Wednesday, May 31, 2017

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Let Outsider Music Inside Your Heart



 A recent podcast posted on Radio Mutation re-sparked my fondness for so called "outsider music." It was a an old radio show, preserved on Archive.org, from 2010 called Runny Noise from CJLO in Montreal.

The DJ, a lady named Danielle, used several selections from Irwin Chusid's classic Songs in the Key of Z compilations, plus several she'd found on her own,

So what is this "outsider music"? I'll yield to Chusid (as one should in this area):

Outsider musicians are often termed "bad" or "inept" by listeners who judge them by the standards of mainstream popular music. Yet despite dodgy rhythms and a lack of conventional tunefulness, these often self-taught artists radiate an abundance of earnestness and passion. And believe it or not, they're worth listening to, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality...

Since I started doing Wacky Wednesday, I've featured several outsider musicians including Tiny Tim and Wesley Willis. And just a few months ago I featured Christmas music by outsiders.

Below is a sampling of outsider artists singing songs good (or bad) for any time of year.

Let's start with Charlie Tweddle who recorded a psychedelic mess of an album of untitled songs called Fantastic Greatest Hits back in the early 70's. It originally listed the artist's name as "Eilrahc Elddewt" (Charlie Tweddle backwards.) Today Charlie still makes music, but he's made a decent living not as a hit-maker, but as a hat-maker.



Bingo Gazingo, born Murray Wachs, was a New Yorker whose unique style defies description. The New York Times tried though. "... his trademark songs most closely resemble free-verse beat poetry, and he delivers them in a mesmerizing chant, sometimes screamed, sometimes shouted or growled." Bingo died on New Year's Day 2010, reportedly hit by a cab.



Mark Gormley is an ex-Marine whose songs were discovered more by fellow Florida musician Phil Thomas Katt, who hosted a public access TV show called The Uncharted Zone. Katt produced some appropriately cheesy videos that helped make Gormley an internet sensation. Here's my favorite:



The Legendary Stardust Cowboy is a titan of outsider music. The Lubbock, Texas native (born Norman Carl Odam) got national exposure in 1968 on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (a performance in which he stormed off the set because he felt the cast was making fun of him.)  I once wrote of this artist that his "wild cries and spontaneous `wooo-hoooo' declarations are those of pure Earthly joy. Billy The Kid probably made near-identical noises while escaping from the Lincoln County jail. ... Don't worry about "understanding" whatever it is The Legendary Stardust Cowboy says or does. Just bask in the freedom he represents."



New Creation was a Christian rock band from Vancouver in the late '60s. I once described them as a "Bible-soaked cross between The Shaggs and The Partridge Family (there was a mother-son team in the band) The New Creation played like a garage-band apocalypse."



Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Looky Here! A New Hillbilly Episode of The Big Enchilada!

THE BIG ENCHILADA




For this episode we're going out to the country -- way out to the country where the cowboys are horny and so are the rabbits, the land of the mystic horned hare known as the jackalope. Postcards sold in the western states say the jackalope "sings with a voice that sounds almost human." So do most of the wonderful artists included in this show.

SUBSCRIBE TO ALL RADIO MUTATION PODCASTS |

Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Charlotte Breakdown by Don Reno)
Jackalope by The Okee Dokee Brothers
Keep the Home Fires Burnin' by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
The Hurrier I Go the Behinder I Get by The Last Mile Ramblers
I'm Too Old to Boogie Anymore by Butterball Paige
Everybody Out by Al Scorch
The Creeper by Al Duvall

(Background Music: Kentucky Waltz Boogie by Pete Burke Trio)
Creepy Jackalope Eye by Steve Earle & The Supersuckers
Little Dog Blues by Mel Price
A Hangover Ago by Dale Watson & Ray Benson
Red Wine by Scott H. Biram
Beans and Make Believe by John Wagner
DYGKD by The Ghost Wolves

(Background Music: Chicken Reel Stomp by The Tune Wranglers)
What You Did to the Boy Ain't Right by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Loud, Loud Music by John Prine & Amanda Shires
V-8 Blues by Three Tobacco Tags
Totally Totaled My Car by L.A. Rivercats
Women, Women, Women by Shelley Lee Alley & His Alley Cats
I Just Left Myself Today by Hickoids

Play it Here:



A Radio Mutation Podcast

Sunday, May 28, 2017

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST





Sunday, May 28, 2017
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
The Sky is a Poisonous Garden by Concrete Blonde
Give Her a Great Big Kiss by New York Dolls
Groove is in the Heart / California Girls by Crocodiles
Long Way Down by Sons of Hercules
Chicken in a Hurry by MFC Chicken
If a Man Answerrs by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Turn My Head by The Molting Vultures
Right on You by Benjamin Booker
Main Offender by The Hives

Baby, I'm in the Mood for You by Dion
Simone on the Beach by The Mekons
69 by The Four
Grab as Much as You Can by The Black Angels
Bunny Run by The Ghost Wolves
Will You Teach Me by Mark Sultan
Mr. Rolling Stone by The Hard Times

OUTSIDER MUSIC SET
Walking on the Moon by Pamela Lucia
Cut the Mullet by Wesley Willis
Big Ole Bear by Little Howlin' Wolf
My Pal Foot Foot by The Shaggs
We're Going to Texas by What's Your News
Like a Monkey in a Zoo by Daniel Johnson
Sodom and Gomorrah by New Creation
Lift Every Voice and Sing by Shoobie Taylor
I'm Just the Other Woman by The MSR Singers
True Love by Tiny Tim and Miss Sue

