The Big Enchilada: Fighting the War on Christmas since 2008! Indulge in some holiday cheer with some magical Christmas sounds from The Reigning Sound, The Chesterfield Kings, Das Black Milk, The Polkaholics, Jonny Manak, Deep Sombreros, Joseph Spence, Linn & Linda, Jim Terr, Snoop Dogg and more.
Friday, December 12, 2014 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
So for this Throwback Thursday, I'm featuring a compilation of Christmas songs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries by a cool vintage audio blog calledDawn of Sound (which I found via The Free Music Archive.)
Voices of Christmas Past actually was released as an album back in 1998. The Free Music Archive wrote:
The recordings were cylinders and acetates from 1898 to 1922. Every year after the release, the website was inundated with requests for the CD. Once it was out of print, Dawn of Sound released it online for free.
The 23 tracks include religious songs, kiddie songs (Did you know that Santa hid inside the phonograph?), stories, comedy routines, some visions of sugar plums and herald angels, a little Nutcracker Suite, and an early, early version of "Jingle Bells."
But it wasn't the first recording of that song. According to Peter Nagy of Dawn of Sound, a banjo plunker named Will Lyle recorded the first “Jingle Bells”in 1889, It was "the very first Christmas record," Nagy said. (The song was written back in 1850 by a Massachusetts man named James Pierpont.)
No known copies of the Will Lyle recording exist, Nagy said, But Track 3 in this collection, an 1898 Edison brown wax cylinder titled, “Sleigh Ride Party,” featuring the Edison Male Quartette is centered around "Jingle Bells.
The original liner notes said:
This collection of carols, songs and monologues from the original vintage recordings capture the essence of the Christmas spirit as it was in the opening two decades of the 20th Century. So gather up the family, wind up the phonograph and take a trip back in time to the early 1900’s and celebrate the holidays with the “Voices of Christmas Past”.
You can play it below and download any or all of the songs at FMA.
Alas, it looks like the Dawn of Sound blog has been inactive for a few years. But it's still up for all to enjoy.
I guess we had some similarities. Both of us sang funny, usually irreverent songs based in blues, country and primitive rock 'n' roll.
Both of us were played on the late, lamented KFAT radio in Gilroy, Calif.
Both of us had a perverse fascinations with Elvis, Satan and pro-wrestling.
Both of us have degrees in education. (He was a special ed teacher, while I never did find full-time employment as a teacher.)
But there were differences. I barely could strum a few chords, while Rev. Billy could actually play that piano. Hell, he was mentored by Sunnyland Slim himself.
Plus, Billy actually has landed paying gigs with pro wrestling!
So once I learned who Rev. Wirtz was, I was honored by the comparison. I took the compliment whether I deserved it or not.
Enjoy some videos:
And here's one of his best wrestling tunes:
And here's some surf music, Billy C style:
I just learned that Rev. Billy and I have something else in common: He does a radio show. Rev. Billy's Rockin' Rhythm Revival airs on WMNF in Tampa, Fla. (Apparently it airs on KPIG, the heir to KFAT, also.)
And he's got a podcast version too. I'm listening to one at the moment where he sandwiched an Iron Butterfly song between Big Mama Thornton and Memphis Slim. In some places they call that "Freeform Weirdo Radio"! You can play that episode below:
