Angels are my favorite young band of psychedelic commandos from Texas.  This is a six-song EP, a B-sides collection released especially for Record Store Day in April 2011, just a few months after their 2010 album Phosphene Dream. 

The first thing I noticed about this this album is that it's more laid back than their other albums -- which tend to be full-fledged sonic excursions. Some tracks here basically are acoustic numbers. You even can hear country music echoes in "At Night," while "Choose to Choose" might be a channeled Buddy Holly song.

But on "Entance (Rain Dance Version)" you definitely can tell it's the Black Angels kicking open your doors of perception.

Heads up: The Angels are scheduled to release a new full-length album, Indigo Meadow in April.

* Lady from Shanghai by Pere Ubu. Ubu mastermind David Thomas and crew, this time around, are apparently obsessed with dance music.

I’m not kidding.

“Smash the hegemony of dance. Stand still. The dancer is puppet to the dance. It’s past time somebody put an end to this abomination. Lady From Shanghai is an album of dance music fixed.” Cryptic as it is, this quotation from Ubu’s website just about says it all.

Just about. But I said more a few weeks back in Terrell's Tuneup. Read that HERE.

*  Introducing Seasick Steve. I guess you could call bluesman Steven Wold a late bloomer. The ex-hobo, ex-session musician and now ex-pat (living in Norway)was in his 60s released his first album Cheap in 2004.

This compilation is a modest compilation of five of his early recordings. There's a couple of tracks from Cheap with his old trio Level Devil, including the title song, which could fit in with most any punk-trash-blues project coming out of Voodoo Rhythm Records.

Also here are a couple from his second album Dog House Blues including the John Lee Hooker-influenced title song. And there's the title song from a 2007 EP It's All Good, featuring Seasick talking and singing over a repeated lick similar to the main hook on Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile.."

This is a decent introduction -- it's all good, you might say -- but I wish eMusic would offer some of those early works in their entirety.

Plus

* Conjure Man by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds. This is a new single by Kid Congo Powers (formerly of The Cramps, The Gun Club and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds) It's a slow, smokey, minor-key psychedelic tune that wouldn't sound out of place on a The Black Angels record. The "flip side" (yes, there are two songs), "Lose Your Mind" has a Bo Diddley beat behind Kid Congo's growled vocals. This set is here to whet our appetites before the release of the new Monkeybirds album Haunted Head, expected in the near future.

* tUnE-yArDs as Yoko by tUnE-yArDs. This is a two song collection. I picked it up for "We're All Water," which is is my favorite Yoko Ono song of all times. I still prefer the original, on the John & Yoko album Somewhere in New York, on which Yoko is backed up by the rough and rowdy Elephant's Memory.

But I am a new fan of  tUnE-yArDs, which features a gal named Merrill Garbus creating crazy sounds from percussion and vocal tape loops.

The flip side here is a Yoko song, "Warrior Woman" remixed by tUnE-yArDs. According to Pitchfork, this project is part of a series of singles Ono is currating to benefit the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, which was set up to aide victims of Hurricane Sandy. Proffitrs from the vinyl versions and 100 percent of the download income from these records go to the Alliance.

Check out this video of a live version of "We're All Water" with a cameo by Yoko herself.



* "Strip Polka" by The Andrews Sisters. Believe it or not, this is one of two songs my late mother taught me as a kid. Actually she just taught me the first verse of this saga of Queenie, the cutie of the burlesque show. I always joked this is what led me to write my song "Naked Girls."

A couple of weeks before Mom died, I played her a YouTube of "Strip Polka" on my iPhone, in the nursing home. She wasn't completely conscious, but she smiled. The nurses thought I was crazy. But it meant something to us



Sunday, February 24, 2013

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Feb. 24 , 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

 OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Repo Man by Iggy Pop
Mojo Hannah by Raunch Hands Bigg Topp
Duende by Churchwood
I Gomez by King Khan & The Shrines
It'll Chew You Up and Spit You Out by Concrete Blonde
Shotgun by Junior Walker & The All Stars
Baby Please Don't Go by Them
Thunderball by Tom Jones

Rockin' Bones by Flat Duo Jets
Oh Well Well by The Copper Gamins
We Must Have Blood by The Dwarves
Jailbait by Flamin' Groovies
Lose Your Mind by Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkeybirds
Dopey Joe by Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart
You Don't Know by The Fleshtones
Birdfeed by The Cramps
Hombre Secreto by The Plugz