You like this crazy stuff? Check out this podcast on Radio Mutation, an aircheck from a July 18, 2010 show by a D.J. named Danielle on CJLO, a Montreal station

The Spotlight Kid by Captain Beeheart
Slip Inside This House by 13th Floor Elevators
Feel the Pain by Dinosaur Jr.
Tijuana Hit Squad by Deadbolt
Singing in the Rain by bPetty Booka
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Friday, May 26, 2017

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: Wolves, Angels and BBQ

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
May 26, 2017


“Anger is an energy,” John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, informed us a few decades ago. Considering that wisdom, Texa$ Platinum, the new album by The Ghost Wolves, is one of the most energetic I’ve heard lately.

The Austin couple of singer/guitarist Carley Wolf and her husband, drummer Jonathan Wolf, rock hard and wild with lyrics and song titles (“Attitude Problem,” “Whettin’ My Knife,” “Strychnine in My Lemonade”) that seem to seethe with vexation. And yet somehow listening to them only makes me grin.

Carley Wolf has a pixieish, girly voice that wouldn’t seem out of place in some of my favorite Japanese girl-punk bands. Actually, the first time I heard her, I thought of KatieJane Garside, the singer of the early-’90s group Daisy Chainsaw (“Love Your Money”). Carley is also a heck of a guitarist.

Her hubby Jonathan is not only downright powerful on the skins, he also adds subtle iggly-squiggly, sci-fi synth effects. The result is a refreshing take on the tried-and-true minimalist garage-y sound.

Summing up the spirit of the album is a track called “Noisy Neighbors (Yuppie Scum),” which features a recording of what sounds like some hapless neighbor coming to the door and meekly asking the group to keep the noise down. This prompts Carley Wolf to scream “Nobody likes a crybaby!” while the band unleashes a defiant blast of noise.

This is followed by a frantic little tune called “Crybabies Go Home,” a message to any fuddy-duddy neighbor or anyone else who would bring them down with trivial complaints.

Texa$ Platinum is brimming over with irresistible songs. “Triple Full Moon” starts off with nearly a full minute of the Wolves singing over a drum beat. This is basically a love song, with the refrain “You’re so good being bad with me.” And my favorite at the moment is a track with a very un-punk title: “Bunny Run.” It’s a fast-paced rocker bouncing off a bluesy guitar riff and features tinkling piano.

Curiously, the album ends with a low-fi acoustic hillbilly song called “DYGKD.” You might have fooled me into thinking this is some scratchy old field recording from the backwoods, except that Carley’s voice is recognizable. Don’t ask me what the title means. Don’t ask me to decipher the lyrics, either. I just think it’s cool that the band ends an album full of rage with a sweet wink and a joke.

Long may The Ghost Wolves howl.

Also recommended:

* Death Song by The Black Angels. Speaking of bands from Austin, the Angels are flying again.

This group, which has been around for more than a decade, is perhaps more responsible than any other for launching the modern-day “psychedelic rock” movement.

But unlike many bands who claim that description, The Black Angels actually live up to both the psychedelic and the rock sides of the equation. Often, so-called psychedelic rock is too spacey, with annoyingly meandering noodling. Or it’s so fey and precious it makes Donovan look like Randy “Macho Man” Savage — and makes me want to whack a hobbit in the head with a shovel.

But The Black Angels — even back in their early days, when they were fond of 14-minute sound odysseys — have a tough sound that has never fallen into those traps. Like the best groups of the original psychedelic daze, the Angels’ reverb-drenched garage-rock roots are always apparent. Their heads may be in some bizarre Dr. Strange dimension, but their feet are on the ground.

There are lots of solid rockers on this album. One of my favorites has a not very peace-and-love title: “I’d Kill for Her.” The guitars scream while Alex Maas sings a tale of love and death: “She was so loaded/And mesmerizing/I had to follow/Her black horizon/No, I will not kill for her again.”

Even stronger is “Hunt Me Down,” with its thunderous brontosaurus beat, while the bouncy “Grab as Much (As You Can)” — was this inspired by our current president? — has a bass line similar to the Beatles’ “Taxman” and an ending that might have been inspired by “A Day in the Life.”

Meanwhile, “Comanche Moon,” which concerns the genocide of the American Indian, starts out with a Byrds-y folk-rock guitar hook that soon yields to an Allmans-esque “Whipping Post” riff.

Velvet Underground fans will immediately catch the significance of the album’s title — though nothing on this record sounds like the folkish, Dylan-influenced “The Black Angel’s Death Song” from the Velvets’ debut.

The final two tracks here seem to be a nod to it, though. “Death March” sounds like a descent into the underworld, with drums that suggest the band is ready for battle. Maas’ voice sounds downright ghostly. The final tune is a six-minute dirge called “Life Song,” which may be closer to Pink Floyd than The Black Angels have ever come before.


* BBQ by Mark Sultan. This is the latest solo album by Canadian Mark Sultan, a one-man band who is also half of the two-man band known as The King Khan & BBQ Show. He plays guitar and drums (via foot pedal) at the same time.

