Friday, January 30, 2009

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, January 30, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Forbidden Love by Billy Kaundart
Blood is Thicker Than Water by Shaver
Punk Rockin' Honky Tonk Girl by The Blue Chieftains
Lonley at the Top by Dan Baird
Johnny Valentine by Andy Anderson
Lose Your Mind by Wayne Hancock
Midnight Train by Maddox Brothers & Rose
Send Me To the 'Lectric Chair by David Bromberg

How You Drink The Wine by Amber Digby
I Just Can't Be True by Webb Pierce
Hot Dog That Made Him Mad by Wanda Jackson
Walk on By by Charlie Pride
Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride at All by Ray Price & Johnny Bush
I'll Be a Bachelor Til I Die by Hank Thompson
You're the Reason by Nancy Apple
Miss Froggy by Warren Smith
To Each His Own by Butch Hancock
Funky Butt by Mississippi John Hurt

Tex Mex Mile by The Gourds
Heartaches and Grease by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Rainbow Stew by Jason Ringenberg
My Pretty Quadroon by Jerry Lee Lewis
You Asked Me To by Waylon Jennings
I'm Mad With You by Cornell Hurd
Thirty Dollar Room by Dave Alvin
That's the Smoke They're Blowin' by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks

Going Away by The Flatlanders
Knoxville Girl by The Louvin Brothers
To Which Cross Do I Cling by Chris Darrow
Men With Broken Hearts/ I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Flow by Porter Wagoner
The Blind Child's Prayer by Hank Williams
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: GOURDS STILL STANDING

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
January 30, 2009


Of all the bands that rose out of the alt-country scare of the mid-to-late ’90s, the only ones that remain standing do a lot for me these days: The Waco Brothers and The Gourds.

Wilco is a whole other story. It’s still around, of course, but its music stopped resembling alt-country — much less country — years ago. Then there’s The Handsome Family, which I tend to think of more as a duo than a get-down band. And there’s the Bottle Rockets, but they haven’t had a new record in three years or so. Come to think of it, The Wacos haven’t had an album of new material in nearly four years.
GOURDS LIVE on the Plaza, July 2008
But The Gourds keep cranking ’em out, and the band’s new one, Haymaker!, is its strongest in a long time. If you’re not familiar with The Gourds, who have played Santa Fe several times in recent years, this album would be as good a place as any to start.

Like the best stuff from this Austin group, it’s good, rocking country-flavored fun, with more than a hint of Cajun and Tex-Mex music, thanks largely to Claude Bernard’s accordion. The musicians worship Doug Sahm, but they never sound like they’re trying to imitate him. They are often compared to The Band, but their humor is far goofier. The Gourds’ musicianship is tight, and yet they make their records sound like loose backyard parties. You can almost smell the barbecue and beer.

There are two main singers and songwriters in the group — Kevin Russell (who, for reasons best known to him and his god, calls himself “Shineyribs” in the Haymaker! album credits) and Jimmy Smith. I’m not sure which is John and which is Paul, but the George Harrison of The Gourds is multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston, who sings lead on two songs, including the slow, soulful, and lovely “Valentine,” which is guaranteed to get him laid on Feb. 14.

Haymaker! isn’t a concept album, but it has the feeling of a crazy travelogue. Lots of songs deal with travel. “Wake up! We’re going to the country,” are the first words of the first song, “Country Love.” That tune perpetrates the country-music truism that “country lovin’ ” is somehow preferable to urban sex.

Keeping with the unstated travel theme, Russell’s “All the Way to Jericho” sounds like it’s about some cosmic pilgrimage. “All the way to Jericho in a rusted automobile,” he sings. Listeners might be reminded of that old song about pulling into Nazareth.
Shineyribs
Shineyribs is back to this earthly plane, however, in the song “Shreveport,” in which he’s on a “midnight drive down on Jewella Road.” This little rocker has references to methamphetamine use and “heavy metal rednecks and their frizzy blond hair.” In “Bridget,” Smith tells about not-so-sweet hitchhiker wearing a Che T-shirt. When he lets her off at a rest stop, she says, “Thanks for the lift, you old geezer.”