Wild Thing by The Monsters
Strange Movie by The Troggs
Want More by J.C. Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Hold On by Alabama Shakes
I'm Your Pusher by Curtis Mayfield
Feuksley Ma'am, The Hearing by Pere Ubu
New Age by The Velvet Underground

Beloved Movie Star by Stan Ridgway
8-Ball by Seasick Steve & The Level Devils
Touch of Evil by Tom Russell
I'm Your Man by Nick Cave
We're All Water by tUnE-yArDs
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Friday, February 22, 2013

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Santa Fe Opry Facebook Banner
Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
 OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Tobacco Road by Southern Culture on the Slids
The Race is On by Don Rich
Love That Man by Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys
Mighty Lonesome Man by James Hand
All American Girl by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
The Rubber Room by Porter Wagoner
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Toby Keith by The Beaumonts
White Shotguns by Hank Penny

I Drink to Remember by Dale Watson
Alen Baby by DM Bob & The Deficits
Flannery Said by The Moaners
South of Nashville by Honky Tonk Hustlas
Sweet Lucy by Shorty Ashford
I'm Movin' On by Charlie Feathers
Rockability by Country Blues Revue
Growling at the Moon by Lone Wolf OMB
Pickin', Frownin', Yellin' by Electric Rag Band
Brand New Model by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Good for Nothin' But Each Other by Amanda Cevallos

Honey Don't by Eugene Chadbourne
Emergency Human Blood Courier by Terry Allen
Lookout Mountain Girl by David Bromberg
I've Gotta Lotta Living to Do by Cornell Hurd featuring the Sexsational Blackie White
I've Got a Tangled Mind by Hank Snow
My Life's Been Taken by Gurf Morlix
Bones to Pick by Black Eyed Vermillion
Death Don't Have No Mercy by Hot Tuna

Dust on Mother's Bible by Buck Owens
Heaven by Elliot Rogers
Someone in Heaven by Rev. Horton Heat
Nickel in the Vase by Amanda Pearcy
Peace in the Valley by Johnny Cash
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Movie Music

UPDATE: Actually a version of this was NOT published in The Santa Fe New Mexican on Feb. 22, 2013.  
Nobody has explained to me why it wasn't. Maybe it'll appear there next week. I don't know.



In honor of the Academy Awards, Sunday, here’s a couple of lists I’ve compiled pertaining to music and the movies.

My Favorite Songs about Movies

1) “Celluloid Heroes” by The Kinks. The ghosts of Mickey Rooney, Bela Lugosi, Marilyn Monroe and other stars rise from the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard, while Rudolf Valentino merely looks up ladies’ dresses in this Kinks classic. It’s obvious Ray Davies loves the glitter and glamor, but the song ends on a cautionary note: “And those who are successful, stay always on your guard / Success walks hand-in-hand with failure along Hollywood Boulevard."

2) “Touch of Evil” by Tom Russell. In this haunting song, Russell invokes the 1958 Orson Wells noir classic of the same name. The narrator, thrown out of his home by a longtime lover, identifies with Wells’ character, the drunken, obese and corrupt Hank Quinlan. He’s sinking into alcoholic despair in a border town whorehouse and like Quinlan, nobody will read his fortune. His future’s all used up.

3) “New Age” by Velvet Underground. This is a love song about a tryst between a wide-eyed fan and a a “fat blond actress” (Shelley Winters?) who’s “over the hill … and looking for love.”

4) “Beloved Movie Star” by Stan Ridgway. This song about a sad, aging actress was inspired Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, (1950). There are two versions on the album Holiday in Dirt — the “Billy Wilder Mix” and the “C.B. DeMille” mix. Both are beauties.

5) “It’s All in the Movies” by Merle Haggard. A slow, sad Hag tune from 1975 in which the singer declares happily-ever-afters to be a cruel Tinseltown illusion.

6) “Burn, Hollywood, Burn” by Public Enemy. Aided by Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane, the prophets of rage take on racial stereotypes in the movies and drive Miss Daisey into the ocean.

7) “Martin Scorsese” by King Missile. Here’s a crazy ode to one of the great directors. It’s profane, violent and ultimately endearing. Front man John S. Hall shouts the entire lyrics: “If I ever meet him I’m gonna grab his fucking neck and just shake him /And say `thank you thank you for makin’ such great fucking movies …’ ” And so on.

8) “Tiffany Anastasia Lowe” by June Carter Cash. On this song, Cash warns her granddaughter, an aspiring actress, not to get involved with a certain director. She cracks up while trying to sing, “Now Quentin Tarantino’s women sometimes gets stuck with a hypodermic needle/ They dance a lot and lose a lot of blood …”

9) “Cheepnis” by Frank Zappa. This is Zappa’s loving homage to cheesy low-budget monster movies of the 1950s.

