Friday, February 28, 2014

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Feb. 28, 2014 
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
That's What She Said Last Night by Billy Joe Shaver
Lost in the Ozone Again by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
Crucifix Jewelry by Rick Broussard & Two Hoots and a Holler
Diesel Smoke Dangerous Curves by The Last Mile Ramblers  
Jack of Diamonds by Scott H. Biram
Wake Up Sinners by The Dirt Daubers
SLC by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Single Girl,Married Girl by Levon Helm
The Ballad of Forty Dollars by Tom T. Hall
Between the Two of Us One of Us Has The Answer by Tim Timebomb 

Primer Coat by Drive By Truckers
Head by Lydia Loveless
Flash of Fire by Hoyt Axton
Way Down the River Road by John Hartford
Battle of New Orleans by Les Claypool's Duo de Twang
Alien Baby by DM Bob & The Deficits
Hillbilly Town by Mose McCormack 

I've Got the Blues for Rampart Street by Luke Winslow King
Soba Song by 3 Mustaphas 3
Please Ask That Clown to Stop Crying by Neil Hamburger
Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor by Sleepy LaBeef
Down Among the Dead Man by Steve Train & His Bad Habits 
Mama It's Just My Medicine by Shooter Jennings
Prison Town by Kern Richards
Good Old Mountain Dew by Hezekiah Goode

Dragons by Possessed by Paul James
Believe It's True by Goshen
Uranium Mole by The Imperial Rooster
Royal Street Blues by Country Blues Revue
The Mermaid Song by Jorma Kaukonen
This City by Steve Earle 
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: Fleshtones With Strings Attached

Having an adventurous spirit, when I get promo CDs from artists I’ve never heard of at KSFR-FM, if it looks interesting, I’ll consider playing a track on my radio show without listening to it first. But before I do this, I always check the credits to make sure there are no cellos. Seriously, with few exceptions, few instruments sap the rock ’n’ roll out of a song faster than a dreary cello.

So imagine my surprise when I popped Wheel of Talent, the new CD by The Fleshtones, into my car stereo only to strings — a cello and a violin, to be exact — on the very first song.

Nooooooo!

Actually, the strings on “Available,” which pop up later in the album on “How to Say Goodbye,” turned out to be more of a slight misstep, perhaps a jarring texture, than a deal-breaker. Wheel of Talent, produced by Detroit’s Jim Diamond, shouldn’t be seen as The Fleshtones’ attempt to channel Mantovani.

Elsewhere on the album you’ll find a ton of The Fleshtones’ trademark garage-forged “Super Rock.” It’s a high-octane noise that they’ve been pounding out for decades. Queens natives Peter Zaremba (vocals, keyboards, harmonica) and Keith Streng (vocals, guitar) formed the band in 1976, playing a pumped-up hybrid of garage rock, punk, New Wave, and soul.

Despite Zaremba’s stint hosting an alt-rock show on MTV in the ’80s, Super Rock never got to be super famous. As they sing on the frantic, autobiographical “It Is as It Was” on this album, “We didn’t have a whole a lot of money/But we did what we wanted to.”

I love the classic Fleshtones sound, so my favorites here are hard-driving tunes like “What You’re Talking About,” “Roofarama,” and “Veo La Luz,” in which The Fleshtones go bilingual — it’s got a fuzz-heavy guitar (with a riff right out of The Yardbirds’ “Heart Full of Soul”) and Spanish lyrics. I wouldn’t be surprised if this were an outtake from their 2012 EP en Español, Quatro x Quatro.

(This song has apparently been in the band’s repertoire for a long time. Fooling around on YouTube recently, I stumbled across a 1988 live performance of the Fleshtones performing the English-language version, “I See the Light,” originally done in the ’60s by The Music Explosion.)

“Hipster Heaven” is a good-natured, fast-rocking poke at one of The Fleshtones’ favorite targets in recent years, the contemporary hipster (this one’s got “a new tattoo and money from home”). There’s even a decent tribute to The Ramones here with “Remember the Ramones.” (“You don’t know what it means/To hit the Bowery and make the Scene/For a rock ’n’ roller and a kid from Queens.”)

But, getting back to those cello songs, it’s obvious on Wheel of Talent that The Fleshtones are trying to stretch beyond their garage/punk roots. Recorded in Spain by renowned Spanish garage-punk producer Jorge Explosion, the strings on “Available” and “How to Say Goodbye” give those tunes a definite retro pop sheen. The former sounds like a rocking Fleshtones tune with some weird strings joining in, but the latter sounds like something that might have appeared on AM radio in the late ’70s (though it also reminds me a little of The Decemberists).

