Friday, Dec. 29, 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
Make it Up to Mama by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Down on the Corner of Love by Buck Owens
Crazy Mixed Up World by Eilen Jewell
Days of 49 by Jim Kweskin
Hobos are my Heroes by J.D. Wilkes
Long Legs by Legendary Shack Shakers
Jesus Don't Love Me by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Believe in Heaven by Ruby Boots
Lonely Goth Girl by Peter Stampfel R.I.P. Bonnie Hearne (All Songs by Bill & Bonnie Hearne)
Wild Geese
Bluebonnet Girl
Somewhere Between
Saturday Night Girl
New Mexico Rain
Above and Beyond by Rhonda Vincent & Daryle Singletary
I Can Still Feel by Miss Leslie
Room 102 by Chris Shifett
Here She Comes Again by Chris Hillman
Louisiana Swing by Bud Hobbs
Let's Do Wrong Tonight by Simon Stokes with Annette Zilinkas
You'll Lose a Good Thing by Dad Horse Experience
Big Girl Blues by Danny Barnes
Big Dark World of Hate and Lies by Graham Lindsey
Walking on Hell's Roof Looking at the Flowers by Waco Brothers
Dead Thumb King by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Set My Soul on Fire by The War and Treaty
Honky Tonk Flame by Tyler Childers
Vandalism Spree by Hellbound Glory
I'm Just a Country Boy by Don Williams
Four Strong Winds by Neil Young
My Rose Marie by Stan Ridgway CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Want to keep this hoedown going after I sign off at midnight? Check out The Big Enchilada Podcast Hillbilly Episode Archive where there are hours of shows where I play music like you hear on the SF Opry.
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Dec. 29, 2017
Here are my favorite albums of 2017.
* Sidelongby Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. On my very first listen, I was a fan by the end of the first two tracks: “Keep the Home Fires Burnin’ “ (with its beyond catchy melody, similar to the bluegrass classic “Rocky Top”) and “The Nail” (a love-gone-wrong honky-tonker with some fine guitar and lap steel in which Shook sings, “Well, I ain’t your last, you ain’t my first/You can’t decide which fact is worse”). With her voice sporting more than a hint of a whiskey rasp, Shook sounds as if she’s the punk-rock granddaughter of Hazel Dickens.
* Texa$ Platinumby Ghost Wolves. This Austin band made some of the finest garage rock I’ve heard all year. Singer Carley Wolf has a pixieish voice that wouldn’t seem out of place in some of my favorite Japanese girl-punk bands. Actually, the first time I heard her, I thought of KatieJane Garside, the singer of the early-’90s group Daisy Chainsaw (“Love Your Money”). Carley is also a heck of a guitarist. Her hubby Jonathan is not only downright powerful on the drums, he also adds subtle iggly-squiggly, sci-fi synth effects.
* Boy in the Well by The Yawpers. This rowdy little band from Denver has created one of the most rocking little albums of the year. With big sonic traces of The Gun Club, ZZ Top, The Legendary Shack Shakers, and their own twisted take on rockabilly, The Yawpers rip through most these songs with an urgency that’s undeniable. And the whole thing centers on a bizarre story of a World War I love child who, yes, spent most of his life in a well — before he emerges and unleashes a series of Oedipal wrecks.
* Tell the Devil I’m Gettin’ There As Fast As I Can by Ray Wylie Hubbard. Another fine revelation from the crusty old Texan, who only seems to get tougher and ornerier with age. Like the Bible, the album starts out with the creation story — a song called “God Looked Around,” in which Hubbard, in his knowing drawl and slow-moving guitar, tells the story of the origin of the universe, Adam and Eve, and that pesky snake. But the next song, “Dead Thumb King” goes right to the hoodoo, as Hubbard explains that he’s armed with “some dirt from Lightnin’ Hopkins’ grave,” “bones from an old black crow,” and a “rattlesnake tail inside my guitar.”
