Thursday, October 31, 2013

IT'S HALLOWEEN! Wake the Dead!



Enjoy the true spirit of this wondrous holiday season. Six hours of Big Enchilada Halloween fury RIGHT HERE

Download 'em all! Play 'em full blast on your work computer ! Scare the kids !  

Sunday, October 27, 2013

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Oct. 27, 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
Haunted Hipster by The Fleshtones
Don't Shake Me Lucifer by Roky Erikson
The Vampire by T. Valentine & Daddy Longlegs 
Evil Eye by Daddy Longlegs
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark by The Sonics
Tingler Blues by Southern Culture on the Skids
Zombie Blocked by Left Lane Cruiser
Halloween by Ron Haydock

When My Baby Comes by La La Brooks
Hombre Secretory by The Plugz
Turn Your Damper Down by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Love Fuzz by Ty Segal
Laid Back Blues by Figures of Light
Gravity/Falling Down Again/ Street Hassle by Alejandro Escovedo

LOU REED SET
(All songs by Lou unless otherwise noted)

What's Good?
Were Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together by The Velvet Underground
White Light, White Heat
Halloween Parade
I Dreamed I Met Lou Reed by Gregg Turner
Pale Blue Eyes/Louie Louie by Patti Smith
Edgar Allen Poe

Hangin'  Round
Who Loves the Sun by The Velvet Underground
The Kids
Rock Minuet
Magic and Loss

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NOOOOOOO! Lou Reed is Dead


Lou Reed, founding member of The Velvet Underground and all-around rock 'n' roll bad-ass is dead.

According to Rolling Stone the cause of death isn't known yet, but Reed received a liver transplant earlier this year.

I only got to see him live once, in Austin in 1996 when he was promoting his album Set the Twilight Reeling. Damn it, I'd like to write now that it was the greatest concert of my life. It wasn't. It was a good show, but just a couple of nights later his contemporary Iggy Pop did a free show right off Sixth Street and his crazy energy basically wiped Lou Reed's more sedate concert out of my memory.

Still, I cried when I learned that Lou Reed had died. I thought the surly son of a bitch was immortal.

I'll give Lou a proper send-off tonight on Terrell's Sound World. (10 p.m Mountain Time on KSFR, streaming HERE.)

Until them, here's a couple of Lou videos




Friday, October 25, 2013

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Oct. 25, 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
(It Was a) Monster Holiday by Buck Owens
The Lonesomest Ghost in Town by Southern Culture on the Skids
What's a Simple Man to Do by Steve Earle
Fightin' Side of Me by Bryan & The Haggards with Eugene Chadbourne 
Workin' Man's Blues by Merle Haggard
Take a Letter Maria by New Riders of the Purple Sage
You and Your Damn Dream by Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders
Dark Hollow by Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys
Memories of Kennedy by Hasil Adkins

Dr. Demon & The Robot Girl by Captain Clegg & The Nightcrawlers
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Take an Old Cold Tater and Wait by Little Jimmy Dickens
Devil at Red's by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Ham Tramck Mama by The Volebeats
Marie Laveau by Bobby Bare
Voodoo Queen Marie by The Du-Tells
My Untrue Cowgirl by The Jewel Cowboys

Always a Friend to You by Alejandro Escovedo
According to Law by Carol S. Johnson
Junkyard in the Sun by Butch Hancock
Cowboy Boots by Dale Watson
Thwarted by Rob Nikowlewski 
Ghost Riders in the Sky by Last Mile Ramblers
Let's Go Burn Ole Nashville Down by Mojo Nixon & Jello Biafra
Never Be Again by Ugly Valley Boys
Willie the Weeper by Dave Van Ronk

Bringing Mary Home by Mac Wiseman
Big Joe & The Phantom 309 by Red Sovine
The Ghost and Honest Joe by Pee Wee King
Making Believe by Willie Nelson & Brandi Carlisle 
That's Neat, That's Nice by NRBQ 
I Never Go Around Mirrors by Lefty Frizzell
Buffalo Gals by J. Michael Combs
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Halloween Tingles

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Oct. 25, 2013

The holiday season is upon us, the time for trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples with razor blades and communicating with the spirits of the dead. And for listening to deliciously tacky rock 'n' roll like that found on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo

This definitive Halloween collection of the year features the work of my three favorite bands on North Carolina's Yep Roc label, The Fleshtones, a New York garage band that’s been around since the ‘70s; Southern Culture on the Skids, a North Carolina trio that specializes in a raw Dixie-fried mix of rockabilly, swamp rock, country and surf music in songs about fried chicken, stock-car races and cheap liquor;  and Los Straitjackets, an instrumental band known for wearing masks (Mexican wrestling masks) even when it’s not Halloween.

It's just what the (mad) doctor ordered. The album even has an cover by Steve Blickenstaff, best known. for creating the groovy ghoulie cover of The Cramps’ 1984 album Bad Music for Bad People, as well as doing the art for last year's GaragePunk Hideout Halloween compilation, Garage Monsters.

The good news is that the three Mondo Zombie bands are touring together. The bad news is that they aren't playing anywhere near Santa Fe, so this album will have to suffice for those of us in the rock 'n' roll hinterlands.

Yes, I do love all three of these bands, and all of them make worthy contributions to this compilation. But I have to say the best songs here are by Southern Culture on the Skids. I never knew until a couple of years ago, when they released a ready-for-Halloween album called Zombified, how fond SCOTS is of monster songs. The five new tracks of theirs on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo are swampy, twangy treasures. These include a cover of "Goo Goo Muck," a song made famous by The Cramps, but originally done by Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads. Mary Huff of Southern Culture sings it sexy.

They also do a western-flavored tune called "The Loneliest Ghost in Town," as well as "Demon Death," which starts out with a squall of feedback before settling into a Deadbolt-style doom-swamp groove, with Rick Miller speaking nearly all the lyrics.

But my favorite Southern Culture tune here is "Tingler Blues," which starts out with an audio clip from The Tingler, a 1959 Vincent Price movie best known for its promotional gimmick of installing vibrating devices in theater seats that simulating “tingling” in the scary parts of the movie. SCOTS’ Rick Miller sings in his lowest register: “I’ve got a monster living inside of me / It’s a killer and it won’t let me be …”

The least valuable SCOTS number here is an instrumental called "La Marcha De Los Cabarones." It's not bad, but when you're sharing an album with Los Straitjackets, you probably ought to leave the instrumentals to them.