There are other tracks that also seem to be aiming for richer textures. For instance, on the classy “For a Smile,” guest vocalist Mary Huff (from Southern Culture on the Skids) sounds a little like Jackie De Shannon. “Tear for Tear” is a slightly jittery stab at the greasy early ’60 teen-pop sound. It made me think of Gene McDaniels’ “Tower of Strength.” And surprisingly good is the horn-fortified, soulful “What I’ve Done Before,” on which The Fleshtones sound closer to Van Morrison than they’ve ever come before.

Once I got (almost) used to the idea of The Fleshtones with strings and came to an uneasy peace with those songs, the only other track that bothered me was “The Right Girl,” which is sung in a phony British accent. If you’d told me that David Bowie was doing guest vocals here, I’d probably buy that story. Instead, I suspect this is some kind of in-joke among the band. But I don’t get it.

All in all, Wheel of Talent is a good album with a few bugs in it. It’s good to see The Fleshtones still willing to experiment. But next time, I hope they forget the fake English accents and the cello.

Also Recommended:

* Todo Roto by Wau y Los Arrrghs!!! Listening to The Fleshtones singing “Veo La Luz” made me hungry for some of the real stuff. Fortunately, the premier Spanish-language garage rockers of this era, Wau y Los Arrrghs!!!, released a new album not too many months ago. It’s produced by Jorge Explosion, who also produced The Fleshtones’ sessions in Spain. But no, Mr. Explosion didn’t bring in a string section for Todo Roto.

Led by singer Juanito Wau, this is a fuzz ’n’ Farfisa band (or it that a Vox organ?) that never lets up. Each song, it seems, rocks harder than the last one. Even the ones that start off slow tunes like “No Me Veras Caer” are permanently scarred by Wau’s crazy screams.

While Wau, naturally, is the focus of most of the tunes, his Arrrghs are a tight little unit. On the instrumental “Rescate Griego” they prove they could even be a pretty exciting surf band on their own.

* Records to Ruin Any Party Vol. 4 by various Voodoo Rhythm artists. I first heard Wau y Los Cantan en Español, which was released on my favorite Swiss label — and in fact, one of my favorite labels anywhere, Voodoo Rhythm.
Arrrghs!!! on their first album,

How can you describe a Voodoo Rhythm collection to someone unfamiliar with the artists? Here, verbatim, is how label owner “Beat-Man” Zellar (better known as “Rev. Beat-Man”) explains it in his promo one-sheet. “This compilation may contains Dirty Words and way too Loud Guitars Trash Blues Garage Punk, overdriven Boogie Blues Folk and Weimer Republic 1920s Jazz Cajun and Pure Snotty One Man Band Trash Punk.”

Got that? The English is broken but the spirit is clear.

The sampler features label stalwarts like those German blues punks The Juke Joint Pimps, the Swiss garageman Roy and The Devil’s Motorcycle, New Zealand songwriter Delaney Davidson, and not one but two bands — The Monsters and Die Zorros — involving Beat-Man himself.

Among the artists on this collection that I’d never heard of before were Becky Lee and Drunkfoot, a one-woman band from Arizona that performs a slow, sad, pretty love song called “Old Fashioned Man”; The New Primitives, a South African garage band; and Heart Attack Alley, a New Zealand group whose sound might be described as neo-skiffle.

Voodoo Rhythm proves once again to be a virtual United Nations of trash rock. Which is why I love them.

Blog Bonus: Here's some videos:

First, a recent live clip from The Fleshtones



Here's that old clip of "I See the Light" in English



Here's a live clip of Wau y Los Arrrghs!!!



And here's Becky Lee & Drunkfoot

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

SWT on SF Music Alliance Radio Show

I'll be appearing on the Santa Fe Music Alliance Radio Show Thursday night with hosts (and Santa Fe musicians) Busy McCarroll and Johnny Broomdust.

We'll be talking about music, radio and all sorts of fun stuff. And rumor is they're going to let me play some of my own cheesy recordings.

This great moment in broadcasting will be on KVSF, the Voice of Santa Fe, at 101.5 FM or online at www.santafe.com/the-voice

The hour-long show starts at 6 p.m. Listen up!

UPDATE: 2-27-14 7:40 pm The podcast of the show is HERE

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

How Narcocorridos Are Born

Less than a full day after the capture of reputed Sinoloa drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the narcocorridos are already starting to appear on Youtube.

Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Quinones blogged about the one below.



Quinones provided what he calls a "rough translation" of parts of the song.

“When I heard the news that they’d grabbed Chapo Guzman …

I said it can’t be that the rooster is asleep.

He was the most wanted of the baddest guys in the world,

Captured in Mazatlan, by a corrupt government.

On the news we saw he wasn’t that concerned.

With the capture of Chapo, things won’t change.

Let’s see if he doesn’t surprise them, and he takes off again. …

Although I’ll be behind bars, he says, I’ll remain the king. …

Only he knows what he’s thinking.

But I assure you all that he has a lot of intelligence. …

I don’t know him, but it’s my opinion.

They say he helps people and has a big heart.

Although people may say something different, they know I’m right.

Many people are on his side and they won’t forget him.

The chain is long and this won’t be the end.

Arriba my Sinaloa and arriba Chapo Guzman.

From this song it looks as if Chapo is going to be portrayed in Corrido Land as a Robin Hood who "helps people and has a big heart" and an enemy of a "corrupt government." It's not surprising. That's how he's been portrayed in corridos for years.

Here's one from a few years ago called "El Regreso del Chapo" by Los Tucanes de Tijuana.




It's called the folk process, gentle readers. Where do you think Stagger Lee and Frankie & Johnny came from?

Then there's this one from the New York Times. (Here's THE LINK. I couldn't get it to embed on my blog.)

Thanks and a tip of the hat to my New Mexican colleague Uriel Garcia, who pointed the new songs out on his Twtter feed Monday morning.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Feb. 23 , 2014 
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
Where the Flavor Is by Mudhoney 
The Winter of Our Discontent by Figures of Light
Dress it Up by Lovestruck
In the Alleyway by J.J. & The Real Jerks
Got No Proof by New Bomb Turks
What I've Done Before by The Fleshtones
Mysterious Mystery by Persian Claws
Turn Your Damper Down by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Phantoms in a Lesser Crystalline Sphere by The Dirtbombs  
Jeepster by T. Rex


Leave the Capitol by The Fall
Don't Want to Listen by Dex Romweber Duo
Shackin' Up by Daddy Longlegs
Blackout by Hank Haint
Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver by Les Claypool's Duo de Twang
Get on the Plane by Purple Merkins
Loose Nut by Black Flag

Sound World Polka Party
Hosa Dyna by Brave Combo
Polka Polka by Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper
Anselma by Los Lobos
Ecstasy of the Martyr by The Romaniacs
The in One by Crow Hang
Who'd You Like to Love You by Li'l Wally
Mountaineer Polka by Norm Dombrowski's Happy Notes
The Happy Wanderer by The Polkaholics 
Owl Polka byThe Clete Bellin Orchestra
Wiener Dog Polka by Polkacide

You Are What You Is by Frank Zappa
Numb by Sons of Hercules
Not to Touch the Earth by The Doors
Muscle Man by Ty Segal Band
Blabber n Smoke by Captain Beefheart
Psycho by Mojo Juju
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Friday, February 21, 2014

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

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Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Feb. 21, 2014 
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
Tear Stained Letter by Jo-el Sonier
Truckin' by Dwight Yoakam
I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas by Jim Atkins
Trucker from Tennessee by Link Davis
Gutter Queen by Soda Gardocki
TJ by Hickoids
16 Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford
Bloody Mary Morning by Supersuckers

Chris Isaak by Lydia Loveless
Poor Little Critter on the Road by Trailer Bride
Muswell Hillbilly by Southern Culture on the Skids 
The Best by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Monkey Rag by Asylum Street Spankers
I Want a Tall Skinny Papa by Marcia Ball
Amos Moses by Jerry Reed
Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals by Hank Williams

10 More Miles by Kern Richards 
Time Bomb by The Old 97s
Til I Find You by The Howlin' Brothers
Blacksmith by Boris McCutcheon & The Saltlicks
Back to the Simple Things by Don Williams
Gotta Get to Heaven by Scott H. Biram
Down on the Corner of Love by Buck Owens
Hand of the Almighty by John Butler
Fruit of the Vine by Nancy Apple

Arlene by The Handsome Family
Pills Beneath Her Pillow by Possessed by Paul James
Where I Fell by Robbie Fulks
Your Doggin' Fool by D.B. Reilly
I've Just Destroyed the World by Willie Nelson
Down Here Where I Am by Blaze Foley
Weakness in a Man by Waylon Jennings
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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Sunday, February 16, 2014