But Sultan’s real strength is his soaring voice. While a number of the better-known one-man outfits with roots in the punk racket play a hopped-up version of the blues, Sultan’s best songs are rooted in doo-wop and/or early soul.

Right now my favorite on this album is “Rock Me,” in which he makes a credible stab at being the best living Sam Cooke impersonator.

Ya like the videos?

Here are a couple from The Ghost Wolves.

Remember, nobody likes a crybaby!



Some folks like water, some folks like wine. But I like the taste of strychnine in my lemonade ...



Here are a couple of new Black Angels songs






And here's my favorite song on the latest Sultan album




Thursday, May 25, 2017

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Revenge of the Scopitones


It's been more than a year since this blog explored the Sexsational World of Scopitones.

As the Wolf Brand Chile ads used to say, "Friends, that's too long."

As I said last year, Scopitone was a company that in the early to mid '60s, filmed hundreds of music clips featuring pop stars -- and many who weren't quite up to star status -- singing their songs, usually with busty bikin-clad dancers doing the frug and Watusi behind them.

Those were the days!

And all these film clips were played on a coin-operated machine, manufactured in France, called the Scopitone 450. It basically was a jukebox hooked up to a 26-inch TV set that played 16mm film clips.

You can learn more about the machines HERE and see some crazy examples of Scopitone videos below.

When I saw that a pretty blonde named January Jones was the star of several Scopitone films, I thought how would that be possible? The actor who played Betty Draper in Mad Men wasn't  even born then. But this January Jones is a Mad Men-era singer who knew how to stuff a wild bikini. Here she is singing "Up the Lazy River."



Here are April Stevens & Nino Tempo, who probably are best known for their mid-'60s hit cover version of the song "Deep Purple." But here they do "Land of a Thousand Dances." This cover is so lame would make Wilson want to picket and turn Cannibal of the Headhunters into a vegetarian. But was anyone listening to the music?



Here's Gale Garnett, who had  hit in the '60s witha song called "We'll Sing in the Sunshine." How ya like these taters?



Sonny King croons a tasteful "I Cried for You."



Finally, here's the queen of Scopitone, the incomparable Joi Lansing.













Wednesday, May 24, 2017

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Songs for the Serial Killers

Peter Kürten: He's looking at the river but he's thinking of the sea

The Axeman of New Orleans was a guy who liked to break into people's houses -- and murder them with their own axes (or sometimes a straight razor) in New Orleans back in 1918 an 1919.Most of his victims were Italian Americans.  He never was caught, at least not for the six or seven murders he committed. His identity remains a mystery.

Like the Son of Sam and the Zodiac Killer decades later, The Axeman sought publicity for his crimes. In March, 1919 he sent a taunting letter to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. And like Charlie Manson, he apparently dug  music.

Here's the infamous letter:

Hell, March 13, 1919

Esteemed Mortal:


They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman.

When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company.

If you wish you may tell the police to be careful not to rile me. Of course, I am a reasonable spirit. I take no offense at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past. In fact, they have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me, but His Satanic Majesty, Francis Josef, etc. But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover what I am, for it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of the Axeman. I don't think there is any need of such a warning, for I feel sure the police will always dodge me, as they have in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm.

Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most horrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse if I wanted to. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. At will I could slay thousands of your best citizens, for I am in close relationship with the Angel of Death.

Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night [March 19, 1919}, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:

I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it on Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.

Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus, and it is about time I leave your earthly home, I will cease my discourse. Hoping that thou wilt publish this, that it may go well with thee, I have been, am and will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact or realm of fancy.

The Axeman

This inspired  composer Joseph John Davilla to write an instrumental rag that year called "The Mysterious Axman's Jazz (Don't Scare Me Papa)." Years later it would inspire The Tombstones to do this song, "Axeman of New Orleans."



Ed Gein has been the subject of several rock songs. The Plainfield, Wisc. man liked to create arts and crafts with human skin -- some he dug up from nearby graveyards, and some from women who he killed. He was arrested in 1957 by police who found all sorts of grisly souvenirs in his house including Nine masks of human skin; bowls made from human skulls; human skin covering several chair seats; a belt made from female human nipples; a lampshade made from the skin from a human face ... and other fancy stuff.

Gein inspired Hitchcock's Psycho, as well as other horroe movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The character of "Buffalo Bill" in The Silence of The Lambs has  a lot of Weird Eddie in him.

He also inspired several rock 'n' roll tunes, most notably Slayer's "Dead Skin Mask." But I'm going to post something I just recently stumbled on, "Good Old Ed Gein" by The Pornscars a German psychobilly band. (Thanks to Jack Samuel of the  Rocking the Garage Google-Plus Group for this one.)



Did I mention Son of Sam, the 1970s New York killer who was only following orders from a demonic dog? The Dead Boys did this song not long after David Berkowitz's killing spree.



Dead Moon were at their spooky best when they sang about cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer, another Wisconsin maniac, in "Room 213." (Check out my post about Dahmer songs HERE.)



Finally, Randy Newman's haunting "In Germany Before the War" is the tale of  Peter Kürten, the “Vampire of Dusseldorf" who committed all sorts of depraved murders and sexual assaults. Among the crimes he admitted was the killing of a nine-year-old girl in 1913. He was executed by guillotine in 1931.