And indeed, the musical luchadors from Memphis have some dandy instrumentals on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo. Most are theme songs from films like “Halloween,” “Young Frankenstein,” (a beautiful, almost Latin-sounding melody on that one) and, yes, “Ghostbusters.”

But even better is “It’s Monster Surfing Time,” a cover of a song by The Deadly Ones, a surf band from the ‘60s led by Joe South, (who later found fame writing songs like “The Games People Play” and “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.”)

Unfortunately, The Fleshtones is the least utilized of the three bands here. While the other two groups each have five tracks of their own on this album, The Fleshtones only have four. And one of those, “Ghoulman Confidential,” (which sounds like a crazy mash-up of “Short Shorts” and the Batman theme) was on a previous Yep Roc Halloween sampler, Rockin’ Bones, several years ago.

But the contributions of The Fleshtones are essential to the album especially “Sock It To Me Baby (in the House of Shock),” a silly ‘60s monster song originally done by a band called The Animated Sounds and “Haunted Hipster,” a Fleshtones original, which is a back-handed ode to the universally loathed modern-day hipster (“You think you’re cool, but you are dead too …”)

All three bands contribute to “Que Monstruos Son,” a Spanish version of “The Monster Mash” with The Fleshtone’s Keith Streng providing the Bobby “Boris” Picket imitation.

(This isn’t the first “Monster Mash” en Espanol. Search Youtube and you’ll find several videos of Mexican singer Luis "Vivi" Hernandez performing his hit he called "El Monstruo.")

Like the vampires and zombies who haunt this album, Halloween spook rock cannot die. Long may it rattle your bones.

Also recommended:

* Merles Just Want to Have Fun by Bryan & The Haggards featuring Eugene Chadbourne. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Merle Haggard fans listening to this album went away thinking that these guys were making fun of ol’ Hag considering some of the off-key horns and Bizzaro World solos that color this album.

But I don’t think that’s the case. Chadbourne, an avant garde guitarist, and sax maniac Bryan Murray indeed are having a lot of fun with the material – primarily Haggard songs and a medley of Bob Wills songs that Merle has covered, but they’re not making fun. But even though Hag didn’t do it this a way, this is a true tribute done with love in the heart.

Neither Chadbourne and Murray are country musicians, but both love country music – even though in their hands the music gets mutated into something new.

The first time I ever heard Chadbourne on the radio, she was doing a crazy Johnny Paycheck medley. As for Murray, this ain’t his first Merle rodeo. Bryan & The Haggards have a couple of previous albums filled with songs by their namesake.

On the opening cut, “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” one of Haggard’s most belligerent numbers is turned into what sounds like a drunken polka (Chadbourne begins the second verse, “I read about some squirrelly guy …”  then abruptly changes the lyrics: “That’s me! I don’t believe in fightin’ …” Soon the tune melts down into  jazz cacophony. Then there’s “The Old Man from the Mountain,” which Chadbourne and crew do as an insane rocker.

Other highlights include the aforementioned Bob Wills medley and “Listening to Wind,” which retains the song’s lovely melody even with the off-kilter jazz embellishments. And while the album starts with “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” it ends with “That’s the News,” a relatively recent Haggard song, in which the Okie from Muskogee had begun to question the endless wars of the 21st Century.

* Haunted podcast: Just in time for your Halloween party comes the sixth annual Big Enchilada Spooktacular. It's already terrifying people all over the internet.

Here's some Youtubes:





(This Los Straitjackets song's not actually on the Mondo Zombies album, but who cares?)


Here's Luis "Vivi" Hernandez



Start tinglin'

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Thursday Music Treat: Dave Alvin Live in Santa Fe, 2008

This is Alvin at SF Brewing in 2009

Messing around on the Live Music Archive last night, I discovered this November 2008 show.


It's Dave Alvin, doing an acoustic show at the Gig Performance Space in November 2008 with guitarist Chris Miller.

There's a bunch of great tunes here, including non-electric takes on rockers like "Ash Grove" and "Jubilee Train," which normally are performed with a full band.

And you'll hear Alvin's dry humor. At one point when he's having a little trouble tuning his guitar, he says, "Ah hell, that's close close enough. It's only Santa Fe. You know, it's not like the bowling alley in Farmington, where people are discerning."

You can listen to the show here or go to The Live Music Archive and down any or all of the songs. Enjoy!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Check out the brand new Big Enchilada podcast, the 2013 Spooktacular. It's free at www.bigenchiladapodcast.com


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Oct. 21, 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
Sock it to Me Baby (in the House of Shock) by The Fleshtones
Sugar on Top by The Dirtbombs 
Many Times Worse Than Los Tentatkills
Single Again by The Fiery Furnaces
Watch Your Mouth by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Dog Faced Boy by The Eels
At the Gates by The Night Beats
Electrocuted Blues by The Mooney Suzuki
Dregs by Bass Drum of Death
It's Too Soon to Know by Irma Thomas

Gilligan's Island by Manic Hispanic
I Think of Demons by Roky Erikson & The Aliens
Death Train Blues by Daddy Longlegs
Jukebox by Left Lane Cruiser
The Bag I'm In by Big Foot Chester
I'm Sad About It by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Jump into the River. By The A-Bones with Roy Loney
Ninety Nine (Minimalist Mix) by Figures of Light

To the Other Woman ( I'm the Other Woman) by Sandra Phillips
Plastered To the Wall (Higher than the Ceiling) by Swamp Dogg)
Big Bad John by Big John Hamilton
If He Walked Today by Wolf Moon
The Hipster by Black Joe Lewis
Soul Power by Walter Washington & The Soul Powers
Lonely Street by Clarence "Frogman" Henry
Kiss Yourself for Me by Doris Allen
Vinon So Minsou by Oinsou Corneille & Black Santiago

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark by The Sonics
The Rad Lord's Return by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds
World of Freaks by Harry Perry
River of Blood by the Black Angels
Pussywhipped by Johnny Dowd
The House of Blue Lights by Don Covay
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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BOO! It's the 6th Annual Big Enchilada Spooktacular!




BOO! Happy Halloween, my dear young friends! Welcome to the 6th (!!!!) annual Big Enchilada Spooktacular, where once again I've dug up some ghostly, ghastly tunes by some of your favorite artists and mine (plus a bunch you might never have heard of.) And guess what: This is the 5th anniversary of this podcast. I've been doing this since I was a young man ... well, slightly less-old man.