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Feb. 16 , 2014 
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
Valentine by Concrete Blonde
Amnesia by The Mekons
All Black and Hairy by The Fuzztones
Long Battle Coming by Dex Romweber Duo
Rescate Griego by Wau y Los Arrrghs!!!
Roofarama by The Fleshtones 
Julie Oulie by Peach Kelli Pop
Hey Seniorita by The Beat Pack
Girl Like You by The Future Primitives
Shake a Tail Feather by Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels

Prison Habbits by The Malarians
Eyes by El Pathos
Mailman by The Count Five
King Roland's Prayer by Juke Joint Pimps
Honky Tonk Biscuit Queen by The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Don't Mess with My Baby by Black Lips
Body in Plastic by Glambilly 
The Lover's Curse by The A-Bones
Who's Been Driving My Little Yellow Taxicab? by Lincoln Street Exit

Swollen Colon Lament by Figures of Light
Rock of Gibraltar by Sons of Hercules
Out of My Means by JJ & The Real Jerks
I Wanna Get in Your Pants by The Cramps
Over the Edge by Dead Moon
Rat's Nest by The Gories
Sugar Farm by T-Model Ford
Bang Bang by Gaunga Dyns

Eye Patch/ Bitties at the BK Lounge by De La Soul
St. James infirmary by Bobby Blue Bland
She Be Your Wife by Irma Thomas
That's Where It's At by Ray Charles & Lou Rawls
This Old Town by Charlie Whitehead
Goodbye So Long by Chuck E. Weiss
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Friday, February 14, 2014

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Feb. 14, 2014 
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
Keep on Truckin' by Hot Tuna
Have You Ever Spent the Night in Jail by T. Tex Edwards
Daddy Was A Preacher, Mama Was A Go-Go Girl by Southern Culture on the Skids
Waco Express by The Waco Brothers
Trouble in Mind by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Falling by The Dad Horse Experience
I'm Troubled by Scott H. Biram
Valentine by The Gourds

Truck Drivin'. Son of a Gun by Dave Dudley
The Writing is on the Wall by Country Blues Revue
Battle of Love by Mose McCormack
Son Don't Shine by Jason Ringenberg & Paul Burch
Saint Valentine by Joe Ely
You and Your Damn Dream by Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders
Satellite of Love. By DM Bob & The Deficits
Get Rhythm by James Hand

Far From Any Road by The Handsome Family
I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am by Brian & The Haggards with Eugene Chadbourne 
Hate and Whiskey by Black Vermillion
The Ballad of Speedy Atkins by Legendary Shack Shakers
Hot Rod Lincoln by Bill Kirchen
Movie Mag by Carl Perkins
Everything's Okay by Hank Williams

Hearts on Fire by Gram. Parsons & Emmylou Harris
Everything's Gone by Lydia Loveless
Flesh and Dream by Boris McCutcheon & The Saltlicks
Cool and Dark Inside by Kell Robertson
Where Does All the Time Go by Possessed by Paul James
Talk is Cheap by Don Williams
Valentine's Day by Steve Earle
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Beatle Bones

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Feb. 14, 2014

Many people tell me I remind them a lot of John Lennon. The three major reasons are: (1) Like Lennon, my uncompromising idealism and sharp wit often get me in trouble; (2) I think I’m bigger than Jesus; and (3) I began my career entertaining sailors onstage with a toilet seat around my neck.

No, not really. In real life, nobody ever tells me I remind them of John Lennon. Not even Ringo. Truth is, I just wanted to start this column with a joke instead of melancholy, nostalgia, and reverence — which is what I felt when I was driving last Sunday and heard a radio report about the 50th anniversary of The Beatles appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show.

I’m far from the first to observe this, but it’s true that The Beatles arrived at a perfect time for America — less than three months after the assassination of President Kennedy. In a spiritual sense, the moment Paul McCartney opened his mouth to sing “Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, tomorrow I’ll miss you” was the moment the national mourning for JFK ended. And a new era began.

I’m an old baby boomer, but I’m not one of those old baby boomers who wistfully thinks The Beatles were the alpha and the omega of popular music. Even back then, as the British Invasion unfolded, I loved The Beatles, but I loved The Animals even more. (I thought Eric Burdon and crew were even uglier than The Rolling Stones, and to an ugly kid, that was important.)