Smith’s best contribution to this album is “Blanket Show,” a crazy hoedown injected with garage-band energy. He sings of “warthog rage” and gets away with the line “My heart was heavy but my fu was kung.”

But my favorite Haymaker! song has to be “Tex-Mex Mile,” whices a trip to South Austin sound like Homer’s Odyssey set to the tune of “Six Days on the Road.” “I lost 10 years down there smoking that Pachuca weed/I was Rip Van Winkle but I thought I was Apollo Creed/I couldn’t find my dingo boots, hell I couldn’t even find my feet/I kept a waking and a baking even though it was mostly seeds.”

The amazing thing that The Gourds pull off is that they have managed to stay true to their basic sound. They really haven’t changed much since their earliest works, and they certainly don’t try to keep up with trends. They’re just a great unsung American band. May their fu remain ever kung.

Also noted:
* Lucky 13
by the Paula Nelson Band. Paula is Willie’s daughter. She doesn’t sound much like the old man, but you can hear the DNA in her nasal voice.

She’ll never be as highly regarded as her dad. But then again, Willie can never say he’s worked as Jessica Simpson’s stunt driver. Paula can.

I caught the last part of her set at Austin’s Saxon Pub a couple of years ago (she’s got a weekly gig there, and she went on right before Hundred Year Flood), and I liked what I heard. As this album, released last year, shows, she’s got a blues-rock sound.
HYF at Saxon Pub, July 2007
My favorites are her rockers, like “Standing Tall,” “Fire Below,” and “Baby You’re Mean.” But she also proves she can handle sad songs and waltzes like “Surrender.” I had to check the credits to make sure that wasn’t a Willie tune.

Most of the songs are original, but there are a few covers. Her rocking version of the Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra, Johnny Cash/June Carter hit “Jackson” is pretty decent, but much better is her take on a lost Rickie Lee Jones gem, “Easy Money.”

My biggest beef is with her selection of “Angel From Montgomery.” John Prine wrote it; Bonnie Raitt turned it to a wimp-rock classic; and Paula Nelson didn’t need to cover it.

The Paula Nelson Band plays at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 30, at the Santa Fe Brewing Company (37 Fire Place, santafebrewing.com); the cover charge is $10.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

PLUGS FOR PALS & RELATIONS

I've been so busy with my political blog I've been letting this one go to Hell.

But just so you don't think I've completely lost myself to Roundhouse madness, here's a couple of music links for you to chew on.

First, a little nepotism: Check out my brother's project with John Carter Cash, The Cedar Hill Refugees. There's guest spots by Ralph Stanley, Marty Stuart, The Peasall Sisters and more.

Then there's my friend and fellow KSFR DJ Dave Barsanti has archived a bunch of his Twisted Groove radio shows. Santa Fe Opry fans know this is the show that comes on right afterward on Friday night (technically early Saturday morning.) Check that out HERE. Like podcasts, you can download the shows or listen to them on Dave's site.

One of my favorites, an Afro-funk show, is HERE

Speaking of podcasts, don't forget my new gospel show.

Monday, January 26, 2009

I BROKE DOWN ...

and joined Twitter.

Follow me. I won't hurt you. I'm your friend, I'm not like the others.

NEW PODCAST: STEVE TERRELL'S GOSPEL FAVORITES

Welcome to Volume 1 of Steve Terrell's Gospel Favorites.
A SIGN ON THE FLOOR OF THE CHURCH AT MOUNT CARMEL
Fill your soul with a heap of gospel music just like God likes it -- or at least the way I like it, nice and raw and full of spirit.

I'm not here to promote any religion nor to disparage it. I just love this music.

CLICK HERE to download the podcast. (To save it, right click on the link and select "Save Target As.")

CLICK HERE to subscribe to my podcasts (there will be more in the future) and HERE to subscribe on iTunes.


Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: from "The Eagle Stirs in Her Nest" by The Rev. C.L. Franklin)
Old Time Religion by Rev. James Cleveland
Dragnet For Jesus by Sister Wynona Carr
My Troubles Are So Hard to Bear by Ethel Davenport
I Have a Friend Above All Others by The Soul Stirrers
Jesus is God's Atom Bomb by The Swan Silvertones
The Sun of the Soul by The Carter Family
(Background Music: Don't Let the Devil Ride by The Campbell Brothers with Katie Jackson)

Jesus Throwed Up a Highway for Me by The Holy Ghost Sanctified Singers
God's Mighty Hand by Rev. Utah Smith
A Night at the House of Prayer by Rev. Lonnie Farris
Two Little Fishes and Five Loaves of Bread by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb by Uncle Dave Macon
Goodbye to the Chain Stores Part 2 by Rev. J.M. Gates
(Background Music: Christian Soldier 57 by The Denson Quartet)

What a Wonderful Feeling by The Humbard Family
Let's Have Mercy by The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi
Slip in and Tip In by Isaiah Owens
This May Be the Last Time by The Staple Singers
(Background Music: Don't You Ever Let Nobody Drag Yo' Spirit Down by Linda Tillery & Cultural Heritage Choir with Wilson Pickett & Eric Bibb.)

Play it here:

Sunday, January 25, 2009

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, January 25, 2009
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@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Lies You Told by Jesse Hector & The Sound
Empire by The Black Angels
Repent by Lone Monk
100 Little Women by Mark Sultan
Where's Your Boyfriend At? by The Yayhoos
R.O.D. by The Fall
Little Miss Contrary by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of The British Empire
Bad News Travels Fast by The Fuzztones
Wiggle Tail by Googie Rene

Love Letters by The Dex Romweber Duo with Cat Power
American Wedding by Gogol Bordello
Down in the Beast by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Crazy Crazy Mama by Roky Erikson
Nostradamus Jr. by The Fleshtones
I Hate You by The Sinister Six
Hobo Babylon by Deadbolt
Just Like Me by Paul Revere & The Raiders
Strolling Beale #1 by Rufus Thomas

I Need Some Help by Gibby Haynes & His Problem
Taxi Driver by The Rodeo Carburator
Gentle Violence by The Black Lips
Seasons in the Sun by Too Much Joy
Cheap Thrills by Ruben & The Jets
Alice in Blunderland by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Arise! by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
A Question of Temperature by The Balloon Farm
Search It Out by Pastor John Rydgren

Bad Trails by Battles
All Wound Up by Billy Miles Brooke
Walt's First Trip by Ohio Players
More Bread For the People by The Action 13
This One's From the Heart by Tom Waits & Crystal Gayle
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Friday, January 23, 2009

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, January 23, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos

HANKATHON!
art by Jon Langford Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain by Hank Williams
Move it on Over by Willie Nelson
Hank Williams You Wrote My Life by Moe Bandy
Cherokee Boogie by Hank Williams
Do It For Hank by The World Famous Blue Jays
If You Don't Like Hank Williams by Kris Kristofferson
You Win Again by Van Morrison & Linda Gail Lewis
Seaman's Blues by Hank Williams

Mind Your Business by Hank Williams
Jambalaya by Professor Longhair with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Worried Mind by Johnny Dowd
Pictures From Life's Other Side by Hank Williams
The Car Hank Died In by The Austin Lounge Lizards
I Can't Help It If I'm Still in Love With You by The Holmes Brothers with Roseanne Cash
Hey Good Lookin' by Ray Charles
No, No Joe by Hank Williams

Drifting Too Far From the Shore by Hank Williams
Lost Highway by The Mekons
Your Cheatin' Heart by Pairote
Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way by Waylon Jennings
I Think Hank Would Have Done it This Way by The Blue Chieftains
Lonely Tombs by Hank Williams
There's a Tear in My Beer by The The
The Great Hank by Robert Earle Keen
Alone and Forsaken by Hank Williams

The Grand Old Opry Ain't So Grand by Hank Williams III
I'll Think of Something by Hank Williams Jr.
I Heard That Lonesome Whistle by Townes Van Zandt
Has Anybody Here Seen Hank? by The Waterboys
Angel of Death by Shane MacGowan & The Popes
Nashville Radio/The Death of Country Music by Jon Langford
SUBSTITUTE CLOSING THEME: The Pale Horse and His Rider by Hank Williams


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

Thursday, January 22, 2009

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: ANYBODY HERE SEEN HANK?

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
January 23, 2009


Hank Williams, country music’s greatest star, died 56 years ago this month. But if you thought you had heard everything he ever recorded during his short but crazily influential career, think again.

That’s right. The Complete Hank Williams, that 10-disc collection released more than a decade ago by Mercury Nashville (and which I still hope to get one day), isn’t really complete.

Late last year, Time-Life Records brought forth Hank Williams: The Unreleased Recordings, a three-disc box of sessions he did for a morning radio show on WSM in Nashville in the early 1950s. It was one of those archetypal country-music radio shows sponsored by a flour company, Mother’s Best Flour, which you can hear Hank occasionally plug in these songs (“Hey, good lookin’, if you’ve got anything cookin’, just be sure you’re cookin’ it with Mother’s Best Flour”).

He usually did the show live with his Drifting Cowboys band. But if he was touring, he and the band would prerecord their 15-minute segment. This material, which came into the possession of Hank’s daughter, Jett, makes up the new box set. Apparently the project was wrapped up in some kind of legal battle for several years. I guess they could have titled it “Music the Lawyers Tried to Kill.”

When I first heard about this collection, I was afraid it might sound like a bootleg. That’s definitely not the case. The sound quality is mostly excellent, despite a couple of scratchy spots here and there — far better than most old country radio-show recordings I’ve heard.

But what I really like is the wide variety of songs he does. There’s only a smattering of Hank hits here — “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Cold Cold Heart,” “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You),” “Wedding Bells,” “Mind Your Own Business,” and “Hey, Good Lookin’.” Rather than concentrate on his well-known catalog, The Unreleased Recordings treats listeners to a host of songs we’ve never heard before — at least not by Hank.

There are lots of gospel songs here, lots of songs he picked up from contemporaries like Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Moon Mullican. Hank sings “On Top of Old Smoky,” which he performs with soul I never knew the old chestnut had. There’s even a take on “When the Saints Go Marching In,” complete with bluegrass-style harmonies from the Drifting Cowboys.

And there’s an original Hank Williams train song I’d never heard before, “California Zephyr.” “Wrote this here a few days ago,” he says, introducing the tune. It’s not as moving as “(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle,” but it’s always nice to discover a new Hank number. There’s even a local reference: “She leaves the City of the Angels, headin’ for old Santa Fe.”

Hank dips deep into hoary folk obscurity with the spooky hymn “Lonely Tombs.” The Stanley Brothers recorded a version of this tune, which goes back to the British Isles. “Every voice from the tomb seemed to whisper and say, ‘Living man, you must soon follow me.’”

I also like that Hank sings “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain” using some long-forgotten lyrics by composer Fred Rose that Willie Nelson left out of his hit version nearly a quarter century later. “Now my hair has turned to silver/All my life I’ve loved in vain/I can see her star in heaven/Blue eyes cryin’ in the rain.”

Speaking of country giants who would follow Williams, in Hank’s version of the “The Old Country Church” in this collection, you can hear what might be the birth of the classic Johnny Cash chunka-chunka sound.

Hank updates his Luke the Drifter morality tale, “Pictures From Life’s Other Side” (a song that actually dates back to the 1890s), adding a verse about a soldier fighting in Korea: “In a foxhole frozen and homesick, he’s fighting for us, as you know.”

Speaking of life’s other side, there are several horrifying tragedy songs that some hipsters might take as high camp. “At the First Fall of Snow” is a song about a dead child — a common motif in early country music. Even more over the top is “The Blind Child’s Prayer.” It’s about a blind girl who resents her father’s remarrying: “Oh, father, tonight they say you are to wed another bride/That you will hold her in your arms, where my dear mother died. ... Father, do you think she’ll love your blind and helpless child?”

Spoiler alert: It’s another dead child song. This is followed by an upbeat gospel song about going to heaven that includes the refrain “I’ll have a new body, I’ll have a new life.”