10) “Act Naturally” (versions by Buck Owens, The Beatles and — in late ’80s remake — Buck Owens with Ringo Starr) Dang, I wish they had put Buck in the movies, maybe a country-fried version of A Hard Day’s Night co-starring Ringo as a big Hollywood producer

My Favorite Soundtrack Albums

1) Repo Man. With a snarling title song by Iggy Pop, this various-artists soundtrack included some classic Los Angeles punk bands like The Circle Jerks, Fear, and The Suicidal Tendencies. But the best songs were The Plugz’ Spanish version of “Secret Agent Man” (retitled “Hombre Secreto”) and Black Flag’s immortal “TV Party Tonight.”

2) O Brother Where Art Thou. The Coen Brothers’ 2000 reconstruction of The Odyssey in a Depression-era Deep South setting is one of my favorite films. And one of the key elements was the music. Highlights are Ralph Stanley’s powerful a capela “O Death,” the sexsational “Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby” by Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris and the classic old record “Big Rock Candy Mountain” by Harry McClintock.

3) Superfly. With “Freddy’s Dead,” “I’m Your Pusher” and the title song, Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack hands down is the best of the 1970s Blaxploitation movie soundtracks.

4) Wild at Heart. I enjoy most of the soundtrack albums for David Lynch movies, but this is the best. It’s got a long Bizarro World blues, “Up in Flames” by Koko Taylor, two reverb-heavy, dreamlike Chris Isaak songs, (including his hit “Wicked Game”), high testosterone ’60s garage rock from Them, some speed metal from Power Mad, the original “Be Bop a Lula” by Gene Vincent and two Elvis songs sung by Nicolas Cage.

5) The Harder They Come. Who could imagine back in 1973 that a Jamaican action flick about a gun-toting anti-hero would the vehicle that made reggae a household word in the U.S.? Jimmy Cliff, who had the starring role, sang several of the songs, including “Many Rivers to Cross” and the title song. But even better are some of songs by lesser-known artists —“Rivers of Babylon” by The Melodians, “Johnny Too Bad” by The Slickers and “Pressure Drop” by Toots & The Maytals.

6) Oceans 11. An Irish composer named David Holmes is responsible for this snazzy collection. In addition to Holme’s jazzy, spacey tracks, there’s a tasty re-mix of Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation.”

7) Purple Rain I tried to avoid concert movies in this list, and even though technically Purple Rain had a plot, it actually was, basically, a concert movie. But what music! There were so many Prince classics here — “Let’s Go Crazy,” “When Doves Cry,” “I Would Die 4 U,” … And Prince gets extra points for his “Darling Nikki,” which helped inspire Tipper Gore’s crusade against “porn rock.”

8) One from the Heart. Tom Waits and country-pop crooner Crystal Gayle were indeed one of the oddest of odd couples ever. But they created magic for this 1982 Francis Ford Coppola musical. The duet on “Picking Up After You” is hilarious, while Gayle’s stunning “Old Boyfriends” is a thousand times more intense than any of her radio hits.

9) Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: Comic actor John C. Reilly is good at parodying various styles of music from rockabilly to disco. But it took a true mad genius to pull off a satire of Brian Wilson’s Smile era with his psychedelic baroque “Royal Jelly.”

10) Crossroads. Ry Cooder was responsible for a variety of rootsy soundtracks in the 80s. This one’s a bluesy doozy. The movie is seeped in the Robert Johnson legend and Mississippi blues culture. Cooder captures the spirit. Especially impressive is his spooky version of J.B. Lenoir’s “Down in Mississippi.”

Blog Bonus: Some video treats




Santa Fe's own Eliza Gilkyson songs background on this Russell classic



Iggy's song comes in about 2 minutes, 20 seconds in.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Dig, Daddio, The Big Enchilada Goes Beatnik




Pull my daisy, bite my crank, there's beatniks in my garage! Here's a garage-punk celebration of the Beat Generation and cultural icons like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neil Cassidy and Maynard G. Krebs. Dig, daddio!




Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Rockin' Bongos by Chaino)
Not My World by Vicious Beatniks
Ain't a Ghost by Night Beats
The Third One Sucks by The Mighties 
Pittore by Le Carogne
Blank Generation by Richard Hell & The Voidoids
The Beat Generation by Bob McFadden & Dor

(Background Music: Kookie's Mad Pad by Edd "Kookie" Byrnes
Bongo Beatniks by Stan Ridgway
The Bag I'm In by Ty Segall Band
Dinah Wants Religion by The Fabs
Blackeyed Woman by The Dee Jays
Dyn-O-Mite by Ape City R&B *
Lose Your Mind by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds
Golden Dawn by Goat
Psychopathia Sexualis by Lenny Bruce

(Background Music: Bongo Ride by Jon Rauhouse)
Beatnik Babe by The 99ers
Mondo Bongo by The Electric Mess
Take Me Away by Willis Earl Beal
Melanie's Melody by The Black Angels
Lupine Dominus by Thee Oh Sees
Pull My Daisy by The David Amram Quartet

* I forgot to back-announce this Ape City R&B song on the show, but it's there!

Play it here:


Friday, February 15, 2013

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Feb. 15, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
 OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
After All These Years by Mose McCormack
Firewater Seeks Its Own Level by Butch Hancock
A Whole Lot More by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
My Name is Jorge by The Gourds
Let's Invite Them Over by Southern Culture on the Skids
Come Back When You're Younger by Old Dogs (featuring Jerry Reed)
The Other Shoe by Waylon Jennings & The Old 97s
All Men are Liars by Nick Lowe
High-Priced Chick by Yuichi & The Hilltone Boys

Country Bumpkin by Cal Smith
Chevy Beretta by Johnny Corndawg
Brain Damage by Austin Lounge Lizards
Gone Gone Gone by Carl Perkins
Newton From Idaho by Retta & The Smart Fellas
Pearly Lee by Billy Lee Riley
Murder in My Heart for the Judge by Moby Grape
Pepper Hot Baby by Bloodshot Bill
Days of 49 by Bob Dylan

Do They Dream of Hell in Heaven by Terry Allen
I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water by Buck Owens
The Window Up Above by Don Rich
I'm Ragged But I'm Right by George Jones
Thanks to Tequila by Dale Watson
I Truly Understand That You Love Another Man by Carolina Chocolate Drops
Dancing in the Ashes by Robbie Fulks
She's My Neighbor by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
Life Sentence Blues by Rachel Brooke
Hard Traveling by Simon Stokes

Pete the Best Coon Dog in the State of Tennessee by Jimmy Martin
$30 Room by Dave Alvin
State Trooper by Christina Herr & Wild Frontier
La La Land by Gary Heffern
Bread for the Body by Kris Kristofferson
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets



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Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

BONUS: Here's Heff's video for "La La Land"

Thursday, February 14, 2013

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Thank you, Buck. Thank you, Don

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Feb. 15, 2013

All fans of real country music — the kind current Nashville hat Blake Shelton would call “grandpa’s music” — should drop whatever you’re doing right now and go get your hands on two new releases from Omnivore Records: Honky Tonk Man by Buck Owens and Don Rich Sings George Jones.

That’s right, new albums by Buck Owens and his longtime sidekick and ace picker Don Rich. Of course, these aren’t actually “new.” Owens died in 2006, while Rich was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1974. All the music here was recorded in the 1970s. But these aren’t re-releases. They’ve never been released before.

Owens’ album is a compilation of tunes Buck and his Buckaroos recorded for Hee Haw. As for the Jones covers record, which was recorded in 1970, this was intended to be Rich’s first solo album.

Owens, born Alvis Edgar Owens in Sherman, Texas, and Rich, real name Donald Ulrich, first teamed up in Rich’s home state of Washington in the 1950s. But, after Owens, then Rich relocated to California, the two would become the architects of what would become known as The Bakersfield Sound. This twangy honky-tonk music was a hip hillbilly back-to-basics alternative to the slicker “countrypolitan” productions coming out of Nashville in those days (which, in retrospect, was 10 times better at its worst than the slicker sounds coming out of Music City today — but that’s another story).

With Owens handling lead vocals and Rich backing him up on lead guitar and fiddle and those classic high harmonies — best heard on the choruses of “Together Again” and “Crying Time” — The Buckaroos became arguably the best-known country band in the ’60s. (Credit where it’s due: Steel guitar monster Tom Brumbley, a Buckaroo for most of the ’60s, also was largely responsible for the group’s success. Unfortunately he had bailed on The Buckaroos before the music on these new releases were recorded.)

The new Buck compilation features songs recorded between 1972 and 1975. The CD liner notes explain that on Owens’ musical performances on Hee Haw, the instrumental backing would be recorded in advance. “… Buck would sing live while the Buckaroos pretended to be playing their instruments,” the liner notes say. “The purpose for this process was to guarantee a balanced sound, and to keep from having to stop tape every time somebody in the band hit a wrong note.”

