PAOLO SOLERI SAYS SAVE PAOLO SOLERI

Check out the news release from Soleri's Consanti Foundation below:

Also today the state Cultural Properties Review Committee passed a resolution asking Santa Fe Indian School to reconsider its decision to demolish Paolo Soleri Amphitheater. The City Council passed a similar resolution on Wednesday.

Please check out my story in Saturday's New Mexican.

Consanti Foundation on Paolo Soleri Theater

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: WHEN THE SHARK BITES

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 11, 2010

King Shark is back. And he’s got lots of fine reggae music for Santa Fe.

Shark, aka Alphanso Henclewood, was born 52 years ago in the Greenwich Farms neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica. It’s an area populated mainly by people who make their living in the fishing industry. But it has also produced way more than its share of musicians — the most notable probably being Earl “Chinna” Smith, a guitarist whose résumé includes work with Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Ziggy Marley, Burning Spear, Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Tubby, and King Shark.

Moving from New York, Shark first came to Santa Fe about 10 years ago. (The love of a woman first brought him here, he said in a recent interview.) It was here in Santa Fe that he set up his company, Montego Records. In 2000 he released a compilation, King Shark and All Star Friends, which was recorded in Jamaica and featured tracks by artists including Prince Alla, Vicious Irie, Charlie Chaplin (a Jamaican), Michael Prophet, and Shark.

He left Santa Fe for several years. “I went to Texas,” he said. Dallas, to be exact. But earlier this year, he returned, settling down in the Pecos area. And he’s been busy.

Shark recently completed Rasta Life, a 56-minute film about the music of his homeland. He produced and directed, while Eduardo Griego edited the documentary. Opening with Chinna Smith playing bluesy jazz licks on an acoustic guitar, the film mainly consists of singers he knows doing what they do best — singing. These include artists like King Alla, Earl Zero, Pretty Rebel, Lucani, Peter Ridkind, and Ernest Wilson.

While there is some studio footage, most of these performances are spontaneous (or at least spontaneous-feeling) a capella performances. It’s lots of fun, even though those of us not fluent in Jamaican English have a hard time following some of the dialogue. The music is easy to follow, however, and that’s what really counts. This movie will be available to the public soon.

Another new treat from King Shark was a CD he gave me full of songs mostly by the musicians appearing on Rasta Life. (Among these is a new one by King Shark himself, “She’ll Be Mine,” performed in the “lover’s rock” style.)

Many of these tracks are available to download from the Montego Records website. Warning: this site is a little difficult to navigate. If there’s a way to search by artist, I haven’t figured it out yet. But the music’s good and reasonably priced — 89 cents for MP3s, $1.38 for higher-quality WAV versions of the songs.

Felecia Ford

Speaking of websites, last month Shark launched a new one, RastaLives.com. Though much of it is still under construction, several articles are up, and it has loads of biographies of the King’s musical pals.

And King Shark has been recording some music here too. Recently he’s been recording at Frogville Studios with Felecia Ford of Hundred Year Flood. (Full disclosure: I helped direct Shark and Ford to each other when King told me he was looking for a strong female vocalist.) Ford told me last week that she was doing vocals on “The Oil,” a song about the BP oil spill that she co-wrote with Frogville Records tycoon John Treadwell. The background music was recorded previously by King Shark, back in Jamaica.

So if Santa Fe ever becomes internationally famous as a reggae capitol, King Shark will surely be behind it.

Some other recommended international treats for your ears:

* Trans-Continental Hustle by Gogol Bordello. Eugene Hütz, the Ukrainian gypsy punk rocker behind this roving band, recently moved from New York City to Brazil. That’s why there’s suddenly a huge carnivale influence in the already multinational blend of sounds that is Gogol Bordello. The good news is that it works. Hütz and crew might be maniacal when they perform, but he’s smart enough to be subtle about adding new sounds.

Another new factor in the Gogol record is the addition of Rick Rubin as producer. That made a lot of Gogol fans worry: will the next Gogol album sound more like Slayer or Neil Diamond?

