OK, my advice to you is to quit reading this blog post and go sit yourself in front of your TV -- or your iPad or whatever you use for a TV these days -- and start watching the PBS series American Epic.
It's a 3-part series about American roots music in the early 20th Century, co-produced by Jack White and T-Bone Burnett and narrated by Robert Redford. There is lots of rare footage and photos, a soundtrack full of spooky old country, blues and folk classics and interviews with living musicians -- Charlie Musselwhite, Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson etc. -- talking about how this music enriched their lives.
Episode 1 of the series is already available. "The Big Bang" focuses on two great acts from the 1920s, The Carter Family and The Memphis Jug Band, discovered by Ralph Peer, the Columbia Records A&R man who traveled the south seeking recording artists, black and white, to appeal to rural audiences. (You can watch on your computer HERE.)
Below is a trailer for the series, followed by some songs that are featured in that first episode.
Here's Jimmie Rodgers, foreshadowing MTV by 50 years or so,
Here are Maybelle and Sara Carter reunited on The Johnny Cash Show in 1970. Johnny says it's their first time performing together in 27 years (though actually they'd recorded together in 1963 and did a bunch of shows together in the '60s.)
I love whoever decided to film this song by Whistler's Jug Band way back when.
In American Epic, the rapper Nas compares jug band music with gangsta rap. “These guys are talking about carrying guns, shooting something, protecting their honor, chasing after some woman who’s done them dirty. It didn’t start with hip-hop. It started a long time ago. It started with America.”
Here's The Memphis Jug Band singing about what Kinky Friedman calls "Peruvian Marching Powder."
The strange and wonderful Jonathan Richman turned 66 on Wacky Wednesday Eve,
Tuesday May 16.
Richman and his band The Modern Lovers, in their early-'70s incarnation, was a
pioneering post-garage, pre-punk band from New England. Richman was a Velvet
Underground fanatic, though his own vision was much less dark and far more
whimsical.
By the end of the '70s Richman's sound was getting softer, more acoustic, more
chidlike, Through the years he's stayed true to his oddball vision.
A personal note: Back in 1998 I got to open for Jonathan when he played in
Santa Fe. Truly one of the highlights of my own tacky music career.
Below are some of my favorite Jonathan tunes.
Here's one from one his frequent appearances on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien in the early '90s.
And here's another Conan performance. Everybody loves those vampire
girls.
Going back to 1987, here's a tribute to Jonathan's favorite Marx brother.
Gregg Turner does a fine cover of this Jonathan favorite.
Speaking of people who've covered Jonathan, here are a couple of versions of
Modern Lovers songs, starting with an acoustic take on "Pablo Picasso" by Iggy
Pop.
And here's Joan Jett singing Jonathan's song about New Mexico's state bird.
And here's the first Jonathan song I ever heard back in the mid '70s. It's still
one of my favorites.
Drummer Tommy Larkins with Jonathan Richman at Meow Wolf last year
Sunday, May 14, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Kickin' Child by Dion
Right On You by Benjamin Booker
Why Have You Changed by Thee Vicars
Don't Go Messin' by The Molting Vultures
Typical Girls by The Slits
Acid Drops by Public Image Ltd
Straight from Hell by Destination Lonely
Mom by Joe West
Tubes World Tour by The Tubes
I Need Somebody by Deniz Tek & James Williamson
Never Far From Where the Wild Things Are by James Williamson & Lisa Kekaula
1848 Now! by The Mekons
Now by The Plimsouls
Your Auntie Grizelda by The Monkees
Triple Full Moon by The Ghost Wolves
My Wild Love by The Doors
Gonna Murder My Baby by Pat Hare
Still Rollin' by Left Lane Cruiser
The Trip of Kambo by O Lendario Chucrobillyman
Drunk on Destruction by Mark Lanegan
Light as a Feather by Afghan Whigs
Old Tape of Memories by Laino & Broken Seeds
Sweet Simple Life by Demolition Doll Rods
My World is Empty Without You by Lee Fields & The Expressions
Midnight Hauler by Eleni Mandell
My Happiness by Elvis Presley
My Way by Sid Vicious
Always by Leonard Cohen CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, May 12, 2017 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
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Every Kind of Music But Country by Robbie Fulks
Kangaroo Blues by Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers
Big Shoes by Faron Young
Railroad of Sin by Sturgill Simpson
Shooting Star from Texas by Wayne Hancock
Holy Ghost Rock 'n' Roller by Jesse Dayton
Life of a Fool by Paul Burch
Nightmare of a Woman by Deke Dickerson
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by Little Richard
Rainmaker by Tusker
Dust on Mother's Bible by Buck Owens
Kit Kat Clock by The Bottle Rockets
700,000 Rednecks by Nikki Lane
Old Timer by Willie Nelson
About to Find Out by Margo Price
Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets by D.M. Bob & The Deficits
My Bucket's Got a Hole in It by Jawbone
Still Around by Scott H. Biram
I Will Survive by Peter Stampfel & The Ether Frolic Mob
It Makes No Difference by Shannon McNally
Nobody to Blame by Chris Stapleton
The End by Peter Case
The Dust I Own by Laino & Broken Seeds
High, Low and Lonesome by The Dinosaur Truckers
Stranger in Town by Dave Alvin
Good Ship Venus by Loudon Wainwright III
Trouble by Lauria
All Apologies by Iron Horse
Fairfax Story by David Bromberg
Same God by Calamity Cubes
I Bid You Goodnight by Any Old Time String Band CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican May 12, 2017
You can’t really talk about the counterculture without talking about the music. It’s one-third of the mystic voodoo trinity of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll.