Here's the playlist:
(Background Music: It's Monster Surfing Time by Los Straitjackets)
Demon Death by Southern Culture on the Skids
He's Waitin' by The Sonics
Honeymoon at Hell by The Monsters
Mummy Shakes by The Molting Vultures
Black Leather Monster by The Plasmatics
'Tain't No Sin (To Take Off Your Skin) by Fred Hall

(Background Music: Theme from Halloween by Los Straitjackets)
Por Mil Demonios by Horror Deluxe
Monster Rock by Screaming Lord Sutch
Satan's Little Pet Pig by Demon's Claws
Haunted Hipster by The Fleshtones
Hoodoo Bash by Peter Stampfel & Jeffrey Lewis

(Background Music: Ghostbusters by Los Straitjackets)
Haunted Head by Kid Congo Powers
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Witch on Fire by Dan Melchior's Broke Revue
Hush, Hush, Hush, (Here Comes the Boogie Man) by Henry Hall
Bad She Gone Voodoo by Chief Fuzzer

Play it below



My past Halloween podcasts:

Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2012: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2011: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2010: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2009: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2008:  CLICK HERE
Or see 'em all HERE

Friday, October 18, 2013

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Oct. 18, 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
Hogs on the Highway by Bad Livers
Bob's Breakdown by Asleep at the Wheel 
Up on the Hill Where They Do Do the Boogie by John Hartford 

Funnel of Love by T. Tex Edwards & The Swingin' Kornflake Killers
DWI Marijuana Blues. By The Imperial Rooster
Nitty Gritty by Southern Culture on the Skids
Special Love by Rolf Cahn
Ditty Wah Ditty by Ry Cooder

The Devil You Know by Todd Snider
Oh Boy by Joe Ely & Todd Snider
Funky Tonk by Moby Grape
Just Like Geronimo by Dashboard Saviors
I Love You a Thousand Ways/My Feeholies Ain't Free Anymore by Augie Meyers
You're Bound to Look Like  a Monkey by Great Recession Orchestra

Somewhere Between by Willie Nelson & Loretta Lynn
No Good for Me by Waylon Jennings
Tennessee by Reigning Sound
Chewin' Chewin' Gum by Stringbean
Cheap Living by Eric Hisaw
Don't Start Crying Now by Hasil Adkins
Motorcycle Man by The Riptones
House Rent Jump by Peter Case
She Taught Me How to Yodel by Kenny Roberts

Bowling Alley Bar by The Handsome Family
You Better Move On by Johnny Paycheck & George Jones
Code of the Road by The Band of Blackie Ranchette
Harper Valley PTA by Syd Straw & The Skeletons
Accentuate the Positive by Kelly Hogan & Jon Rauhouse
Blue and Wonder by Richard Buckner
Cool and Dark Inside by Kell Robertson
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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



TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Willie & The Girls

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Oct. 18, 2013


Willie Nelson is a little like the weather in Oklahoma. If you don't like his latest album ... wait a minute.

Case in point: I was basically unimpressed by Let's Face the Music and Dance, released back in March, and I wasn't that wild about Heroes, released less than a year before that. (Heroes was the one featuring a song called “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die,” celebrating reefer with fellow celebrity pothead Snoop Dog.)

But it's October already and dang if the ultra-prolific octogenarian doesn't have a new album. To All the Girls…. It's a collection of duets with various female singers -- from venerated country queens like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton to the new crop of Juliette Barnes wanna-bes and many in between. And guess what. The weather in Oklahoma just got nicer.

He almost could have called this album “Daughters” because so many of his singing partners are the offspring of famous singers – Roseanne Cash (Johnny Cash), Tina Rose (Leon Russell), Norah Jones (Ravi Shankar), and Paula Nelson (uh, Willie Nelson).

No, not every tune is a winner. There’s some over-produced, adult-contemporary fluff here. In fact, had I only listened to the opening track, "From Here to the Moon and Back," a super-gooey duet with Parton that made me miss Kenny Rogers, I probably would have dismissed the record as just another ill-advised Willie product. But out of respect, I went on to the next song. And I'm glad I did. 

It’s a song Waylon Jennings wrote, “She Was No Good for Me,” one of the finest Waymore did in the ‘90s. (I always loved how he described the subject of the song: “a high-steppin’ mover, the kind men talk about.”) I’m not the biggest fan of Nashville songbird Miranda Lambert, Willie’s duet partner on this song, but she sounds fine here.

While I was disappointed in Dolly's contribution, Willie's duet with Loretta brings out what I love about both artists. It's a slow, yearning waltz called "Somewhere Between," with the two singers swapping verses about doomed love. “Somewhere between your heart and mine, there’s a door without any key …”

Some of the best songs on To All the Girls… are honky-tonk classics. Nelson sings “Making Believe,” a song made famous by the late Kitty Wells, with Brandi Carlisle, who has an impressive country voice. Then there’s “After the Fire Is Gone,” a song Nelson recorded back in the ‘70s with Tracy Nelson (no relation.) Here he sings it with Tina Rose, Like her old man, Leon, Tina’s voice is full of personality.

Nelson tackles on of Kris Kristofferson’s most under-rated songs, “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends,” aided soulfully by Roseanne Cash. Actually, the third star in this song is Trigger, Nelson’s guitar. Nelson shows here that his distinct picking style has not faded. 

And, speaking of soul, his duet with Mavis Staples on Bill Withers’ “Grandma’s Hands” is nothing short of superb. And it probably packs more of an emotional punch when you realize that Nelson was raised by his grandparents.

Several songs here are remakes of songs Nelson recorded before. I actually like the new version of “Always on My Mind,” done here with Carrie Underwood, better than Willie’s ‘80s hit version. The arrangement on the new version with its cocktail-lounge piano reminds me a little of “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.” 

And better yet, there are not one but two songs from Phases and Stages, the best Willie Nelson album in all recorded history. With Nora Jones he does a sweet, slow version of “Walkin’.”  But most impressive is his rollicking remake of “Bloody Mary Morning,” Wynonna Judd sounds as if she came to party on this track.

To All the Girls … doesn’t rank up there with Phases and Stages or his other truly great albums. Very little does. Chances are he’ll never reach that level again. But as the man once sang, “The life I love is makin’ music with my friends,” and he’s determined to keep that music flowing. I hope it never stops.