Fortunately, it sounds like neither. If anything, the acoustic instruments, especially Hütz’s guitar, seem a little more prominent than in past recordings. But there are still enough crazed rockers to keep old fans happy. In fact, in “Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rougher),” Gogol’s rhythm section has a little Slayer in it when it goes to the chorus.

My only beef here is that none of the 12 tracks instantly grabs you by the throat the way “American Wedding” did on Gogol’s previous album, Super Taranta!, or the way “Not a Crime” did on 2005’s Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike. None of the new tracks would put a damper on a Bordello show, but none of them, at least so far, seem like an obvious contender to become a Gogol classic.

* Woman in Sin by Fishtank Ensemble. I love Little Willie John. And I enjoy an occasional Transylvanian folk tune and Kurdish fiddle stomp.

Well, here’s a group that happily plays all of the above. This Oakland-based band is led by singer/fiddler/saw-player Ursula Knudson and her husband, Fabrice Martinez, who also plays viand violin tromba, a stringed instrument that amplifies its sound through a metal resonator and metal horns. Martinez is a native of France who traveled with a real-life gypsy caravan through Europe.

Sometimes Fishtank sounds like an acoustic Gogol Bordello. Sometimes they sound more like the Hot Club of Cowtown. And every so often, such as in the 1920s-flavored “CouCou,” Knudson’s voice reminds me of Katharine Whalen of the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Knudson sings a passable “Fever.” But my favorite is the six-minute “Kolo Suite,” a medley of traditional Serbian tunes with a Transylvanian finale that’ll make the vampires boogie.

This record is good, but I’ll bet Fishtank Ensemble is even better live. And they’re coming our way. The band is scheduled to play the Albuquerque Folk Festival at noon June 19 at Expo New Mexico (real people still call it the state fairgrounds).

PICNIC TIME FOR PRESLEY

Two of my favorite American icons are coming together ... at last.

Elvis Presley and Mr. Potatohead!

The Associated Press reports:

The first of the Elvis potato heads will be released for Elvis Tribute Week in August. The toy will be in a jumpsuit. A second version — with the likeness dressed in black leather — will be on the market for Christmas.

That's a hunka hunka burnin' spud!

emusic June

* Humpty Dumpty LSD by The Butthole Surfers. Here they are, in all their Butthole splendor.

This is a 2002 collection of Surfer rarities and obscurities, culled from long-forgotten compilations and dusty recording studio shelves.

Most of the tracks here should remind Butthole Surfer fans why we love them in the first place. Crazy noise, psychedelic guitars, industrial strength percussion. It's New Year's Eve in the Nuthouse. They're coming to take you away, ha ha!

"One Hundred Million People Dead" is a living nightmare with a funky bass line. "I Love You Peggy" probably sent Peggy running. "I Hate My Job" is raw punk-rock and probably makes both Sid Vicious and Johnny Paycheck smile from Beyond. The opening piano chords banging in "Hetero Skeleton" recalls Frank Zappa's "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny."

Listen close and you can hear Daniel Johnston on "All Day," though he's buried in the thick mix. And there's a 13th Floor Elevators Cover, "Earthquake," that originally appeared on a Roky Erikson tribute album, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye.

* Psychotic Beat! by Thee Vicars. After listening to The Butthole Surfers, Thee Vicars doesn't really sound all that psychotic.

But this is a pretty decent little British garage band. You can easily detect their influences -- The Kinks and The Standells among them. And singer Mike Whitaker sounds like The Troggs' Reg Presley with a sinus condition.

Here's something cool: Thee Vicars are playing the Eysines Goes Soul Festival this month in France with The Standells, The Zombies and Charles Walker & The Dynamites. My kinda show!

* Dangerous Magical Noise by The Dirtbombs. This is the third album from Detroit's premier rock 'n' soul band. It kicks off with a high-charged tune called "Start the Party" ... and the party never ends. To use my podcast pal Michael Kaiser's favorite word, every one of these tunes is a pounder.

Highlights here include "Motor City Baby," (which has a little T Rex in it), "I'm Through With White Girls," and "Stuck in Thee Garage," a nod at being pigeonholed in the genre game.

Displaying the group's wide array of influences, this version of Dangerous Magical Noise includes a cover of a Robin Hitchcock song ("Executioner of Love") and a Brian Eno tune, "King's Lead."

Just about all the reviews of this album I've read stresses that coming right after the soul-soaked Ultraglide in Black, (the first Dirtbombs album I ever heard), this was supposed to be a hard rocker. But the thing is I find such such distinctions useless. Frontman Mick Collins has soul in his voice that comes through on just about every song. But he's rocker at heart -- and that was true on Ultraglide as well.

PLUS:

*13 songs from (Not)Your Standard Spike Jones Collection. Sometimes the only music that makes any sense to me at all is that of Spike Jones. I was hooked as soon as I heard the first pistol fired in "Cocktails for Two."

With perfect comic timing (and impeccable musicianship) Jones skewered the classics as well as the hot hits of his era. Descriptions of his stage shows sounds like Vaudeville gone berserk -- jugglers, midgets, honking horns, bells, whistles, farting trombones, crazy homemade instruments (a toilet seat with strings), and usually a beautiful blonde playing harp.

Jones became famous for his anti-Hitler song "Def Fuhrer's Face" back in 1942. One of the tracks I downloaded here was directed toward another member of the Axis -- "You're a Sap, Mr. Jap." (Yes, politically incorrect, but hey, we were at war and they did bomb us ...)

I downloaded a few cockeyed cowboy songs here like "Dodging a Gal From Dodge City," "Barstool Cowboy, " and "Big Bad Bill" (from the Badlands), And there's a fine little polka full of slide whistles and horn honks, called "City Slicker Polka."

But I think my favorites here are American chestnuts like "Hi Neighbor" and "Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye." Jones makes them even chestnuttier.

This is a gigantic collection - 88 songs. I already had a bunch of them from the Rhino box set that was released in the '90s. But there's still plenty I don't have, so this'll be a musical well on eMusic I'll be drawing from in months to come.

* "Billy Richardson's Last Ride" by Grandpa Jones. I just wish I'd found this before I wrote that column suggesting theme songs for our governor's presidential campaign.

Memories of Paolo Soleri Amphitheater

The first time I went there was for my high school baccalaureate service in 1971. I was a amazed by the architecture. It seemed like a theater The Flintstones would frequent.

I first met Roger Miller there, backstage after a Michael Martin Murphey concert in the summer of 1980. Murphey had called Roger out on stage to do a couple of songs. Roger was barely able to strum one chord before the rain started pouring down and the show had to be called off.

That's where I interviewed B.B. King. Several others too, but I remember B.B. most of all because he was, and still is, the nicest "big star" I've ever interviewed.

That's where Frank Zappa dedicated an entire show to Paul Bardake, who at the time was attorney general of New Mexico. I called Bardake the next day and learned that his dad was Zappa's high school English teacher -- one of the few teachers Zappa actually got along with.

That's where I was stiffed for an interview with the late reggae star Peter Tosh after waiting several hours there one afternoon in the summer of 1981. (I finally had to leave because I'd booked studio time in Albuquerque. I was in the middle of recording Picnic Time for Potatoheads.)

I've seen a lot of great music there: Santana, Elvis Costello, Robert Cray, John Prine, David Bromberg, Jerry Jeff Walker, David Byrne, several Native Roots & Rhythms shows. I haven't been there in a couple of years, but last summer I dropped off my son there to see Atmosphere.

And now they're going to tear it down.

A news release from Santa Fe Indian School (that I've only seen on Facebook, thanks, Rima!) says:

"The decision was not made lightly," said Everett Chavez, SFIS superintendent. "Thousands of people have been a part of the Paolo Soleri’s history, but unfortunately we cannot support it any longer."

Chavez cited safety and annual maintenance costs as the primary reasons for closing the amphitheatre housed on the SFIS campus. The SFIS utilizes the amphitheatre only twice a year to host its annual 8th grade promotion and 12th grade senior graduation events. It is used less frequently for other entertainment events primarily because of competition from other concert venues and local casinos. He also called elements that go along with some Paolo Soleri events "unsavory" and not in keeping with the school’s mission as an educational institution."

All I can say is that it's a goddamn shame.

A goddamn shame.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 6, 2010
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
Thunder in the Sky by The Dirtbombs
It'll Chew You Up and Spit You Out by Concrete Blonde
Love is All Around by Husker Du
Hitchhiking by Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds
Comb Your Hair by LoveStruck
Scream by Los Peyotes
Flea Market Rock by The Scrams
Eve of Destruction by The Dickies
Police Call by Drywall
Let It Rain by Pierced Arrows

New Old Blue Car by Peter Case
Feeling Strange by The Plimsouls
Falling Back On Me by Muck & The Mires
Fire on the Moon by The Bell Rays
Fever by The Monsters 2:34
Wrestling With Satan by Lightning Beatman
Dig That Grave! by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers
Bongo Beatin' Beatnik by Joe Hall & The Corvettes
You Broke My Mood Ring by Rootboy Slim & The Sex Change Band

Hello Happiness by Johnny Dowd
Sports Car by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
Nightride by Legendary Shack Shakers
i Love You Peggy by Butthole Surfers
Keep in Touch by The Canadian Rogues
Mountain Oysters by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis with The Bill Doggett Trio
Rockin' is Our Bizness by The Treniers
Muck Muck (Alternate Take) by Yochanan
I'm a Demon by Roky Erikson

Universes Collide by Gogol Bordello
King of the New York Streets by Dion
Hi Neighbor by Spike Jones
In a Holler Over There by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Oh Me Oh My by Pretty Rebel
Grindin' Man by Pinetop Perkins & Willie "Big Eyes" Smith
Good Old World by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 4, 2010
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
Guacamole by Freddy Fender with Augie Meyers
Moonshine Guy/Releasing Celtic Prisoners by Jason & The Scorchers
Friday & Saturday Night by Wayne Hancock
Boss of the Blues by Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women
Bobwire Betty by Ronnie Dawson
Gonna Catch a Wild One by Kris Hollis Key
Roly Poly The Last Mile Ramblers
Word to the Wise by Bill Kirchen with Dan Hicks
Pal-Yat-Chi by Spike Jones with Homer & Jethro

House Rent Jump by Peter Case
Parallel Bars by Robbie Fulks
Saturday Night Fish Fry by Asleep at the Wheel
Invitation to the Blues by Cornell Hurd
If One Won't Another Will The Carter Family
Come Back When You're Younger by Old Dogs
Party by The Collins Kids
Pink Burrito by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders

Ft. Wayne Zoo by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
The Hills of Hell by Legendary Shack Shakers
Clarksdale by Alex Maryol
Cootie Catcher by Clothesline Revival
Done Got Old by Richard Johnston
Big River by The Waco Brothers
Two Left Feet by Holly Golighty & The Brokeoffs
Steeplechase Bound by Al Duvall

My Pretty Quadroon by Jerry Lee Lewis
Me and Billy the Kid by Joe Ely
Downhome Country Blues by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Three Times Seven by Doc and Merle Watson
Rio Grande by Felix y Los Gatos
My Walking Stick by Leon Redbone
Red River Valley by Johnny Bond
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

PETER CASE WIGS OUT

I've been enjoying the new Peter Case album Wig the past few days. It's good rocking blues slop and Case sounds like he's having more fun on a record than he has in years.

I'll be reviewing it in the near future, but I wanted to let everyone know that Case will be playing in Los Alamos on July 2 at the Ski Hill.

Also, the nice folks at Yep Roc sent out the code for this handy dandy player below with some of the songs from Wig for you to enjoy, gentle readers. Happy Friday.

SF BANDSTAND

And yes folks, it's still on THE PLAZA!

2010 Santa Fe Bandstand Schedule

July 5th to August 19th
AFTERNOONS: Mondays and Wednesdays Noon—1:30
EVENINGS: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 6---8:30 pm

WEEK ONE
Mon July 5 OPENING DAY
Noontime
Trio Jalapeno de Antonia Apodaca Northern NM Traditional
LA MONTANITA COOP NIGHT
6 pm
The Clan Tynker Family Circus Juggling and magic
Shannon McNally and Hot Sauce Southern songstress Roots Rock & Soul
Tue July 6 GARRETT’S DESERT INN NIGHT
6 pm
Busy McCarroll and the Ambassadors of Pleasure Power Jazz Pop noir
Eliza Gilkyson Renowned songwriter returns to Santa Fe
Wed. July 7 Noontime
The Kenny Skywolf Band Santa Fe’s own true R&B artist
CITY OF SANTA FE NIGHT
6 pm
City of Santa Fe All Stars City Employee Talent Revue
Thurs. July 8 INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART MARKET NIGHT
6 pm
Matthew Andre Original groove music
TradiSon All the way from Havana, Cuba

WEEK TWO
Mon. July 12 Noontime
Don Lovato & Chris Abeyta Latin smooth jazz
FAN MAN NIGHT
6 pm
Gumbo Project w/ Jimmy Russell Voodoo Funk & soul
Papa Grows Funk New Orleans premier music experience
Tues. July 13 THE FIFTH ANNUAL NEW MEXICO JAZZ FESTIVAL NIGHT
6 pm
Dave Wayne's The Things That Are Heard Funky 21st century jazz-rock
Le Chat Lunatique Gypsy Jazz
Wed. July 14 Noontime
Laurianne Fiorentino Powerful Earthie-Indie Music
Round Mountain Enchanting mix of Middle Eastern, Balkan, Celtic and folk
COWGIRL BBQ NIGHT
6pm
Nacha Mendez Latin inspired rhythms with passionate exuberance
Aguabendita Latin Pop Brazilian Fusion
Thurs. July 15 LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL BANK NIGHT
6pm
White Buffalo Georgie Angel and friends tear it up
Sister Morales Latin country rock from San Antonio

WEEK THREE
Mon. July 19 Noontime
Fiddlin’ Doc Gonzales Classic country swing
JOSH’S BBQ NIGHT
6 pm
Freebo Legendary bass player and award winning songwriter
Billy D & The HooDoos Bluzrok
Tues July 20 SANTA FE CONCERT BAND NIGHT
6 pm
Santa Fe Concert Band & La Casa Sena Singers
Some Enchantment Evening-- A Broadway Spectacular
The Pleasure Pilots Vintage R&B and Swing music
Wed July 21 Noontime
Birds of Feather Soulful Spiritual Harmonies
The Bus Tapes Folk & Roll
LENSIC NIGHT
6pm
Rumbatronix Latin Electronica
Lumbre Del Sol Chicano Soul
Thurs. July 22 TOMASITAS NIGHT
6 pm
Triple Firrre Ten year old Triplets who Rock
Alex Maryol Band Original rock ‘n roll and blues music

WEEK FOUR
Mon. July 26 Noontime
Curry Springer & Primm Classic Rock
HERBS ETC. NIGHT
6 pm
The Rattlerz Classic Country & Blues & old time Rock N Roll
Stephanie Hatfield and Hot Mess Rock n Roll with a powerful frontwoman
Tues. July 27 CANDYMAN NIGHT
6pm
Iyah Reggae soul
Azadeh Middle Eastern Dance Troupe
Y. Que Latino Rock World fusion
Wed. July 28 Noontime
Love Buzzards Old-Timey, Gospel & Blues
Eagle Star Father/daughter country-folk duo \
Trio Cafe Con Leche Mexican music grandma loves
PLAZA CAFÉ NIGHT
6 pm
Quetzal Guerrero Soulful Latin R&B
Sol Fire Pop Rock with a Latin edge
Thurs. July 29 SANTA FE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION NIGHT
The Rifters Southwestern Americana
Hot Club of Cowtown Hot Jazz/western Swing trio

