This month's show, "Cow Tippin' "will knock you off your feet. Especially if you're of the bovine persuasion. Sit back and enjoy another fine hillbilly episode of The Big Enchilada!
Friday, Sept. 29, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Diggy Liggy Lo by Doug Kershaw
She Gave Up on Herself by Miss Leslie
Who Shot Sam by George Jones
I Had My Hopes Up High by Joe Ely
I'm a Little Mixed Up by Eilen Jewell
5 Minutes to Live by Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre
(Sing a) Worried Song by Legendary Shack Shakers
Twelve Gates by Joe West
I Like to Sleep Late in the Morning by David Bromberg
All of the Monkeys Ain't in the Zoo by Tommy Collins
If You Ain't Livin' You Ain't Lovin' by Faron Young
Carolyn by Merle Haggard
You Better Not Do That by Tommy Collins
No One Likes Me by The Imperial Rooster
White Trash by Bottle Rockets
Precious Memories by The Blasters
May The Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose by Little Dickens
I'm Just a Honky by The Ex-Husbands
White Man's World by Jason Isbell
Tell the Devil I'm Gettin' There as Fast as I Can by Ray Wylie Hubbard with Lucinda Williams and Eric Church
Walk Right Back by Chris Hillman
Take a Message to Mary by The Everly Brothers
Stoplight Kisses by The Cactus Blossoms
Lay You Down by Nikki Lane
Ol' Dude with an Attitude by Tommy Miles
You Remind Me / 13 Roses by Beth Lee & The Breakups
All Apologies by Iron Horse
Way Down in My Soul by Zephaniah Ohora
What's the Score by Don Williams
Streets of Baltimore by Del McCoury Band
Guess I Got It Wrong by Robbie Fulks CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Sept. 29, 2017
Ty's most recent album cover
When I was a boy, back before rock ’n’ roll became “art” and recording sessions took on extravagant budgets that dwarfed the gross national product of some emerging nations, you could count on bands like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or The Beach Boys to release a couple of albums a year, sometimes more. But by the 1970s, it became standard practice for bands to take two years or more to make an album. Thus, in recent years I’ve come to sincerely respect musicians like Ty Segall and John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees, both of whom seem maniacally driven to make their work available to people who want it — even if their marketing strategy (I’m using that term sarcastically) defies conventional music-biz wisdom.
Take Segall, who is coming to Santa Fe next week. This California kid has released more than a dozen new-material studio albums over the past decade, plus a couple of singles compilations, a handful of live albums, a nine-song EP of T. Rex covers, and various side projects. That’s downright brain-boggling, considering the boy just turned thirty a few months ago. If nothing else, you have to admire his work ethic.
Segall’s ever-growing body of work includes two self-titled albums: one from 2008 on Castle Face Records (which includes his immortal “Pretty Baby, You’re So Ugly”) and one released this year on Drag City.
The Segall album of which the new one most reminds me is Slaughterhouse, a 2012 pounder released under the name Ty Segall Band. And this comparison is a mighty compliment. Slaughterhouse, which packed more guitar fire and fury (where have I heard this phrase lately?) than anything Segall’s done since, is hands-down my favorite Ty album.
The cover of the 2008 self-titled Ty Segall album
This year’s Ty Segall comes pretty close. It’s produced by none other than Steve Albini, the Chicago-based studio guru best known for his aggressive, stripped-down sonic attack. (Think Pixies, Jesus Lizard, Nirvana’s In Utero.) Come to think about it, this record sounds more like a Steve Albini album than most of his productions I’ve heard in the past couple of decades.
The opening track, “Break a Guitar,” is a harbinger, with guitars screaming for mercy. “Thank You Mr. K” is Segall at his most rocked-out. “Freedom” starts a little soft, but it doesn’t take long for the guitars to roar. Segall’s voice in recent recordings has drifted toward Marc Bolan territory, but on the “The Only One,” it reminds me a bit of John Lennon on the verge of a primal scream, fronting Nirvana.
But not everything here is raw and rowdy. Segall is nothing if not versatile. “Orange Color Queen” starts out with folky guitars before settling into a ’70s British soft-rock groove. “Talkin’ ” features a slow, lilting, almost country melody that sounds closer to The Grateful Dead than anyone ever dreamed Segall would get. And speaking of The Dead, the 10-minute-plus “Warm Hands (Freedom Returned)” is a sprawling, constantly-changing excursion that dips into zones of punk, psychedelia, and metal. But somewhere near the halfway point, the songs seem to melt away, leaving just a quiet, noodling interplay of instruments and feedback. In the haze you can imagine the sweet-faced ghost of Jerry Garcia leading you back to the cosmic path to Terrapin Station.
The thing I love most about this album is that Ty Segall continues to amaze and surprise me. So check him out, and know if you don’t like this one, a new album likely will be here sooner than you’d think.
