Monday, January 30, 2012

SF Opry's NM Centennial Show

The festivities at the Roundhouse today for the 100th anniversary of statehood for New Mexico made me realize I haven't posted the stream of my Jan. 6 Santa Fe Opry centennial set on this blog yet.

I'm going to start uploading some of my radio shows to Mixcloud in the weeks to come. More on that later.

Until then, Happy Birthday, Land of Enchantment!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, January 29, 2012 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

 OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
No Fun by Iggy Pop
Love Train Express by Rocket from the Tombs
Caroleen by Pere Ubu
Tijuana Hit Squad by Deadbolt
You Better Find Out by Stomachmouths
Nightmare Blues by R.L. Burnside
Moneymaker by The Black Keys
Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'Bout Me) by The Four Seasons

Shave Your Beard by Dengue Fever
Can't Hold On by Reigning Sound
I Got High by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Black Snake Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Look Out Miss James by Richard Berry
Stop the Wedding by Etta James
Babblin' Brook by Andre Williams & The Goldstars
Cry Me a River Blues by Little Esther Phillips with The Johnny Otis Show
Wreck My Flow by The Dirtbombs

Pancakes by Mark Sultan
She's a Tiger by The Ding Dongs
Out the Door by Les Sexerinos
Too Much in Love by The King Khan & BBQ Show
Bow Down and Die by The Almighty Defenders
Growl by Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
Everything's Raising by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Who Put the Garlic in the Glue by NRBQ

I Told a Secret by Delaney Davidson
Hey Pachuco by Royal Crown Revue
Messin' With the Man by Muddy Waters
She Got the Devil in Her by Buddy Guy
Lord Bloodbathington by Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds
Kickboxer Girl by The Black Smokers
Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing by Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Friday, January 27, 2012

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Friday, January,27, 2012 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
 OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Wildwood Flower by Mike Ness
Old Man From the Mountain by The Gourds
It's Not Enough by The Waco Brothers
God Fearing People by Th' Legendary Shack Shakers
Eight Piece Box by Southern Culture on the Skids
49 Women by Jerry Irby & His Texas Ranchers
Highway Cafe by Kinky Friedman & His Texas Jewboys
Parallel Bars by Robbie Fulks with Kelly Willis

The Ballad of Lightning Bill Jasper by The Imperial Rooster
Crazy Heart by Charlie Feathers
Tear Up The Honky Tonk by Suzette Lawrence & The Neon Angels
Don't Walk Out on Me by Burley Joe & The Countrymen
I'll Fix Your Flat Tire, Merle by Pure Prairie League
Eggs of Your Chickens by The Flatlanders
Girl on Death Row by T. Tex Edwards & Out of Parole
Boogie Woogie Baby of Mine by Bob Burton
Dust Off Them Old Songs by Jason Eklund, Mike Good & Tom Irwin
Crazy Words, Crazy Tune by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again by The Maddox Brothers & Rose

Copperhead Road by Steve Earle
Between Lust and Watching TV by Cal Smith
Somebody's Been Using That Thing by The Great Recession Orchestra
Bonapart's Retreat by Glen Campbell
Ain't No God in Mexico by Waylon Jennings
I Don't Care by Webb Pierce
I've Done That Before by Dale Watson & The Texas Two
Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time by Mickey Gilley
Can't Change Me by Lydia Loveless
I Saw The Light From Heaven by Delaney Davidson
The (New) Call of the Freaks y Luis Russel & His Orchestra
Pissin' in the Wind by Simon Stokes with Texas Terri
Dark End of the Street by Frank Black
What Happened Last Night by Amanda Shires
Go Ahead and Cry by Rick Broussard & Two Hoots and a Holler
All in the Game by Merle Haggard
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Mark Sultan & Delaney Davidson

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Jan. 27 2012


Mark Sultan, a Canadian who has made a living, or at least part of a living, as a one-man band — and sometimes as half of two-man bands such as The King Khan & BBQ Show and, with Bloodshot Bill, as The Ding Dongs — has a pretty strong opinion of one-man bands.

He hates them.

Ranting on his blog last year, Sultan wrote:

“I can see how a one-man-band set-up can leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth. ... I hate one-man bands. Seriously. There are only a couple I like, and those few I do like I like because I don’t consider them one-man bands, but rather musicians who manipulate minimal gear and sounds and transform it and themselves into something special and transcend what they present. ... I don’t like the one-man band as gimmick. Or this fucking community of one-man-band team thought. I hate teams. I hate competition. This is all sports mentality. I hate sports, too.”