WEEK FIVE
Mon. August 2 Noontime
Jocelyn Celaya Radical Classical guitar
Robert Sequoia Romantic & passionate guitar
EVANGELOS NIGHT
6 pm
The Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Singers
Soulman Sam & The Soul Explosion Rhythm & Blues
Tues. August 3 SOUTHWEST ROOTS MUSIC NIGHT
6pm
Boris and the Saltlicks Roots Rock with a dirty soul and a poet's tongue
Po Girl Eclectic Canadian band returns
Wed. August 4 Noontime
Ride That Pony! Don & Victoria Armstrong & Pals
JACKALOPE NIGHT
6pm
Manzanares Nuevo Flamenco meets Latin rock
Los Tropicales Latin jazz from Las Vegas NM
Thurs. August 5 THE SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN NIGHT
6 pm
2bers Hip hop with Jazz, Reggae, Folk and Soul
3HC Holy Faith Breakdancing Crew
Albuquerque Blues Connection Blame it on the Blues

WEEK SIX
Mon. August 9 Noontime
Holy Water and Whiskey Traditional, folk, bluegrass, gospel
KIVA FINE ARTS NIGHT
6 pm
Kim & the Caballeros Big ol’ twangy Country-Western
South by Southwest Hot Country and Swing
Tues. August 10 KIWANIS CLUB OF SANTA FE NIGHT
6pm
Rubixzu Home Grown hip hop & reggae
3HC Holy Faith Breakdancing Crew
La Junta Latin funkadelic reggae hip hop
Wed. August 11 Noontime
Kumusha Women's marimba ensemble
CORAZON NIGHT
6pm
Legacy of Santa Fe Local Variety Band
Los Wise Guys Golden oldies and Beatle covers
Thurs. August 12 FINE ARTS FOR CHILDREN & TEENS NIGHT
6 pm
The Strange Rock Blues roots
Ken Valdez Latin rock and Blues

WEEK SEVEN
Mon August 16 SANTA FE BLUEGRASS AND OLD-TIME MUSIC FESTIVAL AFTERNOON
Noontime
Atomic Grass Traditional bluegrass
Eric Carlson & the Mystery Ship Post-modern old-time blue mountain folk
GLOBALQUERQUE NIGHT
6pm
Welcome to Bohemia. Ron “Dadou” Romanovsky & Friends
The Saltanah Dancers Joyful enchanting belly dance
Nationbeat Brazilian/Americana fusion band
Tues August 17 6pm
Gary Farmer & the Troublemakers Troubled Blues that rocks the boat
Native Roots Native Reggae
Wed. August 18 Noontime
Indige Femme International Indigenous World Beat Folk
SANTA FE COUNTY NIGHT
6pm
Savor Cuban Dance music
Southern Scratch Waila—Native dance music from the Sonoran Desert
Thurs. August 19 SWAIA AND NATIVE MUSIC ROCKS PRESENTS
6pm
Micki Free American Horse W/ Special Guest Shea Power Rock
Keith Secola Native Rebel music
Casper and the Mighty 602 Band Hopi/Dine Roots Reggae

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: RURAL SHADOWS

Josh Peyton continues to preach his rocking, righteous slide-guitar gospel on The Wages, the latest musical sermon by The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band.

This big damn band is actually a trio from rural Indiana. As locals who saw the group at the Santa Fe Brewing Company early this year know, it’s a family band — or a “fam damily” to play upon a previous album title — featuring The Rev. on vocals and slide; his wife, Breezy, on the rub board; and cousin Aaron Persinger on drums.

Even though they’re a bunch of yam dankies, the Peyton clan could pass for Mississippi Hill Country. Their basic slide/drums/washboard sound has classic Fat Possum written all over it. They play acoustic instruments, but nobody can say they aren’t high-voltage.

The burly, bearded Peyton is proud of his rural heritage. “Born Bred Corn Fed,” the opening song, celebrates a traditional way of life. “Buy a melon from a roadside stand/Honor system, leave a dollar in the can/Somebody dies, you bring their family a pie/Fire Department’s Got a Friday night Fish Fry.”

But The Wages isn’t all about country sunshine and waving fields of grain. Far from it. There’s no honor system in “Lick Creek Road,” in which Peyton sings, “Don’t answer the door without a pistol anymore.” Even more explicit is “In a Holler Over There” — not far from his own home, the singer sees starving children, meth labs, and failing farms.

Indeed, the recession permeates several songs here. “Just Gettin’ By” is one of them. And in “Everything’s Raising” (“but the wages” completes the refrain), Peyton castigates bankers, big corporations, and congressmen.

Yet despite all this seriousness and hard times, The Wages can’t be seen as a downer. There are loads of good times and plain goofiness.

Peyton is a fine storyteller. He proved that on the last album with the hilarious “Your Cousin’s on Cops,” a reportedly true account of watching TV and realizing that the poor, dumb redneck being handcuffed by officers on the television show was a relative.

There’s some similar fun on this album, especially in “Fort Wayne Zoo,” which begins with the line, “My brother stole a chicken from the Fort Wayne Zoo.” You have to wonder what kind of crappy zoo has chickens, but as you contemplate that, Peyton starts singing, “There’s a lot of crazy women living in Fort Wayne.”

“Two Bottles of Wine” is a 90-mph drunken stomp. Guest accordion player Jason Webley gives the song a Cajun feel. It starts off with someone evoking The Ramones by shouting “1-2-3-4!”

The album ends with “Miss Sarah,” a sweet farewell to a woman who was queen of her own kitchen. “We’ll miss ya, Miss Sarah. Who’ll make the biscuits?” It’s a song you can imagine Doc Watson or Mississippi John Hurt singing, a low-key coda to a wild trip through the boonies.

Also recommended:

* Agri-dustrial by Legendary Shack Shakers. Here’s another band with one foot planted firmly in American roots music and another planted in punk-rock craziness.

“Agri-dustrial” is a pretty apt description e basic Shack Shakers sound. It’s rootsy but with a hard-rocking edge.

The singer and frontman, Col. J.D. Wilkes (I’m not sure which branch of the military he served in), plays a mean harmonica and occasional banjo and Jew’s harp, while co-conspirator Duane Denison, formerly of punk-noise patriarchs The Jesus Lizard, makes some crazy noise on his guitar. The rhythm section is grounded in metal as well as in cowpunk.

Like Rev. Peyton’s album, this new effort by the Shack Shakers takes a look at rural living, though Agri-dustrial deals mainly with the South.

If there’s a concept here, it’s a horror story. That should be obvious by some of the song titles — “Two Tickets to Hell,” “The Hills of Hell,” and so on. And it’s apparent that the title character of “God Fearing Man” has plenty to fear. “The Hills of Hell” is especially unsettling when Wilkes, his voice electronically distorted, reads from Kentucky Book of the Dead, relating stories of crucifixions and bodies stashed in the corpses of horses.

Wilkes sings like a crazed prophet in the ominous “Greasy Creek”: “What was spoken light will be tested at night/Where the White Thing sings, the state bird bites/While you’re diggin’ up tiny extra rows of teeth/Behold the fascist Killmachine.”

The spookiest number is “The Lost Cause,” a jittery waltz featuring what sounds like a player piano from some dusty Old West saloon. Wilkes sings of a battalion of undead Confederate soldiers. But actually it’s not a ghost story; it’s a rebuking of the weird undercurrent of Confederate revisionism and glorification that’s surfaced lately with some Southern politicians.

“A company of skeletons in rags/March home under tattered white flags/Dusty Bibles and deep empty pockets/Dark dreams and deeper eye sockets/We ain’t right in the head and our women lay dead/We’re the losers who chose The Lost Cause.”

That’s what I love about the South.