Wednesday, July 01, 2015

WACKY WEDNESDAY: The Secret History of White Rap

I'm not talking Vanilla Ice here ...

Decades before before The Sugar Hill Gang -- years before The Last Poets or Gil Scott Heron even -- courageous, (or at least shameless) Caucasians created their own forms of rap music that swept the nation.

Or at least made for some pretty weird novelty records.

The late, lamented Spy Magazine released a hilarious compilation called White Men Can't Wrap, which showcased many of the classics of the genre, some of which are included below.

The collection included liner notes by none other than Irwin Chusid, perhaps the nation's greatest expert on "outsider" music, and a major fan of all sorts of strange and wonderful songs.
Chusid sayeth:

White rap is a centuries-old tradition; the original white rappers were square-dance callers improvising rhymes for Saturday-night barn parties in America's rural backwaters. Like today's rappers, they were seen as debauchers, imperiling the morals of the young. The fiddle was "the instrument of the devil"; church leaders banned it. The callers' freestyle rhymes teased with erotic innuendos ("Duck for the oyster/Dig for the clam/Knock a hole in the old tin can").

The stuff they taught you in the grade-school gymnasium, that cornball mountain music with the do-si-dos - it was all about sex and forbidden behavior! It was the roots of today's white rap culture. Herewith, a tribute." (Thanks to the ever-excellent Music for Maniacs blog for transcribing that for their post about White Men Can't Wrap a few years ago.)

Besides its roots in square-dance calling as Chusid notes, another major manifestation of white rap was "talking blues," Folksingers like woody Guthrie and the young Bob Dylan loved the style and included several talking blues tunes in their repertoires.

But the style goes back at least to the mid-20s. South Carolina entertainer Chris Bouchillon recorded a song called "Talking Blues' in 1926. His song "Born in Hard Luck" is even better.


Hank Williams played his own style of talking blues also, in is guise as Luke the Drifter.



But hillbilly singers were not the only purveyors of white rap. In the late '50s comedian Lenny Bruce made this beatnik-jazz contribution.



By the 1960s, white rap was in full blossom. There were big radio hits like "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean, "Old Rivers by Walter Brennan," "Ringo by Lorne Green and "Gallant Men," a patriotic march by Everett McKinley Dirksen, whose day job at the time was minority leader of the U.S. Senate. (I posted a YouTube of that on a previous Wacky Wednesday.)

But the greatest white rapper of them all in the 1960s was not an actor or senator. He was Napoleon XIV (real name: Jerry Samuels)  who recorded this sensitive take on behavioral-health issues called "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" This track actually was a crude form of hip hop, just a guy reciting lyrics over a beat and an ominous siren. Why has Napoleon XIV not been sampled more?



Finally, I know that technically he doesn't qualify for this category, but for his 1967 song "Don't Blame the Children," I believe that Sammy Davis, Jr. should be considered at least an honorary  white rapper.

Monday, June 29, 2015

A New Big Enchilada Hillbilly Episode!


THE BIG ENCHILADA



Welcome to the Redneck Palace, where rednecks, hillbillies, country bumpkins, hicks, white trash and trash of any color are treated like royalty. Enjoy crazy country sounds old and new, the wild sounds I play every Friday night on the Santa Fe Opry on KSFR.

This episode is dedicated to my new friend, Harley in Roger Miller's hometown Erick, Oklahoma. Harley's own Redneck Palace in Erick is pictured above.

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Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Oklahoma Stomp by Spade Cooley)
Jason Fleming by Neko Case & The Sadies
Long Gone Away by Banditos
If You Take Drugs You're Gonna Die by The Beaumonts
Lovin' Ducky Daddy by Carolina Cotton
I'm a Hobo by Danny Reeves
He's Biding His Time by Danny Dill 
The Palace Roses by Tod Andrews

(Background Music: Bluegrass Concerto by Sonny Osborne)
Down by The River by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Beaten and Broken by The Mekons
I Left My Kazoo in Kalamazoo by Al Duvall
Ain't Gonna Take it No More by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
Don Houston by Slackeye Slim
That's My Pa by Sheb Wooley

(Background Music: Byrd's Boogie by Jerry Byrd & The String Dusters)
Got Just What I Want by Devil in the Woodpile
Defibulator by The Defibulators
Sadie Green (The Vamp of New Orleans) by Roy Newman & The Boys
Chocolate Jesus by Raw Death
Friendly World by The Kittens featuring Shari Elf
(Background Music: Mountain Boogie by Wally Fowler & His Georgia Clodhoppers)



Play it here:



TOM RUSSELL ON THE SANTA FE OPRY -UPDATED with Bad News!

UPDATE: July 2: Disappointing news. Tom Russell contacted me yesterday to tell me that he had to cancell Friday's SF Opry appearance because of a scheduling conflict. He did make a short recording, which I'll play on the show, but he won't be in the studio with me.





Singer-songwriter, artist-author Tom Russell, the man who wrote "Gallo de Cielo," "The Sky Above, The Mud Below," "Blue Wing," "Haley's Comet," "The Man From God Knows Where," "The Kid from Spavinaw," "When Sinatra Played Juarez" and way too many more to mention, will be appearing live in the studio on the Santa Fe Opry this Friday, July 3.

Russell, who recently moved to Santa Fe, recently released a double-CD concept album or "folk opera" or 'frontier musical" call The Rose of Roscrea

And he's got a gig on Tuesday July 14 at the Jean Cocteau Theater. (I'll be sure to ask him about those rumors I just started that he and George R.R. Martin are collaborating on a Game of Thrones episode about cockfighting in Westeros.)

So tune in Friday, 10 p.m. Mountain Time on KSFR. That's 101.1 in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico and streaming live on the web at www.ksfr.org

Below is a promo video for The Rose of Roscrea.


And here is one of my favorite Russell tunes. That's Eliza Gilkyson on background vocals. (She's on Russell's new album too)




Sunday, June 28, 2015

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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Sunday, June 28, 2015 
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


Here's the playlist
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
You Ain't Got Soul by The Routes
Demon Seed by Demented Are Go
Ashtray Heart by Captain Beefheart
Move Your Arse by A Pony Named Olga
Zombie Island by Jonny Manak & The Depressives
Tres Borrachos by Left Lane Cruiser
Outrun the Law by The Things
Ooh My Soul by Little Richard

Hola Petunia by Churchwood
Bad News Perfume by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
I Want Your Body by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Crystal Lake by J.C. Satan
I Hate to Dance by Lightning Beat-Man
Dead-End Street by The Monsters
Sweet Tooth King Khan & The Shrines
I Warned You by Motobunny

Don't Be Angry by Ros Sery Sothea
Don't Speak by Pan Ron
Better to Be Lucky Than Good by The Electric Mess
Bad Boy by Larry Williams
Steal Your Love by Jody Porter
Nest of The Cuckoo Bird by The Cramps
Tales of Old New York: The Rock Box by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Viewpoint by Negativland
A Hit Gone Wrong by Deadbolt
Facebook Drama by Northern Cree

The Saddest Story by the MSR Singers
Working for My Jesus by National Independent Gospel Singers
He Will Supply by The Gospel Wonders
I Know the Lord by His Angelic Choir with Rev. Lawrence Roberts
Guide Me by The Soul Finders
Jesus Said it by Heavenly Lights
Kneel and Pray by Cross Jordan Singers
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis


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Saturday, June 27, 2015

Mose McCormack's March Madness

Mose getting ready for his KSFR performance last March
One of New Mexico's finest country songwriters and singers Mose McCormack appeared on the Santa Fe Opry  last March, so I wanted to post it on Mixcloud back then.

However, the recording didn't show up on the KSFR computer where it was supposed to be and I didn't I didn't locate it for several weeks. (Actually I didn't locate it, KSFR's crack staff did. Thanks, guys.)


Anywho, I finally got it posted. You can play it below.

Enjoy!




Here's the first hour of the show. Mose's segment starts about 17 minutes into it.



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...