Ty Segall performs at Meow Wolf (1352 Rufina Circle). Doors open 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6. Tickets are $22, $25 at the door. Opening will be Flat Worms. Sorry, kiddies, only those twenty-one or older will be admitted. (What kind of message does that send to the children? I think it’s “Kids, stay home!”) For more information, visit www.meowwolf.com or call 505-395-6369. Also recommended:
* Orc by Thee Oh Sees. This group deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Ty Segall when you’re talking about prolific musicians. It was only about a year ago I was marveling at their album A Weird Exits, which came right on the heels of a live album. And after Exits they released what’s basically a six-song EP, called An Odd Entrances, which included an eight-minute song called “Nervous Tech (Nah John)” which is credited to Miles Davis, based on the great jazzman’s “Go Ahead John.”
On Orc, head Oh See Dwyer seems to lean a little heavier on electronica than normal, though the basic thrust of the music is still centered on his crazy guitar. That sure is the case with the frantic first song, “The Static God,” which kicks off with rapid-fire drums and Dwyer’s guitar, which sounds as if it’s about to explode. The next track slows down only slightly, with the guitar playfully bouncing off the whizzing, fizzing keyboards (also played by Dwyer) that sound like a Martian trying to play “96 Tears.”
Some songs, like “Animated Violence” and “Drowned Beast,” are mostly heavy and sludgy, while others are lighter and almost breezy, such as “Keys to the Castle” — at least parts of it. All numbers, “Castle” included, are subject to sudden changes in tempo, tone, atmosphere, and direction. And, of course, all are subject to Dwyer’s signature yelps, followed by him trying to murder his guitar.
The most interesting tune here is “Jettisoned,” which features verses with a Motown-like melody, with Dwyer singing in his finest whispered falsetto. The verses are soft, though these are momentary lulls. You can hear Dwyer’s restrained guitar itching to attack — as it does with wild gusto in the instrumental parts.
Some videos for ya
This is the official video for "Break a Guitar."
And here's Thee Oh Sees performing "Animated Violence" live
He was a soldier, a preacher and a honky tonk singer. He was an Okie who helped shape what became known as The Bakersfield Sound, recording a bunch of singles in the 1950s with a lead guitarist named Buck Owens. He wrote hits for Merle Haggard, Faron Young and Mel Tillis. Haggard wrote a song about him.
He was born Leonard Raymond Sipes, born Sept. 28, 1930 in Bethany, Okla. just outside of Oklahoma City. But he would become better known under his stage name, Tommy Collins. He would have been 87 today, but he died in 2000 before he reached 70.
I first became familiar with Collins in the mid '60s from his guest appearances on my favorite syndicated country music show, The Buck Owens Ranch. His songs were funny and a little suggestive. I thought he sounded like another Okie hero of mine, Roger Miller.
But he also had a serious side to his songwriting. Later, he'd write the dark tale of adultery called "Carolyn," which Haggard would turn into a hit.
Let's celebrate Leonard's birthday with some songs he did with Buck and The Buckaroos on the Owens show. Buck plays lead guitar on this one.
Here is Collins' version of "Carolyn." (I still like Haggard's version best.)
Once again some self-proclaimed Bible expert gave an exact date -- Saturday, September 23, 2017 -- when the world would go KABLOOEY as foretold by the ancients.
And now, this funky dude, "researcher" David Meade, says he made a slight miscalculation. The end will come in October. Meade now says.
That reminds me of a friend of mine who staunchly believed that Y2K would lead to a meltdown of civilization. When I chided him about this on Jan. 2, 2000, he said, "Well now I hear it's going to happen in a couple of months ..."
The history of religions, cults and weird beliefs in America (and I assume elsewhere) is full of Doomsdays that turned out to be duds. There are too many numskulls who believe this crap -- though there probably are too many of us who love making fun of it.
And a lot of musicians in recent decades have created a lot of songs dealing with the end of the world.
Here are some of my favorites.
Let's start with The Jefferson Airplane's greatest stab at apocalypse rock, "The House at Pooneil Corners." It was the final cut on their 1968 Crown of Creation album. The one with the mushroom cloud.
Everything someday will be gone except silence Earth will be quiet again Seas from clouds will wash off the ashes of violence Left as the memory of men There will be no survivor my friend Suddenly everyone will look surprised Stars spinning wheels in the skies Sun is scrambled in their eyes While the moon circles like a vulture
This one by R.E.M. is overplayed, but I still love it. In contrast to the stern sincerity of The Jefferson Airplane, Michael Stipe dripped with irony as he rattled off the lyrics:
Six o'clock, T.V. hour, don't get caught in foreign tower Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn Lock him in uniform, book burning, bloodletting Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate Light a candle, light a motive, step down, step down Watch your heel crush, crush, uh oh
Tom Waits caught a midnighjt boxcar to Pooneil Corner on "Earth Died Screaming," the first song of his 1992 masterpiece, Bone Machine. There was thunder There was lightning Then the stars went out And the moon fell from the sky It rained mackerel It rained trout And the great day of wrath has come And here's mud in your big red eye The poker's in the fire And the locusts take the sky And the earth died screaming While I lay dreaming of you
Here's a lesser-known song by a lesser-known artist, Phoebe Legere. "Armageddon a Go-Go" appeared on her 2002 album Last Tango in Bubbleland.
The anchor man has seven eyes Seven horns and seven ties He says "The end is near In fact, it's here." The sky rolls up and disappears ...
But more than 50 years later, my favorite is still the classic by the late Skeeter Davis. Technically, "End of the World" is not literally about the destruction of the planet Earth. There are no stars spinning wheels in the sky or raining mackerel or seven-eyed anchor men. But Skeeter's sweet voice and sad eyes tell a story of personal apocalypse that still makes me shudder sometimes.
Here's a live TV performance of Skeeter Davis singing her greatest hit.
Sunday, Sept. 24 , 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Mess Around by Ray Charles
When You Stop Loving Me by Thee Headcoatees
Hangin' on a String by Question Mark & The Mysterians
Human Lawn Dart by James Leg Oh Sinnerman by Black Diamond Heavies
Mon Nom by The Yawpers
Eleggua by Dr. John
God is a Bullet by Concrete Blonde
Hey Pendejo by Chuck E. Weiss
Break a Guitar by Ty Segall
Some Kind of Kick by The Things Heavy Load by Phil Hayes & The Trees
Come Ride With Me by The Black Lips
Drowned Beast by Thee Oh Sees
Go Wild by Travel in Space
AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAZE Globalquerque was this weekend. But the annual Fiesta Fela is coming up!
La Muerte En Quillagüa by Pascuala Ilabaca y Fauna
Makiyage by Bideew Bou Bes
Centinela by Bostick & Fussible
Aseni by Orlando Julius
Vodka is Poison by Golem
Antory Peca by Cankisou
Zombie by Fela Kuti
Walking on Burning Coal by Gogol Bordello
Love Letters by Dex Romweber Duo with Cat Power
Change for the World by Charles Bradley
Mean Old World by Sam Cooke CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
War Whoop (Chief Paduke's Revenge) by Legendary Shack Shakers
Keep on Truckin' by Hot Tuna
Second One to Know by Chris Stapleton
I Need Me (a Whole Lot More Than I Need You) by Miss Leslie
Cathead Biscuits and Gravy by Nancy Apple with Rob McNurlin
The Sound of Laughter by Jocephus & The George Jonestown Massacre
Callin' My Name by Lara Hope
Rag Mama Rag by the Band
At the Darktown Strutters Ball by Hoosier Hot Shots
Hungover Again by The Imperial Rooster
Deeper in Your Love by Dan Whitaker & The Shinebenders
Six Pack of Beer by Hank III
Blue Moon of Kentucky by Reverend Beat-Man
Alien Baby by DM Bob & The Deficits
Waiting at the Turnpike by Dad Horse Experience
Arizona Rose by The Waco Brothers
Drunk by Noon by Sally Timms
New Old John Robertson by Chris Hillman
Traveling Man by Dolly Parton
Between Jennings and Jones by Jamey Johnson
Sunset Highway by Steve Earle
I'm a Little Mixed Up by Eilen Jewell
Fun All Night by The Banditos
Keep Your Mouth Shut by Beth Lee & The Breakups
Dysfunction by Joe West
St. Pete Jail by Panama Red
Vote for Me, My Name is Buddy Max by Buddy Max
House of the White Rose Bouquet by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Cumberland Gap by David Rawlings
Get Thee Gone by Geraldine Fibbers
Whispering Pines by Johnny Horton
Divers Are Out Tonight by Porter Wagoner
Given to Me by Southern Culture on the Skids
A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow by Mitch & Mickey CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
It was 50 years ago this week that one of the greatest rock 'n' roll albums of
all time was thrust upon the world. This was the second album, a self-titled
album by a band that called itself The Band. Fans came to call this work "the
Brown Album."
It's the album that featured "Up on Cripple Creek" and "The Night They Drove Old
Dixie Down" and "King Harvest Has Surely Come." And the opening scene is of a
man being held at gunpoint, for reasons never explained, by the woman he
loves.
But even before I took off the plastic shrink wrap and opened my copy of The
Band, the first thing that intrigued me was a cryptic inscription on the back
cover"
“I’ll be down to get you in a taxi honey. Better be ready by half past
eight. Now, honey don’t be late. I want to be there when THE BAND starts
playing…”
They were song lyrics, credited to someone named Shelton Brooks, from a song --
that did not appear on the album -- called "The Darktown Strutters' Ball."
I was a mere high school lad at the time and I didn't know if this was a real
song or what. But, even with the actual songs on the album being so rich, so
magical, I knew that I'd never fully appreciate The Band until I got my
ears on "The Darktown Strutters' Ball."