Wait a minute … I can’t imagine a bunch of musical aces like The Buckaroos hitting enough “wrong notes” to cause any serious concerns. This is why I preferred the music on Owens’ old syndicated show The Buck Owens Ranch, shot live — at least in the early years — at WKY studios in Oklahoma City. Those rare times someone did muff a note or a lyric, you’d see band members grinning and rolling their eyes.

But, back to Hee Haw, when the band recorded those songs, Owens would record what’s known in the biz as a “reference” vocal. (“It’s a lot harder to mix a track with no vocals,” Buckaroos keyboard player Jim Shaw explains in the liner notes. This allows the band members to know exactly where to put in the instrumental fills, Shaw says.

The subtitle of Honky Tonk Man is “Buck Sings Country Classics.” And indeed, the 18 songs selected for the album represent an incisive overview of country music between the late 1920s (there’s a righteously rollicking version of Jimmie Rodgers’ “In the Jailhouse Now”) up to the mid ’70s (Johnny Russell’s working-class barroom ode “Red Neck, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer”) and lots of great stuff in between.

There’s “Swinging Doors,” originally done by fellow Bakersfield bad-ass Merle Haggard (he and Buck shared an ex wife), an early Waylon Jennings hit (“Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line”), some tunes that virtually every saloon band in the ’70s did — Faron Young’s “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young” and Charlie Pride’s “Is Anybody Going to San Antone” among them — songs made famous by Bob Wills, Hank Snow, Webb Pierce, Ray Price and three Hank Williams classics.

My personal favorites in the batch are Owens’ versions of “Oklahoma Hills,” co-written by Woody Guthrie and his cousin Jack Guthrie who had a hit with it in 1945 and “I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water” originally recorded by Stonewall Jackson though it’s been performed by Elvis, Lonnie Mack, Charlie Rich, George Thorogood and others. (I’ve always been partial to the rock ‘n’ roll version by Johnny Rivers.)

As for the Rich album, this project is something Owens encouraged Rich to do. He’d just built his own recording studio in Bakersfield and he was eager to try it out. And apparently Owens was a huge George Jones fan, which shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. The reasons Rich’s album was shelved for 40 years have been forgotten. I’m just happy it resurfaced. Rich’s voice wasn’t as, us, rich or powerful as Jones’ was during his prime, but it did its job.

Rich, with Owen’s son Buddy Allen on harmony vocals and the Buckaroos as his band, does a fine job on many of Possum’s best-known work — “The Window Up Above,” “She Thinks I Still Care,” “White Lightning,” “Walk Through This World With Me,” and “The Race Is On.”

There’s no radically different arrangements or startling revelations here. Just enthusiastic covers by a talented admirer. Besides the obvious selections, Rich threw in some relative Jones obscurities like the Harlan Howard-penned “Your Heart Turned Left (And I Was on the Right)" and “Too Much Water,” which Jones co-wrote with Sonny James.

Apparently Rich only cut 10 songs here, which wasn’t unusual for an album during the LP era but is pretty skimpy for a CD. However, this release is filled out by four Jones songs performed by Owens. (These all are Hee Haw reference recordings.)

Two of these are songs Rich also did (“The Race is On” and “Too Much Water”) but the other two are wonderful lesser-known songs “Four 0 Thirty Three” and “Root Beer,” a non-alcoholic take-off on “White Lightning.”

You have to wonder whether there’s more great music lurking in the mysterious Buck Owens vaults. I hope Buck and Don are looking down from Hillbilly Heaven smiling as old fans hear these fresh-sounding tracks from so many decades gone by.

BLOG BONUS:

Enjoy some videos. First here's Buck with Don and the classic Buckaroos lineup.



Here's one of those rare Rich vocal solos on The Buck Owens Ranch


Here's Jones singing Buck



Happy Valentine's Day

Say it with music ...