Now, I love the raw, stripped-down blues-bash basics of a Bob Log III and O Lendario Chucrobillyman. The one-man format works fine for an artist like Scott H. Biram, boiling down blues and honky-tonk to its basic DNA. There are some European one-manners out there, like King Automatic and Urban Junior, who have taken the form to weird dimensions. And I believe that the ascended master Hasil Adkins knew cosmic truths that most of us lesser mortals will never comprehend.

Whatever
But on the other hand, I think I know what Sultan is talking about. Like any kind of music, there is definitely some sameness in the sounds produced by the minions of second-rate Bob Logs proliferating at the edges of the garage and roots-rock scenes.

So, it’s fitting that Sultan’s latest work — two new albums released simultaneously late last year — seems to drift further than ever from the typical one-man band sound. On the new albums Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want, he continues to explores his beautiful obsession with doo-wop. Basically, Sultan just does what he’s always done best — melodic (mostly) tunes colored by R & B, rockabilly and primitive rock ’n’ roll.

But the sound, while still a million miles from overproduced, seems fuller than ever. As he’s done on previous albums, Sultan uses guest musicians. On the new records are Sultan’s pals from The Black Lips (with whom Sultan plays in the garage/gospel supergroup The Almighty Defenders) and Dan Kroha of The Gories. And, even more so than past efforts, he’s not above using a few studio tricks to give the tracks a little heft.

Whenever
A word about formats here: Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want are available only on vinyl and downloads. However, for CD loyalists, there is a 13-tack compilation called Whatever, Whenever. Unfortunately it doesn’t have some of my favorites, like “Blood on Your Hands” (which sounds  like a weird team-up of Danny & The Juniors and The Kingsmen), “Repulse Me, Baby,” which has a little King Khan in it, and “Pancakes,”  which you might mistake for  Sha Na Na making the greatest IHOP commercial in the history of the world.

Other favorites from the new albums include Whatever’s “Just Like Before,” on which Sultan goes right for the doo-wop jugular. It sounds like a lost cousin of some vintage Drifters hit. The rockabilly influences show on “Satisfied and Lazy” (on Whenever), while “Party Crasher” on Whenever gets psychedelic with a droning organ, some “Paint It Black” guitar riffs, and distorted background vocals that may make you think of Dion & The Belmonts interpreting the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Whenever closes with an unexpected twist. The epic eight-minute “For Those Who Don’t Exist” starts out with Sultan strumming a guitar with the tremolo way up and whistling a weird little melody that could almost be a slower version of the Pixies’ “La La Love You.” Then, with clanging railroad-crossing bells apparently warning you, the saxes come in, and it’s a free-jazz odyssey.

What sets Sultan above most slop-rock purveyors is his voice. He has always owed far more to Sam Cooke than to Hasil Adkins. While he messes with several styles, his soaring voice is the thread that holds these two albums together.

Also recommended:

* Bad Luck Man by Delaney Davidson. This New Zealand native reminds me of some ghostly troubadour wandering the Earth searching for shadows.

As was the case with his previous album, Self-Decapitation, Davidson’s music shows traces of blues and hillbilly sounds, a little Gypsy jazz, faint strains of Dixieland, perhaps a touch of tango, and who knows what else.

Every song on Bad Luck Man has its charms, sometimes fully revealing themselves only on a second or third listen. Among the standouts are “Time Has Gone,” the kind of sad waltz Davidson does so well. Organ and horns rise up during the first instrumental break, giving the song a circus-orchestra texture.

The murder ballad “I Told a Secret” is a faster-paced waltz with a droning slide guitar. “I made a promise I would tear out my darlin’s sweet heart,” he sings in the first verse. And, by golly, he keeps that promise.

Davidson goes straight for the blues on “Windy City,” a raucous blues burner that comes late in the album, with chugging harmonica and a low gutter guitar. This tune pays its respects to Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, and other monsters of Chicago blues.

Delaney in Santa Fe
Though most of the songs are originals, Davidson plays some covers. He takes bluesman Abner Jay’s “I’m So Depressed” and makes it rock.

And there’s “I’ve Got the Devil Inside,” written by Davidson’s Voodoo Rhythm crony and touring partner, The Reverend Beat-Man. (The two played together in Santa Fe twice in recent years.) Davidson is backed only by loud drums you might think are a high-school marching band from the netherworld.

But for all the demonic energy, there are also some redemptive moments, the finest being “I Saw the Light From Heaven,” a backwoods gospel tune on which Davidson is accompanied by a lone banjo.


BLOG BONUS!
Here's Mark Sultan performing The Rolling Stone's "Out of Time" and his own "I'll Be Lovin' You" from the $ album


And here's Delaney Davidson waltzing with the ladies in Tucson, Ariz. the night before he and Beat-Man played Santa Fe in July, 2010. The song is "Time Has Gone," which is on Bad Luck Man.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Sunday, January 22, 2012 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Freedom by J. Mascis & The Fog
Party Crasher by Mark Sultan
Revolution Part 1 by The Butthole Surfers
I've Got The Devil Inside by Delaney Davidson
Tip My Canoe/Family Business by Dengue Fever
Brokenhearted Woman by Ros Sereysothea
Oh No She Didn't Say by The Cyclones
Timothy by The Nervebreakers


JOHNNY OTIS TRIBUTE
Court Room  Blues by Johnny Otis
Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton
Baby You Don't Know by Roy Milton with The Johnny Otis Show
Honey Hush by Big Joe Turner
It Ain't What You Say by Little Esther
Pledging My Love by Johnny Ace
So Fine by The Fiestas
You Better Look Out by Delmar Evans with The Johnny Otis Show
Willie and the Hand Jive by Johnny Otis


ETTA JAMES TRIBUTE
All songs by Etta unless otherwise stated
The Wallflower (Roll with Me Henry)
Good Rockin' Daddy
My Dearest Darling
I'd Rather Go Blind by The Del Moroccos
The Pickup
Tough Lover by Nick Curran & The Lowlifes
Let's Burn Down the Cornfield
At Last by Richard Berry & The Dreamers
W-O-M-A-N

Tell Mama by Janis Joplin
Ain't It Strange by Patti Smith
Howling Wolf Blues by Johnny Dowd
Seeing is Believing by Bobby King & Terry Evans
Girl With Bruises by jack Oblivian
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE


Friday, January 20, 2012

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Friday, January 20, 2012 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Cool and Dark Inside by Blonde Boy Grunt & The Groans
Fried Chicken and Gasoline by Southern Culture on the Skids
Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves by Last Mile Ramblers
You Take the Cake by Sammy Johnson & The Rhythm Lads
(Now And Then) There's A Fool Such As I by John Doe & The Sadies
Learn to Say No by Lydia Loveless
The Ballad Of Bill Blizzard by The Fisticuffs
I Need Some Lovin' by Harold Allen

Baby Doll by Charlie Gracie
Nothing at All by Rick Brousard & Two Hoots and a Holler
Blue Collar Blues by Jason Eklund
Down, Down, Down, Down, Down by Dale Watson & The Texas Two
Bent by The Calamity Cubes
Here in This Honky Tonk by The Western Starlanders
Slippin' Away by Jean Sheppard
The Thief Upon the Tree by Roy Acuff
There's More Pretty Girls Than One by Hylo Brown & The Timberliners
Double Track by Ugly Valley Boys

This Old House by Willie Nelson
If I Should Wander Back by Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Wronglers
Roly Poly by Brett Sparks & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Time Changes Everything by Johnny Cash
Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette by Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen
Leaving Home by Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Big Rock Candy Mountain by John Hartford
Deep Elum Blues by Harmonica Frank Floyd
A Satisfied Mind by Porter Wagoner

Late Night Lover by Rachel Brook
A Girl in a House on Felony Flats by Richmond Fontaine
Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone by Graham Lindsey
The Scarlet Tide by Alison Kraus
Goodnight Irene by Wayne & Gina Hancock
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Them Old Country Songs

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Jan. 20, 2012



I probably won’t be here to collect, but I’d be willing to bet that in 50 years, country singers — whatever in Sam Hill country music looks like in 2062 — will still be making albums of nostalgic old country songs.

They won’t be recording songs by Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, or Jason Aldean. Nope, they’ll still turn to the songbooks of Hank and Lefty, Willie and Merle, Bill Monroe and Bob Wills. They’ll still turn to the finely crafted tunes by Harlan Howard, Floyd Tillman, Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, Merle Kilgore, and Cindy Walker.

And there’s a reason for that. Those old songs still pack a powerful punch. It’s not that any of the venerated masters shunned commercialism. Far from it. They wanted to make hits. But they did so without writing songs that sounded as if they were created by committee and the recordings checked by focus groups. Even though you’ve heard songs like “I’m Moving On” or “Footprints in the Snow” a jillion times, if a singer has a little soul, he or she can still cover those tunes and they will connect.