Also Recommended

* Loves Lost and Found by Augie Meyers. Meyer’s is the mad organ player of The Sir Douglas Quintet, whose Tex-Mex electric organ riff in “She’s About a Mover” became one of the most recognizable sounds of the mid-60s. He’s the big dude in The Texas Tornados whose drawling vocals turned the simple act of “making guacamole” into an erotic escapade. 

Meyers is known chiefly as the sidekick of the late Doug Sahm, -- and in recent years backing up the likes of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. But Meyers for decades has quietly released a stream of solo albums on small labels. (I haven’t heard the entire album, but my favorite title of these is My Freeholies Ain’t Free Anymore, from 2006.)

This new record shows Meyers’ country side. Some tracks are C&W classics like “Pick Me Up on Your Way Down” (written by Harlan Howard and covered by Charlie Walker, Faron Young, Ray Price and a million others) and Lefty Frizzell’s “I Love You a Thousand Ways” (True story: Lefty wrote this in Roswell in 1947 when he was in the Chaves County jail on a statutory rape charge.) He also does a sweet version of a Sahm song, “Be Real.”

But most of the album consists of original Meyers songs, starting out with the opening track, an uptempo “But Not Now,” in which Bobby Flores’ fiddle is out front and ending with “Prosperity Street,” a nifty western-swing number. In between there’s other high points, including “Side Effect” (“I looked in the mirror and I looked like a wreck/ I think I’m in the middle of a side effect …”) and “I Found Love,” a pretty tune that could almost be a long-lost Don Williams song, featuring Tommy Detamore on dobro.

And just in case you didn’t know where Augie Meyers is from, there are two novelty numbers that The Austin Lounge Lizards would classify as “stupid Texas songs”: “Deed to Texas,” in which the singer fantasizes about buying the entire state and seceding from the union (“next time address us as `the country of Texas,’ ” goes the refrain.) And there’s the less militant “The Sun is Shining Down on Me in Texas,” in which the singer seems to prefer the Lone Star state because of the weather. Obnoxious as these are, the songs are catchy.


I hope Texas doesn’t secede from the union. I like living in the same country as Augie  Meyers. (This album is available at CD Baby, www.cdbaby.com/cd/augiemeyers.)

Here's a promo for the album

Sunday, October 13, 2013

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Oct. 13, 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
Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner
Prostitution by Tiger Sex
Rock 'n' Roll Deacon by Screamin' Joe Neal
Rat King by The Night Beats
The Rats' Revenge Part 1 by The Rats
Juice to Get Loose by Left Lane Cruiser
Everybody Loves Somebody by Hasil Adkins 
Spooks by Ghost Bikini
I'm Mr. Big Stuff by Jimmy Hicks
Ooh Poo Pah Doo by Jessie Hill

He's Waitin' by The Sonics
The Witch by Los Peyotes
Psycho by The Swamp Rats
Strychnine by Barrence Whitfield
Shot Down by The Sonics

Stick with Her by The Gaunga Dyns
Great! Now We've Got Time to Party by Figures of Light
Ted by The Amputees
Hook and Sling by Eddie Bo

Wife Sitter by Swamp Dogg
Gettin' Plenty Lovin' by The Lyres
Don't Look at the Hanged Man by Big Foot Chester
Shrimp and Gumbo by Dave Bartholomew
Black Sheep by The Reigning Sound
Don't Try It by Devil Dogs
Seven and Seven Is by Love
Blues From Phyllis by the Flamin' Groovies

Makin' Love by The Sloths
You Always Hurt the One You Love by Clarence " Frogman" Henry 
Killer Diller by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds
If He Walked Today by Wolf Moon
Sunny by Johnny Rivers
Afflicted by Charles Brimmer
You Look Like a Flower by Richard Caiton
I Wish I Was In New Orleans by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Friday, October 11, 2013

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Oct. 11, 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
Drinkin' Wine Spo Dee O'Dee by Jerry Lee Lewis
Don't Wanna Wash Off Last Night by The Gaunga Dyns
Bloody Mary Morning by Willie Nelson & Wynonna Judd
Meanest Jukebox in Town by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
Cool Arrow by Hickoids
Country Hixes by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
Cajun Joe (Bully of the Bayou) by Doug & Rusty Kershaw
New River Train by Jackie Powers
Your Sugar is All I Want by Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders
Hobos Are My Heroes by Legendary Shack Shakers

Slaughterville iWreck by Family Lotus
Hometown Shit Beer by Joe West
Wish You Would Kiss Me by James Hand
Sweet Georgia Brown by Johnny Gimble with Merle Haggard
She's My Five Foot Five by Joel Savoy
Mississippi Showboat by Powder Mill 
There Stands the Glass by Webb Pierce
Firewater Seeks Its Own Level by Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore 

But Not Now by Augie Meyers
Boney Fingers by Hoyt Axton
Beans and Make Believe by Mose McCormack
Liquor Store by. The Meat Purveyors
Out There Aways by The Waco Brothers
Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends by Joan Osborne
Wildwood Boogie by Charley Gracie
Wine, Women and Loud Happy Songs by Ringo Starr
Guitar Man by Junior Brown

Long I Ride by Robbie Fulks
This Ain't a Good Time by Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys
Carlene by Robert Earl Reed
Alberta #3 by Bob Dylan 
Last Date by David Bromberg
Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time by Mickey Gilley
Maverick by George Thorogood
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNEUP: One Last Look at Ponderosa Stomp 2013

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Oct. 11, 2013


Dr. Ike with The Gaunga Dyns
"Dr. Ike" Padnos, founder of Ponderosa Stomp with
The Gaunga Dyns 
A few months ago, when I decided I wanted to go to the Ponderosa Stomp, a music festival in New Orleans (named for a song by Louisiana bluesman Lazy Lester) I didn’t consciously realize that I was giving myself a slightly belated birthday gift — and it was a very appropriate gift, too.

I just turned 60, which could make a guy start to feel old. However, at the Stomp, the vast majority of the headline performers were well into their 60s, some even beyond that. And nearly all of them were full of energy and crazy grace. And some of them rocked like madmen. Suddenly 60 didn’t feel so old.

(What followed in this column, published today in The Santa Fe New Mexican were thumbnail reviews of my favorite performances, based on what I wrote last week in this very blog HERE and HERE. You can read the entire Tuneup column at The New Mexican's Pasatiempo site.

Blog Bonus

Here's some Youtubes from The Ponderosa Stomp. First, The Sonics.


