Wednesday, March 28, 2012

R.I.P. EARL SCRUGGS

Earl Scruggs, perhaps the greatest banjo picker in the history of bluegrass, is dead.

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
Scruggs, 88, apparently died yesterday in a Nashville hospital.

To people my age, North Carolina native Scruggs, and longtime partner Lester Flatt, were bluegrass music in the 1960s. More so than Bill Monroe or The Stanley Brothers. They brought bluegrass to living rooms all over the country every week playing the Beverly Hillbillys' theme song. (Sometimes Earl and Lester even played themselves in epsiodes.)

And later, they brought bluegrass to the Top 40 with "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" from the movie Bonnie & Clyde.

Both Flatt, who died in 1979,  and Scruggs started out with Monroe's Bluegrass Boys back in the '40s when Monroe was in the process of inventing bluegrass. Scruggs is credited for introducing his 3-finger style of picking, transferring the banjo from a rhythm instrument into a lead instrument.

He and Flatt left Monroe in 1948 establishing their Foggy Mountain Boys as a premier bluegrass act. They parted ways in 1969.

By some accounts, politics divided them. Scruggs appeared in 1969 at an anti-Vietnam war rally in Washington, D.C. Flatt, as were most most country and bluegrass artists at the time, was a supporter of the war.

U.S.A Today in its obituary noted,

"... when staunch fans of bluegrass — a genre that would not exist in a recognizable form without Scruggs' banjo — railed against stylistic experimentation, Scruggs happily jammed away with sax player King Curtis, sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, piano man Elton John and anyone else whose music he fancied. 

"He was the man who melted walls, and he did it without saying three words," said his friend and acolyte Marty Stuart in 2000.

But it was in pure bluegrass where Scruggs excelled. Just last week laid up in my own hospital bed, I watched a couple of episodes on the Old Flatt & Scruggs Grand Old Opry tv show, which is offered on Netflix's streaming service. For that hour, I forgot all about what ailed me.

Rest in peace, Earl.

Here's some videos:


  

Here they are with "Little Ricly" (Skaggs!)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Free Music? Oh si!

Thee Oh Sees
Dueling drummers
One of my favorite new discoveries from my recent trip to Austin was Thee Oh Sees from San Francisco. (I say "new discovery" meaning that I just discovered them. They've been around for a few years.) I saw them at the new Emo's East on the same bill as The Gories and Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds.

As I suspected, Thee Oh Sees have a bunch of downloads over at WFMU's Free Music Archive.

So get over there and listen and/or. download to your heart's content. Or if you're too lazy for that, enjoy a rocking 2009 concert below.


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

eMusic March

Here's my latest batch of downloads from eMusic:

  * Bluegrass Classics by Various Artists. This is one of those eMusic bargains that keeps me paying my $19.99 every month. What we have here is 48 tracks of bluegrass -- and some proto-bluegrass -- artists, mainly from the '40s and '50s, but some even earlier

I've been on a bluegrass kick lately. But -- call me a cranky old purist if you want -- I don't like much of the modern bluegrass music. So much of it seems cold and intellectual -- virtuoso musicians who seem more highfalutin than high and lonesome, lacking in that true hillbilly spirit that fueled the original masters.

This collection features very few artists whose names might be recognized by casual fans -- do Sonny Osbourne and J.E. Mainer ring a bell? But mostly there are singers and pickers who never got as famous as Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers or Flatt & Scruggs.

But it's full of great songs. There's "I'll Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" by Buster Carter & Preston Young (and fiddler Posey Rorer), cronies of Charlie Poole. This version is at least a decade older than Flatt & Scruggs' more famous version.

There's "Wild Bill Jones" by Wade Mainer & The Sons of the Mountaineers. This is the song that contains the line, " “I pulled my revolver from my side / And I destroyed that poor boy's soul," which inspired the name of  Trevor Jones' one-man band.. Wade, by the way is J.E. Mainer's brother.

