Sunday, April 16 , 2023 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Roam by The Yayhoos
Gypsy by LoveStruck
Don't Take Your Bad Trip Out on Me by The Electric Mess
I bet a lot of folks my age first heard this song on the Andy Griffith show,
with Andy on guitar and his girlfriend Peggy (Joanna Moore) serenading
Opie.
Here's what I'm talking about:
I can't confirm the rumor that Deputy Barney Fife started his law enforcement
career in the Birmingham jail, where he was fired for brutality. But I find it
suspicious that Andy's version omits any mention of that correctional
facility. Coincidence????!!!??)
But "Down in the Valley," aka
"Birmingham Jail"
and several other titles, has roots that go far deeper than Maybury.
According to the website
Ballad of America, ace American folklorists John and Alan Lomax considered "Valley" to be
a "jailhouse song" because they found it common in prisons. The Lomaxes found
that some of the versions of the song referred to a specific jail and a loved
one on the outside. ("Write me a letter, send it by mail / Send it in care of
the Birmingham jail ...")
John and Alan also considered the song as part of the British courting song
traditions, that still could be found in the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains
throughout the nineteenth century.
From Ballad of America:
In the first half of the twentieth century, "Down in the Valley" was
printed in folk song collections from Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, North
Carolina, and Virginia. More than twenty artists recorded it between 1927
and 1940, spreading its popularity nationwide. Printed and recorded
versions exhibit variations in melody, lyrics, and title, which include
"Birmingham Jail," "Bird in a Cage," "Twenty-One Years," "Down on the
Levee," and "Little Willie's My Darlin'." Inclusion in countless church,
camp, and school songbooks, as well as placement in movies and television,
has rendered "Down in the Valley" one of the best-known American folk
songs.
The first known recording of the song was in 1927 by Tom Darby & Jimmie
Tarlton. Its flip side was another classic lovelorn jailbird song, "Columbus
Stockade Blues." The song was such a hit that Tarlton, according to
BHAM Wiki,
was invited to the ceremony to dedicate the new Birmingham jail at 425 6th
Avenue South in 1937. Of course, this song isn't the only thing that made
this jail
famous.
Tarlton reportedly claimed that he'd written "Birmingham Jail" while in the
slammer for moonshining. I can't swear that's true, but I do hope it is.
Lead Belly supposedly sang the song for Texas Governor Pat Neff at the
Sugarland Penitentiary in 1924. In this version, which he called "Hear
the Wind Blow," he refers to the Birmingham jail, though reportedly in other
versions, the sad narrator's residence is in the Shreveport jail.
The Andrews Sisters took "Down to the Valley" to an audience beyond the
hillbilly and blues markets.
Johnny Cash made it nice and mournful.
Flatt & Scruggs found bluegrass growing in the valley -- though, like Lead
Belly, they called their version "Hear the Wind Blow."
And "Valley" got a little hippiegrass treatment by Jerry Garcia & David
Grisman in the early '90s:
Solomon Burke in the early 1960s turned "Valley" into a soul classic. It one
of the first 45s I ever bought as a child. (Otis Redding
used a similar arrangement.) Here's King Solomon doing a live version at the
Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006.
But besides country, blues, bluegrass, pop and soul, "Down in the Valley" also
made it to the world of opera, courtesy of Kurt Weil and Arnold Sundgaard.
Here's what a layman like myself might call the title song of this
1948 "folk-opera in one act."
Sunday, April 9, 2023 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Hush Money by The Collins Kids
Keep Movin' by Freddy Cannon & The Gears
Can't Find My Mind by The Cramps
The Vampire Dog Of Jesus Christ by Gregg Turner Group
Go Where You Feel the Most Alive by Råttanson
Draggin' The Line by Tommy James & The Shondells
I Smile Through My Tears by Waco Brothers
Murline by Deano & Jo
Peter Cottontail (Take 4) by The Bubbadinos
A Little While by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
The Girl Next Door by T. Tex Edwards & Out On Parole
The Laughing Song by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Cinderella by The Flesh Eaters
Devils River by Divine Horsemen
The Call of the Wreckin' Ball by The Knitters
Johny Hit And Run Pauline by X
Reckless Rider by The Thick Uns
Trail Of The Lonesome Pine by Laurel & Hardy
Slim Harpo's Heartbeat by Ronny Elliott
Baby Scratch My Back by Slim Harpo
Damned and Doomed by Killer Kin
I'm A Midnight Mover by Wilson Pickett
Chameleon by Sleeve Cannon
I'm Gonna Dig Up Howlin' Wolf by Mojo Nixon
Hoodoo Party by Tabby Thomas
Pinon Lurker by Gluey Brothers
We Went Away by Dion & The Belmonts
Molly and the Old Man by Robbie Fulks
There Is A War by Leonard Cohen
How He Lost Her by Julie Christensen
Winter Song by Loudon Wainwright III
The Kiss by Judee Sill
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Yes, Wacky Wednesday is back. I took a near year-long break from doing this little blog feature -- as well as my Throwback Thursday feature -- nearly a year ago. Burned out, I guess.
I'd like to say that I'm resuming this due to popular demand. truth is, hardly anyone noticed it was gone. (Same is true for The Big Enchilada podcast, which I stopped doing nearly two years ago.)
So to Hell with you guys! I'm doing this again just for my own amusement whether anyone cares or not.
Now let's get to some crazed mash-ups.
The Maharishi of the mash-ups, Bill McClintock did this one to show the country side of Van Halen:
Have you ever wondered how the Wu-Tang Clan would sound with B.B. King?
If you listen to this Pink Floyd/Bee Gees mash-up while watching The Wizard of Oz, YOU WILL DIE!
My only complaint about this next one, featuring Laurel and Hardy dancing to a mash-up of the Red Hot Chile Peppers and Aerosmith is that they should worked in an actual Laurel & Hardy song. I mean, come on, "Shine on Harvest Moon" or "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" would have sounded great here.
Sunday, April 2, 2023 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Other Way Around by The Heathens
Are We Crazy? by Xposed 4Heads
My Love by Ole Devil & The Spirit Chasers
Gotta Get Fired by The Sloths
Rave On by Sonny West
Bottle Up And Go by The Mile Ends
The Phone Conversation by Chuck E. Weiss
Naked Cousin by PJ Harvey
Backstage at the Boneyard by Waco Brothers
Hold Watcha Got by Deano & Jo
Ain't It Hard by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Don't Crowd Me by Keith Kessler
Hulkster's In The House by Hulk Hogan & The Wrestling Boot Band
Talking Main Event Magazine Blues by Mike Edison
Polka De Nalgas by The Imperial Rooster
Gaslit by Churchwood
Six Minutes Of Satisfaction by The Residents
Tell Tale Tit by The Roulettes
7&7 Is by The Standells
Don't Blow Your Mind by The Spiders
Driftin' Blues by B.B. King & Bobby "Blue" Bland
Stuck in Thee Garage by The Dirtbombs
Crucifixion of Donny by Coco Steel & Love Bomb
Just Dropped In by Jerry Lee Lewis
Wind Chimes by Brian Wilson
Love Letters In The Sand by Mac Wiseman
The Face Of A Fighter by Willie Nelson
Goldbridge Road by Julie Christensen
I'll Take Care Of You by Gil Scott-Heron
On The Nickel by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