The fabulous Gaunga Dyns covering Roky:


Chris Montez performs his first hit:


His first time on stage for decades, Richard Caiton


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Family Lotus Reunites for Joe West Psychedelic Folk & Bluegrass Festival

Back in late August, 1971, the week I moved to Albuquerque to attend the University of New Mexico, I saw a poster, very similar to the one above, advertising the "Second Annual King Kong Memorial Stomp" starring Bo Diddley and a Santa Fe band called Family Lotus at the Student Union Building Ballroom. I went to the show to see Bo, and, of course, he was fantastic. (He was living down in Los Lunas, N.M. at the time.)

Some version of Family Lotus with Pete Seeger at
Paolo Soleri amphitheater, date unknown
But that night I became a fan of Family Lotus. They looked like a bunch of Cerrillos hippies -- and there was good reason for that. They had a happy aura of hillbilly anarchy about them onstage. But they actually could play and sing. And they did mostly, if not all, original songs. Their banjo player Jim Bowie at one point performed what he called a "banjo raga." I was hooked. I tried to catch them every time they played Albuquerque during the next few years.

Years later, when I became a freelance music writer for The Santa Fe Reporter, the other music freelancer there was none other than Lotus-man Jerry Faires. I always felt honored to be sharing a stage with him -- even though that "stage" was a newspaper.

Faires, Bowie and other members of the Family Lotus family are reuniting for an appearance this Saturday at Joe West's Psychedelic Folk & Bluegrass Festival in Madrid this Saturday. The show, which will be in a tent outside the Mineshaft Tavern starts at noon. Here's the schedule:

NOON Joe's Opening speech (Will he announce that he's running for governor?)
12:05 Will and the Won'ts
12:45 The Rio Grande Family Band
1:30 Pa Coal and The Clinkers
2:15 Sage and Jared's Happy Gland Band
2:45 Todd And The Fox
3:30 Janice Mohr-Nelson The Kentucky Humdinger
4:00 Joe West and the Santa Fe Revue (with guest Laurainne Fiorentino and Archie West)
4:45 Hillstompers
5:15 Hot Honey
5:45 FAMILY LOTUS (THE SECOND COMING)
7:00 Hillstompers (The Exit Procession)
8pm Broomdust Caravan (In the Tavern)

Tickets are $10 in advance (available at The Mineshaft and The Candyman) and $15 on the day of the show.

Joe says parking is atrocious in Madrid. "Best to park out above the old ball park and walk into town."

Sunday, October 06, 2013

PONDEROSA STOMP: The Finale

IMG_3507
Tom McLoughlin of The Sloths preaches the Gospel of Garage
After Friday night's crazy performance at the Rock 'n' Bowl in New Orleans by The Sonics, I had this nagging fear yesterday that the second night of The Ponderosa Stomp might be something of a letdown. How could anyone match that level intensity and wild abandon?

Well, here's the deal. It's still obvious that the best show of this festival was The Sonics.

But Saturday night's lineup, especially The Standells and The Sloths -- the latter band being joined for a couple of tunes by the mysterious Ty Wagner -- was nothing short of amazing.

IMG_3494
The Standells impressed me last night even more than they did when they first twisted my head off when I was in 7th grade. Of all the 2013 Ponderosa Stomp lineup they were the most commercially successful (except maybe Chris Montez. More on him later.) Is there anyone around my age who doesn't remember "Dirty Water" or, my favorite, "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White" ?

They played these hits as well as others from that era -- "Riot on Sunset Strip" (the title song of a teen exploitation movie from the mid 60s. Standells singer Larry Tamblyn said at a panel discussion a couple of days ago that he truly enjoys that film. The same way he enjoys Plan 9 From Outer Space) -- and some of my favorites from the Dirty Water album like "Rari" and "Medication."

IMG_3500
Cyril Jordan (center) with The Standells
Late in the set they were joined onstage by Johnny Echols, a former member of Love (The Standells' John Fleckenstein also was a Love man in that group's early days), and Cyril Jordan of The Flamin' Groovies. They played some Love songs, including a fiery "Seven and Seven Is," "Little Red Book" and "Hey Joe," which both Love and The Standells covered (as did about 98 percent of all American bands in the mid '60s)

All too often when you hear old bands play their old songs from decades past, it's sad and cheesey. But these Standells aren't ready for the casino circuit, and hopefully they never will be. They play like they could start a real riot on Sunset Strip.

And the reconstituted Sloths were no slobs either. Unlike The Standells, they never had a massive "Dirty Water"-level hit, but their song "Makin' Love," featured on one of the Back from the Grave compilations a few years ago is one of the finest examples of snarling minimalist, primitive angst-rock you'll ever hear.

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Waving the flag
They're fronted these days by singer Tom McLoughlin, who was with a '60s L.A. garage band called The May Wines with some members of The Sloths (I can't keep up with this cross-pollination) He's got more of a "rock star" aura than most the other garage-band performers I saw this weekend.

He also has a weird knack for silly props. During The Sloth's rendition of "Hey Joe" (I told you, all the bands back then did this song) he held up a hand-written hitchhiker sign that said "Mexico" as he sang "I'm goin' way down south to Mexico ..." Then he whipped out a Mexican flag, which he wore as a cape. In one song he tried to blow up a cheap plastic sex doll, but ran out of time before he had to start singing the next verse.

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After their own raucous set, The Sloths were joined onstage by Ty Wagner, another L.A. garage-rocker whose most famous song is "I'm a No Count." He sang that one as well as one by his rock 'n' roll hero Eddie Cochran, "Come On everybody." My only complaint about Wagner is that I wish he's have done more. He's got a moody intensity about him and sings every word as if his life depended on it.

Other music of note Saturday night was The Gaunga Dyns, a New Orleans garage group who had a local hit in the late '60s with "Rebecca Rodifer," a sad tale about a girl who died from an illegal abortion. This group recently reformed and are a tight outfit with hints of folk-rock, featuring three guitarists. My only gripe about them is that they opened with not one, not two, but three songs of The Animals. Each one sounded good, especially "I'M Cryin'," but for a while I thought it was an Eric Burdon cover band. On the other hand, their version of Paul Revere & The Raiders' "Just Like Me" was a complete delight.

IMG_3479
Charley Gracie, a rockabilly from Philly, was a complete delight. Backed by a band that included guitarist Deke Dickerson, Gracie really shined in his cover of "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody."

Dickerson and company also backed Chris Montez. Though Montez is best known for late '60s pop hits like "Call Me" and "The More I See You," he wisely concentrated on music from his early, Ritchie Valens-influenced days. "Let's Dance" with its spot-on Farfisa organ, can't help but make you smile.

I wish I would have stayed for R&B shouter Eddie Daniels. But after Ty Wagner and The Sloths, I was afraid I was going to end up like this guy below.

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All Stomped Out





But it was a fantastic festival.

Stomp on!







More Ponderosa Stomp Coverage:

* First Report: CLICK HERE
* Second Report: CLICK HERE

Photos (of the Stomp and other New Orleans craziness) CLICK HERE

Saturday, October 05, 2013

PONDEROSA STOMP: SECOND REPORT


I always liked The Sonics and thought they were pretty cool. But after seeing them tonight in New Orleans I'm a complete zealot. I'm actually embarrassed that I'm going to have to explain just who these guys from Tacoma, Washington are to so many of you gentle readers. Fact is, The Sonics -- who played at the Midtown Rock 'n' Bowl in New Orleans on the first concert of The 2013 Ponderosa Stomp -- are woefully under-recognized and under-appreciated by the masses.

So here's the nutshell history of The Sonics starting back in the mid-'60s: They were teenagers in Tacoma who worshiped another influential local band The Wailers. They recorded two albums -- Here Are The Sonics and Boom -- on the tiny Etiquette label (both produced by Wailers bassist Buck Ormsby). In those two albums were some of the rawest, wildest rock ever heard. Little Richard was the main inspiration, one of the band members said at a panel discussion Friday. It showed. On top of that, Gerry Roslie's voice lived up to the title of one of the group's signature songs: "Psycho." He sang as if he was being burned alive.
Larry Parypa of The Sonics
Larry Parypa

Much of The Sonic's material was fairly typical for garage bands of the day. "Money," "Do You Love Me," "Roll Over Beethoven," Good Golly Miss Molly," and, like all those other Pacific Northwest groups like the Kingsmen and Paul Revere & The Raiders, "Louie Louie."

But it was The Sonics' original songs that set them apart. "Psycho,"  "The Witch," and "He's Waitin'" (which is about Satan!) all show a gleefully twisted, sardonic sense of humor. And had The Sonics ever become as famous as they deserved to be, the federal government would have produced overwrought public service announcements warning America's youth about the dangers of drinking strychnine, was the topic of one of their finest songs.

It's probably for the best that The Sonics never got to be that famous. They never had the temptation to do anything as embarrassing as Paul Revere & The Raiders' teen idol period. They never went artsy during the flower-power era. Basically, they broke up, did other things in their lives and reunited decades later when they were old enough not to care about show-biz career pressures.

Gerry Roslie of The Sonics
Gerry Roslie
The 21st Century Sonics include three members from their glory days -- Roslie (who plays keyboards as well as handling about half the vocals), guitarist Larry Parypa and sax man Rob Lind. They're rounded out these days by singer/bassist Freddie Dennis and drummer Dusty Watson.

I shouldn't even have to say this, but just because Roslie, Parypa and Lind are in their late 60s doesn't mean they don't rock like crazy. They blazed through their tunes like "Boss Hoss," "Have Love Will Travel," and those others I mentioned above with crazed intensity. It seemed that everyone I encountered after The Sonics' set had wide eyes and dazed grins. Frankly I can't see how anyone on the Ponderosa bill tonight is going to top that.

While The Sonics were by far the highlight of Friday's show, there was lots of other great music at the Rock 'n' Bowl. 

Trouble ahead, Swamp Dogg in red ! #ponderosastomp
Trouble ahead, Swamp Dogg in red
Swamp Dogg, wearing a bright red suit, didn't disappoint. The iconoclastic soulman performed a set populated mostly by his best-known songs like "Total Destruction of Your Mind," "Synthetic World," and his wondrous, emotional cover of John Prine's "Sam Stone."

His grand finale also was a cover, The Bee Gee's "I've Just Got to Get a Message to You." At the end of the song, he stepped off the stage and walked out into the audience shaking hands while repeatedly singing the refrain, "I've just got to get a message to you / Hold on, hold on ..." Sometimes he'd complete the chorus, "One more hour and my life will be through ..." After several minutes of this I almost started to believe that he was going to take that whole hour.

Long, tall Chris Clark, the first white singer on the Motown label (reportedly she was known as "The White Negress"), said she had a cold, sounded fine. Any hoarseness just added to the  charm of her husky voice. She reminded me of Dusty Springfield and Jackie DeShannon.

Richard Caiton
Richard Caiton throws out the Mardi Gras beads
And I was happy to see that the sets of Charles Brimmer and Richard Caiton got an enthusiastic reception from the crowd. This was the first time on stage for decades for both these New Orleans soul singers. I heard them on a panel discussion Thursday and both seemed anxious about their respective performances. Both men can be proud. (I just wish I'd gotten a decent photo of Brimmer's cool golden alligator boots.)

I hate to admit that after The Sonics I had to go outside, so I missed James Alexander's set. And my brain was still so scrambled after the boys from Tacoma, I just couldn't into zydeco man Lynn August. I hope to catch him again when I'm not on Sonics sensory-overload.

Tonight ... The Standells (with Love's Johnny Echols), The Sloths (with Ty Wagner), Charlie Gracie and more ... Stay tuned.

Check out my Ponderosa Stomp/New Orleans snapshots HERE


Friday, October 04, 2013

Ponderosa Stomp: First Report

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NEW ORLEANS -- I'm originally from the Sooner State. That's the excuse I use when I show up somewhere way too early. (When I'm running late I have to get more creative with my excuses.) So blame it on Oklahoma for me arriving at the DBA club an hour before the party was supposed to start.

Luckily, I was in the Frenchman Street area of New Orleans, so I didn't have a problem finding a party while I waited. It's an artsy and very lively little district with bars and bookstores, less sleazy (I didn't see any Larry Flynt clubs) and overtly touristy than Bourbon Street. 

Right down the street from DBA, a brass band had begun to congregate. When I first was heading for The club there was just a drummer and tuba player pooting forth some semblance of song. But by the time I checked out the empty club and headed back, they had grown into a full band. Several folks were dancing in the street, cab drivers patiently negotiating their way around them. Some of the crowd that had gathered looked like tourists or college kids.

IMG_3394By the time I got back to DBA, the event that attracted me there had started. This was the annual Hip Drop, the first official musical event of The Ponderosa Stomp. This basically is an all-night (well, close. It's supposed to go on until 3 a.m.) record hop. The show features DJs from all over the doing 30-minute sets featuring cool old 45s.

In these troubled times, when someone sees "DJ" they automatically think of techno, house or even disco. Not so here. Like the music celebrated at the Ponderosa Stomp itself, the music featured at the Hip Drop consisted of old R&B, soul, rockabilly with some '60s garage-band sounds and a little surf music thrown in -- mostly by bands and singers who never became famous. In a small town like Santa Fe sometimes I feel fairly alone in my love for this stuff. So it was a real pleasure seeing a packed club full of people dancing and shouting to these crazy sounds.

Ponderosa Stomp Record ShowThursday
Among the DJs last night were Miriam Linna and Billy Miller the owners of the much beloved Norton Records in New York. Reissuing these crazy sounds -- forgotten works by forgotten artists is the major part of Norton's business, so Billy and Miriam (pictured above) know their way around this material.

And speaking of Norton Records, earlier in the day, over at the Ponderosa Stomp Record Show, I bought a bunch of 45s that had been salvaged from the Hurricane Sandy disaster at Norton's warehouse last year. Then walking from the conference center at the Wyndham Riverfront back to my hotel, I got caught in an afternoon rain and my bag got soaked. I took the records out of their jackets and let them dry. I think they survived yesterday's lesser storm. (I'll play some on Terrell's Sound next week to see how they sound.)

Swamp Dogg at Ponderosa Stomp Record Show Thursday
The conference on Thursday also was fun. One of the speakers was Jerry Williams, Jr., better known as Swamp Dog. Born in Virginia to parents who were musicians, Swamp started recording in the mid-1950s under the name of Little Jerry and later “Little Jerry Williams.” His Swamp Dogg persona didn’t emerge until 1970, after working for years as an in-house songwriter for music publishing companies.

"I thought I was a great songwriter," he said, talking about his early career. "I thought I would set Tin Pan Alley on its ass."

Recording on a myriad of different labels, and starting his own company, Swamp Dogg Entertainment Group, the price of independence was leaner record sales and relative obscurity.

Although he's known to be cranky at times, ("I'm not as political as I am angry and belligerent," he told the Ponderosa Stompers)  unlike many overlooked musicians from his era, Swamp Dogg doesn't seem bitter.

"I really feel God is watching over me. And He likes me," Swamp said.

Charles Brimmer & Richard Caiton: New Orleans Soul MenThat also was the case with two New Orleans soul singers who spoke at the conference Thursday.

Both Charles Brimmer and Richard Caiton, who recorded in the '60s with New Orleans R&B icons like Dave Bartholomew, Wardell Quezergue and Senator Jones, both realized at some point that the music biz was not for them. "I thought I was going to have hit after hit after hit," Caiton said. "Instead, I had miss after miss after miss."

Both men went on to college -- Brimmer financing his studies by constant gigging -- and both did ok for themselves in their chosen fields (Brimmer in business, Caiton with a career in education.) Each talked about how the music industry cruelly takes advantaged of young people with starry-eyed ambitions of fame. But neither let such experiences sour their lives.

Brimmer, Caitron and Swamp Dogg will be playing tonight at the Ponderosa Stomp at the Rock 'n' Bowl.

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

New Orleans, Here I Come!


As I've been babbling about for the past several weeks, I'm off for New Orleans today, where I'll be enjoying -- and blogging about -- the 2013 Ponderosa Stomp.


No, this isn't some weird cult ritual dedicated to the memory of Hoss Cartwright. It's a music festival dedicated to the "unsung heroes of American music." On the bill are R&B, soul, rockabilly, zydeco, and garage-rock acts.

NEW ORLEANS '75 COLLAGE
From my previous visit to NOLA,
summer 1975
This will be the second Ponderosa event I've attended. Three years ago I went to their Detroit Breakdown show at Lincoln Center in New York City, where I saw Question Mark & The Mysterians, The Gories, Death and more.

This year's Stomp lineup includes The Sonics, The  Standells, Ty Wagner, Maxine Brown, Chris Clark (the first white singer on Motown), Chris Montez ("Let's Dance"!), zydeco fiend Lynn August, Charlie Gracie, the unstoppable Swamp Dogg and many more.

I've been playing many of these artists on Terrell's Sound World and The Santa Fe Opry during the past few weeks. And half of my latest Big Enchilada podcast ("Chompin' at the Stomp") is devoted to Ponderosa acts.

You can listen to that podcast on the player below. And check out these official Ponderosa Stomp videos as well.

The Sonics still are psycho!



Classic garage bands



Swamp Dogg and his giant rat rodeo


You can find more Ponderosa Stomp videos HERE.

Now, in case you haven't heard "Chompin' at the Stomp" ...

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Yep, I'm Still an eMusic Fiend

It's been several months since my last eMusic report and my inbox is full of angry emails demanding I get back on my monthly routine. (Actually, nobody has seemed to notice I'd stopped doing it. I guess I'm just posting this shows how obsessive I am.)

Anyway, I'm just going to give a quick glance at what I've downloaded in the past 3 or 4 months.

Naturally, I downloaded some of those excellent, bargain-priced compilations that eMusic is known for.

These include:

* Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers vol. 1This just might be the most spirit-filled, tambourine-shaken', hallelujah-shoutin' old-time gospel collections I've ever come across. This music -- African-American gospel of the '40s and '50s -- truly is the spring from which rock and soul music flowed. And, yes, it was this collection that prompted me to include a wild gospel set on my recent Big Enchilada podcast Shout When the Spirit Says Shout.  Compiled by "Radio DJ and TV presenter" Mark Lamarr for the British Vee-Tone Records, this album features some gospel giants such as Marie Knight, the Famous Davis Sisters and the Blind Boys (both Archie Brownlee's group from Mississippi and their rivals, Clarence Fountain's group from Alabama), as well as several I've never heard of. Each track is tremendous And here's some great news: There's a Volume 2 of Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers.

* Rockin' Boppin' Hillbilly GalsThe title of this 40-track (!!) collection might be somewhat misleading. Whoever slapped this together -- and indeed, the album does have a slapdash feel -- has a bigger-tent definition of "hillbilly" than most of us. The "hillbilly gals" include country stars like Loretta Lynn, Rose Maddox and Kitty Wells; first-generation rockabilly fillies Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin; blues belters like Big Mama Thorton and Lucille Bogan; gospel great Clara Ward; and even an early jazz singers, Bertha "Chippie" Hill and Eva Taylor, both of whom sing on tracks with Louis Armstrong. With songs ranging from Bogan's "Shave 'em Dry" to Ward's "King Jesus is All I Need, " you can't say there's not variety here. 