* Goin’ Back to Wurstvilleby King Salami & The Cumberland 3. This hopped-up, high-energy London-based band has been around for more than a decade, but despite my overly optimistic prediction a few years ago, they never really have made a huge splash in the good old USA. That’s our loss, my fellow Americans. With Salami and the Cumberlands’ seamless bend of garage-rock, ’50s and ’60s R&B, and occasionally a little instrumental surf music, few bands match their sound in terms of pure fun.
* 20 Years in a Montana Missile Silo by Pere Ubu. This is the most outright rocking studio album Ubu has unleashed in about a decade, maybe longer. No, the band, which emerged during the punk and New Wave scare of the late ’70s, hasn’t forsaken their heritage of avant-garde, experimental, atmospheric sounds. But they also haven’t forgotten how to make your feet move and head bang either. The group’s foundation was garage and surf rock — colored by darkly bizarre lyrics, David Thomas’ warbling vocals, and Plan 9 From Outer Space-esque synth noises. And Missile Silo shows that foundation is strong.
* Purgatory by Tyler Childers. This twenty-six-year-old guitar slinger from Kentucky writes and sings songs that sound timeless. Covering evergreen hillbilly themes, he tells tales of good moonshine, bad drugs, an all-seeing God, a powerful devil, and the joys of love and sex. Some tracks have a pure outlaw country sound, while some come right out of the world of bluegrass. Purgatory was produced by Sturgill Simpson. And it shows.
* Existentialism by The Mekons. Technically, this album was originally released in 2016, but it was part of a fancy, expensive “limited edition” package. But this year, Bloodshot Records released it as a single (and affordable) CD. Recorded live at a small club in Brooklyn a couple of years ago, this album has all the things Mekons fans love — rowdy barroom singalongs over inexplicable ambient noise, nods to Hank Williams and dub reggae, and lyrics that seem soaked in alcohol and revolutionary fervor. Speaking of which, the song “Fear and Beer,” subtitled “Hymn for Brexit,” is as sad as it is lovely.
* Down to the River by The War and Treaty. Singer Michael Trotter Jr. has one of the greatest music biographies I’ve ever seen. He was a soldier during the invasion of Iraq and was assigned to guard one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces after the strongman was driven from power. In the basement of the building, the occupying Americans found an old piano said to have belonged to Saddam himself. Trotter taught himself to play on that abandoned instrument, writing his first song, a tribute to a fallen captain. But even without that crazy back story, this music, on which Trotter shares vocal duties with his wife Tanya Blount, is soulful, bluesy, and rootsy.
* Down Hearted Blues by Eilen Jewell. Can a white girl from Idaho sing the blues? Should a white girl from Idaho sing the blues? I’ll leave those important questions to the guardians of political correctness. All I know is that on this collection of old songs — mainly obscurities, spanning Memphis Minnie to Howlin’ Wolf — Jewell pulls it off with grace and grit. A former St. John’s student who used to busk at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, Jewell even includes a great hillbilly blues song here, Moonshine Kate’s “The Poor Girl’s Story.”
Just to show how obsessive I can be I created a new tag on this blog for my annual Top 10 album lists. If you're as bored as I am obsessive, you can go back to the very early days of this blog and see what albums I liked best between the present and 2003. CLICK HERE
Finally here's a Spotify list featuring a couple of tracks from each of my favorite 20017 albums.
Cabell Calloway was born on Christmas Day in Rochester New York 110 years ago. His folks wanted him to be a lawyer like his dad. He did attend law school but his career in law got derailed by the Hi De Ho. By 1930 his band was headlining at The Cotton Club in New York City. And soon he would become one of the greatest showmen American music has ever known.
Enough yack! Let's get on with the jive.
Here's one called "The Skunk Song"
Cab sings Harold Arlen's and Johnny Mercer's "One for My Baby" (and One More For the Road)" and makes it dreamy and sad.
Hep us, cats!
This was one of several follow-ups to Cab's signature song.
And here's the song that made gong-kicking a national obsession. Keep that Hi De Ho in your heart!
Along with the better-known Homer & Jethro, Lonzo & Oscar, who began their career in the 1940s opening for Eddie Arnold, epitomized cornball country comedy on the Grand Ol' Opry in the 1950s.
