Monday, March 12, 2018

It's SXSW Music Festival Week!

Untitled
Thee Oh Sees at SXSW 2016

Once again I'm heading to Austin, Texas this week for South by Southwest.

Starting Wednesday -- (meaning early Thursday) I'll be posting here about the music I see. It looks like great year for punk and garage-punk. Among the bands I hope to be seeing are The Dwarves, The Ghost Wolves, The Sloths, Bubble Puppy (!), local Austin favorites The Ugly Beats, etc. Plus, as usual, Bloodshot Records has a great line-up, including my old favorites The Waco Brothers and a new favorite, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers.
Jon Langford and Bill Kirchen Reenact the Battle of Waco
Bill Kirchen with The Waco Brothers during SXSW 2012

Because of SXSW there will be no Wacky Wednesday or Throwback Thursday this week. (And no radio playlists because Tom Adler's covering The Santa Fe Opry for me and Steve Tibbs is doing Terrell's Sound World.)

Last time I went to SXSW, two years ago, I had to crap out on my blogging because I was trying to do it on my iPad and the blogging program I had sucked the warts. Hopefully you won't have to put up with my sniveling excuses this year.

Be sure to follow my Instagram feed for cool bitchen iPhone shots of rock 'n' roll in action. (Of course there you'll have to endure cute snapshots of my grandsons, who live in Austin.)

I posted this memory on this blog exactly four years. Hope it's not too early to recycle.

IMG_4025
The Grannies, during SXSW 2014
I've got a long history with SXSW. The first time I attended was in 1995. It basically was a spur of the moment decision following a conversation with the late Alex Magosci, a coworker who had a band called Junk, which he fondly referred to as "Santa Fe's most dysfunctional band." He convinced me to travel with junk, which at that point was just a duo, Alex and his girlfriend Virginia Plain (but everyone knew her as "Sandy"), in their convertred school bus, lovingly dubbed The Junk Heap.

No, they didn't have an actual slot at the festival, but Alex thought he had lined up a few non-affiliated gigs. So I got my press credentials (which was so much easier back then) and talked my editor into giving me time off to go to Austin for a big Sunday spread. She even got me a little walking around money for the trip. (That was so much easier back then too.)

It was a wild trip. The Junk Heap, which we all thought was parked safely, started rolling unmanned and nearly hit a gas pump in Santa Rosa. The the damned thing broke down in Clovis. It was obvious the bus would never get to Austin. My editor was expecting a big feature on the festival, so I ditched Alex and Sandy and took a plane from Lubbock.

I felt bad for them, but a couple of days later, who did I run into but Alex and Sandy. The Junk Heap had come through. Of course, all the gigs Alex thought he had lined up fizzled one by one. They tried to set up in various spots along Sixth Street only to get get thwarted one by one. 
Junk rocks the Littlefield Mall, 1995

Finally Alex found a friendly shopkeep on Brazos who let him plug into the store's electrical outlet. They started playing right after an Irma Thomas outdoor show about a block away, so they got an instant crowd. They played an inspired handful of songs, which was cut short once again by the Austin police. But they sold about $200 worth of their cassette tapes.

I joined them for the drive back. The Junk Heap broke down again, this time in Fort Stockton, Texas. I barely made it to work Monday afternoon.



Austin Banjo Band
Perhaps the Austin Banjo Club is playing this week

Sunday, March 11, 2018

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST



Sunday, March 11, 2018
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
You Got Good Taste by The Cramps
Lust by The Sloths
I Was Wrong by The Ghost Wolves
Bad She Gone Voodoo by Chief Fuzzer
Ride That Train by Oblivians
Play Money by Ricky Hell & The Voidboys
Hash House Pallor by Ross Johnson & Young Seniors
It Happens All the Time by The Electric Mess
Jettisoned by Thee Oh Sees
(Background Music: Big Irv the Meatman by Vinnie Santino)

Standing on the Corner by Mal Thursday Quintet
Hey Hey We're the Gories by The Gories
Voodoo Got Me by The Goon Mat & Lord Bernardo
Dagger Moon by Dead Moon
Comb Your Hair by Lovestruck
Transylvanian Night by Rattanson
Harbor Lights by Jerry Lee Lewis
Why Pick on Me by The Standells
Frybread Queen by Red Fever

Bukë E Kripë Në Vatër Tonë / Kalaxhojnë by 3 Mustaphas 3
Gdy nie ma dzieci (When the Kids Are Away) by Kult
Wait for Me by Roger Damawuzan
Do the Watusi by Cat
Don't Be Angry by Ros Serey Sothea
Walking on the Burning Coal by Gogol Bordello
We're Laughing by The Psychedelic Aliens
Mad Queen by Zuvuki Mu
Summertime Blues by Lolita No. 18

Bull in the Heather by Sonic Youth
Dreams Don't Cost a Thing by Flat Duo Jets
Say What You Want by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
From Here to Acuna by De Los Muertos
Lucky Day by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page


Want to keep the party going after I sign off at midnight?
Go to The Big Enchilada Podcast which has hours and hours of music like this.

