Thursday, November 21, 2013

Roger Miller on Opry Almanac

My friend Paul Milosevich, an artist with impeccable taste, alerted me to this series of videos.

It's  the late great Roger Miller on a local Nashville show called Opry Almanac, hosted by Ralph Emory. This was shot in the mid 60s, when men were men and you could smoke right there in a tv studio! That's Thumbs Carlisle in the Batman shirt playing guitar with Roger. And Roger's interview banter is as classic as his music.

Other guests include Charlie Louvin and Jerry Allison of The Crickets.

Watch one, watch 'em all.













Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Earl Poole Ball on The Santa Fe Opry



Honky-tonk/rockabilly piano titan Earl Poole Ball, who has played with the likes of Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Wynn Stewart, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, The Byrds and many other greats will appear this Friday night on the Santa Fe Opry.

Ball, who recently has been playing with Dale Watson in Austin -- including an upcoming appearance on Austin City Limits, which they're taping next week -- released a solo album, Pianography, earlier this year. (SF Opry listeners have heard many cuts from this.)

He's coming to the area for a show Saturday at the Mine Shaft Tavern with Honky Tonk Deluxe, a band featuring Susan Hyde Holmes, Ollie O'Shea, George Langston and Pete Amaral. 

Tune into The Santa Fe Opry 10 p.m. Friday on KSFR, 101.1 FM, and streaming live HERE


Here's a recent video:

Sunday, November 17, 2013

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Nov. 17, 2013 
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
Revolution by Mudhoney 
Tell Me Pretty Baby by Screamin' Joe Neal
I Can't Control Myself by The Troggs
Use It or Lose It by The Deadly Vibes
54/40 or Fight by Dead Moon
Directly From My Heart to You by The Mothers of Invention
Hard Lessons by The Manxx
Steppin' Out by Paul Revere & The Raiders

Long Gone by The Customs
Self Destructive by The Motards
Be So Fine by Left Lane Cruiser
Grease Monkey Go by The X-Rays
I Blew My Speakers  by The Angel Babies
It's Lame by Figures of Light
1880 or So by Television
El Vampiro by Los Vampiranos
I Lost My Baby to the Guy at the Bobcat Bite by Gregg Turner

It Ain't No Use by Z.Z. Hill
To The Other Woman, I'm the Other Woman by Sandra Phillips
Laughin' and Clownin' by Sam Cooke
Will it Go Round in Circles by Billy Preston
People Get Ready by Wolfmoon
He's Gone by Doris Duke
When My Baby Comes by La La Brooks

Diddly Wah Diddy by Captain Beefheart
Fruit Fly by The Hickoids
Breaking My Heart by Robrert Belfour
The Trip by Kim Fowley
Take it Away by Pietra Wexstun & Hecate's Angels
Love Letters Straight From My Heart by Kitty Lester
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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A New Big Enchilada Hillbilly Episode





Howdy friends and neighbors and welcome to the latest hillbilly episode of The Big Enchilada. Every song this month truly is a trophy in its own peculiar way. And smack dab in the middle of the episode is a set, inspired by Norton Records' new compilation, Tragic Songs From the Grassy Knoll,  of country and blues songs commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Hang on!




Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Dance, Cajun Dance by Sammy Naquin)
Old Man from the Mountain by Bryan & The Haggards with Eugene Chadbourne
My Frijoles Ain't Free Anymore by Augie Meyers
Shackin' Up by Daddy Longlegs
All Hearts in Wichita By Two Ton Strap
Dreamin' Ain't Waltzin' by Copper & Coal
Welfare Music by The Bottle Rockets
(Background Music: Brownie's Stomp by Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies)

COUNTRY & BLUES ASSASSINATION SET

Memories of Kennedy by Hasil Adkins
Sad Day in Texas by Otis Spann
The Death of John F. Kennedy by The Southern Gospel Band
Lee Harvey by T. Tex Edwards
Friend by The Rockin' Guys

(Background Music: Texas Guitar Stomp by The Maddox Brothers & Rose)
I Don't Want to Wash Off Last Night by The Gaunga Dyns
Ain't That a Dilly? by Marlon Grisham
Two Hoops and a Holler by Jean Shepard
Your Wildlife's Gonna Get You Down by Carol S. Johnson
Julia Belle Swain by The Howlin' Brothers
I'll Trade You Money For Wine by Robbie Fulks
Corn Liquor Made a Fool Out of Me by The Bad Livers


Friday, November 15, 2013

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Nov. 15, 2013 
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
Lose Your Mind by Wayne Hancock
Banana Puddin' by Southern Culture on the Skids
Must've Been High by The Supersuckers
Pretty Boy Floyd by The Byrds
Dumb Blonde by Dolly Parton 
Gutter Queen by Soda Gardocki
Cowgirl Hall of Fame by Joe West
American Trash by Betty Dylan

Standing at the Edge of the World by Earl Poole Ball
Monkey on a String by Charlie Poole
Ragz n Bones by The Goddamn Gallows
Devil in Her Eyes by The Calamity Cubes
Get Up and Go by David Bromberg 
Ophelia by Country Blues Revue
A Rejected Television Theme Song by Shooter Jennings

Where I Fell by Robbie Fulks
Boy Crazy by Lydia Loveless
Idiot's Revenge by The Bottle Rockets
The Death of John F. Kennedy by The Southern Gospel Band
Lee Harvey by Boris & The Saltlicks
Don't Blame the State of Texas by Lowell Yoder
Mama Tried by Bryan & The Haggards with Eugene Chadbourne 
Steamboat Whistle Blues by John Hartford

No Reason to Quit by Merle Haggard
Apartment #9 by Tammy Wynette
Do Remember Me by Willard Artis Blind Pete Burrell
Missouri Gal by Big Sandy & The Fly Rite Boys
Tell Me Twice by Eleni Mandell
Back Street Affair by Webb Pierce
You're Still on My Mind by George Jones
My Old Man by Jerry Jeff Walker
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNEUP: A Triple Shot of Bloodshot

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Nov. 15, 2013

At any given moment since the mid-’90s, some of my favorite music — at a few odd points most of my favorite music — has come from the independent Chicago record label Bloodshot Records .

Starting out as an “alternative country” label (actually, Bloodshot coined the handle “insurgent country”), the company has included in its stable the likes of Neko Case, Alejandro Escovedo, The Old 97s, various Jon Langford projects — most notably The Waco Brothers — Andre Williams, Wayne Hancock, Barrence Whitfield, Scott H. Biram, Graham Parker, The Detroit Cobras, Rosie Flores, and many more.

I’m not saying I’ve liked every act they’ve signed or every album they’ve released. But Bloodshot’s batting average is pretty impressive. Three recent releases are especially noteworthy.


*  Gone Away Backward by Robbie Fulks. Singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks is a Bloodshot OG. Back in the ’90s he was a natural for the label, with twanging, irreverent songs like the anti-Nashville anthem “Darn This Town” (I cleaned that up for this family publication), and “She Took a Lot of Pills and Died.”

Fulks helped the label build its reputation in its early days. But while those songs are fun and outrageous, Fulks’ “serious” songs from the early albums, such as the self-loathing “Barely Human” and “I Just Want to Meet the Man” (which may or may not be a prelude to a murder), showed he had more than just comic songs in him.

He left Bloodshot shortly after the turn of the century. But now he’s back. And that’s as it should be.

It took me a little while to warm up to Gone Away Backward. It’s a low-key acoustic affair, with some outright bluegrass songs and a few instrumentals. Hard to believe this was produced by Chicago noise monster Steve Albini, though he’s produced Fulks before. The record has very few rousers and not a lot of Fulks’ trademark humor. But there are more than enough songs to keep me coming back, and I like it more with every listen.

“That’s Where I’m From” is a haunting tale of a suburban guy originally from the country who worked hard to make sure his children never knew the hardships of his youth: “I’ve watched them grow now I see, one thing separates them from me/And that’s where I’m from.” The bluegrass tune “Sometimes the Grass Is Really Greener” is about a backwoods musician who won’t go along with a record company’s plan to make him the next hot new country sensation.

The melody and banjo on “Long I Ride,” one of the upbeat songs here, remind me of “The Swimming Song” by Loudon Wainwright III. It’s about a happy-go- lucky hillbilly in New York whose major goal is “to make a bit more in the daytime than I drink down at night.” “Imogene” is a slow bluesy love/sex fantasy.

But I suggest listeners start out with “Where I Fell.” It’s the sad story of a man who is dissatisfied with virtually every aspect of his life. The song begins: “Daddy used to catch his supper in this river now you can’t swim it/Smells like a 20- ton truck full of paint thinner sank down in it.” The narrator hates his job (“Now I sling hash for what all spills off the interstate”), he’s not in love with his sometime lover (who “comes by for some TV and leg it down with me every now and again”), and he’s sick of the mindless prattle of his friends down at the bar (“Game score, Tea Party, world war, I don’t give a good goddamn”). There’s no ray of hope for this poor guy. As he sings in the chorus, where he fell is where he dwells.

I’m glad Fulks fell back to Bloodshot Records.

* Bottle Rockets/The Brooklyn Side (reissue) by The Bottles Rockets. More than two decades ago this band became the pride of Festus, Missouri. Back before anyone was calling it alt-country, The Bottle Rockets, along with Uncle Tupelo, were helping to define that sound. Arguably, their sound was closer to Skynyrd-soaked Southern rock than to Gram Parsons-style country. In any case, they were powerful.

They’ve been Bloodshot mainstays since the early part of the 21st century, but unfortunately the band’s early albums have been out of print for years. So it’s great news that Bloodshot is reissuing their first two albums as a double-disc package, generous with bonus tracks (including some live tracks by Chicken Truck, an early incarnation of The Bottle Rockets).

Frontman and chief songwriter Brian Henneman has always shown a blue- collar sensibility. Struggling working-class regular guys populate songs like “1,000 Dollar Car.” (I played this for my son a few years ago when he was considering buying an $800 car, but did he listen?) Henneman even shows sympathy for the dim-witted protagonists who accidentally burn down their trailer in “Kerosene.” (“If kerosene works, why not gasoline,” goes the chorus.)

As these first albums show, the band sometimes got political as well. “Wave That Flag” on Bottle Rockets is a putdown of meatheads in four-wheel drives displaying Confederate flags: “You can whistle ‘Dixie’ all day long/If the table turned wouldn’t you hate that song?” On The Brooklyn Side, the song “Welfare Music” takes a shot at Rush Limbaugh (“angry fat man on the radio”) and anyone else attacking single moms on government assistance.

Even a punchy rocker like “Radar Gun” — which makes fun of law enforcement agencies and local governments that raise revenue by busting speeding motorists — can be seen as carrying a political message, though most listeners will be drawn more to the raunchy guitar crunch than the civics lesson. And speaking of speed, if you love cranked-up 90-mph guitar rock, “Rural Route” is nothing short of a rush.

It’s great to have this music readily available again. And hopefully The Bottle Rockets are working on some new music too.

* Boy Crazy by Lydia Loveless. This five-song EP is a follow-up to young Lydia Loveless’ eye-Indestructible Machine. The singer from Columbus, Ohio, was only 21 when that album came out, but as I said about that record, “Her throaty voice suggests an ancient soul.” And that holds true on these songs.
opening 2011 Bloodshot debut,

Some critics quibbled that there were too many songs about booze on Indestructible Machine — as if they didn’t remember being 21. (I don’t actually remember either, but people have told me what I was like then.) But on Boy Crazy, sex seems to have replaced alcohol as the main theme.

Here Loveless’ songs are more pop and rock and less country than on her previous album, though the steel guitar still wails. There’s nothing on this EP that immediately grabs and shakes you as much as “Bad Way to Go” or “Can’t Change Me” on Indestructible Machine, but the new songs are full of irresistible hooks that invite repeat listens.

And speaking of repeat listens, the first time you hear “Lover’s Spat,” you might not realize the story behind the song. Go back and listen again. Loveless wrote it about boy-crazy serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Loveless, according to Bloodshot, is working on a full-length album expected to be released next year. Boy Crazy is a good appetizer.

UPDATE 4:05 pm I misquoted a Bottle Rockets song in the original version. The correct lyric in "Welfare Music" is "angry fat man on the radio." The text has been changed. My apologies to white people.

Enjoy some videos:





I couldn't find any of Lydia's new songs, but here's a good one from her first album.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Happy Anniversary Danny Boy!

"Danny Boy" is one of those songs that you might assume has been around since the dawn of history. But according to a story on the BBC website today, "Danny Boy" as we know it was first published 100 years ago.

The origins of Danny Boy have long been the subject of debate.
The melody itself is believed to have been penned by the blind Irish harpist Rory Dall O'Cahan in the late 16th or early 17th Century.
Folk legend says that Rory, having collapsed drunk one night by the riverside, heard fairies performing a melody on his harp.

I'll buy that.

The melody is known as "The Londonderry Air."

Several lyricists attempted to put words to the tune, but it wasn't until the 20th Century that it merged with the words we know today.
Fred Weatherly, an English barrister who moonlighted as a songwriter, had written lyrics for a song named Danny Boy in 1910.
His Irish-American sister-in-law Margaret Weatherly sang him the melody of the Londonderry Air.
Fred adapted his lyrics to the tune to create Danny Boy, which was published in 1913. No credit was given to Margaret - who died penniless in 1939
There's a zillion easy-listening versions of "Danny Boy." But I prefer The Pogue's take on the song.




And here's Johnny Cash's version, including the story of how the song came to him.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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