 * Cool Town Bop. This is an international rockabilly revival collection from the early '90s. "International?" you ask. Indeed, there's Greek rockabilly, Dutch rockabilly, Swedish rockabilly, some token American rockabilly, a bunch of British rockabilly, and  my favorite Cannuckabilly, the late Ray Condo doing a song called "One Hand Loose." Condo is the only act I recognized here and his contribution probably is the best thing here, though I'm also fond of "Please I Wonder" by The Roomates, an English band, though it's more doo-wop than rockabilly. While there's no great revelations here, it's a good listen

I also downloaded these single-artist albums

* House of Blue Lights by Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band. Did I say I was obsessive? Back when I was a freshman in college, (1971-72) I was listening to the KUNM blues show (It was on Wednesdsay nights back then too.) and decided to tape it. One of the songs I remember from that tape was "The Blues Don't Knock" by Don Covay. It wasn't your typical blues song. it was slow and dreamy and featured a flute, I lost that tape years ago, but a few months ago I started thinking about that song and with a few quick Googles I learned it was on this 1969 album, which is available on eMusic. And I'm happy I found it. Though he's best known as an R&B and soul artist, this is a stab at raw blues, backed by a rock band. Though I came for "The Blues Don't Knock," I stayed for the title song, a seven-minute-plus minor-key show-stopper about a guy whose life is ruined by a whore house. (There's a shorter reprise of the song at the end of the album that's nearly as intense.)

* Fire On the Bayou by Stephanie McDee. I'll admit it. I downloaded this because it has the original version of "Call the Police," which was covered by The Oblivians on their great comeback album Desperation earlier this year. McDee's music is a hopped-up zydeco hybrid with elements of hip-hop and techno. This album is less than a half-hour long and it gets pretty repetitive. But I bet it's great live.

* Love Visions by Nobunny. Cwazy Wabbit! If he were more famous, singer/guitarist Justin Champlin would do for shopping mall Easter Bunnies what John Wayne Gacy did for clowns. And he should be more famous. Behind the ratty rabbit mask is a master of irresistible, hooky pop/punk songs. Just about all these songs will get you hopping.

* Live at the Fish Fry by Pocket FishRmen. This band of wild Texas punks started out in the mid '80s. They broke up around the turn of the century, but in recent years they've reunited at least once a year to host an annual charity show in Austin called "The Pocket FishRmen Fish Fry." This album, released in 2011, was recorded at one of those. It's full of frantic, foul-mouthed fun, including odes to Amy Carter, Santa Claus and Saddam Hussein.

* (The songs I didn't already have from) Blank Generation by Richard Hell & The Voidoids. The title song of this was one of the earliest and still one of the greatest punk anthems ever. While  no other song came close to "Blank Generation," the rest of the album is good. How can any band with Robert Quine on guitar be anything but? I love Hell's weird barking in "liars Beware." And I'm a complete sucker for the slow dance cover of the Sammy Cahn /James Van Heusen standard "All the Way." For punk/lounge music, it's matched only by Iggy Pop's version of "One for My Baby (and One More For the Road)."

* The Anti- Naturalists by The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. I downloaded this right after the death of Karen Black this summer. Black herself was a talented singer and songwriter, but, no, she wasn't part of this 1990s New York punk outfit that took her name and honored her voluptuous horror. VHKB, fronted by singer Kembra Pfahler, wasn't exactly groundbreaking, but this record showed they were a lot of fun.

* Moon Sick by Thee Oh Sees. Back in May, I declared Thee Oh See's Floating Coffin as my likely choice for album of the year. Months have passed and I still feel that way. This four-song EP consists of outtakes from the Floating Coffin sessions. The first three songs, "Born in a Graveyard," (which starts off with some computer beeping right out of Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio") "Sewer Fire" (one of the band's harder-edged tunes) and "Humans Be Swayed" would have fit in on Coffin. The more I listen to this EP, the more I'm impressed with "Humans Be Swayed," which starts off with slow droning, then bursts into a frantic, choppy rocker. The last song "Candy Clocks" is almost folk-rock. I continue to be amazed and infatuated by Thee Oh Sees.


* The Devil in Me by Big Foot Chester. I just downloaded this album a couple of days ago. It's raw, minimalist punk blues from a 1990s band led by Texas harmonica man Walter Daniels, who has played with some of my favorite musical acts including Hickoids, Buick MacKane and Eugene Chadbourne. I saw Daniels last year in Austin playing an acoustic set with guitarist John Schooley and banjoist Ralph White.

Several of the albums I got from eMusic in recent weeks ended up being reviewed in my weekly Terrell's Tuneup column.

Namely:

Signed and Sealed in Blood by Dropkick Murpheys (My review is HERE)
Fayt by Cankisou (My review is HERE)
Electric Slave by Black Joe Lewis (My review is HERE)
Haunted Head by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds (My review is HERE)
And though it's not really an album ...
* Nine Songs by Tim Timebomb "(Between the Two of Us) One of Us Has the Answer"; "Dope Sick Girl"; "Gentleman of the Road"; "Hard Travelin' "; "Jim Dandy"; "Jockey Full of Bourbon"; "Rock This Joint"; "Squeezebox"; and "Rocks Off"  (My review is HERE)

I've also downloaded several individual songs including:

* Three Ty Wagner songs (who I'm looking forward to see this weekend in New Orleans at the Ponderosa Stomp.)
* "Blues in the Night" by Eydie Gorme. (R.I.P.)
* "Warmed Over Kisses" by Dave Edmunds. A nice dose of bluegrass-rock.
* Two songs from Nancy Sinatra's self-titled 2004 album (which since has disappeared from eMusic!) The best of these is "Ain't No Easy Way," which is funky duet with the mighty Jon Spencer. "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" which is nice and pretty with Nancy singing disparagingly of "some skinny bitch in hotpants."
* Three songs from Other Voices by The Doors, the band's first post-Jim Morrison album. No Freudian pyscho-odysseys without ol' Jim. But these tunes, "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned," "Variety is the Spice of Life," and "In the Eye of the Sun" are just decent bluesy rock.)


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