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast CLICK HERE

Friday, March 09, 2018

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST



Friday, March 9, 2018
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
The Wheels Fell Off the Wagon Again by Johnny Dollar
Goodnight Little Rock by Chris Shiflett
Kick in the Head by New Riders of the Purple Sage
All You Fascists Bound to Lose by The Tillers
California Stars by Billy Bragg & Wilco
The Winding Stair Mountain Blues by Turnpike Troubadours
Hey Sheriff by Josie Kreuzer
Shake a Leg by Kim Lenz
Hillbilly Blues by Ronnie Dawson
Hard Luck by Pearls Mahone
(Background Music: Cincinnati Rag by Hardrock Gunter)

Country Home by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Need Somebody Bad Tonight by Rhonda Vincent
Lesson by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Another Pretty Country Song by The Blues Against Youth
It's Hard to Be a White Christian Man by Ramblin' Deano
Ants on the Melon by The Gourds
(Background Music: Banjoreno by Dixieland Jug Blowers)

Honky Tonk Flame by Tyler Childers
A Man Like Me by Roger Miller
I'm Not Looking for an Angel by Tommy Collins
Her Hair is a Mess by Big Sandy & His Flyright Boys
I Dreamed I Heard Buddy Bolden Play by Tex Rubinowitz & Bob Newscaster
And a Bang on the Ear by The Waterboys
Johnny Come Lately by Steve Earle & The Pogues
(Background Music: Bile 'em Cabbage Down by Buck Owens)

I Know You Are There by The Handsome Family
The Day The World Stood Still by Charlie Pride
Miller's Cave by Bobby Bare
I Still Can't Believe You're Gone by Willie Nelson
He'll Have to Go by Jim Reeves
Always Lift Him Up / Kanaka Wai Wai by Ry Cooder
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets



Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page

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.

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Thursday, March 08, 2018

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Happy Birthday, Johnny $ Dollar



We all know Johnny Cash and Johnny Paycheck. But less well known is a singer from Kilgore, Texas named Johnny Dollar. And yes, according to his biography at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, "John Washington Dollar, Jr." was the name he was born with on this day in 1933.

From that bio:

In 1952, Johnny started recording for Shelby Singleton's D Records and cut a record called "Walking Away" at his own expense. When nothing happened with the disc, he became a deejay at stations in Louisiana and New Mexico,  formed a band called The Texas Sons, and began performing in Shreveport at the famous Louisiana Hayride, which was regularly broadcast over radio station KWKH. He tried his hand at releasing a record again, this time for Winston Records, called "Lumberjack", but again it failed to garner much attention. By 1957 or '58, he drifted back to Texas where he took up the rockabilly style that Elvis Presley and others were making popular ...

By the way, I've looked but I haven't found exactly where in New Mexico Dollar worked as a DJ.

In Dallas, Dollar became part of the cast for the influential country radio show Big D Jamboree on KRLD in Dallas. During this time he began recording a bunch of rockabilly songs in Dallas. Among them was "Action Packed," which would become a hit for another Jamboree regular, Ronnie Dawson (under the name Ronnie Dee). Dollar also did this one, also covered by Dawson. It was first recorded by Elroy Deitzel (under the title "Rock-N-Bones") and --decades later -- by The Cramps and Flat Duo Jets.



Here's another Dollar rockabilly tune.



But few people knew about his rockabilly records.

An unbeatable combination that should have (and surely would have) made Johnny Dollar famous if the recordings had ever been released on record to the public. Mysteriously, however, they were not and instead they remained trapped in a Bekins Moving Company box on old reels of Scotch audio tape in the closet of a north Dallas home for almost forty years until their discovery in 1997.

Frustrated with his lack of success in the music biz, Dollar hung it up and began selling insurance in Oklahoma. But bu the mid '60s, he met Ray Price, who helped reboot his career in country music. Some of his records were released under the name of "Johnny $ Dollar."

By the '70s Dollar was working more as a producer than a singer. But by the  '80s, his story became tragic:

Unfortunately, after he divorced his fourth wife, Carole Dollar, he appeared to lose his way, became depressed and began to drink heavily. According to his nephew, Dr. Charles Yeargan, Johnny was diagnosed with throat cancer in the early 1980s and underwent an operation to remove the cause of the disease, effectively destroying his voice in the process. The loss of his voice and the subsequent reappearance of the cancer by the mid-1980s plunged Johnny into an even deeper depression, resulting in more drinking bouts and ending with him taking his own life on April 13th, 1986.

But let's remember the good times, Here are some of my favorite Johnny Dollar country songs.










Wednesday, March 07, 2018

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Phoning it in

"A large pepperoni & mushrooms and a Diet Coke, please ..."

On this day in 1876, the U.S. Patent Office granted a patent to a guy named Alexander Graham Bell for an invention he called the "telephone"

Here are just a few songs that would have never been without Mr. Bell

Apparently an early user of this new invention was Jesus. You cold just call Him up and tell Him what you want. Here's a 1959 Alan Lomax field recording of James Shorty, Viola James and some church congregation singing "Jesus on the Mainline."



One of my earliest rock 'n' roll memories was being four or five years old and laughing at the line in Chuck Berry's "Memphis, Tennessee" where Chuck sang, "My uncle took the message and he wrote it on the wall."



The Big Bopper couldn't have done it without a phone



On this Muddy Waters classic, somebody calls him long distance -- and that used to cost extra back then! -- just to tell him something about a mule.



"Hanging By the Telephone" by The Nerves, about a guy who won't stop calling his ex, shows why caller ID was inevitable.



But I think Meri Wilson would have been happy to take a call from The Nerves



Speaking of Caller ID, The Replacements tackled other new phone technology of their era



Ex-Byrd Roger McGuinn in 1991 sang of the rise of mobile phones. One thing I love about this song is the conversation segment, which features Stan Ridgway and Kimmy Robertson, (Lucy from Twin Peaks!)



But my favorite phone song of all time is this country weeper from Conway & Loretta







Sunday, March 04, 2018

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST





Sunday, March 4, 2018
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
F*!#in Up by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Sam the Homosapien by Mean Motor Scooter
Lizard Liars by Nobunny
You Can't Hide by The Electric Mess
Mystic Eyes by Them
Bottle of Wine by The Fireballs
The Last Cul de Sac by The Black Lips
Second House Now by The Fall
(Background Music: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf PArt 2 by Jimmy Smith)

Death on the Dial by Killer Hearts
Conception of the Blues by The Goon Mat & Lord Bernardo
Duct Tape Love by He Who Cannot Be Named
Bugs on My Back by Wild Evel & The Trashbones
Slowly Losing My Mind by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Don't Curse the Darkness by The Bonnevilles
This Dog is the King of Losers by Bee Bee Sea
(Background Music: Night Theme by James Williamson & Deniz Tek)

Don't Mess With My Mind by Stomachmouths
Rejection Hurts by Rattanson
King of the Beach by Wavves
Backstreet Girl by Social Distortion
Gudbuy T' Jane by Hickoids
Poor Poor Pitiful Me / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead by Warren Zevon
Ain't That Pretty at All by Pixies
(Background Music: Audrey's Dance by Xiu Xiu)

Just a Little Bit by Bobby King & Terry Evans
The Trip by Donovan
Fat Angel by Jefferson Airplane
Love Letters by Dex Romweber Duo
Down Where the Valleys are Low by Judee Sill
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page


Want to keep the party going after I sign off at midnight?
Go to The Big Enchilada Podcast which has hours and hours of music like this.

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast CLICK HERE

Friday, March 02, 2018

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST



Friday, March 2, 2018
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
I Won't Go Huntin' With You, Jake (But I'll Go Chasin; Wimmin) by Jimmy Dean
Sweet Love on My Mind by Ray Condo & His Hard Rick Goners
King of Sleaze by Mojo Nixon
Pine Grove Blues by Mama Rosin
Diggy Liggy Lo by Doug & Rusty Kershaw
Honky Tonk Queen by Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
Out There a Ways by Waco Brothers
Truth or Dare by Salty Pajamas
Driftwood 40-23 by Hickoids
The Bottle Never Lets Me Down by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
I Will Stay With You by Emily Kaitz with Ray Wylie Hubbard
[Background Music: High Noon by Duane Eddie]

The Weald & The Wild by The Tillers
I Like the Way by The Imperial Rooster
Oklahoma Stars by Turnpike Troubadours
Go Ahead Baby by Jessica Lee Wilkes
Rain and Snow by J.D. Wilkes
San Antonio Stroll by Tanya Tucker
[Background Music: Gear Shiftin' by Pete Drake]

No No Joe by Hank Williams
Mr. Stalin, You're Eating Too High on the Hog by Arthur Smith
Stalin Kicked the Bucket by Johnny Dilks

Nitty Gritty by Southern Culture on the Skids
Gas Girl by The Bottle Rockets
The Wine Flowed Freely by Stonewall Jackson
Down the Mississippi by Dad Horse Experience
Snake Farm by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Hippies and Cowboys by Cody Jinks
Cocaine Blues by Dave Van Ronk
[Background Music: Beneath the Willow by Bashful Brother Oswald]

Ring of Fire by Steve Ortiz y Mas Tequila
Leave That Junk Alone by Johnny Cash
I'll Trade You Money for Wine by Robbie Fulks
Empty Bottle by Calamity Cubes
Say It's Not You by George Jones & Keith Richard
Seven Bridges Road by Mother Earth
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page

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.

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

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...