And I was disappointed the week after the Sullivan show when “I Want to Hold Your Hand” knocked The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird” off the No. 1 spot on my local radio station’s Top 50. The Trashmen were robbed, just like poor Fred Kaps, the hapless Dutch magician who followed The Beatles on Sullivan’s show that week with a card-trick act.
The Fab 5 in Hamburg circa 1961

But it’s hard to underestimate the significance of the rush of optimism and joy we felt in this country on the night the four lovable mop tops performed on television. The Beatles, during their (mercifully short) Maharishi period, would help make “mantra” a household word in the West, but that night in 1964, America had a common mantra: “Yeah, yeah yeah.” And it was far more cosmic than anything the Maharishi ever gave us.

Historical flashback: On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, CBS Morning News aired a short feature from its London bureau about a band called The Beatles that was driving the kids wild over there. It had footage of the group singing “She Loves You,” complete with screaming girls. Newsman Alexander Kendrick said in the report, “Besides being merely the latest objects of adolescent adulation and culturally the modern manifestation of compulsive tribal singing and dancing, The Beatles are said by sociologists to have a deeper meaning. Some say they are the authentic voice of the proletariat.” Kendrick’s report was supposed to air that night on the evening news as well. But it was preempted by news of a certain murder in Dallas that occurred that afternoon.

Some say that Feb. 9, 1964, was the night that “youth culture” was born. Maybe so, but the first thing I thought of while listening to that radio report Sunday was my grandfather. He was there with us that night watching Ed Sullivan. I’m not sure whether Papa actually liked The Beatles’ music, but he sure got a kick out of them. For months afterward, anytime a friend would come over to the house, he’d ask, “What do you think of those long-haired boys from England?” (He was 60 years old then. I’m 60 now, and here I am talking about those long-haired boys from England.)

Not surprisingly, back in those crew-cut days, The Beatles’ hair seemed to fascinate a lot of people. But watching them that night, my biggest surprise wasn’t the long hair; it was their white faces. The radio had been playing “I Saw Her Standing There” — still one of my favorite Beatles songs — and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” — still one of my least favorites — in the days leading up to Sullivan’s show, and I just assumed The Beatles were a black R & B band.

One thing The Beatles had going for them is that virtually everyone back then watched Sullivan’s show — at least that night. Only three major networks were on TV. (Any old-timers out there remember what was showing on NBC and ABC that night?) Today there are dozens of networks — and surprisingly little music on any of them. (“57 Channels and Nothing On,” as Bruce Springsteen sang.) Meanwhile, music fans are fragmented into hundreds of little tribes.

Since the murder of John Lennon in 1980, I rarely listen to The Beatles. The songs are all so etched in my mind that it’s almost as if I don’t need to listen anymore. I didn’t go nuts when they first released The Beatles on CD or when the corporate hacks who own their music these days finally released their material on iTunes. I thought those “lost” Beatles songs “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” released in the 1990s, should have stayed lost.

I did, however, buy the DVD set The Four Complete Historic Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring the Beatles about 10 years ago. As soon as I get done writing this, I think I’ll watch it again, if only to try to figure out how Kaps worked those cards.

As you can surely tell, the anniversary opened a floodgate of memories for this old rocker. While music groups are routinely hyped today with an intensity that makes Brian Epstein and even Col. Tom Parker look like amateurs, no other rock ’n’ roll band and no other pop singer has had the cultural impact The Beatles did. Plenty of good music is still being made, but nobody has come close to The Beatles’ stature in their heyday. I hope someone eventually proves me wrong, but I don’t think anyone ever will.

Here's that first report by CBS, originally aired Nov. 22, 1963

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

True Detective and The Handsome Family

Some people are starting to compare HBO's True Detective to Breaking Bad. I won't go that far yet. But like the saga of Walter White, True Detective does show one small aspect of New Mexico culture

While watching the latest episode of True Detective last night, I realized that a lot of folks might not realize that the show's opening song each week is done by New Mexico's own Handsome Family, Brett & Rennie Sparks of Albuquerque.

The song is "Far From Any Road," from perhaps my favorite Handsome Family album, Singing Bones. Back when I reviewed it in November 2003, I called it "a gringo-mariachi murder ballad," and said "I had to check the credits to make sure Calexico wasn’t backing them on this song."

Here's a video of the song:



And below is a radio interview I did with Brett and Rennie last year around the time they release their latest album Wilderness. I didn't know about True Detective at the time, so I didn't ask.