Sunday, May 21, 2017

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST





Sunday, May 21, 2017
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Death March by The Black Angels
Skintrade by The Mekons
Out of the Question by The Seeds
Alligator Wine by Fifty Foot Combo & Reverend Beat-Man
You Must Be a Witch by Dead Moon
Two Ton Feather by Dion
In Heaven by The Pixies
Jesus Christ Pose by Soundgarden

The Black Dog Runs at Night by Angelo Badalamenti
The Grace by The Molting Vultures
Strychnine in My Lemonade by The Ghost Wolves
Broken Racehorse by The Blind Shake
Staying Underground by Destination Lonely
Astral Plane by The Modern Lovers
It's Suicide by Mark Sultan
Kiss My Sister's Fist by The King Khan & BBQ Show
Up in Flames by Koko Taylor

Baby Please Don't Go by Them
In Dreams by Roy Orbison
I Must Be the Devil by Glambilly
Beehive by Mark Lanegan
Apocalyptica Blues by Blind Butcher
Mother Sky by CAN
Blues Without Reason by The Vagoos
Blue Velvet by Bobby Vinton

The Spell by Afghan Whigs
Dark Night of the Soul by Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse with David Lynch
Ain't But the One Way by Julian Cope
Sycamore Trees by Jimmy Scott
Port of Amsterdam by Dave Van Ronk
Questions in a World of Blue by Julee Cruise
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Friday, May 19, 2017

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST



Friday, May 19, 2017
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

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
You're Crazy for Taking the Bus by Jonathan Richman
Little But I'm Loud by Rosie Flores
She Gave Up on Herself by Miss Lesley
Hogtied Over You by Billy Bacon & The Forbidden Pigs with Candye Kane
The Other Woman by Loretta Lynn
Bus Breakdown by Dale Watson & Ray Watson
Humpty Dump Jump by L.A. Rivercatz
Griselda by Yo La Tengo
Bonaparte's Retreat by Holy Modal Rounders
Pablo Picasso Never Got Called Redneckerson by Frontier Circus

New Mexico Blues by John Wagner
Don't Leave It Lie by Shinyribs
Queen of the Minor Key by Eilen Jewell
What Makes Bob Holler by Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys
Sweet Kind of Love by Don Walser
God's Problem Child by Willie Nelson with Tony Joe White, Leon Russel & Jamie Johnson
This Land is Our Land Redux by Slim Cessna's Auto Club
The Hand of the Almighty by John R. Butler

Get Up and Go / Fiddle Tunes by David Bromberg
Hello, I'm a Truck by Red Simpson
On the Road Again by Memphis Jug Band
Waiting for a Train by Jimmie Rodgers
One Bad Shoe by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Rusty Cage by Johnny Cash
Make it Up to Mama by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
No Glory by The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers

You Don't Hear Me Crying by Modern Mal
I'm Gonna Love You by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Hope the High Road by Jason Isbell
She Never Spoke Spanish to Me by Joe Ely
Long Black Veil by Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard
Lesson in Depression by James Hand
Country Bumpkin by Cal Smith
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

Thursday, May 18, 2017

THROWBACK THURSDAY: In Praise of American Epic


Will Shade with The Memphis Jug Band
OK, my advice to you is to quit reading this blog post and go sit yourself in front of your TV -- or your iPad or whatever you use for a TV these days -- and start watching the PBS series American Epic

It's a 3-part series about American roots music in the early 20th Century, co-produced by Jack White and T-Bone Burnett and narrated by Robert Redford. There is lots of rare footage and photos, a soundtrack full of spooky old country, blues and folk classics and interviews with living musicians -- Charlie Musselwhite, Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson etc. -- talking about how this music enriched their lives.

Episode 1 of the series is already available. "The Big Bang" focuses on two great acts from the 1920s, The Carter Family and The Memphis Jug Band, discovered by Ralph Peer, the Columbia Records A&R man who traveled the south seeking recording artists, black and white, to appeal to rural audiences.  (You can watch on your computer HERE.)

Below is a trailer for the series, followed by some songs that are featured in that first episode.





Here's Jimmie Rodgers, foreshadowing MTV by 50 years or so,



Here are Maybelle and Sara Carter reunited on The Johnny Cash Show in 1970. Johnny says it's their first time performing together in 27 years (though actually they'd recorded together in 1963 and did a bunch of shows together in the '60s.)



I love whoever decided to film this song by Whistler's Jug Band way back when.


In American Epic, the rapper Nas compares jug band music with gangsta rap. “These guys are talking about carrying guns, shooting something, protecting their honor, chasing after some woman who’s done them dirty. It didn’t start with hip-hop. It started a long time ago. It started with America.”

Here's The Memphis Jug Band singing about what Kinky Friedman calls "Peruvian Marching Powder."



And here's American Epic: The Soundtrack on Spotify. But listen to it after you watch the show!


Wednesday, May 17, 2017

WACKY WEDNESDAY: We Just Missed Jonathan's Birthday!

Jonathan Richman at Meow Wolf, Santa Fe, NM
Nov. 5, 2016



The strange and wonderful Jonathan Richman turned 66 on Wacky Wednesday Eve, Tuesday May 16.

Richman and his band The Modern Lovers, in their early-'70s incarnation, was a pioneering post-garage, pre-punk band from New England. Richman was a Velvet Underground fanatic, though his own vision was much less dark and far more whimsical.