Kentucky native Rollin Sullivan portrayed Oscar, the goofy-looking hillbilly who played a mean mandolin. The role of Lonzo, the straight man of the band, was something of a revolving door. A guy named Lloyd George was the original Lonzo. He sang on their big hit "I'm My Own Grandpa" in 1948. But he left the act in 1950.
In the clips below, which are from the 1950s, Lonzo is Johnny Sullivan, Rollin's brother.
Don't ask me what "Cousin Jody's" real name is. The guy gives me the willies (though he's a fine lap steel player.)
On with the music!
Here is one I first heard performed by Hank Thompson, "No Help Wanted"
This is called "Hole in the Bottom of the Sea"
Little Jimmy Dickens introduces the boys for their parody of "16 tons."
Here's a love song called "Dear Joan."
Finally here's a parody of Hank Snow' signature song.
Friday, Dec. 22, 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
Blue Christmas Lights by Buck Owens
Six Bullets for Christmas by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
I Bought the Shoes That Just Walked Out on Me by Cornell Hurd
Brace for Impact by Sturgill Simpson
Scarecrow in the Garden by Chris Stapleton
Will I Ever Feel Fine by Tommy Miles & The Milestones
Dangerous Times by The Imperial Rooster
Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy by Rev. Horton Heat
Christmas Without Daddy by Loretta Lynn
The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams
Down Hearted Blues by Eilen Jewell
I Lie When I Drink by Dale Watson
Drunk on Love by The Hens
Rats in My Amp by Salty Pajamas
Shimmy Shakin' Daddy Maddox Brothers & Rose
Great Big Donut by Kell Robertson
Christmas Island by Leon Redbone
Billy's Christmas Wish by Red Sovine
Do Right by Me by Margo Price
Lost in the Desert by Marty Stuart
It's So Cruel by Ruby Boots
Josh Went to Yoga by Joe West
Born Again by Tyler Childers
Coulda Shoulda Woulda by Peter Case
Dancing With the Women at the Bar by Whiskeytown
No Vacancy by Marlee MacLeod
I Know Your Name by Dad Horse Experience
Guitar Man by David Rawlings Bottle by My Bed by Sunny Sweeney
Old Toy Trains by Roger Miller
Nothing But a Child by Steve Earle with Maria McKee
Merry Christmas from the Family by Robert Earl Keen CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Want to keep this hoedown going after I sign off at midnight? Check out The Big Enchilada Podcast Hillbilly Episode Archive where there are hours of shows where I play music like you hear on the SF Opry.
Turner & me at Whoo's Donuts, August 2017.
Photo by Kristina Pardue
This Saturday, Gregg Turner and his usual gang of weirdos -- including me -- will be playing one of our fun-filled music spectaculars at Santa Fe's number one secret music venue, Whoo's Donuts.
Turner, a founding member of The Angry Samoans will be backed up by his band of lovelies, singer Kristina Pardue and bassist Sarah Meadows.
I'm one of the "special guests," so I'll be doing a couple of the songs that made us all fall in love.
And rumor has it that the one and only Joe West is threatening to show up.
The show starts at 11:30 am Saturday, Dec. 23 at Whoo's, 851 Cerrillos Road. Come on down have some coffee and a fresh-baked pastry and let us entertain you.
If you're looking for Christmas cheer ... don't come here.
Deep in heart I do believe that 99-percent of Christmas music sucks the warts. For the most part I agree with these guys.
But there is a major exception. I'm a sucker for a sad country Christmas song.
In my Terrell's Tune-up column last week, I mentioned a song by George Jones (included on Rhino Records' Bummed Out Christmas compilation. It's one of the best country Christmas weepers. Check it out below.
You know it's going to be sad one when Kitty Wells sings "Holidays are lonely days for me ..." at the very beginning of "Christmas Ain't Christmas Anymore."
This is just one beautiful song by Buck Owens. Hell, I'd even listen to this in July.
Loretta Lynn tugs at your holiday heartstrings with "Christmas Without Daddy."
But the most over-the-top maudlin Christmas tune in the history of country music has to be "Billy's Christmas Wish." This is the saddest Red Sovine song since the Phantom 309 ran over Teddy Bear.