Monday, February 10, 2014

Big Enchilada Features NM Rock


THE BIG ENCHILADA



Since the days when Buddy Holly recorded in Clovis, New Mexico, the land of roadrunners, sopapillas and crashing flying saucers, has been the home of some excellent rock 'n' roll. It hasn't always thrived, but somehow it's survived. Step inside the Garage of Enchantment into hear some immortal garage, punk and psychedelic sounds, with some Hispanic sounds, which is the foundation of much of New Mexico rock 'n' roll. Viva Nuevo Mexico!

Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Panic Button by The Fireballs )
I Wanna Come Back from the World of LSD by The Fe-Fi Four Plus 2
Willow by Manby's Head
Cave Man by Blood-Drained Cows
Go Away by The Plague
When Will I Find Her by Mike Renolds & The Infants of Soul
La Mula Bronca by Al Hurricane

(Background Music: Mr. Big by The Four Frogs)
Witches by Bichos
Run Girl Run by The Movin' Morfomen
Who's Been Driving My Little Yellow Taxi Cab by Lincoln Street Exit
Spreading the Love Vibration by 27 Devils Joking
Working Girl by The Strawberry Zots
El Corrido de Emilio Naranjo by Angel Espinoza

(Background Music: Little Big Hair by Milo de Venus)
The Movies by The Angel Babies
For Your Love by Mother Structman's Jams and Jellies
Goat Throat by The Scrams
Tipi Tipi Tin by Baby Gaby
(Background Music: Moonbeam by King Richard & The Knights)

Many of the bands from the '60s on this episode recorded for or were associated with Dick Stewart's  Lance Records in Albuquerque, N.M.. Check out their website HERE

And check out my recent Terrell's Tuneup column on Norton Records' excellent El Paso Rock compilations -- the recent ones including many southern New Mexico bands. That's  HERE.

Now listen to the dadgum thing below:

Sunday, February 09, 2014

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Feb. 9, 2014 
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
I Wanna Come Back to the World. Of LSD by Fe-Fi Four Plus 2
Libertines in My Scene by The Dirty Novels
House of The Rising Sun by Frijjid Pink  
Gung Ho by Black Lips
Declaration of Independence by Count Five
Hipster Heaven by The Fleshtones
The Drone by The Future Primitives
Man in the Box/ Red State Girl by Les Claypool's Duo de Twang

Well Be Together Again by Dex Romweber Duo
Cuervos by Wau y Los Arrrghs!!!
The Crusher by The Ramones
Empty Heart by Tommy Smith & The Laughing Kind
Cold by The Strawberry Zots
What You Need by Thee Oh Sees
Let's Commit Adultery by Candye Kane
A Girl Named Sandoz by Eric Burdon & The Animals 

Springtime for Argentina by Billy Joe Winghead
When I Get Off by DMZ
Sometimes She Forgets by Bichos
Ain't So Groovy by Garage Sale
Apartment Wrestling Rock 'n' Roll by Lightning Beat-Man
Masters of the Internet by Ceramic Dog
I Create in a Broken System by Arrington De Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa
Shivers Down My Spine by King Khan & The Shrines

All My Lovin'/Money/ I Saw Her Standing There/ Moonlight Bay by The Beatles
The Truth Shall Make You Free by The Mighty Hannibal
Get 'Em by John the Conquerer
Brighter by Cass McCombs with Karen Black
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

New Big Enchilada episode: The Enchanted Garage !
(Music from New Mexico, the '60s to the present)
CLICK HERE

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Friday, February 07, 2014

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Santa Fe Opry Facebook BannerFriday, Feb. 7, 2014 
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
Jack of Diamonds by Scott H. Biram
Out of the Ashes by Filthy Still
For All That Ails You by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Hello Walls by Faron Young
Something's Gonna Get Us All by Earl Poole Ball
The Bridge Came Tumbling Down by Les Claypool's Duo De Twang
Who Walks in When I Walk Out by Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys
Alarm Clock Boogie by Billy Briggs
Nashville Casualty and Life by Kinky Friedman & The Texas Jewboys  

North of Alabama by Mornin' by Bobby Bare Junior's Young Criminal Starvation League
Lou's Got the Flu by Roger Miller
Tennessee Toddy by Marty Robbins
Make Up Your Mind by Country Blues Revue
Take Me Back to Tulsa by Merle Haggard
Purr Kitty Purr by Sid King & The Five Strings
Greasy Love by Pearls Mahone
New Muleskinner Blues by  Maddox Brothers & Rose