By the end of the '70s Richman's sound was getting softer, more acoustic, more chidlike, Through the years he's stayed true to his oddball vision.

A personal note: Back in 1998 I got to open for Jonathan when he played in Santa Fe. Truly one of the highlights of my own tacky music career.

Below are some of my favorite Jonathan tunes.

Here's one from one his frequent appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in the early '90s.


And here's another Conan performance.  Everybody loves those vampire girls.



Going back to 1987, here's a tribute to Jonathan's favorite Marx brother.



Gregg Turner does a fine cover of this Jonathan favorite.



Speaking of people who've covered Jonathan, here are a couple of versions of Modern Lovers songs, starting with an acoustic take on "Pablo Picasso" by Iggy Pop.



And here's Joan Jett singing Jonathan's song about New Mexico's state bird.



And here's the first Jonathan song I ever heard back in the mid '70s. It's still one of my favorites.



Drummer Tommy Larkins with Jonathan Richman at Meow Wolf last year



Sunday, May 14, 2017

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST




Sunday, May 14, 2017
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Kickin' Child by Dion
Right On You by Benjamin Booker
Why Have You Changed by Thee Vicars
Don't Go Messin' by The Molting Vultures
Typical Girls by The Slits
Acid Drops by Public Image Ltd
Straight from Hell by Destination Lonely
Mom by Joe West

Tubes World Tour by The Tubes
I Need Somebody by Deniz Tek & James Williamson
Never Far From Where the Wild Things Are by James Williamson & Lisa Kekaula
1848 Now! by The Mekons
Now by The Plimsouls
Your Auntie Grizelda by The Monkees
Triple Full Moon by The Ghost Wolves

My Wild Love by The Doors
Gonna Murder My Baby by Pat Hare
Still Rollin' by Left Lane Cruiser
The Trip of Kambo by O Lendario Chucrobillyman
Drunk on Destruction by Mark Lanegan
Light as a Feather by Afghan Whigs
Old Tape of Memories by Laino & Broken Seeds
Sweet Simple Life by Demolition Doll Rods

My World is Empty Without You by Lee Fields & The Expressions
Midnight Hauler by Eleni Mandell
My Happiness by Elvis Presley
My Way by Sid Vicious
Always by Leonard Cohen
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Friday, May 12, 2017

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST



Friday, May 12, 2017
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

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Every Kind of Music But Country by Robbie Fulks
Kangaroo Blues by Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers
Big Shoes by Faron Young
Railroad of Sin by Sturgill Simpson
Shooting Star from Texas by Wayne Hancock
Holy Ghost Rock 'n' Roller by Jesse Dayton
Life of a Fool by Paul Burch
Nightmare of a Woman by Deke Dickerson
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by Little Richard
Rainmaker by Tusker

Dust on Mother's Bible by Buck Owens
Kit Kat Clock by The Bottle Rockets
700,000 Rednecks by Nikki Lane
Old Timer by Willie Nelson
About to Find Out by Margo Price
Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets by D.M. Bob & The Deficits
My Bucket's Got a Hole in It by Jawbone
Still Around by Scott H. Biram
I Will Survive by Peter Stampfel & The Ether Frolic Mob

It Makes No Difference by Shannon McNally
Nobody to Blame by Chris Stapleton
The End by Peter Case
The Dust I Own by Laino & Broken Seeds
High, Low and Lonesome by The Dinosaur Truckers
Stranger in Town by Dave Alvin
Good Ship Venus by Loudon Wainwright III

Trouble by Lauria
All Apologies by Iron Horse
Fairfax Story by David Bromberg
Same God by Calamity Cubes
I Bid You Goodnight by Any Old Time String Band
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


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Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Thursday, May 11, 2017

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: Musical Gems from the Counterculture

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
May 12, 2017



You can’t really talk about the counterculture without talking about the music. It’s one-third of the mystic voodoo trinity of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll.

So, in honor of the Voices of Counterculture in the Southwest exhibit, which opens Sunday at the Museum of New Mexico, below are some of my favorite counterculture songs in human history.

I’ve purposely avoided overused, overplayed selections — “White Rabbit,” “Born to Be Wild” — that you always hear on era soundtracks, oldies radio, and cheesy ’60s compilations. Behind the usual choices are some overlooked diamonds.

Let’s start with a couple of contributions from New Mexico:

The Mighty Tusker,
Left to right: Eliza Gilkyson, Steve Lindsey, Dennis Overman,
Baird Banner, Dennis Culver and David Gilliland
* “Rainmaker” by Tusker. This was a band of local hippie types, featuring the vocals of longtime Retrospecto. It sounds as refreshing now as it did back then. The band included favorite daughter Eliza Gilkyson, plus Santa Fe music stalwarts like Dennis Overman, David Gilliland, Baird Banner, Steve Lindsey, and Dennis Culver. Overman still says Tusker is his favorite band. I thought I’d heard “Rainmaker” on local radio back in the late ’60s or early ’70s, but I guess, like Alex Jones, I’ve had so many big bowls of chile that my memory’s shot. It wasn’t actually recorded until the mid-’70s. Still, this tune, written and sung by Gilkyson, belongs on any list of great counterculture songs. “Rainmaker, where did all your dancers go?/Did we lose them one and all just like we lost your buffalo?” Then the chorus: “We can dance, people, bring that rain down from the sky/We don’t have to let the land go hungry or run dry/We can dance and bring Rainmaker back before we die.” Overman recently recalled, “I remember we played it at Paolo Soleri ... which was actually risky at an outdoor venue. ... That song made it rain a few times.” After being out of print for decades, Gilkyson included it on her 2005 rarities album Retrospecto. It sounds as refreshing now as it did back then.