But my favorite has to be "Missing in Action" by Jim Eanes &His Shenandoah Valley Boys. It's the story of a soldier who was wounded in battle, left for dead and taken prisoner by the enemy. But the narrator escapes and makes it home. Nobody was home, but when he goes in he finds a wedding photo  -- his wife had married another guy. He then finds a letter to the Mrs. from the Army saying that her first husband was missing in action and presumed dead. The sad soldier doesn't want to spoil his wife's happiness, so he decides just to move along without letting his wife know he's still alive.

Wow! What a good sport.



* Singin' in the Rain: The Best of Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards. He was the voice of Jiminy Cricket, the sweet-voiced guy who crooned "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Give a Little Whistle"in Walt Disney's Pinocchio.

Like Mark Twain, Edwards was from Hannibal, Mo. Starting out in vaudeville and later moving to Broadway, he played the uke to accompany his singing. Some say he learned to play the instrument when he was a newsboy to draw attention to himself while hawking papers on the street.

Edwards' golden years were in the '20s and 30s. He reportedly sold some 74 million records. He specialized in the pop hits of the day, doing versions of the pop standards of the day -- "Hard Hearted Hannah," "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "Dinah" "It's Only a Paper Moon," "I'll See You in My Dreams," and of course "Singin' In the Rain."

He also was known for his novelty songs like "My Dog Loves Your Dog," "Paddlin' Madelyn Home," and the risque "Who Takes Care of the Caretaker's Daughter?" Often Edwards would scat, then break into a bizarre falsetto "human trumpet" sound.

But though most of his songs had a carefree and happy aura, Edwards' life was a mess. Alcoholism, morphine addiction and financial troubles plagued his life. He tried his hand at acting, but never got any significant roles.

But he did manage in 1940 to score a gig that would win him -- or at least his voice -- immortality: providing the voice of Pinnochio's conscience in the classic cartoon feature. "When You Wish Upon a Star" won an Academy Award. And Edwards' recording of it was his last hit record.

It might be cruel irony that Edwards' musical legacy is largely forgotten while the cartoon cricket to which he gave voice is a household name 70 years later. But the truth is that Ukulele Ike's music is a delight. This collection of 25 songs, including all the ones I mentioned here is a great testament to the singer.



* Help Me Devil  Here's how I stumbled across this album on eMusic:

A few weeks ago when writing my review of Andre Williams' new album Hoods and Shades, I was trying to find an early version of the song "Mojo Hannah" by an R&B  singer I'd never heard of named Tami Lynn. Searching eMusic for Tami I came across Help Me Devil, which features her on a couple of tracks.

I liked what I heard.

 The group behind this self-titled effort is a Spanish trio heavily influenced by rockabilly.

The group is led by Juan Carlos Parlange, who has led Spanish punk bands in the '90s.

It's just cool, basic rock with titles including "Girls Today Don't Like to Sleep Alone," ,“We Sold Army Secrets For Dope," and "Rattlesnakes Don't Commit Suicide." (which you can hear on the latest Big Enchilada podcast. ) They even cover a Hasil Adkins tune, "Chicken Walk."

 Matt Verta-Ray of Heavy Trash produced the album and played on some cuts. But an even more impressive guest here is Miss Tami who kills on the old fashioned boogie "It's Great to Be Here, It's Great to Be Anywhere."

Plus


* 3 Songs from Ricochet by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Ricochet was The Dirt Band's second album back when they still were toying with the idea that they could be the West Coast version of The Jim Kweslin Jug Band. Most the songs on the album, however, were fairly uninteresting folk-rockish pop. But I still love the crazy words-crazy tunes of their jug-band stuff.

The ones I downloaded were "Coney Island Washboard," "Happy Fat Annie" and "Teddy Bear's Picnic," a demonic stomp that I shamelessly ripped off for the arrangement of my own "Potatoheads' Picnic." There's three or for other kazoo, banjo and washboard-heavy tracks here I'll probably nab in the future.

* "Old Original Kokomo Blues" by Kokomo Arnold and "Kokomo Blues" by Scapper Blackwell. When I was writing my Terrell's Tuneup column about President Obama singing "Sweet Home Chicago" at a White House blues concert a couple of weeks ago, my original idea was to write about the history of the song. (Hint, these tunes, especially Kokomo Arnold's, were huge influences, to use a kind word.)

The column took a different turn, but I'm still glad I downloaded these country blues classics.





Monday, March 19, 2012

SXSW 2012 Final Report

Country break dancing at the Austin Moose Lodge
I spent Saturday night, my last night in Austin, at The Austin Moose Lodge.

Moose Lodge? Isn't that the kind of place where your folks would play bingo in the '50s and '60s? Don't their roots go back to prehistoric days when Fred and Barney belonged to the Bedrock lodge of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo?

That's right. The Loyal Order of Moose, by God. It's an off-the-beaten track venue on the east side of Austin. There was plenty of parking and few, if any, people there actually part of the South by Southwest festival.

It was a perfect place for the "Saving Muddy Hillgrass" party.

This was a two-day event (unfortunately I missed the first day) organized by three institutions of the "underground country" scene -- Saving Country Music, The Muddy Roots Festival, and Hillgrass Bluebilly Records.
Calamity Cubes

I arrived at the Moose Lodge just in time to see The Calamity Cubes, an acoustic trio from Kansas.

They look like villains from a Rob Zombie movie. Singer/guitarist Brook Blanche is a huge hairy guy who, if he was a pro wrestler would be named "Man Mountain" something,

When they pick up their instruments, you might expect them to be a raucous punk-bluegrass band. And indeed, they are capable of that. Their first couple of tunes Saturday fell into that category.

But the Cubes' most memorable songs are Blanche's slow, soulful, mournful country weepers. Many, perhaps most of the songs they played Saturday were from their upcoming album Old World's Ocean. I'm not sure of the titles but among my favorites is a minor-key dirge that starts out, "You and I, we're like cattle in the slaughter house." Nothing short of stunning.

Also excellent is the one I think they call "Empty Bottle" (it starts out "I'd rather have an empty bottle than no bottle at.") At first you might think is going to be a funny drinking song. But it's much deeper than that.

 I bought a CD-R copy of "rough mixes" of the album and my favorite songs they did Saturday are on it. When I get back to doing my radio shows next month, I'll be playing it.

Other bands I saw at Saving Muddy Hillgrass were:

Soda Gardocki
Soda & Friends
* Soda Gardocki: He's a singer/banjo picker from Knight's Ferry, California with a gruff voice and punk-rock past.  He performed many songs solo, but my favorites were those in which he was joined by various friends.

On several songs he had a fiddle player, but a few included mandolin, guitar, accordion, stand-up bass and drums. On song, he said, he wrote with his late grandmother, who was 97 at the time.


Hellbound Glory
Hellbound Glory


* Hellbound Glory. This is a good, rowdy country rock (they call it "scumbag country") group from Reno, Nev.  featuring a lap steel and a stand-up bass -- but no drummer on Saturday  (except singer/guitarist Leroy Virgil, who sat on an played a bass drum on some tunes) Opening with Billy Joe Shaver's "Georgia on a Fast Train" they show a fine grasp of the spirit of '70s outlaw country. Though playing mostly originals, Hellbound later in the show did a fine version of David Allen Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" (with an updated verse to make it the "perfect country western" song.)

* James "Slim" Hand. While I was watching Hellbound Glory, a man in a cowboy hat came up to me and shook my hand. "I'm James Hand," he said. A friendly gesture for sure, but I couldn't figure out why.

But later, during his set at the party, he said he wanted to shake the hands of everyone in the audience. I guess with me, and probably others, he was just getting a head start.
James Hand (Speedy Sparks, right)

Hand is a long-time Texas honky tonker (a real Waco brother!) who never got famous beyond the Lone Star state but is well-respected and loved in Austin music circles. (Hell, he has a testimony from Darrell Royal on his website!)

With a band that included bassist Speedy Sparks (he's played with Doug Sahm, the Texas Tornados and jillions of others) Hand delighted with a mix of country and rockabilly standards (fine, fine versions of Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm"; "Mona Lisa," which sounded like it was based on Carl Mann's arrangement; and a hillbilly blues take on Jimmy Reeds' "Take Out Some Insurance."

There were a couple of more acts on the bill, but I was a tired old man with a long drive home the next day. And I couldn't think of a better way than James Hand to end my 2012 South by Southwest.

UPDATE: You can find my snapshots of the music I saw last week HERE.