There Will Be Nights When I'm Lonely (with intro) by Possessed by Paul James
The Cold Hard Facts of Life by John Doe & The Sadies
The Cold Hard Truth by George Jones
Don't Touch Me by Jeannie Seely
Untie Me by D.B. Rielly
Who's Sorry Now by. Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies
You're a Humdinger by The Farmer Boys
Nothing to Lose by Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys
Old Richmond Prison by Ralph Stanley 

Black Wings by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Souvenirs by John Prine with Steve Goodman
Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends by Willie Nelson with Roseanne Cash
Duncan and Brady by Dave Van Ronk
I'm a Nut by Leroy Pullens
Old  Devil Time by Pete Seeger
Find Blind Lemon Part 2 by Geoff Muldaur
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: Claypool & Winghead

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Feb. 7, 2014

Has Les Claypool “gone country”? Not exactly. His new album, Four Foot Shack, credited to Les Claypool’s Duo de Twang, could almost be mistaken for “Primus Unplugged,” except for the fact that Claypool’s usual sidemen have been replaced here by guitarist Bryan Kehoe. The group even plays a couple of acoustic takes on Primus classics: “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” and “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver.”

Like Primus, Duo de Twang features Claypool’s bass as basically a lead instrument. Kehoe, reportedly an old high school buddy of Claypool’s, plays a lot of slide guitar. The only percussion is what Claypool calls a “mini-tambourine-doohickey” played via a foot pedal.

The duo originally formed to play the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. They definitely lived up to the “hardly strictly” part and then decided to make this album and do a small tour. (Alas, the closest they’re coming to New Mexico is Austin, during next month’s South by Southwest festival, and Snowmass, Colorado, in June.)

Too be sure, it’s obvious that Claypool likes country from 40 or 50 years ago. On this album you’ll find covers of Johnny Horton’s 1959 hit “The Ballad of New Orleans” (Claypool takes it, as Horton might have said, to places where a rabbit wouldn’t go) and Jerry Reed’s 1970 swamp-country masterpiece about a one-armed Cajun alligator hunter, “Amos Moses.” This is the second time Claypool has recorded “Amos.” Primus also took a crack at it on the 1998 CD Rhinoplasty.

While the Horton and Reed songs were big hits, Claypool also plows more obscure country-music ground. The duo does a version of “The Bridge Came Tumblin’ Down,” originally performed by Canadian country star “Stompin’” Tom Connors, who died last year at 77. The song has a good basic Johnny Cash chunka-chunka beat, with Kehoe doing some of his best slide work on the cut.

In many ways, Duo de Twang’s relation to country music is similar to what you hear on Merles Just Want to Have Fun, the album that Bryan & The Haggards and Eugene Chadbourne released last year. Both groups use C&W as a jumping-off place — before they jump into the sonic abyss.

But no, even with these songs, you’re never going to see Duo de Twang on the Grand Ole Opry. And you especially aren’t going to hear Claypool’s “Red State Girl,” a near-metallic-sounding ditty about a woman with breast implants made of recycled bottles who “wants to grow up to be Sarah Palin” and is fortunate enough to meet a young man with a tattoo of the Budweiser frogs (as well as a naked picture of the former Alaska governor, or so Claypool says).

As Claypool has shown with Primus and his many side projects, he loves wacky covers of a wide variety of songs, and despite the band’s name, most of the covers on this record are not from the world of country. On Four Foot Shack, he and Kehoe do a suave remake of the iconic surf instrumental “Pipe Line” (including “la la la” vocals on the bridge, where they sound like some lost battalion of the Russian army). The Duo makes Alice in Chains’ nightmarish “Man in the Box” even more nightmarish (with bluegrass mandolin). And the Bee Gees’ disco landmark “Stayin’ Alive” is transformed into an alien hoedown.

I still believe that Claypool’s most satisfying album is Primus’ Pork Soda, released more than 20 years ago. But even though this one doesn’t reach that level, it’s a doggone fun record. I hope that some staunch fans of acoustic roots music open their ears to it.

Also recommended:

* Spanish Asshole Magnet by Billy Joe Winghead. No, Billy Joe Winghead is not a person. It’s a band name, like Jethro Tull. Fronted by singer John (not Jono) Manson, the band, from my hometown of Oklahoma City, plays raw, obscene, metal-edged scuzz rock. I hear echoes of The Dictators, Joan Jett, Nashville Pussy, and The Hickoids (hey, they’re on The Hickoids’ label, Saustex) but definitely not Jethro Tull.