Sunday, February 10, 2013

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Feb. 10, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

 OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Don't Take Your Bad Trip OUt on Me by The Electric Mess
My Confusion by The Elite
Conjure Man by Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds
Trouble Blues by Sam Cooke
Mr. Bubbles by Dengue Fever
El Perversio by Deadbolt
Money Maker by The Black Keys
The Strip Polka by The Andrews Sisters

I Just Want to Make Love to You/Chicken Head Woman by Buddy Guy
Ain't That a Bitch by Johnny "Guitar" Watson
Bow-Legged Woman by Bobby Rush
Louisiana Blues by Muddy Waters
Hard Way by Andre Williams & The Gold Stars

A Tribute to Lux
All songs by The Cramps except where noted

I'm Cramped
Sunglasses After Dark
Goo Goo Muck by Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads
Green Fuz by Green Fuz
Dope Fiend Boogie
Her Love Rubbed Off by Carl Perkins
Saddle Up a Buzz Buzz
Funnel of Love by Wanda Jackson & The Cramps
She Said

Elvis Fucking Christ by The Cramps
Do the Clam by Elvis Presley
The Mad Daddy
Get Off the Road
Can Your Pussy Do the Dog by The Rockin' Guys
Bikini Girls With Machine Guns

R.I.P. Erick Lee Purkhise

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Saturday, February 09, 2013

Remembering Lux

It was only four years and five days ago that the mighty Lux Interior, high potentate of The Cramps, left this unworthy world.

We'll celebrate his rockin' bones Sunday night on Terrell's Sound World with songs by the Cramps, songs The Cramps taught us and songs Lux and Ivy loved.

The show starts 10 p.m. Mountain Time on KSFR, 101.1 FM for listeners in Santa Fe and much of Northern New Mexico. It also will stream live at THIS LINK. I'll probably start this set right after The 11th Hour.

In the meantime, those of you with Spotify should check out my Lux and Ivy Favorites playlist (embedded below) and/or download some or all of the compilations by Kogar the Swinging Ape.

Stay sick, pendejos!


Friday, February 08, 2013

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Feb. 8 , 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
 OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line by Buck Owens
White Lightning by Don Rich
Where the Devil Don't Stay by Drive-By Truckers
Jimmie Rodger's Last Blue Yodel by Jason & The Scorchers
Hang Up and Drive by Junior Brown
Venus by Southern Culture on the Skids
Floor to Crawl by James Hand
Borrowed Love by Beth Lee and the Breakups
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Maria Muldaur

I Like the Way by The Imperial Rooster
Lost in the Ozone Again by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
Do What I Say by The Waco Brothers
Bang Bang Bang by Gurf Morlix
They Call Me Country by DM Bob & The Deficits
Snake Farm by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Rapid City South Dakota by Kinky Friedman
Prayin' Hands by Elliott Rogers

Beautiful Blue Eyes by Red Allen & The Kentuckians
John Law Burned Down the Liquor Sto' by Chris Thomas King
Rock Chalk by The Calamity Cubes
Smokey Old Bar by Dale Watson
Bring It To Me When You Come by David Bromberg with Levon Helm
Kiss and Tell Baby by Kim Lenz & Her Jaguars
Raise the Moon by The Goddamn Gallows
Move on Down the Line by Roy Orbison

The Sky Above, The Mud Below by Tom Russell
The Farmer's Daughter by Merle Haggard
Entella Hotel by Peter Case
Dark End of the Street by Frank Black
Come on Sugar by Amanda Pearcy
Om the Corduroy Road by Al Duvall
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Blues Codgers Roar!

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Feb. 8,  2013


Blues, soul, and folk-funk trooper Bobby Rush isn’t exactly stretching any musical boundaries on his latest album, Down in Louisiana. But the album is full of strong, energetic performances that should satisfy old fans and maybe even impress some new listeners.

A longtime veteran of the contemporary “chitlin’ circuit” — a loose-knit string of music venues that caters to middle-aged working-class African Americans — Rush didn’t receive much national attention until 10 years ago, when he was featured in a memorable segment of The Road to Memphis, part of the Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues series on PBS.

A little history: Rush was born Emmit Ellis Jr. in Homer, Louisiana, in 1940 — or 1936, or was it 1935? Reportedly his father’s profession — he was a pastor at not one but two churches — is why the younger Ellis decided to use a stage name. Back then, the son of a preacher man wasn’t supposed to be fooling around with the devil’s music — though according to some sources, Emmit Sr. picked a little guitar and blew a little harp himself.

Rush’s family moved to Arkansas when he was a teenager and to Chicago in the mid-’50s. There he fell in with blues giants Freddie King and Luther Allison, playing in bands with both. Rush didn’t have a “hit” record until 1971, when tiny Galaxy Records released his single “Chicken Heads” (which was included in the impressive soundtrack of the 2007 film Black Snake Moan).

