Sunday, October 30, 2011

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 30, 2011
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

The 2011 Steve Terrell (Radio) SPOOKTACULAR

Halloween Hootenanny by Zacherle
Jack the Ripper by Screamin' Lord Sutch
Psychic Voodoo Doll by Deadbolt
Zombified by Southern Culture on the Skids
Hellhound by The Barbarellatones
Devil in My Car by The B52s
Bo Meets the Monster by Bo Diddley
Headless Hip-Shakin' Honey by Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures
My Daddy Is A Vampire by The Meteors
The Vampire Radio Spot by T. Valentine

Hallowed Be My Name by Alice Cooper
Voodoo Voodoo by LaVern Baker
I'm Your Boogie Man (Sex On The Rocks Mix) by White Zombie
Halloween (She Get So Mean) by Rob Zombie with The Ghastly Ones
Vampire Lover by The Tex Reys
Halloween by The Misfits
Taint No Sin (To Take Off Your Skin) by Fred Hall
The Blob by The Five Blobs
Take A Trip To My Grave by The Monsters

The Vampire Song by Concrete Blonde
Halloween by Mudhoney
Stand For The Fire Demon by Roky Erickson & The Aliens
Ghost Woman Blues by George Carter
Whistling Past the Graveyard by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Pumpkinhead by Wee Hairy Beasties

Monsters of the Id by Mose Allison
Halloween Spooks by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
Dance With The Ghoulman by The Fleshtones
Mr. Ghost Goes to Town by Louis Prima
Aloha from Hell by The Cramps
Full Moon by Elvira
Werewolf by Michael Hurley
Hell Hound On My Trail by Robert Johnson

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R.I.P. Butch Crouch

I just learned of the death of Santa Fe musician Butch Crouch, singer, guitarist,songwriter, storyteller.

According to a mutual friend, Alan Akcoff, Butch, who was 72, fell while working on his home south of Santa Fe last week and hit his head on a rock.

According to his bio, which I've seen a couple of places on the Internet:

Butch grew up on the corner of Texas, Louisiana, and the Gulf Of Mexico (Pt. Arthur, Tex.). He considers himself lucky to have spent his formative years in a time and place that had big cars, cheap gasoline, young Rock and Roll, classic Country, timeless Cajun music, and rules.

Butch moved to Santa Fe in the late 80s. He was a mainstay at places like El Farol for years.

Here's what Alan said about him on his own blog a few years ago:

It ain't a perfect world folks but you'll feel better about it after you listen to Butch sing about it all with compassion and humor. After all these years and all the things life has thrown his way Butch still has that magic sparkle in his eye and his gravelly whiskey baritone just gets more soulful with every passing season. Go have a couple of beers and listen to Butch. I bet before long you'll be smilling through the tears.

Apparently Butch had just moved back to New Mexico having lived in Colorado in recent years. I hadn't seen him in several years.

Some of his songs can be heard on his Myspace page.

UPDATE: 1:30 pm. Akcoff posted a nice tribute to Butch on his blog HERE

Friday, October 28, 2011

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: In the Holiday Spirit

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 28, 2011


Southern Culture on the Skids has always excelled in good tasty swamp rock. The group’s latest album, Zombified — released this month just in time for the Halloween shopping rush — goes deep into the swamp, where mossy monsters dwell.

Most of the album was released in Australia back in the last century (1998) as an eight-song EP. Guitarist/singer Rick Miller and crew added a few new songs for the American version. The band calls it a “tribute to the horror and exploitation movies that populated Southern theaters and drive-ins during the ’60s and ’70s.”

Like the best SCOTS recordings, the sound here is a seamless blend of country, surf, rockabilly, garage-rock, exotica, swamp-rock, as I mentioned, and probably some secret ingredients the group will never tell.

Miller always sounds like a hip bumpkin — whether he’s singing about funny aspects of Southern life or, as on this CD, witches and zombies. Mary Huff plays the bass and sings far too infrequently while Dave Hartman drums. There are a few guests on some tunes, the most significant being Chris “Cousin Crispy” Bess on organ and Steve Grothmann on sax.

Miller wrote most of the songs, including the title track, “Devil’s Stomping Ground,” and “Eyeball You Later.”

But there are also some fine covers — a Creedence Clearwater Revival instrumental, “Sinister Purpose”; “She’s My Witch,” a cover of a song by rockabilly Kip Tyler; John D. Loudermilk’s eerie “Torture” (sung by Huff, who sounds like she’s been, well zombified); and best of all, “Primitive,” a garage-y snarler originally done by a band called The Groupies, and probably best known by its version by The Cramps.

There are more instrumentals than usual for a SCOTS album. Besides “Sinister Purpose,” there are “The Creeper” — on which Miller’s guitar dares to go delightfully obnoxious trying to summon the ghost of Link Wray, and “Swamp Thang,” which is upbeat, funky, and, naturally swampy.

One unusual song here is “Bloodsucker,” featuring an acoustic guitar and a lilting Caribbean/New Orleans arrangement. Trom-bonist Dave Wright colors this track.

Even though Zombified is perfect for Halloween spookfoolery, virtually all the songs here stand on their own and would sound just fine at a SCOTS show any time of year.

Another monstrous treat ... or is it a trick?


* Pop Up Yours by The Monsters. No, this isn’t a Halloween-themed album, but how could I not talk about a new record by The Monsters during this special season?

This Bern, Switzerland-based band has been around since 1986, fronted by Reverend Beat-Man, the owner, founder, and resident (un)holy man of Voodoo Rhythm Records. The group plays what it calls “chainsaw massacre teenage garage trash punk.” And they have these really snazzy red jackets.

The songs deal with love, lust, revenge and rage, based on simple riffs and Beat-Man’s shredded vocal chords. One of my favorites here is “Blues for Joe.” I don’t know who Joe is, but Beat-Man seems pretty upset as he screams “What you gonna do now, Joe.” Also commendable in its sweet, crazy fury is “Crawling Back to You No More.” There’s a pumped-up Bo Diddley beat at the core of the song.

The songs are mostly original, though many of the mutated, frantic Hubert Sumlin guitar riffs sound hauntingly familiar. There is one cover tune, a trashy — and I mean that in the nicest possible way — version of “Speedy’s Coming,” originally done by German metal screamers the Scorpions.

The Monsters seem to play with psychedelia on the closing track “Into the Void.” It starts with church bells and ends up with feedback and bashing drums.

It’s great that there are still Monsters on the loose.

Horrible mention: Here are a couple of recently released albums appropriate for the season.

* Halloween Album w/Sound Effects by Thee Cormans. This California band basically plays instrumental “surf” music. Titles include “Surf Shack of Doom,” “Haunted Sea,” and “Werewolves in Heels.” The sound effects are indeed bitchen.

* What Happens in Hell Stays in Hell by Nekromantix. Here are more crazed horror-soaked psychobilly sounds from this trio led by Danish expatriate Kim Nekroman, who plays a coffin-shaped standup bass. Some songs sound closer to Slayer than to Carl Perkins. “Bela Lugosi’s Star” has a cool Johnny Cash chunka-chunka beat, and “I Kissed a Ghoul” has a weird reference to the Happy Days theme.

Halloween Spooks 2009Celebrate the Season!

* Live spookiness: I’ll be playing some of my own monster hits like “I Lost My Baby to a Satan Cult,” “Wolfboy,” and “The Thing in the Mud” on Friday, Oct. 28, at the Aztec CafĂ©’s All Hallows Hell Performance Party, along with ex-Angry Samoan Gregg Turner and his new band The Mind Parasites. It’s 7 p.m. to midnight at the Aztec (317 Aztec St.). There’s a $3 cover (cheap.)

* Radio spookiness: The 87th Annual Steve Terrell Spooktacular starts at 10 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, on KSFR-FM 101.1 and screaming on the web. Tom Adler of “Folk Remedy” is substituting for me Friday night on the Santa Fe Opry.

* Podcast spookiness: The 2011 Big Enchilada Spooktacular is scaring people all over the internet. Visit . And if you want even more creepiness, check out the GaragePunk Hideout Podcast Jukebox HERE. There's several recent shows with ghastly Halloween themes over there.

* Spotify spookiness: Hey Spotify users. There are hours and hours of haunted sounds on my monster-size Halloween Spook Rock playlist on Spotify. Get Spotify for free at www.spotify.com

Sunday, October 23, 2011

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October, 2011
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

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Let it Rock by The Head Cat
I'm Cryin' by The Animals
Ain't Crawling Back by The Monsters
Humunculus by Manby's Head
The Lie by Black Lips
Primitive Rock by Hipbone Slim & The Knee-Tremblers
Into the Go-Go Groove by Little Gerhard
I Kissed a Ghoul by Nekromantix
Eyeball You Later by Southern Culture on the Skids
Witchcraft by The Spiders
Tip on In (Part 1) by Slim Harpo

Watermelon Man by The Gun Club
Old Folks Boogie by Jack Oblivian
Just Like Me by Paul Revere & The Raiders
Suspect Device by Stiff Little Fingers
In Too Deep by The Screamin' Yeehaws
Racehorse by Wild Flag
Chupacabra Rock 'n' Roll by The Blood-Drained Cows

Don't Lock the Door by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Mama Don't Like My Man by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Tones
Burn it Down by The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker
The World (is Going Up in Flames) by Charles Bradley
Shot Down by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Dog Tired by Wiley & The Checkmates
Jon E's Mood by Jon E. Edwards
Awake by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
The Glory of Love by Otis Redding

Pinky's Dream by David Lynch with Karen O
Halloween by Sonic Youth
There Go All My Dough by L.C. Ulmer
Whistlin' Past the Graveyard by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Bafal by Affrisippi
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

 Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Big Show at Aztec Cafe!!!!

I'm opening for ex-Angry Samoan Gregg Turner and his new band THE MIND PARASITES at the Aztec All Hallow's Hell Performance Party.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Re: My Hacker

Goddamn it to hell! Even my blog was hacked! I've deleted the post that was here and thanks to my friend Ginger for alerting me to it.

Someone hackied my old MSN email account. It sent out SPAM to everyone on my old contact list -- including the address that allows me to post here from my email. (Which I haven't done in years.)

I hope none of you clicked on the link that was here. Sorry.

Friday, October 21, 2011

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, October 21, 2011
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

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Undertaker by Southern Culture on the Skids
Power Lines by The Ugly Valley Boys
Road Bound by Bob Wayne
I'm Gonna Strangle You Shorty by All the King's Men with Joe Ely & Lee Rocker
Drinkin' With My Friends by Honky Tonk Hustlas
Memories of You Sweetheart by Scott H. Biram
I'm Barely Hangin' On by Johnny Paycheck
White Dress by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Trouble in Mind by Jon Langford
Earl's Breakdown by Josh Graves

Chickenflow by Olendario Chucrobillyman
I'm the Man Who Rode the Mule Around the World by Loudon Wainwright III
Ponder Why I Ponder Why by Dale Watson & The Texas Two
John Hardy by The Gun Club
Bang a Gong (Get it On) by Danny Barnes
Do You Know Thee Enemy? by Slim Cessna's Auto Club
You'll Never Again Be Mine by Levon Helm
Okie Boogie by Johnny Tyler & The Riders Of The Rio Grande

The Times They Are a Changin' by Rick Brousard & Two Hoots and a Holler
Chevy Beretta by Jonny Corndawg
Bad Luck Man by Delaney Davidson
Wait'll You Get a Whiff of My Aftershave by Al Hendrix
Mr. Motorcycle Man by The Riptones
Drunk Drunk Again by Billy Brown
Remember the Alamo by Johnny Cash
The Voo-Doo Man Johnny Perry
None of Your Business by Marvin Paul
Murderer's Home Blues by Blind Willie McTell

Have I The Right? by Tav Falco & Panther Burns
Weakness in a Man by Waylon Jennings
Johnny's Not Here by Joe West
Waiting For The "103" by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Ghost Stories by Eric Hisaw
Codeine by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

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

Dawn's Highway Screening Today!!!!

Brad Durham at the accident scene

Dawn's Highway, a documentary about the fatal accident in New Mexico that The Doors' Jim Morrison witnessed as a child, is screening TODAY in Santa Fe.

It's at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. It's showing 1:45 pm this afternoon at Warehouse 21.

I few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Brad Durham, the Tennessee director who researched the accident at Santa Ildefonso Pueblo near Espanola. We even went out to the scene of the wreck, which Durham makes a pretty convincing case is the one young Jim Morrison saw as a child.

You can read  that story HERE.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Can't Stop the Soul

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 25, 2011


The great American soul revival, which has probably been going on since about three days after most commercial radio stations stopped playing real ’60s-to-early-’70s soul music, continues to rage. The latest warrior to pick up the torch is Chicago shouter JC Brooks, who — with his band, The Uptown Sound — is releasing a jumping little album called Want More on Tuesday.

Beside Sharon Jones and artists of the Daptone stable, it’s mostly talented codgers (guys my age or older) such as Charles Bradley, Charles Walker, and Herbert Wiley (of Wiley & The Checkmates) who have been at the forefront of the retro-soul movement in recent years.

So Brooks is one of the few notable young faces in this crowd. Another young soul man is Austin’s Black Joe Lewis (who is coming to Santa Fe Sol Stage & Grill next month with his band The Honeybears). Brooks’ musical heritage — like that of Lewis — includes punk as well as funk. In both performers’ music you hear a lot of Otis as well as a little Iggy.

I first became aware of Brooks a couple of years ago listening to a song of his that was floating around the internet. It was his cover of Wilco’s “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” I am happy to hear it on Want More.

While Jeff Tweedy’s weirdo lyrics like “I am an American aquarium drinker” sound a little strange in a soul context, Brooks’ Stax/Volt-like arrangement of the tune works just fine, making me appreciate the song even more.

In fact, I can’t see how Tweedy could listen to it without it having the same effect on him that Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower” had on Bob Dylan. Dylan changed the way he did “Watchtower” in his live shows to make it more like the Hendrix version. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wilco started putting a little JC Brooks into its stage version of this song.

But that’s not even my favorite song on the album, at least not at the moment. That honor would go to “Baaadnews” — a raw little minimalist funk workout that reminds me of James Brown’s “Super Bad.” Another standout is “Sister Ray Charles,” an obvious play on the classic Velvet Underground song. It doesn’t really sound either Lou Reed or the Genius of Soul, though it does have a prominent electric piano. It actually sounds more like Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.”

The best material here is bare-boned and sweaty. But Brooks shows his “uptown” side on the string-sweetened “To Someone (That Don’t Love You),” which he sings in a falsetto. It’s one that will stick in your head.

While most of the songs here are upbeat, there are good down-home ballads like “Missing Things,” which sounds like a lost Van Morrison tune. The album ends with “Awake,” a slow gospel-tinged tune with lyrics that talk about revolution and never-ending war and references the spiritual “This Train” as well as “The Glory of Love,” a Benny Goodman standard that Otis Redding turned into a soul weeper.

I get the feeling that Brooks has a lot on his mind and wants to say it. I hope he keeps making records this fine. Like the title says, I want more.


Also recommended:

* Blues Comes Yonder by L.C. Ulmer. This album brings back happy memories of the glory years of Fat Possum Records.

That was back in the mid-to-late ’90s, when that scrappy little label, then based in Mississippi, turned the blues world on its head by introducing a new generation — and for that matter, a bunch of us in the older generation — to rough-and-rowdy Hill Country Records blues brawlers like R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, T-Model Ford, and Paul “Wine” Jones.

L.C. might not be R.L., but this 80-something former truck driver from Stringer, Mississippi, is a tough old bird who knows his way around the frets — mainly guitar, but also banjo and mandolin — and loves to sing good basic gutbucket blues.

Recorded live, the music here is kept simple — Ulmer, a bass, and drums. Hill Country Renaissance man Jimbo Mathus handles drum duty on most of the tunes, but it’s Ulmer’s show. Some of my favorite tunes are “Hake” (not Slim Harpo’s tune but similar), “Roundin’ Up Girls All Day” (featuring some hot slide guitar), and “Hams & Peas.”

There’s also a crazy banjo version of “Get Along, Cindy,” which Ulmer begins by singing the chorus of “Oh Susanna.” Then he turns Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light” into one of the most primitive-sounding gospel stompers recorded in who knows how long.

Ulmer records for Hill Country, along with an impressive array of talent including Mathus, country songwriter Robert Earl Reed, and Afrissippi — a band with a strange and wonderful blending of West African and Mississippi sounds.

* Give the drummer some! The percussion festival know as The Drum Is the Voice of the Trees is back for the first time in seven years. This year’s show is held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Armory for the Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail. Tickets are $15 in advance, available at the Candyman (983-5906) or by calling 474-6381, and $20 at the door.

Blog Bonus:
Enjoy some videos





UPDATE: I corrected a bone-headed typo that refered to L.C. Ulmer covering Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light." I originally had "I Saw the Night." (Thanks to reader Michael who spotted it and forwarded the video below. In my own defense, Hank saw THE NIGHT clearer than almost anyone.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

"This'll Scare the Pants Outta Ya!"

THE BIG ENCHILADA




Here's some some razor-laden apples to bob for this  Halloween season. It's the 2001 Big Enchilada Spooktacular to help you keep the true spirit of this holiday in your heart. This also marks my third anniversary of doing this silly show. So come on, podlubbers, let's get creeped out together!

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Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Zombie Drums by The Zombie Surfers)
Devil's Stomping Ground by Southern Culture on the Skids
Ghoulman Confidential by The Fleshtones
Vampire Sugar by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons *
Spiders and Skulls by The Liquid Vapours *
I Walked With the Zombie by Roky Erikson & The Nervebreakers
The Haunted House Boogie by Happy Wilson

(Background Music: There's a Creature in the Surfer's Lagoon by The Deadly Ones)
Mostruo Vodu Punk by Horror Deluxe
Frankenstein by 22 Pistepirkko
Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon by The Cramps
Transylvania Terror Train by Capt. Clegg & The Night Creatures
Monsters of the ID by Stan Ridgway
The Skeleton in the Closet by Putney Dandridge

(Background Music: Miss Monster by Modie Bones) *
I Lost My Baby to a Satan Cult by Stephen W. Terrell
Wolfman on Your Trail by 3-D Invisibles
Hungry Teenage Wolfman by The Bama Lamas *
Devil Dance by The Devils
Vampire by Half Japanese
Ghost in the Graveyard by The Prairie Ramblers
(Background Music: Halloween Hell by The Goldstars)

Songs so marked are from the fabulous Best of The GaragePunk compilations, Click on the links over the songs -- as opposed to the ones over the artists -- to get to the correct compilation. Then do yourself a favor and buy some of these comps.


Play it here:




Want More Spooky Tunes?

Check out my previous Halloween podcasts
Big Enchilada 28: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada 15: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada 1:  CLICK HERE

Sunday, October 16, 2011

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 16, 2011
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

Timothy by The Nervebreakers
Blow Um Mau Mau by The Monsters
You Little Nothing by The Gories
Roundin' Up Girls All Day by L.C. Ulmer
Baby What's Wrong by The Come N' Go
Stiff Upper Lip by Monkeyshines
This Crushing Thing by Blood Drained Cows
Pagan Baby by Steel Wool
Undertaker by Southern Culture On The Skids

Living With the Animals by Mother Earth
Ass Welt Boogie by The Bassholes
Coming Back Alive by The Stomachmouths
Gopher Holes by Snake Out
Virginia Avenue by Kid Congo Powers
Dono by Afrissippi
Diddley Daddy by The Super Super Blues Band
Naggin' by Jimmy Anderson

Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Junkyard by The Birthday Party
I Can't Find Pleasure by Thee Mighty Caesars
Alleys Of Your Mind by The Dirtbombs
Romance by Wild Flag
What's Mine Is Yours by Sleater-Kinney

Everything Will Be Fine by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
No Sex by Alex Chilton
The Parable of Ramon by Richie Havens
Mercy I Cry City by The Incredible String Band
Built For Comfort by Willie Dixon And Memphis Slim
Calling All Demons by The Mekons
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

 Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Friday, October 14, 2011

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, October 14, 2011
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

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Swamp Thing by Southern Culture on the Skids
To The Victor Go The Spoils by Have Gun Will Travel
Brand New Model by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Mama Don't Like Music by Smiley Burnette
Clickity Clack by The Ugly Valley Boys
Defibulator by The Defibulators
How Many Women by Lydia Loveless
Meadowlark Boogie by Buck Griffin
Because I'm Crazy by Kell Robertson

Hillbilly Thunder Machine by Joe Buck
Lipstick by Andy Vaughan & The Driveline
Pocket Dial by The Possum Posse
Down, Down, Down, Down by Dale Watson & The Texas Two
The Girl On Death Row by T.Tex Edwards & Out On Parole
I'm So Depressed by Delaney Davidson
Beer Drinking Blues by Rocky Bill Ford
Back in Your World/Forbidden Love by Billy Kaundart
Move Over Rover by Billy Hall & His Rhythm Boys

Broke Ass by Scott H. Biram
A Wedding In Cherokee County by Randy Newman
Coward's Sword by Robert Earl Reed
Burn Down That House by Poor Boy's Soul (Click the link to get free MP3 of this song!)
One Click Away From Judgement Day by The Imperial Rooster
That's All by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
I Do Drive Truck by Jon Wayne

Wishin' All These Old Things Were New by Merle Haggard
Broken Man by The Goddamn Gallows
Go Ahead and Cry by Rick Brousard & Two Hoots and a Holler
Southern Family Anthem by Shooter Jennings
How Cold by Rachel Brooke
Tryin' To Get Myself Home by Stevie Tombstone
Goodnight Juarez by Tom Russell
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

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

Thursday, October 13, 2011

TERRELL'S TUNEUP:One-Man Blast

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 14, 2011


I was recently reminded of Randy Newman’s twisted love song “A Wedding in Cherokee County” when I first listened to Scott H. Biram’s “Broke Ass” on his new album Bad Ingredients.

Scott H. Biram
For some of you younger readers (I know you’re out there!) who aren’t familiar with Newman’s classic songbook, “Cherokee County” is about a doomed backwoods couple. It appears at the end of his 1974 album Good Old Boys.

To the strains of a slow, genteel Stephen Foster-ish melody, the groom sings of his spouse-to-be: “Her papa was a midget/ Her mama was a whore/Her granddad was a newsboy ’til he was 84 (what a slimy old bastard he was) ... Maybe she’s crazy I don’t know/Maybe that’s why I love her so.”

My heart was warmed in a similar way when I heard the first verse of Biram’s song:

“I’ve been spending all my money on some worn-out $2 whore/And you may think it’s funny, but I don’t think it’s fair/ that that old two-timin’ headache could ever get herself anywhere / ... yeah she’s my woman / You can see her every night / Just dancin’, lookin’ wicked til the early mornin’ light.” The singer declares, “She’s my number one undercover lover, but she’s been runnin’ way too fast and way too long.”

She might be a $2 whore, but the singer compliments her — I guess — when he calls her “the nicest piece of real estate to ever grace this town.”

It’s easy to imagine this wicked dancer laughing at the “mighty sword” of Biram’s protagonist, just like the bride of Cherokee County does in the song that immortalizes her.

 But dark humor isn’t the main point of Biram’s song. The narrator’s woman is just part of his nightmare, just one bad aspect of his life of poverty and despair. “Guess I’m just talkin’ to a stranger / Guess I’m just pissing in the wind , Guess I’m just lonely, crippled, and angry, ’til I get on my feet again,” Biram sings.

This song is slower and more melodic than most of Biram’s tunes, sweetened with a little organ not too high in the mix. As he showed on “Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue” on Biram’s previous album Something’s Wrong /Lost Forever, Biram is perfectly capable of keeping his raunchy integrity even when he does it nice and purdy.

“Broke Ass” is a standout on Bad Ingredients, but it’s not the only one. Biram, the self- proclaimed “dirty ol’ one-man band” from Austin, Texas, does what he does best — strumming his guitar like a madman, stomping his percussion as if the ghost of Keith Moon lived inside his foot, and growling his (frequently distorted) vocals.

Like on his previous works, the production here is simple. The music is a ferocious blend of blues and country with a lo-fi, punk-rock aura. For the most part he sticks to his one-man-band credo — with the exception of Walter Daniels’ sax on the swampy “I Want My Mojo Back” and some percussion help on a couple of tracks from Matt Puryear.

Most of the songs are original, though Biram throws in a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Memories of You, Sweetheart” and Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Have You Ever Loved a Woman.” But the best ones are the Biram originals.

I love the frantic rockers like the insane “Killed a Chicken Last Night,” “Victory Song,” (which starts off with some pretty fancy guitar picking), “Dontcha Lie to Me, Baby,” and “Hang Your Head and Cry,” which sounds like the history of Southern rock boiled down into a loud three-minute, 47-second roar. Also worthy are some of his smoldering blues tunes like “Just Another River,” which sounds like it’s begging to be covered by ZZ Top.

As I said, Biram does here what he does best. But he seems to keep doing it better. The man is nothing short of a one-man blast.

Also recommended:


* Indestructible Machine by Lydia Loveless. Here’s my favorite new female country vocalist. Loveless is a 21-year-old (I have shirts older than her!) punk-rock honky-tonk gal from Columbus, Ohio. I’m not the first one to think her throaty voice suggests an ancient soul.

When I heard her I was reminded of Marlee MacLeod, an Alabama-born singer who, sadly, hasn’t released any new music in nearly a decade. In, sometimes when I listen to Indestructible Machine and my mind drifts (the best way to listen to music, of course), I think I’m listening to some new MacLeod songs. That’s not a bad thing.

But Loveless’ tunes tend to be rowdier than MacLeod’s. The album starts off with “Bad Way to Go,” which features crunching distorted guitars and a banjo. Loveless’ voice wails over all the din.

But that’s followed by an even stronger punch, the minor-key “Can’t Change Me,” in which she sings a harsh tale of drinking, passing out, talking too much, and drinking more. “If I can’t change who I am I shouldn’t try so goddamn hard,” she snarls.

I’ve read a couple of reviews of this album that complain that there are too many alcohol-soaked lyrics. (Then there’s the album cover, which shows Loveless chugging a can of gasoline. What kind of message does that send to the children?)

Maybe it does seem a little weird that a 21-year-old woman writes lyrics that seem to imply that she could match Johnny Paycheck drink for drink. But is there any law that says women singers have to write mopey confessionals about boyfriends who have a hard time sharing their feelings?

The truth is, Loveless’ “How Many Women” is one of the most soulful country songs I’ve heard in months. Tammy Wynette should come back from the dead to cover it. Heck, I even wish Steve Earle would make the tongue-in-cheek fantasy of Loveless’ song named after him come true. The two could sing some wild duets together.

Bloodshot Records is on a roll. It released the Loveless and Biram albums. Check out www.bloodshotrecords.com .

BLOG BONUS
A couple of videos for ya





And the old master ...

Sunday, October 09, 2011

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 9, 2011 
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

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Volare by Alex Chilton
Raw Power by Iggy & The Stooges
Blues for Joe by The Monsters
Angry Hands by Manby's Head
Bad Boy by HeadCat
One-Eyed Girl by The Compulsive Gamblers
Old Folks Boogie by Jack Oblivian
Crawdaddy by Nine Pound Hammer
White Rabbit by The Frontier Circus

Spook Factor by The Memphis Morticians
Get Down (and Get Stupid) by The Del-Gators
Electric Band by Wild Flag
Family Tree by Black Lips
Sweet Jesus by Elvis Hitler
Sister Ray Charles by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Booty City by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Natural Man by The Dirtbombs
Crazy Clown Time by David Lynch

Victory Song by Scott H. Biram
Hail Bop! by The Bassholes
Primitive by Southern Culture on the Skids
The Pimps Don't Like It by Juke Joint Pimps
I Might Just Crack by April March
Good Bye Johnny by The Gun Club
Baila Bailme by Al Hurricane

Kool Thing by Sonic Youth
In the Dark by Jay Reatard
Outside Woman Blues by Blind Joe Reynolds
Frankie and Johnny by Kazik Staszewski
Lazy River Road by The Persuasions
Surf's Up by The Beach Boys
Greater Day by The Rev. James Cleveland
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis


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Saturday, October 08, 2011

eMUSIC OCTOBER

* Pachuco Cadaver by The Jack and Jim Show. So you didn't think it was possible to make Captain Beefheart sound even weirder?

Well take a bite out of this little tribute album by guitar mutant Eugene Chadbourne and Frank Zappa's late original Mothers drummer Jimmy Carl Black. Some tunes sound like a lost congregation of hillbilly snake handlers somehow got hold of Beefheart's songbook and turned them into insane hymns and, in some cases like "Dropout Boogie," surreal comedy routines.

Black's gruff voice is perfect for the bluesier tunes here like "Sure 'Nuff Yes I Do," and "Willie the Pimp," done here as a Delta blues with Chadbourne playing slide.

When Beefheart did "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby" it was a blues growler. But here it's a pilgrimage  into the Dark Dimension, featuring the insect hum of a didgeridoo,  a jazzy basson and other instruments played by guests. Chadbourne plays banjo on this, as he does on several other tunes here, most notable, the seven-minute version of "Clear Spot" and the stompin' "Steal Softly Through Sunshine Steal Softly Through Snow."

JIMMY GROWLS THE BLUESI was lucky enough to see The Jim & Jack Show live in Albuquerque about a year before Jimmy died.  He lived in Germany the last years of his life and his trips to the states weren't that frequent.

A bunch of Jimmy's children came up from El Paso and Anthony to see the show. Both he and Chadbourne seemed to be having a great time. And they even did a couple of Beefheart songs -- "Willie the Pimp" and "The Dust Blows Forward and the Dust Blows Back" .


And I never miss an opportunity to brag that when I did Picnic Time for Potatoheads in the early 80s, Jimmy Carl Black was the Indian of my group. Hear his magic drums on "The Green Weenie" HERE. (It's the second song down.)

* Rockabilly Frenzy by Various Artists. Here's 53 tracks for $5.99. You do the math. It's a great bargain, like other cool compilations on the Rock-a-Billy label available at eMusic. (I've previously picked up 50s Rockabilly Hellraisers and 1950s Rock N' Roll & Rockabilly Rare Masters. I just can't get enough.) Many of the selections seem more hardcore honky tonk than rockabilly, but who's gonna quibble?

Frenzy concentrates mostly on unknown performers, though "Corky Jones," the rockabilly alter ego of   Buck Owens, is here with his shoulda-been-a-hit "Rhythm & Booze."

Speaking of booze, this album is overflowing with songs about alcoholic beverages. There's "Set Up Antother Drink" by Carl Phillips, "Booze Party" by Three Aces and a Joker (The Cramps covered this),  "Flop Top Beer" by Buddy Meredith, "Moonshine" by Montie Jones, "I'm Drinkin' Bourbon" by Billy Starr, "Wine Wine Wine" by Bobby Osbourne, "Whiskey Women and Wilid Living" by Tommy W. Pedigo, "Moonshine Still" by Jack Holt and "Pink Elephant" by Wally Willet.

What kind of message does this send to the children? I feel almost drunk after listening to all these.

But wait, there's more ...

There's a not-bad cover of George Jones' "White Lightning" by a band called The Valley Serenaders. But that's not nearly as remarkable as "White Lightning Cherokee" by Onie Wheeler. No, it's not a politically incorrect look at Native American alcoholism. It's about a guy who gets a better thrill from kissing his Indian girlfriend than drinking his pappy's brew. But he has no intention of giving up either.

And there's not one not two but three versions of a song called "Beer Drinkin' Blues." One's by Eddie Novak, another by Rocky Bill Ford. Johnny Champion calls his song "Beer Drinkin' Daddy." All deal with a hard-drinking alcoholic whose drinking is interfering with his marriage. Ford plays it sad, while Novak seems more comical. My favorite though is Champion's. It's an upbeat song with a snazzy organ solo. He seems almost defiant about his beer drinkin'.

* Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-1935 by Various Artists. The Mekons led me to this one. On their latest album Ancient & Modern, Sally Timms sings a song called "Geeshie," a spooky, bluesy little number I said sounds as if it came from "a speakeasy near the gates of Hell." The group based this song on an obscure blues song called "Last Kind Words" by a woman named Geeshie Wiley.

When I read that, I searched for the song on eMusic and found it here in this Yazoo Records collection, along with two other Geeshie tunes, "Skinny Legs Blues." (Look out, Joe Tex, the ghost of Geeshie is looking for you!) and "Pick Poor Robin Clean," which sounds like a crazy cousin of "Salty Dog" sung with Elvie Thomas.

Wiley is fairly obscure, but she might be the best known artist on this album. There's King Soloman Hill, who has a piercing voice that might remind you of Skip James. Blind Joe Reynolds does "Outside Woman Blues," a song revived in the '60s by Cream. I know now where Canned Heat got the "Bullfrog Blues." (It's by a guy named William Harris, who does that and two other tunes here.)

And Mattie Delaney was singing "Tallahatchie River Blues" decades before Bobbie Gentry and Billy Joe were throwing stuff off the bridge.

ALSO


* The final five tracks of Fire of Love by The Gun Club. As I said last month when I downloaded the first six tracks, I came to this band decades too late.

I don't regret that. In fact it's pretty cool that I left some great musical surprises for my old age.

This was the first album by Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the boys and it just gets better after each listening.  There's some pumped up version of old Mississippi blues -- Robert Johnson's "Preaching the Blues" and a six minute wrestling match with Tommy Johnson's "Cool Drink of Water."

But Pierce's originals are powerful in their own right. "Ghost on the Highway," "Black Train" and "Good Bye Johnny" are raw and wild. Even though I'm a new initiate, it's hard to imagine rock 'n' roll without these songs.

* "Rainmaker" by Eliza Gilkyson. I stumbled across this song a few weeks ago when looking for songs by New Mexico artists for one of my Spotify playlists. Released on a 2005 Gilkyson compilation called RetroSpecto, this is one of her earliest recorded songs, released in the late '60s or early '70s under the name of Tusker, a Santa Fe band that Gilkyson fronted back when she was known as "Lisa. Along with my personal favorite group of that era, The Family Lotus, Tusker represented the best of New Mexico hippie music.

The lyrics are pure hippie-dippie wanna-be Indian: "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 ..." But it sure brings back great memories.

Friday, October 07, 2011

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, October 7, 2011
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

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Out There a Ways by The Waco Brothers
Too Much Thinkin' by Andy Vaughan & The Driveline
Gettin' By by Six Shot Revival
Open Road by Scott H. Biram
Bitter by Black Eyed Vermillion
Jesus Was a Wino by Lydia Loveless
Pink Elephant by Wally Willett
She's My Witch by Southern Culture on the Skids
Flop Top Beer by Buddy Meredith

Me Not Calling by Rock Brousard & Two Hoots and a Holler
Moonshine by Montie Jones
Uncle Sam by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Susie Anna Riverstone by The Imperial Rooster
A Girl Don't Have to Drink to Have Fun by Jane Baxter Miller and Kent Kessler
Elbow Grease, Spackle and Pine Sol by Dale Watson & The Texas Two
Jumping the Sharks by Carter Falco
Drop the Charges by The Gourds
Oh These Troubled Times by The Corn Sisters
Rubber Legs by Gene Smith

JOHNNY CASH SET
All songs by JC unless otherwise noted
So Doggone Lonesome
Thunderball
Don't Think Twice It's Alright
A Girl Named Johnny Cash by Harry Hayward
Galway Bay
What is Truth?
I Walk the Line (Revisited) by Rodney Crowell with Johnny Cash
I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash
WWJCD (What Would Johnny Cash Do?) by The Dolly Ranchers
New Mexico

Cocaine Blues by Merle Haggard
Red Headed Stranger by Willie Nelson
Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain by Carla Bozulich
I Can't Help It-(If I'm Still In Love With You) by Hank Williams
The Love That Faded by Bob Dylan
Lion in Winter by Hoyt Axton
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

STOOGE, WALK WITH ME

Here's a couple of freebies you can start your weekend with.

There's a new live Iggy & The Stooges DVD featuring their live performance of the entire Raw Power album at last year's All Tomorrow's Parties festival. You can get a free MP3 of "Search and Destroy" if you give these folks your email address. (Is this a vile plot to compile a list of Stooges fans for the government to make it easier to confiscate your Stooges records? We'll see.)

Embedded in the below graphic are a couple of videos of live songs (scroll over Iggy's hands), plus a trailer for the DVD. Also lotsa links to where you can buy the video, MP3s, etc.

Then scroll down to the bottom of this post to hear and, if you like, to get a free copy of some musical weirdness from David Lynch. Yes that David Lynch. He's got a new album coming out!




Thursday, October 06, 2011

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Johnny Cash is For Everyone

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 7, 2011



I Walk the Protest Line NYC 2004
One of the best protest rallies that I ever covered took place during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. Sotheby’s auction house in uptown Manhattan held a reception for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and the Tennessee delegation to the convention.

The event was billed as a tribute to Johnny Cash, and memorabilia from the Man in Black was to be auctioned. The reception riled Cash fans on the left, who argued that Cash was known for singing songs for America’s underdogs.

Before the rally, Ed Pettersen, a spokesman for a Nashville organization called Music Row Democrats, told me that he had spoken with Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, who wasn’t against the GOP event because his dad and Sen. Alexander were friends.

“If this is in conjunction with a reception for Lamar Alexander, I have no problem with it,” Pettersen said. “But if it goes beyond that, and the Republicans start proselytizing using Johnny Cash, I have a big problem with it.”

It was a nonviolent demonstration. Black-clad protesters sang Cash songs and carried signs referencing J.C. tunes: “I Walk the Line for Kerry,” “Send Bush to Folsom,” and one calling Republicans “Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dogs.” The sign I liked best referred to an awful corporate hat act that performed for the GOP convention: “You Can Keep Your Brooks & Dunn, but Johnny Cash Belongs to Everyone.”

That message recently slapped me in the face when I received a review copy of Sony Legacy’s latest Cash compilation, Bootleg Vol. III: Live Around the World, scheduled for release on Tuesday.

In the middle of the first disc of the collection there’s a set of songs from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Cash is introduced by venerated lefty folk singer Pete Seeger, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. (During this set, Cash says hello to an offstage Bob Dylan, whom Cash called “the best songwriter of the age since Pete Seeger.”)

And then on disc two, there’s a set of tunes Cash performed at the White House in April 1970. Here he’s introduced by the 37th president of these United States, Richard Milhous Nixon.

And between the two is a set from a January 1969 show at the Long Binh Post in Vietnam, where Cash, June Carter Cash, and Carl Perkins entertained the troops, singing songs like “Remember the Alamo.” And there are even a few songs played for inmates — at Ă–steraker Prison in Sweden.

Johnny Cash belongs to everyone.

Like the previous two volumes in the authorized Cash Bootleg series (Personal File is the first, From Memphis to Hollywood the second), Live Around the World is a fascinating compilation of rare tracks, most of which are previously unreleased. Die-hard Cash fanatics as well as casual listeners will find plenty to love here.

As expected, some of the recordings are low in audio quality — especially the ones from live shows in the 1950s and early ’60s but also the ones from the mid- to late-’70s. Audiowise, they sound about the same as the ones recorded in a war zone a decade earlier. But what the heck, this is advertised as a bootleg.

Most of Cash’s greatest songs are represented here. There are a couple of versions each of “Big River,” “Daddy Sang Bass,” “Rock Island Line,” “I Still Miss Someone,” and “Wreck of the Old 97” — and three renditions of “I Walk the Line.” Cash never minded singing the hits.

Command performance for Tricky Dick: Cash didn’t always take requests, as President Nixon learned. Before the big White House show, Nixon, who was famous for courting the stars of Nashville, requested Cash sing a couple of his favorite country tunes of the day.

What is Truth?
One was “Okie From Muskogee,” a hippie-bashing tune by Merle Haggard. Another was a more obscure number called “Welfare Cadillac,” which was done by a singer named Guy Drake. It made fun of all those lazy bums living a luxurious life while collecting welfare. Cash said, “No, sir.” He wouldn’t play those songs, not even for the Leader of the Free World.

A surprisingly gracious Nixon made light of that refusal while introducing Cash. “I’m not an expert on his music. Incidentally, I found that out when I tried to tell him what to sing,” Nixon said, evoking laughter and applause from his White House guests. And when he began his set, Cash joked back, “And for my second song, Mr. President —”

He started out with “I Walk the Line.” But he didn’t walk the line Nixon would have wanted. One of the songs he did that night was “What Is Truth,” based on “a poem for the youth of America.” It’s a sympathetic look at the young people of that era — even the ones with long hair — questioning authority.

“The young girl dancing to the latest beat has found new ways to move her feet / And the young man speakin’ in the city square / Might be tryin’ to say that he really cares.”

I can’t help but wonder what Nixon thought about this song a couple of weeks later when the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four student protesters at Kent State University.

But even Nixon knew the truth about Johnny Cash. As he said in his introduction that night, “He was born in Arkansas and he now lives in Tennessee. But he belongs to the whole country.”

Cash on the Spot(ify): Hey, Spotify users, check out my new playlist of Johnny Cash covers and tribute songs HERE.

Cash on the radio: I’ll be playing a huge cache of Cash Friday on The Santa Fe Opry. The show begins at 10 p.m. I’ll start in with J.C. songs a little after 11. And don’t forget Terrell’s Sound World, freeform radio at its finest, 10 p.m. Sundays. Both shows are on KSFR-FM 101.1 and screaming on the web at www.ksfr.org.



Sunday, October 02, 2011

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October, 2011
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

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Stop Trying to Break Me Down by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Parchment Farm by Blue Cheer
Hoodoo Party by Rockin' Tabby Thomas
Want More by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Livin' In The Jungle by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Future Crimes by Wild Flag
Rattlesnake, Baby, Rattlesnake by Joe Johnson
Speedy's Coming by The Monsters
You Break Me Up The Thunderfucks

Acid Bird by Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
Eagle Never Hunts the Fly by The Music Machine
Fujiyama Mama by Frontier Circus
Vampire Sugar by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Baby Scratch My Back by Slim Harpo
Gary Gilmore's Eyes by The Adverts
You Can't Teach a Caveman Bout Romance by The 99ers
Miss Monster by Modie Bones
Blues Come Yonder by L.C. Ulmer
If You Wanna by Baby Jean

AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAZE
Ilha Virgem by Jovens do Prenda
Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello
Forty Deuce by Black 47
I'm All Skinny by Sinn Sisamouth
Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu by Cornershop
Mamo, Snezhets Navalyalo by 3 Mustaphas 3
Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Petty Booka

Lover Please by Jack Oblivian
Moonbeam by King Richard & The Knights
Buzzards of Green Hill by Les Claypool & The Frog Brigade
The Devil at Rest by The Mekons
Arabia by Pere Ubu
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday,  December 1, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell ...