Sunday, May, 2015 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
Here's the playlist below
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
The Snake by Johnny Rivers
Shake Me by Motobunny
The Claw by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Glow in the Dark by Lovestruck
Walkin' with the Beast by Gun Club
Parts Unknown by Kid Congo Powers with Lydia Lunch
Who'd You Like to Love You by Li'l Wally
Wine Wine Wine by Bobby Fuller Four
Bad Bad Woman by The Molting Vultures
Red Rose by Lisa Doll & Rock 'n' Roll Romance
Local Dive by Lawn Chair Kings
I Got Eyes For You by The Gories
Dirty Hands by Black Lips
Zombie Island by Jonny Manak & The Depressives
Elephant Stomp by Left Lane Cruiser
I'm Insane by T-Model Ford
The Lord is Coming Back by Reverend Beat-Man & The Un-Believers
GOSPEL SET
Don't Drive Your Children Away by Isaac Freeman & The Bluebloods
I Want Two Wings by Rev. Utah Smith
God's New Building by Little Midget & The Morning Stars
I Am Willing to Run All the Way by B.B. King
Feel Like Holdin' On by Valerie Mathis
Let Me Lean On You by Christian All Stars of Akron, Ohio
Help Me by Lula Collins
Something Within Me by Jubilee Hummingbirds featuring Rev. E.L. Whitaker
By and By by Katie Jackson with The Campbell Brothers
I'm a Soldier by The Original Blind Boys of Mississippi
What He's Done for Me by The Famous Davis Sisters
Sweeping Exit by Jody Porter
Drowning Man by Stan Ridgway
Fannin Street by Tom Waits
Innocent When You Dream by Kazik Strazewski
Surf's Up by Brian Wilson CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
The Omninous Anthropophageous Slackeye Slim by The Misery Jackals Slackeye Slim Live Set
Cowboy Song
Where the Wind Will Let Me Go
Vengeance Be Thy Name
Looks Like I Killed Again (from album)
Don't Touch My Horse
Introducing Drake Savage (from album)
Honky Tonk Maniac from Mars by Jason Ringenberg
Take Me to the Fires by The Waco Brothers
Nashville Casualty and Life by Kinky Friedman
The Love-in by Ben Colder
Me and The Whiskey by Whitey Morgan
I Can't Hold Myself in Line by Frontier Circus
North to Alaska by Johnny Horton
Marie Laveau by Bobby Bare
Weather Woman by The Gourds
Chick Singer, Badass Rocker by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Born to Boogie by Texas Marty & The House of Twang
Be My Ball and Chain by Brennen Leigh & Noel McKay
Cool Rockin' Loretta by Joe Ely
Two Dollar Bill by Paula Rhae McDonald
In My Arms Once Again by Slim Cessna's Auto Club
Some of Shelly's Blues by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Cheater's World by Amy Allison & The Maudlins
Feeling Mortal by Kris Kristofferson
Drinkin' Thing by Gary Stewart
I've Got a Tender Heart by Merle Haggard
The Selfishness in Man by George Jones CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Updated: Here's the first hour -- with the Slackeye Slim set -- via Mixcloud
The show starts at 10 p.m. Mr. Slim will go on 10 or 15 minutes after that.
Slackeye, known in the mundane world as Joe Frankland is responsible for at least three albums -- Texas Whore Pleaser, El Santo Grial: La Pistola Piadosa, and, his most recent effort, Giving My Bones to the Western Lands. (Follow the links to my reviews of the last two.)
Basically his albums are the musical equivalent to dark, troubling western movies, wild tales full of harsh landscape, desperate anti-heroes. Sometimes the songs are full of savage violence. Sometimes they're just soul-searching reflections by men with broken hearts (to sneak in a Hank Williams reference.) And many of his melodies are nothing short of gorgeous.
Slackeye's originally from Ohio, but like the troubled transients he sings about, Slackeye has knocked around the west these past few years, living in Montana, Colorado and now New Mexico.
So tune in tomorrow night and hear Slackeye Slim's songs and stories. You can listen live on KSFR's website, or, if you live in northern New Mexico and parts of Albuquerque, at 101.1 FM.
I have one listener down there who tells me he sometimes drives out to the West Mesa to listen to my show on his car radio.
Tonight would be a great night to do that.
You can listen -- and buy (what a radical idea!) Slackeye Slim's most recent works HERE.
And meanwhile, here's one of his real purdy songs:
Whatever you say about Herbert Boutros Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim, you have to admit that the man knew a lot about old popular songs, especially those from the the first three or four decades of the 20th Century.
Below are a bunch of Tiny's songs as done by the original -- or at least much earlier -- artists. All but one of the following were on Tiny's first album, God Bless Tiny Tim.
Tiny loved these tunes and so do I.
"Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" was written by a couple of guys named Al (Sherman and Lewis) for the 1930 movie, The Big Pond, which starred Maurice Chevalier. Tiny Tim was exposed, so to speak, to whole new generation when his version was used in the very first episode of Spongebob Squarepants.
But Maurice did a good job too.
I once saw Ozzie Nelson sing a version of "Out on the Old Front Porch" on some late-night talk show. I think it was on Joey Bishop' show. Maybe Harriet was there too, I don't remember. But this one goes way back to at least 1913 when Billy Murray did it as a duet with Ada Jones.
Tiny of course didn't do a duet. He sang all the parts himself, including the angry father.
Tiny did a pretty warped cover of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" on his first appearance on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. He also recorded it for his 1969 children's album For All My Little Friends.
The original version, of course, was by America's little friend, Shirley Temple, who sang in in her 1934 movie Bright Eyes.
Tiny reached way far back for "Then I'd Be Satisfied with Life," 1903 to be exact. It was written by George M. Cohan, the same guy who wrote "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "Over There." This version is by S.H. Dudley.
One major change Tiny made in his version. Dudley wants "an heiress" for his wife. But Tiny wants Tuesday Weld!
And Tiny also did a little number called "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." Here is the original, as performed by Nick Lucas, the Crooning Troubadour, in the movie Gold Diggers of Broadway.
Before you start watching the videos of the bad television themes below, indulge me in a couple of creative musical exercises:
1) Think of the melody to "House of the Rising Sun." Now think of someone singing the Gilligan's Island theme to that melody. (Hey, it works better than "Stairway to Heaven.")
2) Now imagine The Pogues singing the theme, Shane MacGowan slurring all the lyrics, to The Brady Bunch.
I apologize if you can't get those out of your head all day.
The point is, I'm a fan of TV themes, even, in a weird way, the bad ones. I think about them way too much.
The Too Many Cooks video that swept the Internet late last year was a wonderful satire of cheesy boob-tube theme songs, especially from the late '70s and '80s. (If you're one of the last six Americans who hasn't seen or heard this CLICK HERE.)
But here a bunch of theme songs -- from shows that mostly were flops -- that still haunt my nightmares.
First, I give you My Mother the Car, a Jerry Van Dyke vehicle (pun intended) that ran on NBC from late 1965 through the spring of 1966.
Many years ago, George R.R. Martin (sorry for the gratuitous name-dropping) made me laugh out loud when he said that that the funniest thing about My Mother the Carwas that serious men with briefcases and expensive suits at NBC had to have had several intense meetings to develop this show.
The entire premise of this clunker is explained in the theme song.
Phyllis(1975-77) has the distinction of being the worst of the Mary Tyler Moore Show spin-offs. (Hey, I liked Lou Grant!) The opening theme actually was kind of clever. But still ... Phyllis.
The mid '60s hit series Batman had one of the coolest theme songs in TV history. Written by Neal Hefti, this instrumental was covered by The Ventures and even Iggy Pop, who did a live version. But that makes the theme song of Batman's far-less successful spin- off Batgirl even more deplorable. For one thing, they gave it lyrics -- lyrics like "Are you a chick who fell in from outer space? Or are you real with a tender warm embrace?" Holy crap on a cracker, Batman!
Besides Batgirl, Batman's success, inspired other superhero shows on network TV. NBC's answer was a bad comedy called Captain Nice. At least Batgirl was easier to look at than this mercifully short-lived series. And the theme song was nearly as terrible.
F Troop's stereotypical treatment of Native Americans would never fly today. Just ask Adam Sandler. Of course the only people dumber than the Hekawi tribe, for the most part, are the white soldiers at Fort Courage.
I have to admit, I kind of liked this show when I was a kid. It was better than My Mother the Car anyway. Still, the mock-heroic theme song from the first season is pretty clunky.
B.J. and The Bear was an NBC comedy about a truck driver and his chimpanzee. It debuted in 1979, a year after Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way But Loose, a comedy about a truck driver and his orangutan. (It was not a rip-off. Chimps and orangutans are completely different animals.)
And yes, the theme song sucked. "New dreams and better scenes/ And best of all I don't pay property tax," the show's leading man, Greg Evigan sang.
I don't know, but I think even Grover Norquist would rather pay property tax than to be stuck in the cab of a truck with a damned chimpanzee day in and day out.
The song loses even more points when you compare it with the theme of an earlier NBC truck-drivin' comedy Movin' On, -- which was written and sung by Merle Haggard.
All parents make mistakes, but I can proudly say that I never inflicted Lamb Chop's Play-Along (PBS, 1992-97) on either of my children. But I must admit, the theme song is a showcase for one of the pioneers of Caucasian hip-hop: Shari Lewis.
And I agree with this next one. Eight IS enough of these horrible tunes.
But may you spend your Wacky Wednesday like a bright and shiny new dime!
(Background Music: Dog Breath in the Year of The Plague by The Mothers of Invention)
Deputy Dog by The Great Gaylord & The Frigss
Motor Pyscho by Rattface
Bomb Squad by Gas Huffer
Saint Dee by The Bloodhounds
You Bring Me Down by Jonny Manak & The Depressives
Hound Dog by '68 Comeback
(Background Music: Taylor's Rock by Hound Dog Taylor)
Sunday, May 24, 2015 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
Here's the playlist below;
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
After the Rain by Mission of Burma
God is a Bullet by Concrete Blonde
Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps
Miniskirt Blues by Simon Stokes
Suicide in a Bottle by Evil Idols
Baby Doll by Horror Deluxe
Don't Slander Me by Roky Erikson
Spider and Fly by Motobunny
Milkshake 'n' Honey by Sleater-Kinney
Whammy Kiss by The B-52s
Inside Looking Out by Chesterfield Kings
Time Will Tell by Handsome Jack
Take Me to Our Place by Jonny Manak & The Depressives
Mean and Evil by Juke Joint Pimps
Total Destruction to Your Mind by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
Oh Wendy, Let's Stay Out All Night by The A-Bones
Do the Get Down by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Designed to Kill by James Chance
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB DYLAN
Maggie's Farm by Bob Dylan
The Wicked Messenger by The Black Keys
Thunder on the Mountain by Bob Dylan
Don't Think Twice by Mike Ness
Dignity by Bob Dylan
Every Grain of Sand by Giant Sand
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Reprise) by Bob Dylan & The Band
That Knucklehead Stuff by Chuck E. Weiss
Borracho Mark Lanegan
That Lucky Old Sun by Bob Dylan
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, May 22, 2015 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist below:
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Vengeance Gonna Be My Name by Slackeye Slim
Daddy Was a Preacher, Mama Was a Go-Go Girl by Southern Culture on the Skids
Hard Times by Jon Langford
Tulsa by Wayne Hancock
Trailer Mama by The Bottle Rockets
Big Ol' White Boys by Terry Allen
What Kinda Guy? by Steve Forbert
The Rubber Room by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
Hey Mama My Time Ain't Long / Snake Farm by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Falling Off of the World by Chipper Thompson
Give Back the Key to My Heart by Uncle Tupelo
The Devil Ain't Lazy by Asleep At the Wheel with The Blind Boys of Alabama
Ditty Wah Ditty by Ry Cooder
Liquor and Whores by The Misery Jackals
Kansas Women by Two Ton Strap
Don't Give a Damn by Honky Tonk Hustlas
Ready to Run by Jimbo Mathus
The Hoover Farm Exorcism by The Imperial Rooster
The Road Goes On Forever by The Highwaymen
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes by The Rizdales
I'll Be There (If Ever You Want Me) by John Fogerty
There's No Fool Like an Old Fool by Ray Price
The Genitalia of a Fool by Cornell Hurd with Justin Trevino
Legend in My Time by Don Walser
Train of Life by Merle Haggard
When Two Worlds Collide by Roger Miller
The Last Kind Words by David Johansen & The Harry Smiths
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican May 22, 2015 Ray Wylie Hubbard’s Twitter feed (@raywylie) isn’t anywhere as essential as his music, but it’s often pretty entertaining. Early in May, after some ticket agency apparently had referred to him as a “country” singer, Hubbard tweeted, “i ain’t country..use ‘cool ol low down dead thumb groove badass folkie halfass blues poet with a young rockin band’ instead.”
That tweet could be read as a darn good self-evaluation of his latest record, The Ruffian’s Misfortune. Once again, Hubbard has given the world a swampy, blues-soaked collection of tunes in which, in his trademark Okie drawl, he tells stories of sin and salvation; gods and devils; women who light candles to the “Black Madonna;” undertakers who look like crows (“red-eyed and dressed in black”); and hot-wiring cars in Oklahoma.
And I wasn’t kidding about “essential.” Somehow in the last decade or so, Hubbard has clawed his way from being an interesting survivor of the early-’70s-Texas-cosmic-cowboy scene to one of the most important unsung songwriters in the music biz today. And I don’t say that lightly. Last time I reviewed one of Ray Wylie’s albums, I said, “Hubbard’s albums of the last 10 years are even more consistently brilliant than Tom Waits’ output since the turn of the century.”
That’s still true. And Ray Wylie is more prolific than Waits, too.
He’s using the same basic band he’s used on his last few albums, including his son Lucas Hubbard on guitar, George Reiff on bass, and Rick Richards on drums. Together they’ve crafted a distinctive sound, and, like Hubbard himself, they keep getting better.
Hubbard grabs you by the throat immediately in “All Loose Things,” the first song on The Ruffian’s Misfortune. Raw guitar chords explode over a harsh drum beat. Then Hubbard begins to sing, though he’s giving voice to a blackbird looking down on pitiful humans: “Storm is comin’, rain’s about. To fall/Ain’t no shelter ’round here for these children at all. ... Now the dirt is splatterin’ it’s turning into mud/Erasing all traces of broken bones and blood/All loose things end up being washed away.”
Hubbard with son Lucas at 2012 SXSW
Listening to Hubbard, you might start to get the feeling that, like some grizzled oracle, he’s gently imparting secrets of the universe. At the start of the song “Hey, Mama, My Time Ain’t Long,” he sings matter-of-factly, “Now children let me tell you about the songs a bluesman sings/Comes from a woman’s moans and the squeak of guitar strings/Some say it’s the devil jingling the coins in his pocket/I say it sounds more like a pistol when you cock it.”
Hubbard name-checks some of his rock ’n’ roll forbearers — the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top – in “Bad on Fords,” a song he co-wrote with country star Ronnie Dunn -- and previously recorded by Sammy Hagar.
He’s trying to convince some “pretty thing” to go on some crazy joyride from Abilene to L.A. “We’ll stop at The Sands in Vegas and bet it all on black 29,” he sings.
The song “Down by The River” is a frenzied tune that might remind you of James McMurtry’s “Choctaw Bingo.” Hubbard’s tune is about a bunch of El Paso kids crossing the Santa Fe Bridge into Juárez to “sip a little poison.” Violence lurks everywhere – gunfire, bloodstains, those crowlike undertakers burying bodies down by the river.
Sister Rosetta
He’s basically describing a real-life hell in that song. But in a later song, “Barefoot in Heaven,” Hubbard sings of the other place, “where there ain’t no end of days.” The groove is similar to some long-lost Pops Staples tune. But the lyrics speak of another gospel titan: “When I get to Heaven, all the preachers tell me, I get a halo, some wings and a harp/That’s well and good, but what I want to hear is Sister Rosetta Tharpe.”
Two of the songs here are named for Hubbard’s blues heroes. “Mr. Musselwhite’s Blues” tells the story of harmonica shaman Charlie Musselwhite and how he was born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago, where Little Walter himself bestowed a harp on him. Musselwhite even gets some advice for the lovelorn from Big Joe Williams. “Big Joe said, ‘I’ve seen that woman, and Charlie, you’re better off with the blues.”
Then there’s “Jessie Mae,” a slow groover about the late Ms. Hemphill. “Every time you sing, black angels dance,” Hubbard sings. Praising her guitar style, he notes Hemphill had that “dead thumb groove” he admires, “like hammerin’ nails/On the low E string.”
Undoubtedly there’s a little bit of Jessie Mae Hemphill in the singer with the “short dress, torn stockings” who is subject of “Chick Singer, Badass Rocking.” Hubbard probably sounds a little lecherous here, but even if that’s so, it’s far outweighed by the sheer admiration he has for this unnamed belter, carrying on a sacred American tradition at her midnight gig at some dive.
Hubbard wouldn’t look that great in a short skirt and torn stockings, but he’s carrying on a noble tradition himself.
Check out these videos:
Here's one with an authentic chick singer/badass rocker
And here's another song from The Ruffian's Misfortune, performed with the co-writer Jonathan Tyler.
And making his debut on The Stephen W. Terrell (Music) Blog, I give you Mr. Sammy Hagar
Correction: The earlier version of this incorrectly called my favorite James McMurtry song as "Cherokee Bingo." The real title is "Choctaw Bingo." Sorry, wrong tribe. It's been corrected in the text.
Last week when eulogizing B.B. King, I included "See That My My Grave Is Kept Clean," the title song, sort of, from his final studio album. It's a song known by at least three names -- the one King used; "Two White Horses," and "One Kind Favor" -- which was the actual title of King's last album.
Blind Lemon Jefferson, a bluesman from Texas, recorded the song in 1928, but I first heard it in the version by Canned Heat. The song, part of Heat's 1968 album Living the Blues, wasn't a huge hit. But it was the flip side of "Going Up The Country," which probably was their biggest hit. They played it on KVSF here in Santa Fe ever so often and I liked it right off.
But I didn't really get into it until the early '70s, when, as a college kid I started making trips to Juarez, Mexico with my buddies. it was always on the jukebox at El Submarino nightclub, and I always played it several times as my friends an I sat there loading up on 35-cent margaritas. The crazy energy of the song -- not to mention the fatalistic, somewhat morbid lyrics with strange images of white horses coffin sounds and graves in need of cleaning -- seemed to capture the Juarez spirit of those happier times.
Blind Lemon died two years after recording "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean." But the song is allive and well. Blind Lemon's version was included on Harry Smith's more-than-influential Anthology of Folk Music in 1952.
Even before then, it was recorded by a bunch of other blues artists including fellow Texan Lightnin' Hopkins, Furry Lewis and Mississippi Fred McDowell. And it keeps popping up in the realms of folk, rock, soul and the blues.
Here are some of the better versions of the song. Let's start with Mr. Jefferson's:
Bob Dylan, whose career owes a lot to Harry Smith's Anthology, was one of several folk revivalists who recorded it. His fiery version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was on his first album. (Notice on this one, the two white horses aren't just "in a line" as in most renditions of the song. In Dylan's, the white horses are "following me.")
Dylan's version inspired this electric rendition by The Dream Syndicate in 1988.
Lou Reed performed a growling, menacing take on the tune at a Harry Smith tribute concert in 2001.
Mavis Staples did it in the "Lightning in a Bottle" concert at Radio City Music Hall in 2003
Also in the early part of the century, folkie Geoff Muldaur (a former member of Jim Kweskin's Jug Band), recorded a haunting two-part saga in which he and some pals take literally Blind Lemon's odd request.
Here's Part 2
But still the best version of "One Kind Favor" is the version that brought the boogie to El Submarino. Viva Canned Heat!
There was so much rain in Santa Fe last weekend, I hate to think how many would-be BBQers were discouraged. So I'm going to try to work a little magic here and try to appease the rain gods with some great songs about barbecue.
The art of barbecue has been linked to American music since the early part of the last century.
In 1927 Louis Armstrong & The Hot Five recorded a tune called "Struttin' with some BBQ." But as the Onion A/V Club pointed out a couple of years ago, Satch's song probably wasn't about pork ribs. Cab Calloway's Jive Dictionary defines "barbecue" as "the girl friend, a beauty."
Also in 1927, one of the first musicians to sing about smoked meat was an Atlanta bluesman named Robert Lincoln, a chef in a high-class BBQ joint who recorded under the name Barbecue Bob. His very first record, recorded in 1927 was called "Barbecue Blues."
But I prefer another Barbecue Bob song recorded in the same session, "It Won't Be Long Now," credited to Barbeque Bob and Laughing Charley (Charley Hicks, Bob's older brother.)
Jas Obrecht, editor for Guitar Player magazine for 20 years and the founding editor of Pure Guitar magazine, writes that the song "began with a spoken dialog about Bob’s job as a barbecue chef; this was pure minstrel shuck-and-jive. This was also the first record to feature Charley’s signature laughter. It was an old shtick dating back at least to George W. Johnson’s 'Laughing Song' cylinders of the 1890s, but it was a good way to get Charlie’s name out there. Near the end of the song, the brothers sang a verse in unison."
"Shuck and jive" or not, I've always loved this dialogue, how Bob tries to explain his cooking technique ("I'm makin; it good and juicy. That's the way people like it these days, you know with gravy runnin' out") before the conversation turns to their women who have left them. ("Same dog that bit you must have snapped at me ...")
And thus, barbecue forever became intertwined with the blues, with the smoke blowing over into the fields of jazz, country, rockabilly and rock 'n' roll.
So here's a Spotify playlist of BBQ songs, beginning and ending with Barbecue Bob -- and a lot in between: Satch, ZZ Top, Mojo Nixon, Lucille Bogan, Pere Ubu and more.
So hear these songs, gods of rain, and let there be some sunshine, at least for the coming weekend.
And to you, the reader: If you get the chance to grill outside Saturday or Sunday, be sure to play this then.
Sunday, May 17, 2015 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
Here's the playlist below
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Daddy Rockin' Strong by The Dirtbombs
Heavy Honey by Left Lane Cruiser
Save the Planet by The Sonics
Amazons and Coyotes by Simon Stokes
She's the Bad One by The Rezillos
Funeral by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Crab-Grass Baby by Frank Zappa
You Don't Love Me Yet by Roky Erikson
The Strip Polka by The Andrews Sisters
Shake Me by Motobunny
Mo' Hair by The Hickoids
Old Folks Boogie by Jack Oblivian
Watching My Baby by The Reigning Sound
Die in the Summertime by Manic Street Preachers
Crackpot Baby by L7
Rock 'n' Roll Murder by Leaving Trains
B.B. King Tribute: All songs by B.B. King
Please Love Me
Paying the Cost to Be the Boss
Saturday Night Fish Fry
Old Time Religion
Early Every Morning
How Blue Can You Get?
Three O'Clock Blues with Bobby "Blue" Bland
When Love Comes to Town
Who Stole the Kishka by The Polkaholics
My Shadow by Jay Reatard
You're the Only One, Delores by Cub Koda
Little Rug Bug by NRBQ
To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey
Port of Amsterdam by David Bowie
Precious Lord by B.B. King
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, May 15, 2015 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist below:
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Angel Along the Tracks by The Dirt Daubers
Banana Pudding by Southern Culture on the Skids
Mr. Musselwhite's Blues by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Walk It By Myself by Blonde Boy Grunt & The Groans
A Box of Grass by Buck Jones
Rest of Our Lives by Mike Ness
Golden Grease by The Banditos
The Union Dues Blues by Chipper Thompson
Lookout Mountain by Bobby Bare
The Lonely Room by The Revelers
Oooeeoooeeooo by 6 String Drag
Dreaming Cowboy by Sally Timms
Reprimand by Joe West
Jam Bowl Liar by Homer & Jethro
The Kicked Me Out of the Band by Commander Cody
Big Fake Boobs by The Beaumonts
Third Rate Romance by The Amazing Rhythm Aces
Shit Happens by The Lonesome Heroes
Mary Mack by Al Duvall
I Miss My Boyfriend by Folk Uke with Shooter Jennings
His death wasn't unexpected. He'd been in hospice care for a couple of weeks following a reported heart attack.
I first saw him in concert in early 1972 at the UNM basketball arena, a place I still call "The Pit." He headlined a bill that also featured a new band called Z.Z. Top, as well as Black Oak, Arkansas. The crowd was an odd mixture of well-dressed middle-class African-Americans and scuzzy hippies.
Before King went on on, some guy a few rows in front of me got in an argument with another guy and pulled a pistol. Nearly everyone in out whole section ducked or scattered, I was a newly initiated blues fan. I just figured it was part of the experience. But no shot was fired. No blood was shed. The show went on.
And B.B. came out and killed. He sounded as wonderful as Black Oak sounded wretched.
About 10 years later I saw B.B. at the Paolo Soleri here in Santa Fe. He was just as good if not better than he was the first time I saw him. After the show I got to interview him back stage. I was just a freelancer for the local weekly, The Santa Fe Reporter, but he treated me like i was the most important music journalist in the country. Seriously, he was one of the sweetest musicians I've ever interviewed. We talked for what seemed like an hour, him telling stories of his life, which he'd told hundreds of other reporters.
So here's to Riley "B.B." King. Bluesman, gentleman, inspiration.
UPDATE: Here is a link to my review of his last studio album, One Kind Favor:
Here are some songs to remember him by.
The first B.B. King album I ever had was Live in the Cook County Jail. Here is my favorite song from that:
Back when I was in college, the KUNM Wednesday night blues show used this as their theme song.
And here's a Blind Lemon Jefferson song from a fairly recent album, One Kind Favor.
A couple of weeks ago, I was looking up information on a song called "Crazy Words, Crazy Tune" for a possible Wacky Wednesday post, a tune that I knew mostly from '60s era neo-jug bands. I found the names of the songwriters -- Jack Yellen and Milton Ager -- then quickly discovered that the pair had been responsible for some of the most memorable songs from the Roaring '20s, archetypal American touchstones of the Jazz Age.
Yellen , the one who wrote the lyrics, and Ager, who wrote the music, were responsible for so many hits, they could be considered the Leiber & Stoller of the Prohibition Era.
Yellen was born Jacek Jeleń in Poland in 1892, immigrating to the U.S. with his family when he was five years old. He grew up in Buffalo, N.Y. and for a few years worked as a reporter for The Buffalo Courier. But even then he was writing songs on the side. He died in 1991.
Ager was born in Chicago in 1893. He's got connections to journalism also. His wife Cecilia Ager was a film critic and reporter for Variety as well as The New York Post Magazine and other publications. Their daughter, Shana Alexander wrote for Life magazine and sparred with James J. Kilpatrick on the "Point/Counterpoint segment of 60 Minutes. Milton Ager died in 1979.
So what songs did these two write? Let's get to those.
One of their earliest hits was one called "Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now." The earliest recordings of this were in 1924. Margaret Young and Billy Murray were among the stars who recorded it that year.
But my favorite of the early versions was from 1929 when Emmett Miller recorded it. (I'm not sure what the wedding photos in this video are, but I bet a guy named Bill got married around the time this was posted on Youtube.)