* "I Wanna Come Back (From The World of LSD)” by The Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2. Though they never became famous, a bunch of Albuquerque kids created one of the first — and one of the finest — psychedelic songs ever released. And it was recorded at Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, where a decade before, Buddy Holly worked his magic. The band, originally known as the Playmates, played at teen dances all over the state and even opened for nationally known bands like The Yardbirds and Question Mark & The Mysterians. Their guitar player, Eddie Garcia, had been a member of The Champs (“Tequila!”). In an interview a few years ago in the online Lance Monthly (published by Dick Stewart, owner of Albuquerque’s Lance Records, which released the song), keyboardist Victor Roybal said, “We were looking for a new and original sound. Much of what we had been doing [was] performing top 40 sounds which people requested to hear. Danny [Houlihan, the singer] came up with the song and we all liked the sound.” For my money, “World of LSD” was even more powerful than psychedelic anthems like The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Incense and Peppermints” or The Electric Prunes’ “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).” Houlihan didn’t have “too much to dream.” He sounded like a kid scared out of his wits by hallucinations. Or maybe not. Roybal told Lance Monthly, “After the release of the 45-rpm [on Lance Records], the song was characterized as ‘anti-drug.’ I don’t think that was the intent, however.”



* “Coo Coo” by Big Brother & The Holding Company. This is a mysterious old minor-key
British folk song turned into a blistering psychedelic jam by Janis Joplin and her undeservedly underrated band. On some live versions that have surfaced, Janis doesn’t even sing until the second verse, which comes well after the halfway point. I’m firmly in the camp that believes Janis never should have left the ragged-but-righteous Big Brother. This song gives ammunition to that argument.

* “Livin’ With the Animals” by Mother Earth. This was a classic hippie band from the Bay Area that never quite made it that big, though singer Tracy Nelson was sometimes touted as the next Janis Joplin. But this tune, the title song of their first album, was sung and written by Texas-born Powell St. John, who also wrote songs for the 13th Floor Elevators. It’s a funny blues, complete with electric fiddle. The protagonist reminds me of some hapless R. Crumb character, a poor dude who’s the target of con artists, neighborhood toughs and an unfaithful girlfriend who’s “got some other sucker in her bed.”





* “Fat Angel” by Jefferson Airplane. Donovan wrote this one, reportedly about Mama Cass Elliott, Bless Its Pointed Little Head.
and in it, he name-checked the Airplane: “Fly Jefferson Airplane, get you there on time.” The Airplane returned the favor by covering the song, making it tougher and less droney, the first recorded version appearing on the live album





* “Mercy I Cry City” by The Incredible String Band. Speaking of Donovan, I bet you thought that he made the hippiest, dippiest, trippiest British music of the 1960s. Not even close. That honor would fall to the dynamic duo of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, better known as The Incredible String Band. And when they were good, they were wonderful. Their album The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter was their masterpiece, and the best song on it is “Mercy,” which sounds like a jug-band song as performed by Druids who’ve been listening to Ravi Shankar and English Music Hall 78s.


* “What’s Become of the Baby” by The Grateful Dead. When you’re talking about the
counterculture, the Grateful Dead is beyond obvious. Probably no other band is so closely associated with the movement. You could argue that a better-known song like the hippie-go-lucky “Truckin,’ ” or maybe “Sugar Magnolia,” better represents the group’s contributions to the era far more than this dark, dreary, near-unlistenable eight-minute drug dirge. But “What’s Become of the Baby,” with its distorted, meandering vocals, weird background noises, and a pace that’s excruciatingly slow — even for the dadgum Grateful Dead! — shows the group at its most sonically experimental. And the mostly unintelligible lyrics seem to hint at something tragic or maybe even evil (“But where is the child who played with the sunshine and chased the cloud shape to the regions of mind?”).Was this some crib death the commune covered up? Perhaps a Satanic sacrifice? A strange metaphor you can’t quite figure out? Really, what happened to this damned kid?

Enjoy many of these hallowed hippie sounds on this YouTube playlist:





THROWBACK THURSDAY: Happy Birthday, Irving!


One hundred and twenty nine years ago today one of America's greatest songwriters was born.

In Russia.

But Israel Isidore Baline didn't stay in Russia long.  When he was five, his family immigrated to the U.S. to escape Russian persecution of Jews.

He didn't stay Israel Isidore Baline for long either, He rose to fame under the name Irving Berlin.

And Irving, who died at the age of 101 in 1989, wrote a ton of songs -- some of the most famous of the Tin Pan Alley era. "God Bless America," "White Christmas," "Easter Parade" (remember, he was Jewish!"), "Puttin' on the Ritz," "There's No Business Like Show Business" ... The list goes on and on.

Here are some of his best known tunes done by a variety of singers. Happy birthday, Irving. We're all richer for the music you left us.

This was Irving's first hit back in 1911, This version is by Bessie Smith in 1927.



Here's a prohibition-era tune about a little island in the Caribbean that became a playground for Americans. It's sung by crooner Billy Murray in 1920,



You say you mainly like songs about sex and Satan? Well, Irving wrote at least one of those. Here's one sung by Harriet Hilliard, who later would be known as Harriet Nelson -- yes, Ozzie's wife and Ricky's mom. This song is from the 1936 movie Follow the Fleet.



Al Jolson sang this Irving hit in The Jazz Singer (1927).



And this Irving song is the best cover Leonard Cohen ever did.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

WACKY WEDNESDAY: The Record Shows He Took The Blows ... Happy Birthday, Sid


Sid Vicious would have been 60 years old today.

But he didn't make it. He barely made it to the age of 21.

Still, today let's celebrate the crazy spirit of Sid. He indeed was something else.



Johnny Rotten sang this with The Sex Pistols. But Sid sang it as an original member of The Monkees (FAKE NEWS!)



Now here's something different: A pretty, heartfelt song about Sid & Nancy, "Room 100" by Florida rocker Ronnie Elliott.



But Paul Anka wrote the best tribute:

For what is a man, what has he got
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way!

Sunday, May 07, 2017

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST




Sunday, May 7, 2017
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Ode to Billy Joe by Clydie King
One Big White Nightmare by Churchwood
Can't Get Your Lovin' by Count Five
Mudpit by The Del-Gators
All the Good Gone by The Ghost Wolves
Oh No by Ton Ton Maccouts
Get Me Outta the Country by The Electric Mess
These Boots re Made for Walkin' by Candye Kane
Putin by Randy Newman

Flowers of Evil Part 2 by The Mekons
Fate of  Gambler by Laino & Broken Seeds
Liquor Store by Left Lane Cruiser
Nocturne by Mark Lanegan
Arabian Heights by The Afghan Whigs
Shoppin' For Clothes by The Coasters

I Dreamt by Black Angels
Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground by The White Stripes
Johnny Feel Good by The Vagoos
They Have Us Surrounded by The Dirtbombs
Cosmetic by Nots
Green Eyed Lady by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
Rock 'n' Roll Murder by The Leaving Trains

Turning Blue by Jay Reatard
Wasted by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Coast of Wasted Youth by Lynx Lynx
Summing the Wretch by Animal Collective
Good Time Religion by The Dead Brothers
Floating by Julee Cruise
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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FOLK REMEDY PLAYLIST


Sunday, May 7, 2017
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
8 am to 10 am Sundays Mountain Time
Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM

Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's the playlist :
Welcome Table and Prayer by Alice Wine
Getting Richer by Rev. Louis Overstreet
Old Time Religion by The Blind Boys of Alabama
Waiting by The River by The Orifginal Blind Boys of Mississippi
They Are Ringing Them Bells by Rev. Lonnie Farris
Glory to Jesus I am Free by Rev. Utah Smith
God Rode in on a Windstorm by Sister Sarah James

Do You Call That Religion by Rev. A. Johnson
Jesus' Blood by Golden Stars of Greenwood, S.
Honey in the Rock by Washington Phillips
A Lady Called Mother by Swan Silvertones
Sheep Sheep Doncha Know the Road by Bessie Jones & Sea Island Singers
Memphis Flu by Elder Curry
Straight Street by Pilgrim Travelers

Rockin' Chair Daddy by Harmonica Frank
In the Jailhouse Now by Jimmie Rodgers
Hobo Jungle Blues by Sleepy John Estes
Hobo, You Can't Ride This Train by Louis Armstrong
Greenville Strut by Mississippi Sarah & Daddy Stovepipe
I've Got Blood in My Eyes For You by The Mississippi Sheiks
Please Warm My Wiener by Bo Carter
Cocaine by Dick Justice

I Will Survive by Peter Stampfel & The Ether Frolic Mob
Keep it Clean by Charlie Jordan
Down on Penny's Farm by The Bently Boys
Railroad Bill by Hobart Smith
Pussy Got the Measles by Jeanne Ritchie
Bath House Blues by Ashley's Melody Men
Old Dog Blue by Jim Jackson
Walk Right In by Gus Cannon
Old Lady and The Devil by Bill & Belle Reed


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

Friday, May 05, 2017

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST



Friday, May 5, 2017
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

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
F the CC by Steve Earle
Wooly Bully by Ry Cooder
Still Not Dead by Willie Nelson
Don't Get Above Your Risin' by Ricky Skaggs with Elvis Costello
Ragtime Sinner by The Goddamn Gallows
Mad Cow Boogie by L.A. Rivercatz
The Lost Cause by Legendary Shack Shakers

Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle by Iron Horse
In Bloom by Sturgill Simpson
You're Lookin' at Country by Loretta Lynn
Lead Me On by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
Sittin' and Thinkin' About You by Dale Wtson and Ray Benson
Town by The Dashboard Saviors
The Way it Goes by Gillian Welch
Building Our Own Prison by The Waco Brothers

When Sinatra Played Juarez by Tom Russell
Fiesta by The Pogues
One Time, One Night by Los Lobos
Soy Chicano by Flaco Jimenez
Guacamole by Augie Meyers & His Valley Vatos
Stay Lover Strong by Stephanie Hatfield
TJ by Hickoids
Volver Volver by Pinata Protest

Lady Killin' Papa by Deke Dickerson
That's What Daddy Wants by Wayne Hancock
Nothin' Feels Right But Doin' Wrong by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Hobo's Meditation by Audrey Auld
I Knew It All Along by Shinyribs
Given to Me by Southern Culture on the Skids
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

Thursday, May 04, 2017

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Four Dead in Ohio


Mary Ann Vecchio, 14, kneels over the body of Jeffrey Miller, killed by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970

Today, May 4, is the 47th anniversary of the Kent State Massacre. That's when Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students -- Allison Krause, 19, Jeffrey Miller, 20, Sandra Scheuer, 20 and Bill Schroeder, 19 --  during a protest of President Richard Nixon's invasion of Cambodia.