Like The Band told me, it was written by Shelton Brooks, a Canadian-born
African-American jazz composer and was first published in 1917. That same year
it was recorded -- in an instrumental version --by a popular group called The
Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
One of the first versions to feature the lyrics was recorded later that year by
Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan.
Two decades later, Fats Waller breathed new life into the song.
And in the rock 'n' roll era, another guy named "Fats" put his stamp on it.
In the mid '70s an Australian band called The Ted Mulry Gang made what is
perhaps the whitest "Darktown" ever.
Finally, here's a fabulously obscene version performed by Howard Armstrong with
Ikey Robinson and Ted Brogan in the documentaryLouie Bluie.
In 1976, this Blaxploitation movie about
"Super Sisters on Cycles" hit the nation's theaters.
Jay Ward, the comic genius who created Rocky & Bullwinkle and other classic cartoons from the 1950s and '60s, would have been 97 today.
Happy birthday, Jay.
I'm part of the generation that grew up on the bad puns, primitive animation and rich, witty dialogue that was Rocky and His Friends ... later called The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show ... then later, The Bullwinkle Show. The adventures of Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle Moose were an important part of the TV culture that shaped my life. Even as a young child I always assumed there was something just a little deeper, (and jokes I would better understand when I got a little older), beneath the surface of the wacky denizens of Frostbite Falls.
For one thing, the bumbling characters of Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale even made the paranoia generated by the Cold War -- anxieties felt even by little kids back then -- seem a little easier to take.
Ward died in 1989, But Bullwinkle and his pals live on.
So here on this music blog, let's celebrate the life and career of Jay Ward with some of his instrumental music used on his shows.
Here's his most famous theme song.
And here is a later variation
One of the most popular segments on Rocky & Bullwinkle was the Canadian Mountie, Dudley Do-Right. Here's his song, all 22 seconds of it.
Later, Jay Ward's studios introduced some other shows. Both George of the Jungle, a Tarzan spoof, and Super Chicken, Ward's answer to the super-hero craze, had theme songs that were better than the actual shows.
Here's George's song. Remember, "Watch out for that tree!"
"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it."
Finally, here's the ultimate Jay Ward musical experience, a rare 1962 album called Moosylvania Jazz Festival, allegedly the brainchild of Ward himself. The mysterious forces behind the Bambino Musical have put together a page lovingly devoted to this album.
From the liner notes:
The time: 12:45 AM - - the date: June 14, 1962 - - the temperature: 12 degrees above zero - - the place: The 1st Annual Moosylvania Jazz Festival. Wee Bonnie Baker had just left the stand after a three-hour stint that had left the audience of 18 hardy jazz buffs limp, bur still screaming for more. Backstage, impresario Jay Ward, promoter of the event, had just received a phone call from Albert White and the Morris Plan Masters of Melody, who were to appear next on the program in a musical pageant saluting the announcement of Moosylvania's application for state-hood. Entitled "A Musical Pageant Saluting the Announcement of Moosylvania's Application For Statehood'', this was to be the highlight of the entire festival. It seems that their chartered bus had encountered a midsummer blizzard about seven mites from the Bullwinkle Bowl, where the festival was being held, and they were trapped in an eight foot snowdrift. Undismayed by this unlucky turn of events , the nimble-minded Ward quickly recruited a ''pick-up" band and glee club from the audience, including three comb-and-tissue paper players, a musical bottle virtuoso, and a Samoan conch-shell blower. With only five minutes rehearsal backstage, the makeshift ensemble took their places before the skeptical audience. Before the closing notes of their first number were completed, cheers and shouts of "go man, go!'' and ''Lynch 'em!" rocked the famous old amphitheatre. A new jazz legend was born!
The MP3s of all nine songs from the album are on the Bambino Musical site, available for free downloading. I've embedded the first track, "Moosylvania Anthem" below. Enjoy!
Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Cheap Beer by Fidlar
Going South by Dead Moon
Livin' With Mum and Dad by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
This Strange Effect by The Kinks
Demox by The Blind Shake
In Your Hands by Phil Hayes & The Trees
Keep a Knockin' by Jerry J. Nixon
Kickin' Child by Dion
Bad Betty by The Sonics
Betty & Dupree by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs
A Decision is Made by The Yawpers
Cadaver Dog by Thee Oh Sees
Come and Go by Travel in Space
You Should Never Have Opened That Door by Ty Segall
Black Eyes by Boss Hog
Slay Me by The Darts
Saddest Excuse by Blasting Fondas
Why I Cry by The Howlin' Max Messer Show
Incarceration Casserole by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Talking Main Event Magazine Blues by Mike Edison
(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go by Curtis Mayfield
I've Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body) by Parliament
Who Stole the Soul by Public Enemy
Bad Trip by Lee Fields
I Got Ants in My Pants by James Brown
Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen
I'm Your Man by Nick Cave
There's a Rugged Road by Judee Sill
... a psychopath by Lisa Germano
Say We'll Meet Again by Lindsey Buckingham CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Bus Breakdown by Dale Watson & Ray Benson
It's Your Voodoo Working by Eilen Jewell
My Mother's Husband by Lonesome Bob
Spider, Snaker and Little Sun by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Poor Tired Hands by Boris McCutcheon
The Cross is Boss by Shinyribs
Steve Earle by Lydia Loveless
Dwight Yoakam by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Then I'll Be Moving On by Mother Earth
The Losing Kind by Josephus & The George Jonestown Massacre
She's Way Up Thar by Hal O'Halloran's Hooligans
The Neon Lights by Stonewall Jackson
I've Got a Lot of Hiding to Do by James Hand
Pretty Girl by Miss Leslie
Truck Driver's Blues by Cliff Bruner
This Highway by Zephaniah Ohora
White Lightnin' by The Waco Brothers
If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me / The Grand Tour by The Geraldine Fibbers
Ramblin' Man by Andre Williams & 2 Star Tabernacle
Window Up Above by The Blasters
Oh Lonesome Me by Anna Fermin
Golden Ring by Rex Hobart & Kelly Hogan
Say It's Not You by Keith Richards & George Jones
Tennessee Whiskey by Harry Dean Stanton
The Valley by The Whiskey Charmers
Lord I Hope This Day Is Good by Don Williams
Weighted Down by Skip Spence
Lonesome Whistle by Hank Williams
Midnight Train by David Rawlings CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Sept. 15, 2017
It took a few weeks for Boy in a Well, the new album by The Yawpers, to grow on me. I’m not exactly sure why my appreciation was delayed. Perhaps I was trying to follow the weird storyline running through the song lyrics. (No, it’s not a rock opera, so relax, skeptics.)
Maybe I was unfairly trying to compare the songs here to other songs dealing with World War I (Homework assignment: Familiarize yourself with the work of Eric Bogle, writer of “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” and “The Green Fields of France”).
But after a few listens, grow it did, and I came to realize this rowdy little band from Denver has created one of the most rocking little albums of the year. And now I can’t get enough.
Here’s a thumbnail sketch of the plot from Boy in a Well. It deals with the illegitimate child of a French woman who makes a little whoopee with an American soldier on the day in 1918 that the warring nations signed the peace treaty that ended that senseless conflict. Shamed by her family, the mother drops the baby down a well shortly after giving birth. But the kid survives and his mom, who thinks he’s the second coming of Jesus (!), keeps dropping food down the well to sustain him. Finally he grows up and climbs out. What follows might be described as a series of Oedipal wrecks.
According to the Bloodshot Records promo material for the album, “The story-vision was initially conjured by lead singer Nate Cook, after a reckless combination of alcohol, half a bottle of Dramamine, and an early morning flight.” (It’s an old trick, but sometimes it works. Maybe that’s how Walt Whitman came up with the line that spawned the name of this band: “I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”)
But as I said above, this crazy plot is nearly impossible to cull from Cook’s vocals. I cheated and read a song-by-song description by Cook and Yawpers drummer Noah Shomberg on the website Consequence of Sound last month. There is also a graphic novel — we called ’em “comic books” when I was a lad — illustrated by Legendary Shack Shakers frontman Col. J.D. Wilkes. You can see a preview inPaste magazine:
But as interesting as this story turns out to be, it’s the music, not the words that seals the deal. With big sonic traces of Shack Shakers, The Gun Club, ZZ Top, and their own twisted take on rockabilly, The Yawpers rip through most these songs with an urgency that’s undeniable.
You hear it in the very first song, “Armistice Day,” where, after some portentous piano, the group comes in with a chugging rhythm that starts off relatively laid-back, though the drums and guitars steadily build in intensity until by the last verse, the band is wailing. The next song, “A Decision is Made,” is raw psychobilly freakout.
The next couple of tunes, “A Visitor Is Welcomed” and “Room With a View,” are slow and melodic. And thus comes one of my few qualms about this record. I can understand the need for a breather now and then, and the change of pace now and then can make an album feel richer. For instance, later in the album, there’s a number called “The Awe and the Anguish” that, for most of the song, is a raw acoustic blues before it turns into a thrashing stomper in the last verse. And that works. But the fact that these two mellow tunes, “Visitor” and “Room,” are right next to each other — and come so early in the track list — screws with the momentum of the album.
Fortunately the next track, “Mon Dieu,” is a wild ride. And so is the rest of the album. While there are a couple more slow songs (the gorgeous “God’s Mercy” and the final song, “Reunion”), Boy in a Well is an exhilarating blast of unabashed rock ’n’ roll. Yawpers, keep on yawpin’.
* Claw Machine Wizard by Left Lane Cruiser. Hey, I’m not the only guy in New Mexico who likes Left Lane Cruiser. Skinny Pete, an Albuquerque drug dealer, also digs them. At least LLC was playing in his car during a scene in the third season of Breaking Bad.
I bet Skinny Pete also would like the Indiana duo’s new one, released earlier this year. Frontman Freddy “Joe” Evans IV — who plays slide guitar and sings, is backed by drummer Pete Dio (no relation to Skinny Pete), who came on board a couple of years ago.
Like previous Cruiser albums, this record Aconsists mostly of good old basic stripped-down gutter blues. However, there are a couple of tracks that show hints of (gulp) variety. “Lay Down” features a reggae groove (think Bob Marley’s “Jamming”), while “Smoke Break,” which begins with a short drum solo, is an instrumental that showcases a jazzy organ by producer Jason Davis.
And on the final song, the slow-boiling, six-minute “Indigenous,” there might — I said might — be some kind of political message buried under the roaring sludge. Some of the only lyrics I can make out in the first verse are “The grand wizard raised a hand,” which implies some kind of Ku Klux Klan action. Later in the song, other lyrics I can sort of understand include, “Don’t we all, baby, have to lift each other up?” and later something about “hateful hypocrisy.” In the refrain, Evans sings, “Rise up, my friend.”
Just a couple of days ago, Sept. 12, was the birthday of one of America's greatest country singers, George Jones. If he hadn't have died back in 2013, Jones would have been 86 years old this week.
A belated happy birthday, Mr. Jones!
I realized it was his birthday when scrolling through my Facebook feed and stumbled onto a great post on the Bloodshot Records page.
"Like a real Possum, he keeps crawling up into our gutters and rummaging through our attic," the post said. "We can't escape George Jones no matter how hard we try. Here's a playlist of Bloodshot artists covering songs written, recorded, and made famous by No Show Jones."
I immediately wished that I'd have thought of that first. Then I went to work coming up with a variation of the idea -- George Jones covers covered by various rockers who love him.
So let's have at it!
Here are The Geraldine Fibbers, a mid '90s band featuring singer Carla Bozulich, with live versions of not one but two Jones classics, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "The Grand Tour."
Dave Edmunds teamed up with The Stray Cats for "The Race is On."
The Blasters do a blues-soaked version of "Window Up Above"
And here's one of those wonderful Bloodshot bands, The Waco Brothers with "White Lightning"
Here is duet between Keith Richards & George Jones. For years, "Say It's Not You" has been a Santa Fe Opry favorite.
Possum himself could rock when he wanted. Here's a live version of Larry Williams' "Bony Maronie."
Finally, here is the Bloodshot Spotify list that inspired this post. Several of the songs are more associated with other artists like Hank Williams and Merle Haggard, but what the heck? (I've found it's best to have your Spotify already open before you start to play.)
Little Richard with Tammy & George.
I looked but I couldn't find any Little Richard covers of Jones songs
Imagine the worst of 1970s pop music -- the wimpiest, the sappiest, the most self-indulgent Top 40 schmaltz of the Me Decade -- neatly compiled onto one loathsome but irresistible compact disc.
That was the case of a fiendishly perverse, but somehow subversive compilation on Rhino Records released just a couple of years before the end of the century: 70's Party Classics Killers I couldn't resist reviewing Party Killers in my March 27, 1998 Terrell's Tune-up column, writing with both disgust and awe:
"The last time anyone put so many wretched songs ... into such a concentrated form had to be the Circle Jerks in their "Golden Shower of Hits" medley. In fact, a couple of the songs the Jerks covered, `You're Having My Baby' and `Afternoon Delight' are here in their insidious original forms. "The result is a record far more evil than Marilyn Manson could ever come up with. You realize that by the time you hear the weird child's voice chirping `My name is Michael, I've got a nickel' in the chorus of Clint Holme's 'Playground of My Mind.' "
Behold the track list for the compilation:
1. "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando & Dawn
2. "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace
3. "Billy, Don't Be A Hero" by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
4. "(You're) Having My Baby" by Paul Anka
5. "Playground In My Mind" by Clint Holmes
6. "Feelings" by Morris Albert
7. "Sometimes When We Touch" by Dan Hill
8. "The Candy Man" by Sammy Davis, Jr.
9. "Afternoon Delight" by The Starland Vocal Band
10. "Torn Between Two Lovers" by Mary MacGregor
11. "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes
12. "Muskrat Love" by The Captain & Tennille
A good number of these artists were one-hit wonders. But what's frightening to realize is that three of these acts -- Tony Orlando & Dawn; The Starland Vocal Band and The Captain & Tennille -- all had their own tacky network TV variety shows in the 1970s,
I concluded in my review, "All in all, '70s Party Killers is so bad it's ... still bad. But sometimes bad is more fun than good."
But this douchie dozen does not represent all the achingly bad music of the '70s. The whole decade was overflowing with similarly awful pop hits. In fact, nearly 20 years have passed since Rhino unleased 70's Party Classics Killers. I believe it's time for Volume 2
So I'm going to suggest the first five tracks for this sinister sequel and I want you gentle readers to help chose the next five or six or seven tracks.
Please leave your nominees in the comments section (here or on my Facebook page), preferably with a YouTube link. Try not to repeat any that were on the original compilation. (See list above.)
Don't worry, there's probably no chance in Hell that Rhino Records or anyone else will pick up the idea. (But you never know.)
Here are my five nominees:
1 "Never Been to Me" by Charlene. My daughter Molly gets the credit (or blame) for this one.
2 "Seasons in the Sun" sung by Terry Jacks, with lyrics by Rod McKeun. (It's also important, so very important, to hear Too Much Joy's version, which includes a McKeun verse that the evil Terry Jacks, as TMJ called him, omitted.)
3) "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone. Yep, that's Pat's daughter. This is the only song here with obvious religious overtones -- though Jesus tells me that He hates crappy music.
4) "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" by Lobo. I love dogs. But this song makes me question those feelings.
5) "Sad Eyes" by Robert Johns. Poor Robert. He obviously was suffering from Bee Gees Disease. We shouldn't mock him.
So hit me with your worst shots and tell me what '70s dreck you'd include on 70's Party Classics Killers Vol. 2.
Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Dopefiend Boogie by The Cramps
One Kind Favor by Canned Heat
Goin' Underground by The Molting Vultures
Preaching the Blues by The Gun Club
In Cahoots by The Howlin' Max Messer Show
Demona by Dead Moon
Backstreet Girl by Social Distortion
Big Cluckin' Mistake by MFC Chicken
Jettisoned by Thee Oh Sees
Throbbing Gristle by The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Moon by Travel in Space
The Last Cul de Sac by The Black Lips
Days and Days by Concrete Blonde
Beautiful Child by Camper Van Beethoven
Linen for the Orphan by The Yawpers
Still Rollin' by Left Lane Cruiser
Whistlebait Baby by Lovestruck
Pretty Baby (You're So Ugly) by Ty Segall
Sunday Routine by Boss Hog
White Jesus by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
I Think I'm Going Down by Weird Omen
I Told You Once by Toad of The Short Forest
Throat Locust by TAD
No Class by Bitch Queens
Hey Cookie by The Dirtbombs
Love Gangsters by Gogol Bordello
Light as a Feather by Afghan Whigs
Part the Sea by Mission of Burma
Mystery by Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls
The Cross by Prince
Hyper Real by Negativland CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Sept. 8, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Fiesta by The Pogues
Walkin' After Midnight by Cyndi Lauper
Old Wolf by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Cry Cry Cry by Sally Timms
Ain't No Sure Thing by Bobby Bare
Guacamole by Texas Tornados
The Firebreak Line by Steve Earle
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights / Volver Volver by Billy Bacon & The Forbidden Pigs
Florida by War and Treaty
Po' Howard by Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons with Phil Wiggins
Skilly Bom II by The Imperial Rooster
Big Zombie Chivalrous Amoekons
Tiger by The Tail by The Waco Brothers
Busy City by Rhonda Vincent
Will I Ever Feel Fine by Tommy Miles & The Milestones
Match Made in Heaven by Jesse Dayton
Mysterious Mose by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
R.I.P. Don Williams (all songs by DW, unless otherwise noted)
I Believe in You
Tulsa Time by Jimmy LaFave
Good Old Boys Like Me
Amanda by Waylon Jennings
If I Needed You by Emmylou Harris & Don Williams
Time by Pozo Seco Singers
Country Boy by The Band Miracles
My Magdalene by Hazeldine
Mississippi by The Cactus Blossoms
Death Row by Chris Stapleton
Dying Breed by Lonesome Bob CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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From 1898 up through the 1950s, the 78 rpm record, usually made from shellac (beetle resin) was the major medium of recorded music. A big chunk of the artists you see featured on "Throwback Thursday" -- all those great blues, hillbilly and jazz artists of the '20s, '30s and '40s -- started out on 78s
Supposedly there were more than 3 million sides produced during the 78 era. But while the most famous and most commercially successful of those have been preserved onto modern formats, there are countless obscure old 78s out there that are in danger of being lost. After those old shellac artifacts are known to shatter in your hands without warning,
A George Blood turntable used for 78 rpm digitization of four simultaneous recordings with different needles. Fancy!
The Great 78 Project is a community project for the preservation, research and discovery of 78 rpm records. ... Already, over 20 collections have been selected by the Internet Archive for physical and digital preservation and access.
... There’s no way to predict if the digital versions of these 78s will outlast the physical items, so we are preserving both to ensure the survival of these cultural materials for future generations to study and enjoy.
And already there is plenty to enjoy. At this writing there are 30,495 songs on the project's Internet Archive home.
I'm going to post a few but I recommend you check it out yourself and get lost in the sounds of yesteryear.