Did I mention obscene? Yes, nearly every song is packed with lewd language that unfortunately will limit radio play. Too bad. There are lots of rocking and frequently catchy tunes here. The title song is a tale of decadence and perversion that name-checks Frankie Goes to Hollywood and lifts a riff from the Hendrix song the title parodies.

Songs like “Dayglo Blacklite,” “Devil’s Advocate,” and “Gravedigger” are hard-punching rockers, the latter with a melody inspired by The Runaways’ signature song “Cherry Bomb.” Meanwhile the ferocious “Okie, Arkie and Tex” sounds like a grittier version of Guns N’ Roses before that band sunk beneath our wisdom like a stone. Billy Joe proves they can actually play it pretty on “Lana Don’t Go,” which has musical allusions to The Shangri-Las, Phil Spector, and other ’60s teen-drama rock.

Billy Joe also does a version of “Planet of the Apes” by garage-punk idols The Mummies. The band does it justice, but it’s only the second-most-remarkable cover on this album.

Without a doubt, the highlight here is the inspired medley of Broadway showtunes — I’m not kidding — that Billy Joe calls “Springtime for Argentina.” Yes, this is a combination of “Springtime for Hitler” from Mel Brooks’ The Producers and “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita. It’s a magical Okie punk-rock ode to a dictator and the wife of a dictator. The track becomes even more demented when you watch the video. It’s a crazed fascist puppet show that shouldn’t be missed.

This is followed by a slow, dreamy, synthy song called “With a Hate Like Mine.” After so much breakneck craziness from the previous songs, it might seem at first as if Billy Joe just ran out of steam. But as the six-minute song drones on with its iggly-squiggly computer effects and smoky atmospherics, it seems to transport a listener to a distant crazy dimension.

Enjoy some videos:




Monday, February 03, 2014

Honest Bob's Automotive

Bob Dylan raised many an eyebrow yesterday with his new commercial for Chrysler, which aired during the Super Bowl.

In case you missed it, here it is, in all its patriotic glory:



Some people are calling him a sell-out -- you'd think he'd brought an electric guitar to a folk festival stage or something -- but in the long view, it's not that big of a deal. After all, Flatt & Scruggs shilled for Martha White Biscuits all those years. B.B. King has done spots for diabetic supplies. And I still remember Porter & Dolly on those ads for Breeze detergent. And Michael Jackson set himself on fire for Pepsi.

No, Dylan's hardly the first iconic music star to lend his face and music to TV ads. Check out some of these:

Taco Bell in the '90s snagged a couple of the world's most beloved country stars ...


I actually liked Willie's song in this next one:



Lou Reed took a walk on the commercial side. (And Honda's not even American!)



And no, this wasn't Dylan's first time at this rodeo. Remember this one? (Ironic clip tacked on at the beginning)

Sunday, February 02, 2014

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Terrell's Sound World Facebook BannerSunday, Feb. 2, 2014 
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
Dropkick Me Jesus by Bobby Bare
The Great Joe Bob by Terry Allen
Coney Island Baby by Lou Reed
It Is As It Was by The Fleshtones
I Bought My Eyes by The Ty Segal Band
Ham and Oil by The.Hentchmen 
Every Night by The Future Primitives
Old Fashioned Man by Becky Lee & Drunkfoot

Buy Before You Die by Figures of Light
Good Time by The Mighty Hannibal
I Just Want to Make Love to You by Wild Billy Chyldish & CTMF
Bad Girl by Detroit Cobras
Cleo's Gone by The Gay Sportscasters
No One Cares by Gaunga Dyns 
Lana Don't Go by Billy Joe Winghead
Missy Le Hand by Pocket FishRmen

Stayin' Alive by Les Claypool's Duo de Twang
Golem by Black Joe Lewis
Jump. And Shout by The Dirtbombs
Around the Bend by Scott H. Biram
Cosmos 7 by The Fall
Bless You by The Devil Dogs
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy by Frank Zappa & The Mothers with Capt. Beefheart
Ooh Whee Marie by Dick Dale

Talking Main Event Magazine Blues by Mike Edison & The Rocket Train Delta Science Arkestra
Ain't Got No Love by Willis Earl Beal
Mississippi Drinkin' by John the Conquerer
I Dig Black Girls by Charlie Whitehead
I Only Have Eyes For You by The Famingos
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 ...