By the early ’70s, Rush slipped the surly boundaries of Chicago blues, signing up with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International label. His first album for the label, Rush Hour (1979), wasn’t as lush and slick as most of Gamble and Huff’s fare. Like Johnny “Guitar” Watson in the ’70s, Rush mutated from down-home blues to a sound closer to soul and funk than it was to the work of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

For years, stretching into this century, Rush’s music featured horns, sometimes strings, and plenty of cheesy synthesizers (way too many for my taste). But Down in Louisiana features a stripped-down bar band (no horns, no synths) for a basic soul/blues sound. It’s not quite as basic as his “unplugged” acoustic album Raw from a few years ago, but it works.

The title song kicks off the album. Old rock ’n’ rollers should notice that some of the lyrics are lifted from the old P.J. Proby hit “Niki Hoeky” (a song that Rush himself covered several years ago). It’s a swampy song that features a Cajun accordion and hard-throbbing bass.

It’s good to know that despite his advanced years, Rush still has a healthy dirty mind. Among the songs here are double-entendre-ridden tunes (mild by modern standards) such as a remake of one of his early songs, “Bowlegged Woman” (“You and me, baby, we go in hand/Like a bowlegged woman and a knock-kneed man”). And there’s one I had never heard before, “You Just Like a Dresser” (the punch line here is “Someone’s always ramblin’ in your drawers”).

Rush gets to show off his harmonica powers on “Don’t You Cry,” a sweet, slow blues ballad. Then on “Tight Money” he sings about economic hard times. It’s about the current economic situation, though the song starts out when the singer is 5 years old and his parents have to pack up and leave town — for reasons the youngster doesn’t understand until years later.

One of the best cuts here is “Raining in My Heart,” which features a nice, raunchy guitar hook and more “borrowed” lyrics (“The sun’s gonna shine in my back door someday”).

Speaking of that old blues tradition of lifting lyrics from older songs, Down in Louisiana ends with “Swing Low,” a back-to-the-swamp spiritual (with guitar licks that would make John Fogerty smile) in which Rush mixes lines from that song about the chariot, “Samson & Delilah,” “12 Gates to the City,” and probably others. It’s a satisfying Sunday-morning coda to a fun Saturday-night kind of album.

Also recommended:

* Live at Legends by Buddy Guy. Buddy Guy is much better known than Bobby Rush. He was honored at the Kennedy Center last year for his contributions to American arts. He played at the White House a few months before and even got the president up on stage to sing “Sweet Home Chicago” with him and other blues greats.

But the two have a lot in common. Both were born in Louisiana and made their first records in Chicago. And both are able to blast out the blues despite the fact that they are in their mid-70s.

Guy even does a version of Rush’s “Chicken Heads” on this album, as part of a medley with Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You.” At one point during the tune, he chuckles, “I know y’all laughin’ but I didn’t write this fuckin' song. This was written by Bobby Rush. I just like it.”

Guy is best known not as a writer, not even as a singer, but as a guitarist. It’s well documented that his flashy, fiery style (and high-energy stage antics, especially in his younger days) was an enormous influence on the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.

P7200031
Legends' old location, 2008
In recent years, it seems these ’60s rockers have had as much influence on Guy as he did on them. On this album Guy covers a couple of songs by Clapton’s group Cream — “Strange Brew,” which is part of a medley with John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom,” and “Sunshine of Your Love,” which is part of a medley with Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile.”

Like the title says, most of this album was recorded live at Legends, which is Guy’s own nightclub on Chicago’s South Side. The live tracks were actually recorded at the old location of the club — in 2010 it relocated to a new home a few doors up on South Wabash Avenue.

But for reasons probably best known to his record company, the album also has three studio cuts. Fortunately, they’re good ones. Guy’s “Polka Dot Love” (longtime fans know Buddy has a weird thing for polka dots) is especially powerful.

Learn more HERE about Buddy Guy, his music, his nightclub, and even the lunch and dinner menus for Legends — Buddy’s Blackened Blues Burger and the Highway 61 Caesar’s Salad sound delightful.


Tuesday, February 05, 2013

R.I.P. George Koumantaros

George circa 1974
I just learned of the death of longtime Santa Fe musician George Koumantaros.

I first met George back in the late 70s or early 80s when I fancied myself as a local musician. (I wrote funny songs. George was a damned musician!) He always was friendly and supportive. Used to see him at the old TAC Club all the time.

I recall seeing him at a workshop given by David Amram at the old Armory for the Arts back around 1980. I was covering it for the Santa Fe Reporter. George was there and he was so enthusiastic it helped me appreciate how cool it was that Amram was conducting a workshop in Santa Fe.

R.I.P. George. And thanks to J.D. Haring, another SF musician active here under the name Malix during those years, for posting this video and to Marcia Stehr for alerting me to George's passing.



Here's what Malaix wrote:

Friday night my dear old friend George Koumantaros came to me in a dream. We talked for what seemed to be a long time and I remember feeling good about our meeting. Then, when I awoke Saturday morning, I was overcome by inexplicable sadness... had no idea why... until this morning when I read the post by George's son Theo Horsdal about his father's passing. Now I understand why George came to me in the dream and why I felt the overwhelming sadness Saturday morning.. Here's one of my favorite George Koumantaros tunes. R.I.P my dear old friend!

Monday, February 04, 2013

Hear My Most Recent Folk Remedy Show

I uploaded my most recent Folk Remedies show to Mixcloud. That's Tom Adler's Sunday morning show on KSFR. I subbed for him a few months ago.

I know some of you night owls didn't get a chance to tune in that morning. But you can enjoy this now, any time of day.

You can find the playlist HERE. I mainly played a bunch of old timey hillbilly and race records, starting off with a set of great old backwoods gospel tunes (The first hour is what you'll hear on Mixcloud.)

I have a few other old radio shows on Mixcloud HERE.

The player below takes a few  seconds to load. But it's worth the wait.

Enjoy:


Sunday, February 03, 2013

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Feb. 3, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

 OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
War Games by The Night Beats
Know Your Rights by The Clash
Rockin' Man by Richard Berry
The Future is Now  ... and it Stinks! by J.J. & The Real Jerks
Thanks God for Sinners by Ty Segall
That's the Bag I'm In by The Fabs
Summer Honey by The Mighties
Out of Focus by Blue Cheer
Baby Let's Play House by Arthur Gunter

The Great Banana Hoax by The Electric Prunes
Who Was in My Room That Night by The Butthole Surfers
Jesus Built My Hot Rod by Ministry
Cream Puff War by The Grateful Dead
Modern Art by The Black Lips
Janglin' Jack by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Sun Dance, Moon Dance by Bleach 03

Blank Generation by Richard Hell & The Voidoids
Beat Generation by Bob McFadden & Dor
Sonic Reducer by The Dead Boys
Psychedelic Woman by Honny & The Bees Band
Charlie the Boogie Man by King Porter & His Orchestra
Need You Love So Bad by Little Willie John
You Just Like a Dresser by Bobby Rush
Boom Boom/Strange Brew by Buddy Guy
Rip This Joint by The Rolling Stones
My Wig Fell Off by Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band

Mystery Girl by Roy Orbison
I Bleed by The World Famous Headliners
The Daughter Brings the Water by The Swans
My World is Gone by Otis Taylor
Good Old World by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Friday, February 01, 2013

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Feb. 1, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
 OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Nothing at All by The Waco Brothers
A-Town Blues by Wayne Hancock
Ain't Got a Clue by Josie Kreuzer
You Made Me What I Am Today by The Watzloves
You'd Better Not Do That by Tommy Collins
Beer Joints by The Ex-Husbands
Silver Threads and Golden Needles by Loretta, Dolly & Tammy
Country Hixes by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
I'm Comin' Home by Sleepy LaBeef
Dime Store Cowboy by Split Lip Rayfield

My Baby Don't Love Me Anymore by Chris O'Connell
Bump Bounce Boogie by Asleep at the Wheel
Nothin' But a Nothin' by Jimmy Stewart & His Nighthawks
Sweet Singin' Daddy by Jimmy &  Johnny
I'll Never Honky Tonk You by Amanda Cevallos
Mermaid by Bobby Bare
Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me by Mississippi John Hurt
Skull and Crossbones by Bell & Shore
I Want it So Bad by The Gourds
White Dress by Anthony Leon & The Chain

Honky Tonk Heroes by Billy Joe Shaver
Where Do You Want it by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
Drink Drink Drink by Dale Watson
Judas Iscariot by Joe West & The Sinners
Bring You Home by Amanda Pearcy
Don't Be Ashamed of Your Age by Jerry Lee Lewis & George Jones
One Has My Name, the Other Has My Heart by Jimmy Wakely
It Pays to Advertise by The Farmer Boys
Henry by New Riders of the Purple Sage
Pig Fork by The Imperial Rooster

Ophelia by The Country Blues Revue
Down in Mississippi by Ry Cooder
Never Say Die by Waylon Jennings
The Letter Edged in Black by Johnny Cash
Green Green Grass of Home by Joe Tex
Feeling Mortal by Kris Kristofferson
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

  Sunday, March 17, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Te...