Here's a little 1936 craziness from Hal O'Halloran's Hooligans: "She's Way Up Thar."
Here's one called "Jungle Boogie." No, it's not Kool & The Gang, it's The Bobby True Trio from 1948.
Country music star Roy Acuff is part of the Great 78 collection. Here's "A Sinner's Death" from 1947.
Here's a highfalutin, rootin' tootin' version of "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" by Dick Jurgins & His Orchestra (1941).
This is a 1927 record called "Hawaiian Dreams" by The Hilo Hawaiian Orchestra.
Ninety-six years ago this week, Sept. 5, 1921, an aspiring actress named Virginia Rappe suffered a ruptured bladder at a party in the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. She'd been in the company of one of the greatest comedians of the silent-movie era, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
Rappe died on Sept. 9 at the age of 25. It was the end of her life. It also was the end of Arbuckle's career.
He was arrested on charges of manslaughter and booked without bail.
According to a 2011 piece by Gilbert King for Smithsonian.com:
The Hearst papers had a field day with the story—the publisher would later say the Fatty Arbuckle scandal sold more papers than the sinking of the Lusitania. While sexually assaulting Virginia Rappe, the papers surmised, the 266-pound star had ruptured her bladder; the San Francisco Examiner ran an editorial cartoon titled “They Walked Into His Parlor,” featuring Arbuckle in the middle of a giant spider web with two liquor bottles at hand and seven women caught in the web. Rumors that he had committed sexual depravities began to swirl.
The rumors were nasty. Some assumed he crushed her with his weight during an attempted rape. Some claimed Arbuckle penetrated Rappe with an empty bottle.
Basically everyone in the country assumed Arbuckle was a big fat perv who attacked this poor girl.
But not everyone believed it. Arbuckle went to trial for Rappe's death three times. The first two trials ended in hung juries. In the last one, the jury voted to acquit the comic, taking the rare step of sending him a note of apology.
Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done to him … there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. He was manly throughout the case and told a straightforward story which we all believe. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgment of fourteen men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame. According to The Smithsonian article:
Arbuckle’s lawyers introduced medical evidence showing that Rappe had had a chronic bladder condition, and her autopsy concluded that there “were no marks of violence on the body, no signs that the girl had been attacked in any way.”
And the jury's hope that the public would take their judgement and realize Arbuckle was innocent didn't happen.
Arbuckle was banned from the movie industry for several months and basically considered box office poison. He worked behind the scenes as a director on some films under an assumed name. In 1933 he died of a heart attack.
Arbuckle's mug shot.
But one contemporary American jazzman did. Trumpet player Dave Douglas in 2005 released an album called Keystone, named for the Hollywood studio where Arbuckle filmed some of his greatest work (and yes, the namesake of The Keystone Cops.)
“Aside from liking the movies, one of the things that encouraged me to do this project was to vindicate Roscoe Arbuckle,” Douglas told Jazz Times. “I think that he really ought to be considered with Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd as one of the masters of the genre."
Keystone is a two-disc set including a CD and a DVD, The CD that contains 11 music tracks Douglas composed for Arbuckle’s films. The DVD features Arbuckle’s 1915 film Fatty and Mabel Adrift, accompanied by Douglas’ score and a music video for “Just Another Murder” that has footage from Arbuckle's 1915 film “Fatty’s Tin-Type Tangle.”
Here's "Just Another Murder."
But even after Keystone, Douglas continued playing around with music for Arbuckle's comedy shorts. This is "Moonshine" posted on Youtube by Douglas' Greenleaf label in 2008. It's the title track from his album released that year.
And here is a Keystone outtake called "Fatty's Plucky Pup."
Finally, here's Keystone in its entirety on Spotify
Last night the final two episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return aired on Showtime.
I miss it already.
And for those of you who miss it too, here is some Twin Peaks music to help ease the pain.
Let's start out with Special Agent Tammy Preston (in her guise as singer Chrysta Bell) singing "Sycamore Trees," written by Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti and originally sung by Little Jimmy Sott in The Black Lodge in the final episode of Season 2.
Here's the group Xiu Xiu, which recently recorded an entire album of Twin Peaks music, doing "Into the Night."
My favorite discovery among all the Roadhouse bands that played on The Return was The Cactus Brothers. These guys apparently worship The Everly Brothers -- and that's OK by me. I've been playing a lot of their songs in recent weeks on The Santa Fe Opry.
I also loved Rebekah Del Rio's Roadhouse song.
From the original series, James, Donna and Maddy sing "Just You." (James reprised this at The Roadhouse in The Return.)
But the singer most identified with Twin Peaks -- and rightly so -- is Julee Cruise. "The World Spins" is the song she sang in the Roadhouse (while Leland was busy killing Maddy back at the Palmer house) in the original series. She also sang it at the end of Part 17 last night. I believe this clip is from a Lynch/Badalamenti project calledIndustrial Symphony No. 1.