I’ve purposely avoided overused, overplayed selections — “White Rabbit,” “Born to Be Wild” — that you always hear on era soundtracks, oldies radio, and cheesy ’60s compilations. Behind the usual choices are some overlooked diamonds.
Let’s start with a couple of contributions from New Mexico:
The Mighty Tusker, Left to right: Eliza Gilkyson, Steve Lindsey, Dennis Overman, Baird Banner, Dennis Culver and David Gilliland
* “Rainmaker” by Tusker. This was a band of local hippie types, featuring the vocals of longtime Retrospecto. It sounds as refreshing now as it did back then. The band included favorite daughter Eliza Gilkyson, plus Santa Fe music stalwarts like Dennis Overman, David Gilliland, Baird Banner, Steve Lindsey, and Dennis Culver. Overman still says Tusker is his favorite band. I thought I’d heard “Rainmaker” on local radio back in the late ’60s or early ’70s, but I guess, like Alex Jones, I’ve had so many big bowls of chile that my memory’s shot. It wasn’t actually recorded until the mid-’70s. Still, this tune, written and sung by Gilkyson, belongs on any list of great counterculture songs. “Rainmaker, where did all your dancers go?/Did we lose them one and all just like we lost your buffalo?” Then the chorus: “We can dance, people, bring that rain down from the sky/We don’t have to let the land go hungry or run dry/We can dance and bring Rainmaker back before we die.” Overman recently recalled, “I remember we played it at Paolo Soleri ... which was actually risky at an outdoor venue. ... That song made it rain a few times.” After being out of print for decades, Gilkyson included it on her 2005 rarities album Retrospecto. It sounds as refreshing now as it did back then.
* "I Wanna Come Back (From The World of LSD)” by The Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2. Though they never became famous, a bunch of Albuquerque kids created one of the first — and one of the finest — psychedelic songs ever released. And it was recorded at Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, where a decade before, Buddy Holly worked his magic. The band, originally known as the Playmates, played at teen dances all over the state and even opened for nationally known bands like The Yardbirds and Question Mark & The Mysterians. Their guitar player, Eddie Garcia, had been a member of The Champs (“Tequila!”). In an interview a few years ago in the online Lance Monthly (published by Dick Stewart, owner of Albuquerque’s Lance Records, which released the song), keyboardist Victor Roybal said, “We were looking for a new and original sound. Much of what we had been doing [was] performing top 40 sounds which people requested to hear. Danny [Houlihan, the singer] came up with the song and we all liked the sound.” For my money, “World of LSD” was even more powerful than psychedelic anthems like The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Incense and Peppermints” or The Electric Prunes’ “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).” Houlihan didn’t have “too much to dream.” He sounded like a kid scared out of his wits by hallucinations. Or maybe not. Roybal told Lance Monthly, “After the release of the 45-rpm [on Lance Records], the song was characterized as ‘anti-drug.’ I don’t think that was the intent, however.”
