THROWBACK THURSDAY: Happy Birthday, Hillbilly Piano King

He only wanted to make the kind of music "that'll make them goddamn beer bottles bounce on the table."

And I believe that Aubrey Wilson "Moon" Mullican accomplished that goal many times over.

Born in Polk County, Texas in 1909, Tuesday would have been Mullican's 107th birthday.

As a boy in Texas, the first music he loved was the blues. According to an article on the Texas State Historical Association site:

Though Moon served as a church organist during his teens, he developed an interest in blues music and learned to play the guitar with instruction from a black farmer. Impressed also by pianists who performed in local juke joints, Mullican developed a distinctive two-finger right-handed piano style that became his trademark. Much to the chagrin of his father, he began to play for dances as a teenager and aspired to become a professional musician. When he was about sixteen years old he moved to Houston and worked as a piano player for establishments that some observers characterized as "houses of ill repute." Sleeping by day and working evenings, Mullican may have received his nickname for his nocturnal habits during this period. For a time in the 1930s he performed with his own band in clubs and on the radio in Southeast Texas and Louisiana.

By the 1930s he was playing in a number of western swing bands including  Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers,

In 1947 he signed with King Records in Cincinatti, where he recorded his best-known song "I'll Sail My Ship Alone." In 1949 he joined The Grand Old Opry.

Along the way, Mullican he developed a style of hillbilly boogie that was a huge influence on rockabilly. In fact one of Mulican's devotees was a fellow singing piano player named Jerry Lee Lewis. Mullican's style spanned country, blues, jazz and later, he embraced rock 'n' roll.

By the time he died on Jan. 1, 1967, he'd faded away from the national stage. But he kept on gigging in Texas, making them goddamn beer bottles bounce on the table until the end.

So happy belated birthday, Moon. Here are a few videos of live performances to keep his memory alive.

I wonder if Moon ever met Clarence "Frogman" Henry ...


Moon sings of the moon


On these clips Moon does best when pretty girls are around his piano


And here's Moon Mullican's signature song.

WACKY WEDNESDAY: This Gator's Gonna Get Your Granny!

Those of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter might already know that I got a little steamed at the most recent episode of HBO's Vinyl -- specifically in which record execs Richie Finestra, and Zak Yankovich catch Elvis Presley in Las Vegas.

This, of course was in the mid '70s when the King was in decline and during the scene Zak, played by Ray Romano, is disappointed and downright disgusted that his rock 'n' roll hero of his youth has morphed into the watered-down white jump-suited idol of un-hip old ladies.

But what really gets to Zak is the song Elvis (Shawn Klush) sings in the scene.  It's "Polk Salad Annie," a 1968 hit by Tony Joe White that Elvis picked up on and made a staple of his live set.

“The king of rock ’n’ roll is singing about lettuce!” Zak says scornfully.

And that's why I got pissed. You can't argue that Elvis wasn't going downhill artistically at this point (though he still had guitarist James Burton and his back-up singers The Sweet Inspirations going for him.) But whatever Elvis' problems were, "Polk Salad Annie" was not one of them.

There was no shortage of over-produced, overwrought, cornball middle-of-the-road songs from the 1970s Elvis songbook the writers could have chosen to illustrate how far he'd drifted from his 1950s rockabilly heyday.

"Polk Salad Annie," in fact is one of his better musical choices of the '70s. Its lyrics contain a sexy swamp girl, her razor-totin' mama, wanton watermelon theft, and of course granny-chompin' gators.

Mister, that is rock 'n' roll!

Here's a live version by Elvis to make my case:

There's no question, however that this is Tony Joe White's song. Here's one of my favorite versions, Tony Joe with Johnny Cash on the Man In Black's old TV show:



And more recently, Tony Joe sang a lower, slower rendition with Foo Fighters on The Late Show With David Letterman. Pat Smear looks like he's having the best time here.



Here is a Spotify playlist featuring the original Tony Joe version plus a whole bunch of covers (including one by the late Clarence Reid, Blowfly's alter ego) Play one, play some, play all.



And don't forget this song where Ray Wylie Hubbard explains how "Polk Salad Annie" helped win the heart of a stripper girlfriend.





And, no, Zak, Elvis was not singing about lettuce. It's actually a toxic plant called Phytolacca americana. Unless you cook it correctly, polk salad (also known as poke salad or poke sallet or poke weed) can hurt you.

As the Ohio State University Weedguide says:

Infants are especially sensitive and have died from eating only a few raw berries. Although boiled young shoots have been eaten as greens and berries cooked in pie, ingestion of any part of the plant cannot be recommended. Adults have been poisoned, sometimes fatally, by eating improperly prepared leaves and shoots, especially if part of the root is harvested with the shoot, and by mistaking the root for an edible tuber.

(The original cooking video I had here disappeared. And, so did the one I chose to replace it. So let's try this one)

For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook

Start your week with a healthy new BIG ENCHILADA Podcast episode

Welcome to the Big Enchilada Podcast Health Care Convenience Center. This month we're offering some very healthy doses of high-poeered, crazy rock 'n' roll to cure whatever ails you. Take your medicine. It's good for you!

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Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Outer Limits Surf by The Deadly Ones)
Karate Monkey by The Woggles
Swamp Pigs by Dash Rip Rock
Wise Old Man by The Fall
Psyche Out With Me by The Monsters
Boom by Wild Flag
You Fine and Healthy Thing by Charles "Boogie Woogie" Davis

(Background Music: Dapper Dan by Dr. Lonnie Smith)
Not Like You by The Vagoos
Château Phoquoeupe by The Come N' Go
Bad Love by Night Beats
UFO, Please Take Her Home by Coachwhips
Chicken Yodeling Woman by O Lendário Chucrobillyman

(Background Music: Late at Bailey's Pad by Warren Barker & The Warner Brothers Star Instrumentalists)
Run Rabbit Run by Bantam Rooster
Whispers by Sulphur City
My Life by Harlan T. Bobo
Feeling Grear Now She's Gone by Lynx Lynx
Git Back on the Truck by Hickoids
Tipsy #3 by The Chumps

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, March 27, 2016
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

Peter Cottontail by The Bubbadinos

Karate Monkey by The Woggles

The Pot by The Monsters

Freezer Burn by Edison Rocket Train

Alligator River by Lothar

Lonely Planet Boy by New York Dolls

Ax Me by J.J. & The Real Jerks

Zombie Blocked by Left Lane Cruiser

Deathbed Side Manner by The New Bomb Turks

 

40 Miles of Bad Road by Dead Moon

Shangri Lah by The Night Beats

Venice with Girls by The Fall

Attitude by The Come N' Go

Miss Phenomenal by King Automatic

Born Bad by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Great Big Idol with the Golden Head by The Gories

Tears in Vain by Jonah Gold & His Silver Apples

Gilligan's Island by Manic Hispanic

 

Bad and Good by Javier Escovedo

New Kind of Kick by The Cramps

Meet Me at the Graveyard by Andre Williams

What Am I Gonna Do by John the Conquerer

Glow in the Dark by Lovestruck

Come Back, Bird by Manby's Head

Amazons and Coyotes by Simon Stokes

96 Tears by Aretha Franklin

 

What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are / Bwana Dick / Latex Solar Beef by Frank Zappa & The Mothers

Stormy Monday by Bobby "Blue" Bland

Every Woman Needs a Working Man by Johnny Rawls

Opportunity by Timmy Thomas

I'll Take Care of You by Bobby Patterson

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

 

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, March 25, 2016
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FMEmail me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Back in the Saddle Again by Gene Autry
Git Back in the Truck by Hickoids
If Looks Could Kill by T. Tex Edwards
Receiver by The Waco Brothers
Swamp Pig by Dash Rip Rock
That Truck by The Texas Rubies
Can't Get Away by Banditos
99 Years to Go by The Wray Brothers
Baby He's a Wolf by Werly Fairburn

Fist City by Loretta Lynn
Too Close to Heaven by Dad Horse Experience
Good Times by Oh Lazarus
Tied by The Yawpers
The Whiskey Lingers by The Bonnevilles
Georgia on a Fast Train by Billy Joe Shaver
Fruit of the Vine by Nancy Apple

Steve Young Tribute

Ramblin' Man by Steve Young (Live on the Santa Fe Opry 2005)
Seven Bridges Road by Dolly Parton
Lonesome, Onery and Mean by Waylon Jennings
The Angel of Lyon by Tom Russell
Long Way to Hollywood by Steve Young (Live on the Santa Fe Opry 2005)

The Darkest Day by Eilen Jewel
Mississippi Sue by Andre Williams
Big Fake Boobs by The Beaumonts

Bury Me Deep by Steve Train & His Bad Habits
Don't Bet Against Me by Hackensaw Boys
Evicted by Peter Case
Any Old Time by Maria Muldaur
Gunter Hotel Blues by Paul Burch
The Year We Tried to Kill the Pain by Bob Woodruff
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? By Johnny Cash

Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list