Neil Young wrote a song, "Ohio" that raged against the killings. It, more than any news report I've read, sums up the tragedy.

"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, 
We're finally on our own. 
This summer I hear the drumming 
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground

How can you run when you know?"

Young recorded it as part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on May 21, just a little over two weeks after the killings. It was released as a single in June -- basically an "instant" murder ballad, a protest song ripped from headlines that still were fresh.

As Ken Bigger wrote in the Murder Ballad Monday blog a few years ago, "Ohio":

delivers a sharply honed emotional point, with scant reference to the details of May 4. “Ohio” does not tell a complete story–as if it could. The theme it mines lies principally within the lines “we’re finally on our own” and “four dead in Ohio.” The song is both dirge and protest anthem, plaintive wail and drumming a beat for a counterculture response.

I'm assuming that everyone is familiar with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young version of the song. (If not, CLICK HERE)

But there are other versions. The Isley Brothers combined it with Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun" for a smoldering emotional punch in the gut.



And Devo did a quirky take on "Ohio." But while it's jarring, it's not irreverent. Singer Mark Mothersbaugh and bassist Jerry Casale were students at Kent State when the shootings occurred. Casale actually witnessed the shootings and personally knew Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller. Mothersbaugh talked about the shootings on Marc Maron's WTF podcast this week.



There is so much political bile and violence in n the air these days, I worry that another Kent State could happen. I pray it doesn't.

UPDATE: Jerry Casale of Devo will discuss Kent State tonight on CNN's Soundtracks.


For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Music from the Found Footage Festival

The Found Footage Festival, the brainchild of Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, collects old VHS tapes that, according to website "were found at garage sales and thrift stores and in warehouses and dumpsters across the country."

Pickett and Prueher collect these and sell DVD compilations -- Volume 8 is about to be released. They also do live tours in which they play the best of these VHS treasures.

We're talking about unintentionally hilarious footage of exercise lessons; dating and self-help advice; religious sermons; bad celebrity interviews; corporate training; magicians; home movies, terrible public-access shows ... and, of course, music.

If you ever laughed at the Dave's Video Collection segments on the old David Letterman show, you'll probably love the Found Footage Festival. Prueher worked for five years as a researcher for Letterman and last year, and after Letterman retired, some of his staffers bestowed all the old tapes from Dave's Video Collection upon Pickett and Prueher "to be the stewards of this archive of weird videos. Rest assured, we’ll give it a good home."

Pickett and Prueher also are notorious pranksters. They recently were in the news for posing as a "strongman duo" -- Chop & Steele-- and tricking a Wisconsin morning TV show into having them on to show their amazingly mundane feats of strength. Last month the company that owns the TV station actually sued the two for copyright infringement, fraud and conspiracy,

Some people have no sense of humor.

Hopefully you won't sue after watching these music videos from The Found Footage Festival website.

Let's start with singer/songwriter Nicki Rose. Mama, he's one of a kind. The songs called "Personality Crisis," but I don't think The New York Dolls done it this way,



This'll get your Irish up. As Frank says "In the lit of Irish laughter you can hear the angles sing ..."



This is from a tape called Attracting Today’s Woman. 



Harvey Sid Fisher has written songs about all 12 of the signs of the zodiac. This is a sampling. You can find more from Harvey Sid HERE



Finally, here's a special Mother's Day rap from Mr. T




What's your sign, Harvey Sid Fisher?


Monday, May 01, 2017

Start Your Week Off with the Classy New Big Enchilada Podcast

THE BIG ENCHILADA




This is the classiest podcast episode you'll ever hear.  I handpicked only the most elegant music from the most sophisticated musicians to use on this show. Then I washed my hands. You're probably not classy enough to appreciate these fine sounds. But try. With a little practice, you too can be elegant.


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Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Tango by The D,J, Bonebrake Trio)
Highfalutin' by The Upper Crust
Mini-Skirt Blues by The Cramps with Iggy Pop
Get Your Pants Off by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Dirt Preacher by Destination Lonely
Time is Right by The Vagoos
I Wanna Get You Off by The Darts 

(Background Music: Gevurah by John Zorn & Bar Kokhba Sextet)
I'd Kill for Her by The Black Angels
Valley of the Wolves by The Ghost Wolves
Pizza by Double Date with Death
Oh No Ton Ton Macouts
Keep Your Kitten Inside by Dirty Fences
Asylum Seekers of Love by The Bonnevilles
Slander by Ty Wagner 

(Background Music: LSD Partie by Roland Vincent)
Billy by Boss Hog
Eye by Audio Kings of the Third Wolrd
Wine, Wine, Wine by Classic V
Tura Satana Tribute Song by The Dustaphonics
Don't Know Why You Go Away by Weird Omen

Play it here:

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...