* “Coo Coo” by Big Brother & The Holding Company. This is a mysterious old minor-key
British folk song turned into a blistering psychedelic jam by Janis Joplin and her undeservedly underrated band. On some live versions that have surfaced, Janis doesn’t even sing until the second verse, which comes well after the halfway point. I’m firmly in the camp that believes Janis never should have left the ragged-but-righteous Big Brother. This song gives ammunition to that argument.
* “Livin’ With the Animals” by Mother Earth. This was a classic hippie band from the Bay Area that never quite made it that big, though singer Tracy Nelson was sometimes touted as the next Janis Joplin. But this tune, the title song of their first album, was sung and written by Texas-born Powell St. John, who also wrote songs for the 13th Floor Elevators. It’s a funny blues, complete with electric fiddle. The protagonist reminds me of some hapless R. Crumb character, a poor dude who’s the target of con artists, neighborhood toughs and an unfaithful girlfriend who’s “got some other sucker in her bed.”
* “Fat Angel” by Jefferson Airplane. Donovan wrote this one, reportedly about Mama Cass Elliott, Bless Its Pointed Little Head.
and in it, he name-checked the Airplane: “Fly Jefferson Airplane, get you there on time.” The Airplane returned the favor by covering the song, making it tougher and less droney, the first recorded version appearing on the live album
* “Mercy I Cry City” by The Incredible String Band. Speaking of Donovan, I bet you thought that he made the hippiest, dippiest, trippiest British music of the 1960s. Not even close. That honor would fall to the dynamic duo of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, better known as The Incredible String Band. And when they were good, they were wonderful. Their album The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter was their masterpiece, and the best song on it is “Mercy,” which sounds like a jug-band song as performed by Druids who’ve been listening to Ravi Shankar and English Music Hall 78s.
* “What’s Become of the Baby” by The Grateful Dead. When you’re talking about the
counterculture, the Grateful Dead is beyond obvious. Probably no other band is so closely associated with the movement. You could argue that a better-known song like the hippie-go-lucky “Truckin,’ ” or maybe “Sugar Magnolia,” better represents the group’s contributions to the era far more than this dark, dreary, near-unlistenable eight-minute drug dirge. But “What’s Become of the Baby,” with its distorted, meandering vocals, weird background noises, and a pace that’s excruciatingly slow — even for the dadgum Grateful Dead! — shows the group at its most sonically experimental. And the mostly unintelligible lyrics seem to hint at something tragic or maybe even evil (“But where is the child who played with the sunshine and chased the cloud shape to the regions of mind?”).Was this some crib death the commune covered up? Perhaps a Satanic sacrifice? A strange metaphor you can’t quite figure out? Really, what happened to this damned kid?
Enjoy many of these hallowed hippie sounds on this YouTube playlist:
One hundred and twenty nine years ago today one of America's greatest
songwriters was born.
In Russia.
But Israel Isidore Baline didn't stay in Russia long. When he was five,
his family immigrated to the U.S. to escape Russian persecution of Jews.
He didn't stay Israel Isidore Baline for long either, He rose to fame under the
name Irving Berlin.
And Irving, who died at the age of 101 in 1989, wrote a ton of songs -- some of
the most famous of the Tin Pan Alley era. "God Bless America," "White
Christmas," "Easter Parade" (remember, he was Jewish!"), "Puttin' on the Ritz,"
"There's No Business Like Show Business" ... The list goes on and on.
Here are some of his best known tunes done by a variety of singers. Happy
birthday, Irving. We're all richer for the music you left us.
This was Irving's first hit back in 1911, This version is by Bessie Smith in
1927.
Here's a prohibition-era tune about a little island in the Caribbean that became
a playground for Americans. It's sung by crooner Billy Murray in 1920,
You say you mainly like songs about sex and Satan? Well, Irving wrote at least
one of those. Here's one sung by Harriet Hilliard, who later would be known as
Harriet Nelson -- yes, Ozzie's wife and Ricky's mom. This song is from the 1936
movie
Follow the Fleet.
But he didn't make it. He barely made it to the age of 21.
Still, today let's celebrate the crazy spirit of Sid. He indeed was something else.
Johnny Rotten sang this with The Sex Pistols. But Sid sang it as an original member of The Monkees (FAKE NEWS!)
Now here's something different: A pretty, heartfelt song about Sid & Nancy, "Room 100" by Florida rocker Ronnie Elliott.
But Paul Anka wrote the best tribute:
For what is a man, what has he got If not himself, then he has naught To say the things he truly feels And not the words of one who kneels The record shows I took the blows And did it my way!