"Big Bad Bill" has several contemporary versions as well. Van Halen recorded it in the early '80s. But I prefer Merle Haggard's dandy version.
An even better-known song by this duo was "Hard-Hearted Hannah," also published in 1924. Here's a version by Lucille Hegamin.
But perhaps the greatest version ever was Ella Fitzgerald, who sang it in a 1955 movie called Pete Kelly's Blues. (And yes, you will see Jack Webb in this clip!)
Another Yellen & Ager classic is "Ain't She Sweet," written in 1927. One of the first recordings was by Ben Bernie and His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra.
A British singer named Tony Sheridan recording this one, backed by a then-unknown band called The Beatles, in 1961 when they were living in Hamburg.
But probably Yellen & Ager's most enduring tune is "Happy Days are Here Again," a basic Chins-up-America tune written in 1929 and later adopted as the 1932 campaign song for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Democrat Party adopted this as it's own theme song, often played during national conventions. But, according to The New York Times' obituary for Yellen, the lyricist considered himself a Republican.
Here is Leo Reisman & His Orchestra's version in a 1930 film called Chasing Rainbows. (Vocals by Lou Levin)
And here is the song that led me on this chase, a 1927 version by Frank Crumit of "Crazy Words, Crazy Tune," in which a nutty neighbor with a ukulele inspires homicidal fanrtasies. I still might do a Wacky Wednesday on this one some day.
Back in the '80s and '90s, when Rhino Records was actually a cool label, they released a series of albums called Golden Throats. These nutball compilations featured movie and TV stars, sports heroes and every stripe of cheesy celebrity singing ham-fisted versions of songs they had no business singing. Pop tunes, rock 'n' roll hits, country song, whatever. Nothing was sacred and nothing was safe from the Golden Throats.
Because of the exposure from the Rhino series, some of these unintentionally hilarious songsters became notorious and ironically hip. Think William Shatner -- the Elvis of the Golden Throats! -- and his over-the-top renditions of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." Think Muhammad Ali, whose musical career I covered a few weeks ago on Wacky Wednesday.
But there are so many more. Let's hear some of them.
Here's a little Kojack Kountry with Telly Savalas. We love ya, baby!
Jackie Chan croons the theme to CZ 12 aka Chinese Zodiac, a 2012 movie. He does his own stunts in the recording studio too.
Walter Brennan, makes "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town" a Walter Brennan song.
This Golden Throat, Everett McKinley Dirksen, came from the U.S. Senate. This actually was a hit record during the Vietnam War.
And the Golden Throats will never die. Just a few years ago Scarlett Johannsson recorded an entire album of Tom Waits songs. Here is one of those.
And for the real zealots, here's a Spotify playlist :
Sunday, May 10, 2015 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
Here's the playlist below
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Ain't it a Shame by Nirvana
Saint Dee by The Bloodhounds
Lupine Dominus by Thee Oh Sees
Little Black Submarines by The Black Keys
Pussy Riot by Acrid Fluff
Lipstick Frenzy by Lovestruck
Don't Slander Me by The Blue Giant Zeta Puppies
John Lawman by Roky Erikson
Gimme Gimme Gimme by Figures of Light
I Had a Friend by Jonny Manak & The Depressives
Bigger and Better by The Fleshtones
Spooks by Ghost Bikini
Dark as a Dungeon by The Tombstones
The Midnight Creep by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Mystic Eyes by Them
I May Be Gone by The Oblivians
Wade in Bloody Water by The Grannies
I Was a Teenage Kiddie Porn Star by Al Foul & The Shakers
I Got Your Number by The Sonics
Gimme Some by Sons of Hercules
I Got Worms by Archie & The Pukes
Snake Drive by R.L. Burnside
Not Enough Happenng by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers
Don't Answer the Door by B.B. King & Bobby "Blue" Bland
Troubled Mind by The Buff Medways
Crane's Cafe by TAD
I Predict a Riot by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Shepherds of the Nation by The Kinks
You Are So Evil by Willie King & The Liberators
The House of Blue Lights by Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band
I Know I've Been Changed by John Hammond & Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, May 8, 2015 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist below:
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Hey Mama, My Time Ain't Long by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Whole Lotta Things by Southern Culture on the Skids
Song for David J by Glenn Jones
Driftwood 40-23 by The Hickoids
19th Nervous Breakdown by Jason & The Scorchers
The Breeze by Banditos
If You Gotta Go by Flying Burrito Brothers
Brand New Cadillac by Wayne Hancock
Reap the Whirlwind by Chipper Thompson
Ain't No Top 40 Song by Terry Allen
Big Corral by DM Bob & The Deficits
Texas Whore Pleaser by Slackeye Slim
Ain't No God in Mexico by Waylon Jennings
Baby This, Baby That by Reno Jack
Old Tige by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Jack's Red Cheetah by Cathy Faber's Swingin' Country Band
East Texas Girl by The Beaumonts with Molly Hayes
Between Lust and Watching TV by Cal Smith
Dreadful Sinner by Jayke Orvis
Blood on the Fiddle, Blood on the Bow by Jim White vs. The Packway Handle Band
Two Dollar Bill by Paula Rhae McDonald
Flannery Said by The Moaners
A Fool Such as I by Marti Brom
Selling the Jelly by Noah Lewis' Jug Band
I've Been Down That Rocky Road Before by Stevie Tombstone
Town Hall Shuffle by Joe Maphis
Long Walk Back From San Antone by Junior Brown
Legend in My Time by Leon Russell
Same God by Calamity Cubes
You Coulda Walked Around the World by Butch Hancock
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican May 8, 2015
You can’t accuse Taos troubadour Chipper Thompson of flooding the market with his music. His new album, O How I Wish My Bad Heart Was True, is his first solo album in about a dozen years. And while the wait was too long, it’s a doggone fine collection of songs. In fact, it might be his best since his 1997 debut, Strange Lullabies.
Lately I’m thinking it’s his best, period.
Even though this is only his second solo album this century, Thompson has kept busy with his creative projects. He just published a novel, The Substance of Things Hoped For. He’s shown his visual art at Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe. And he’s played in a number of Taos bands in the past few years, including Bone Orchard, Stray Ravens, and Kim & the Caballeros. The latter two were with his wife, Kim Treiber-Thompson.
Thompson, who’s been in Taos for 20 years or so, is a native of Alabama — and his Southern roots are readily apparent in his music. Listen to the dobro/mandolin-driven stomp “I Can Talk to Crows.” The harmonies — by Chipper and Kim — sound like something recorded at some backwoods church, perhaps after an intense round of snake handling. It’s basically a mystical brag-song, kind of a hillbilly “Hoochie Coochie Man.” One verse goes, “I can climb up a mountain like a hailstorm/And my fiddle can call down the rain and snow/I can tangle in your hair just like a bee swarm/And I can talk to crows.”
Chipper & Kim at the 2006 Thirsty Ear Festival
Although “I Can Talk to Crows” is now my favorite song here, other tunes have held that honor since I first got the album. “The Union Dues Blues” is an acoustic country waltz with a catchy, singalong-ready melody dealing with economic hard times. “If he can’t afford friends, a poor man is damned,” Thompson sings — a point well illustrated by the end of the song.
“Follow Me Down” is a slow burner that starts off with a hypnotic drone, followed by a strange but alluring fiddle solo. The first verse continues at a slow pace, but starts to build up, with drums coming in nearly halfway through. It’s quite effective and beautiful. As Chipper and Kim sing, “Won’t you sail away with me,” listeners may be tempted to sign up.
Thompson shows his Irish roots on “Edge of the Earth,” a nifty little jig about sailing to a foreign land. I can imagine some Celtic-punk band like the Dropkick Murphys covering this one.
And speaking of rockers, while the basis of Thompson’s music is folk, the boy can thunder when he wants, as he proves with some of the songs here. “Falling Off the World” begins with a brief banjo solo before the drums and electric guitars kick in. It’s an angry little tune about a romantic breakup.
Later in the album, there’s “Reap the Whirlwind,” which isn’t metal, but it’s downright heavy. “The storm is coming down, we’re gonna reap the whirlwind.” It sure is good to listen to new Chipper Thompson songs. I just hope I don’t have to wait another decade to say the same. Also recommended:
* Broke Down Blues by Paula Rhae McDonald. Four or five years ago I had the pleasure of hearing Paula Rhae McDonald sing for the first time. It was at a Frogfest Festival, produced by Santa Fe’s Frogville Records, and she was sitting in with Bill Hearne’s band.
Basically she nailed it, singing good old-fashioned honky-tonk music — covers and originals — with grace and righteousness. That led me to McDonald’s first album, Little Bird, a fine country album that includes “Crazy as a June Bug,” which she wrote when she was eleven.
McDonald is back with a new record, a six-song collection recorded at Frogville Studio. But don’t expect the same kind of country-honky swing we heard on Little Bird. Like the title indicates, this is blues — hard-edged, electric blues.
Whether it’s blues or country, this lady is a belter. She’s believable, too. When she’s directing her lyrics at some no-good man, I can’t help but think, “I’m glad I’m not the one she’s mad at.”
Paula with Bill Hearne, frogfest 2010
With the exception of “Little by Little,” written by B.B. King, all the songs are McDonald originals.
My favorite tune at the moment is “I Won’t Go and He Won’t Stay.” (She sings, “I won’t leave my happy home here in Fanta Se.”) Also notable is the title song, which musically is softer than the others. Though when McDonald sings, “He’s a low-down, broke-down fool,” it doesn’t seem soft at all.
While McDonald’s blues songs are a kick, I just hope she hasn’t completely turned her back on honky-tonk, because she’s such a fine country singer. But she’s from Texas, so I suspect that won’t happen,
There will be a CD release party for Broke Down Blues at 5 p.m. on June 12 at McDonald’s Little Bird Gallery at the Inn at Loretto. A portion of all CD sales will go to ARTsmart, which provides visual-arts education statewide.
Award nominees: Both Chipper Thompson and Paula Rhae McDonald are finalists for 2015 New Mexico Music Awards. The winners will be announced on Saturday, May 30, at Sandia Casino & Resort.
Of course I’m still feeling stunned that the video for Gregg Turner’s “Satan’s Bride” was snubbed for the award last year. (I played the role of Satan’s bride’s groom.) But I’m learning to accept that loss — by blaming Turner.
Here's a couple of videos.
Unfortunately I couldn't find any with their new songs. But here's some great oldies from these New Mexico favorites.
Here's one of my favorite Chipper songs from a long time ago. Unfortunately there's no visual here, but the sound is loud and clear. (And he even gives me a shout-out!)
And here's a classic Paula honky-tonk tune. (Hey, my old crony Chris Wright did this video!)
A few weeks ago I was catching up on last year's season of the HBO comedy Veep. (I'm still a little behind, but at least I'm in the current season now.) There was a scene that not only was hilarious, it reminded me of a great American song.
In that scene, Mike, the vice president's communications director, is trying to convince Jonah, a former White House staffer turned vindictive gossip blogger, not to publish an unflattering story. In an act of voluntary humiliation, Mike agrees to get down on his knees and sing Jonah a song.
That song, of course, is "Goober Peas,' which goes back to the American Civil War.
The fact that Jonah doesn't recognize the name of the song "Goober Peas" only makes you hate him more.
The writers of this song are not known. When it first appeared on sheet music -- in New Orleans after the Civil War -- publisher A.E. Blackmar, who must have been a real nutty guy, credited the words to A. Pinder, Esq. and the music to P. Nutt, Esq. (I didn't know this until right now, but some people call peanuts "pindar nuts.")
But this little joke on the publisher's part makes you wonder whether the song actually was written by a poor Confederate soldier, or a group of poor Confederate soldiers, trying to make light of their miserable conditions.
No, peanuts were not always considered a decent American snack, something you eat with Crackerjacks at the old ball game.
Before the Civil War, peanuts were not a widely cultivated crop in the United States—Virginia and North Carolina were the principal producers—and were generally viewed as a foodstuff fit for the lowest social classes and for livestock.
But that would change thanks to food shortages during the Civil War. 'An excellent source of protein, peanuts were seen as a means of fighting malnutrition," Rhodes wrote. However, apparently they didn't help with the "rags and fleas" that plagued the soldiers, according to the song.
Here's former Galisteo resident Burl Ives and Johnny Cash singing the song. (I think whatever key this is, it's a bad one for both singers.)
I never had heard of this guy, Kenneth Kramm, but I think I like this version better.
But despite my long affection for "Goober Peas," I think this Dizzy Gillespie classic is my favorite song about the pindar nut.
Back in the late 1960s in England there was a TV comedy show called Do Not Adjust Your Set, whose cast included Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin -- all three becoming members of a little comedy team called Monty Python shortly after the show was cancelled in 1969.
Another thing about DNAYS: Its house band was none other than The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, a group that had one foot in the Roaring '20s and the other in surreal rock 'n' roll. They performed a song (and sometimes helped out in the comedy skits) every week.
Originally called The Bonzo Dog Dada Band (and later just The Bonzo Dog Band), the group drew from traditional jazz, English Music Hall, novelty songs doo-wop, psychedelia and more. Among the members were Vivian Stanshall, Neil Innes, Rodney Slater, Roger Ruskin Spear and "Legs" Larry Smith.
The bond between the Bonzos and Monty Python would remain strong. Innes would perform with and write songs for Python. he and Idle would become members of The Rutles, a Beatles send-up that resulted in a TV movie, All You Need is Cash, and a soundtrack album.
I just stumbled across a stash of Bonzo Dog songs on YouTube from Do Not Adjust Your Set, which featured members of Monty Python. Here are a few of them that make for a perfect Wacky Wednesday.
I first heard this on the Urban Spaceman album when I was in high school.
The Bonzos performed this song in the strip-joint scene in The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour. (And a certain alt-rock band from the '90s took its name from this song.)
And speaking of The Beatles, I always wondered whether John Lennon got his idea for "Bungalow Bill" from this next one.
And here's one I wasn't familiar with:
Big hat tip to John Smallwood, who is an even bigger Bonzo Dog fan than me.
UPDATED Nov. 15, 2015. Mostof the original videos I posted were yanked by the YouTube police. I've replaced them with versions that hopefully will be around for awhile.
Sunday, May 2, 2015 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
Here's the playlist below
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Volare by The Drifting Mines
Buzz the Jerk by The Pretty Things
Shortnin' Bread by The Cramps
Daddy You Lied to Me by The Del Moroccos
I'm Cryin' by The Animals
A New Wave by Sleater-Kinney
Look at Little Sister by The Sonics
Berlin by Dickie B. Hardy
Out of This World by The Rezillos
Reconsider Baby by Elvis Presley
Hot Corner by B-52s
Spittin' Fire by The Sons of Hercules
Midnight Hour by Question Mark & The Mysterians
White Jesus by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Six Rat Rovers by Paddy & The Rats
Til the End of the Day by The Kinks
Shotgun John by Hundered Year Flood
Greasy Meal by Lawn Chair Kings
Hawkeye the Gnu by Bonzo Dog Doo-Da Band
Ruby Lee / See That My Grave is Kept Clean by B.B. King
Little by Little by Paula Rhae McDonald
She Caught the Katie by Taj Mahal
I'm the Wolf by Howlin' Wolf
Goin' Down South by Markus James
Don't Pretend You Don't Know by Dinosaur Jr.
Moonlight Motel by The Gun Club
Throw it Back by Jody Porter
Telepathic by The Gories
Bastards of Young by The Replacements
Harry Hippie by Bobby Womack
That's Life by Van Morrison
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, May 1, 2015 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist below:
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
May Day by Jack Hardy
Red Red Robin by Rosie Flores
Cry Baby Cry by The Banditos
Long Way From Home by Texas Martha & The House of Twang
Tennessee Stomp by Hillbilly Casino
Cracklings by The Gourds
The Ride by David Allen Coe
Cousin Cupcake's Got the Blues by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz
It Wasn't You by Slackeye Slim
Gee, Oogle It Baby by Reno Jack
Down Among the Dead Men by Steve Train & His Bad Habits
Money For Drugs by The Beaumonts
Killed a Chicken Last Night by Scott H. Biram
Hallelujah Band by Eilen Jewell
Two Dollar Bill by Paula Rhae McDonald
Pass the Booze by Ernest Tubb
Beans and Make Believe by Mose McCormack
The Crawdad Song by The Meat Purveyors
Bright Lights and Country a Music by Rhonda Vincent
Breathing Room by Jim White vs. The Packway Handle Band
Let's Invite Them Over by Southern Culture on the Skids