And Willie Nelson and Jimmie Dale Gilmore have a lot more than a little soul. Both of the latest releases by these Texas troubadours are worthwhile experiences, even if most the songs on each are very familiar.

Nelson’s Remember Me, Vol. 1 is his second album in the last couple of years consisting of hillbilly classics.

His T Bone Burnett-produced Country Music consists mainly of bluegrass, folk, and backwoods gospel songs. The new album is slightly more modern, covering country songs going back to the 1940s and one from the late ’80s — Verne Gosdin’s “That Just About Does It.” There are songs by Nelson’s contemporaries like Haggard and Kris Kristofferson, as well as tunes made famous by his heroes such as Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce, and Bob Wills.

Some are familiar, some are a little obscure. But there’s not a bad one in the bunch.

The arrangements, for the most part, are simple and basic — lots of fiddle and steel — though Nelson nods to the early-’60s Nashville sound on “Release Me,” which has vibes, a jazzy guitar, and a soft female chorus. With the exception of harmonica player Mickey Raphael, the band here is not Nelson’s usual Family Band, but the musicians serve him well.

The title track, which opens the album, is a Tubb song — the first version I ever heard was by Dean Martin back in the 1960s. No, it’s not the same as “Remember Me (When Candle Lights are Gleaming),” which Nelson sang on Red Headed Stranger. It’s a midtempo tune, maybe a little slow to kick off an album. But it draws a listener in, and that fiddle by Aubrey Haynie sure sounds sweet. Plus, the bridge offers a reassuring promise to Nelson’s listeners: “And through all kinds of weather you’ll find I never change/Through the sunshine and the shadows, I’ll always be the same.”

Wilson does a great finger-poppin’ take on Tennessee Ernie Ford’s greatest moment (written by Merle Travis), “Sixteen Tons.” And he does a jumping cover of the Tex Williams western-swing novelty tune “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette),” which most people my age probably first heard played by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen in the early ’70s. Nelson’s version is fun, though he’s not really known for smoking nicotine.

Speaking of western swing, Nelson’s take on “Roly Poly” is perhaps the best version of this Texas Playboys song I’ve ever hear. Much of the credit goes to drummer Eddie Bayers who pounds like a maniac.

The prettiest tunes have to be “Slowly,” an early-’50s Webb Pierce song, along with “Satisfied Mind,” a Porter Wagoner signature tune (though my favorite version is the one by The Byrds).

Nelson, who is pushing 80, gives these songs a sagely quality. I’m happy he’s still singing them.

Like Nelson, Gilmore is an excellent songwriter, but he loves playing the songs of his country forefathers. His 2005 album, Come on Back, which showcases his space-alien voice, cosmic spirituality, and honky-tonk sensibilities, consists of dusty old country songs that his dad loved.
Jimmie Dale & Wronglers

His latest, Heirloom Music, is more of a folk/blues/old-timey venture, an acoustic string-band affair with wonderful old songs like “Deep Elum Blues,” “Foggy Mountain Top,” and The Carter Family’s “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes.”

Gilmore and his band draw from bluegrass sources such as Bill Monroe (“Uncle Pen”), Flatt and Scruggs (“If I Should Wander Back”), and Rupert Jones (“Footprints in the Snow”).

He teams up for this album with The Wronglers, a northern California band — the album is actually credited to The Wronglers with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Warren Hellman, who founded the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, played banjo with the group. He died last month.

The main intersection with Nelson’s latest is a Bob Wills cover, “Time Changes Everything,” though Gilmore performs it as a sad country ballad, not as a western-swing tune. In an interview on NPR's  Fresh Air last year, Gilmore said he had found a bluegrass version of the song by Monroe, though he first came to it via Johnny Cash’s cover.

My favorite tune here is Charlie Poole’s version of “Frankie and Johnny,” which is titled “Leavin’ Home.” It’s the happiest-sounding song about domestic violence ending in murder you’ve heard. You almost believe that a pistol goes rooty toot toot.

Also commendable is The Wronglers’ version of the hobo fantasy “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” Hellman and Gilmore trade off on lead vocals. Maybe it’s not as heartwarming as the late John Hartford’s live version in the movie Down From the Mountain, but it’s up there.

Gilmore sounds like he enjoyed every second on this album. I did too.


Check out a performance by Gilmore with The Wronglers on Mountain Stage:


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...