But there’s humor, too. In a spoken interlude in the mournful “If I Didn’t Love You,” sideman Louie Buck says, “Aw, honey child, if I didn’t love you, would I buy you that washtub and that washboard and tell you you could keep half of what you made off it?”

Naturally, the collection ends with a hymn — one invoking a striking image, half Book of Revelation half John Ford. It’s called “The Pale Horse and His Rider.” Hank sings it as if he’s the last cowboy on Earth, corralling stray souls.

I love the radio setting of these performances. The studio audience on several tracks sounds far rowdier than they should on an early morning show. (But these were prerecorded, so the music could have been performed at any time.) And sometimes the announcers add real country charm, as when one says, “That’s a mighty fine song for you boys to send out, especially to all our shut-in friends this morning.”

Indeed, music like this would be a comfort to shut-ins and shut-outs alike.

It's Gonna Be a Hankathon: Tonight on the Santa Fe Opry, 10-midnight (Mountain Time) on KSFR 90.7 FM. Hey out-of-towners listen to the Webcast.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, January 19, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
We Shall Overcome by Bruce Springsteen
El Jefe/Mucho Trabajo by Lone Monk
Thatcher's Children by Billy Childish
Train of Thought by The Fleshtones
Hungry by Satan's Cheerleaders
Two Left Feet by Mark Sultan
Lookout by Dex Romweber Duo
Girls are Mad by The Ettes
Ride Your Pony by Rufus Thomas
Birth of the Boogie by Bill Haley

R.O.D. by The Fall
Johnson in a Headlock by The Fuzztones
Boogie Man by Stinky Lou & The Goon Mat with Lord Bernardo
Moonlight Boogie by Billy Miles Brooke
Big Eyed Beans from Venus by Captain Beefheart
Jack Pepsi by TAD
Child of the Falling Star by Stephen W. Terrell


Faraway by Sleater-Kinney
Let's Impeach the President by Neil Young
Tales of Terror by Mudhoney
Rich Man's War by Hundred Year Flood
Bushwacked by Drywall
Hoist That Rag by Tom Waits
20 by Robert Cray

Gabbin' Blues by Big Maybelle with Rosemarie McCoy
Pinch by Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog
Backburner Guy by Jesus H. Christ & The Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse
Black Grease by The Black Angels
I'm Willing by The Caravans featuring Inez Andrews & Albertina Walker
Just a Closer Walk With Thee by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Friday, January 16, 2009

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, January 16, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
$ Bill the Cowboy by The Waco Brothers
Tex-Mex Mile by The Gourds
Cornbread 'Lasses and Sassafrass Tea by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Living on $15 a Week by Chris Darrow
Been So Long by Jorma Kaukonen
Queen of the Stardust Ball by Billy Miles Brooke
BBQ USA by Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper
Lonesome Train by The Dex Romweber Duo with Exene Cervenka
Man With the Thunder Head by (unknown)

Taxes Taxes by Hank Penny
Marie by BeauSoleil
I'll Always Take Care of You by The Pine Leaf Boys
Dancing Shoes by Mama Rosin
Standing Tall by Paula Nelson
Wildwood Flower by Amy Nelson & Cathy Guthrie
I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None o' This Jellyroll by Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel
The Blind Child's Prayer by Hank Williams
Check out Guitar George, he knows all the chords
America v. 6.0 (The Best We can Do) by Steve Earle
Don't Be Afraid of the Neocons by Norman & Nancy Blake
Deja Vu All Over Again by John Fogerty
God Bless America by James McMurtry
The Lie by The Waco Brothers
FCC Song by Eric Idle
The Outcast by Tom Russell featuring Dave Van Ronk

Robbers & Bandits & Bastards & Thieves by Drywall
Bring Back Storyville by Guy Davis
You Can't Trust Them by Fred Eaglesmith
Backstreet Affair by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
Don't Ever Take My Picture Down by Cornell Hurd
They Killed John Henry by Justin Townes Earle
Black and Blue America by Chip Taylor
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

  Sunday, March 24, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell E...