Saturday, March 17, 2012

SXSW Friday Report

Jon Langford and Bill Kirchen Reenact the Battle of Waco
Jon Langford and Bill Kirchen Reenact the Battle of Waco


J.C. Brooks
JC Brooks
The first part of Friday I went to the annual Bloodshot Records party at the Yard Dog Gallery. I got there just in time for JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound. He's Bloodshot's entry into the soul-revival -- a revival, like I've said before, that has been going on for years and hopefully will be for a long time.

Brooks is a young guy from Chicago, but he's obviously well versed in the book of Otis Redding, Wilson Picket and other founding fathers of southern soul. His band -- guitar, bass, drums and keyboards -- is nice and tight.

Brooks plays mainly original tunes but one real crowd pleaser is their cover of Wilco's "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," which is the first song by J.C. I ever heard. I never envisioned that tune, (which starts out, "I am an American aquarium drinker ..." ) as a soul workout when I first heard Wilco do it all those years ago. But I'm glad J.C. Brooks did.

The Waco Brothers with Paul Burch
Paul Burch with the Wacos
It just wouldn't be a South by Southwest trip for me without seeing The Waco Brothers at the Yard Dog. I've seen them every SXSW I've attended since 1996. And yesterday I passed over Roky Erikson, T. Tex Edwards and many other shows to see them again. And the Wacos, fronted by The Mekons' Jon Langford --  foul-mouthed, self-mocking and charming as ever --  didn't disappoint. I knew they wouldn't.


Amazingly, The Waco Brothers haven't released an album since their 2008 live set (released just before the last time I saw them.) But now, they're about to release a collaboration with Paul Burch, a wonderful country singer himself. Unfortunately on most the songs Burch sang yesterday were severely under-miked. I guess I'll have to wait until the album to fully appreciate them.

Probably the highlight of the show was when then band was joined by Bill Kirchen -- former guitarist for Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. With Kirchen, The Wacos unleashed a downright apocalyptic version of "Folsome Prison Blues."

That was the afternoon/early evening. For the night shows, I spent all my time at the new Emo's -- Emo's East, where the former Sixth Street punk rock institution presented a free show (not associated with SXSW) hosted by In the Red Records.

The Oh Sees
Thee Oh Sees
I went for The Gories and Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds -- two bands I saw a couple of years ago in New York. But I was surprised and impressed  with another band Thee Oh Sees.

This San Francisco band has two drummers as a well as a male and female singer. They're hard-driving, playing songs based on tasty garage-rock riffs.

My only complaint is that the last song they played, a droning psychedelic excursion (sorry, I'm not familiar with the titles) was too long and repetitive. The sets at Emo's on Friday tended to be short and they probably could have fit in two shorter snappier numbers here,  But overall, I still want to check out more of Thee Oh Sees.

Kid Congo has to be one of the most under-rated, under-appreciated musicians working today. His rock 'n' roll resume is impeccable (The Cramps, Gun Club, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.)  But his music with The Pink Monkey Birds is wildly original -- mostly original instrumentals or songs in which the only vocals are the Kid speaking the lyrics.

He does often pay homage to his old bands though. last night he did a version of "I'm Cramped." His set was finished though before I even had a chance to shout a request for "Sex Beat." (He did that Gun Club classic when I saw him in New York.)

Hey Hey We're The Gories
Hey Hey We're the Gories!
The Gories are as loose as The Pink Monkey Birds were tight. But that's their heritage, a proud tradition since the 1980s they must uphold. The group -- guitarists Mick Collins and Dan Kroha and drummer Peggy O'Neill -- broke up in the 90s, but a few years ago got back together for a reunion tour. This, I believe is their third such reunion. They aren't ready for the casinos yet, but they were just right for Emo's.

 They romped and stomped through most of their best songs, including "Hey Hey We're The Gories," "Thunderbird ESQ," "Idol With the Golden Head" (a Coasters song, but played as if filtered through Bo Diddley) and a ragged but right take on "Mona," (a Bo Diddley song as filtered through The Gories.)

Unfortunately the all-ages crowd began to seriously thin out by the time The Gories went on.

Kids these days ...




TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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