THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST
Friday, November 20, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Blackland Farmer by Sleepy LaBeef
Louisiana Blues by Wayne Hancock
Stuff You Gotta Watch by Levon Helm
Moody River by John Fogerty
Custer by Johnny Cash
Mr. Custer Stomp by The Scouts
Stripper Song by Jacques & The Shakey Boys
Pirate Radio by Mojo Nixon

Going Down by The Electric Rag Band
Born Again Again by The Legendary Shack Shakers
Nine Pound Hammer by The Waco Brothers
Your Cousin's on Cops by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Rodeo Show by Quarter Mile Combo
Bucktooth Potato by Bob Log III
Cowboy Boots by The Backsliders
Selling the jelly by The Noah Lewis Jug Band
Sidewalks of Chicago by The Sundowners

Best Liquor Store by The Hickoids
I Ain't Got You by Rosie Flores & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Honky Tonk Maniac From Mars by Jason Ringwald with Hamell on Trial
Cold Cold Ground by The Grevious Angels
Get Behind the Mule by Tom Waits
Left Hand Cigarette Blues by Trailer Bride
Chain Gang by Fred Eaglesmith

Darling My Darling by The Handsome Family
Goin' on Down to the BBQ by Drywall
He'll Have to Go by Tav Falco
Route 41 by Gary Gorrence
It Won't Be Long (And I'll Be Hating You) by Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys
National Weed Grower's Association by Michael Hurley
Desert Rose by Chris Hillman
Man About Town by Tony Gillyson

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

FREE TOM WAITS!

No, he's not in jail -- as far as I know. He's offering free downloads, eight full songs to be exact, 38 minutes worth of music from his new live album Glitter and Doom, to be released next week.

I just downloaded it and it's sounding great. Check out the groovy widget below:

Also, I might have plugged this a few months ago, but a free two hour podcast of a 2008 Waits concert in Atlanta is available from NPR. CLICK HERE

True story: A couple of days ago my son and I were in the car listening to my iPod on shuffle mode. A Waits song came on. My son's pretty hip (He has Rev. Beat-Man's "Jesus Christ Twist" on his MySpace page.) But he started grumbling about the Waits song.

"You don't like Tom Waits," I asked disapprovingly.

"No," he said. "He always sounds like a hobo yelling at me."

He has a point, but I still love Waits.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: FOGERTY & LEVON

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 20, 2009

Here are a couple of recent albums from classic rockers from influential bands — Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Band — whose music was always an extension of American roots music — blues, R & B, rockabilly, gospel, and straight-up hillbilly sounds.

Even though their latest works won’t be and shouldn’t be considered breakthroughs or high-water marks of either artists’ career, John Fogerty’s The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again and Levon Helm’s Electric Dirt are records that show each artist remaining true to his muse. And both albums are full of good-time, honky-tonkin’ fun.

First, the Fogerty album: When Creedence — for my money, the best singles-oriented band of the late ’60s — crumbled in the early-’70s, Fogerty regrouped by degrouping. That is, he went into the studio basically as a one-man band, The Blue Ridge Rangers, playing all the instruments himself on a salute to his favorite country and bluegrass music.

The result was an album called The Blue Ridge Rangers, which featured covers: Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)”; “Today I Started Loving You Again” by Merle Haggard; Jimmie Rodgers’ “California Blues (Blue Yodel #4)”; George Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care”; “I Ain’t Never” by Mel Tillis; and others. That he did not release the album under his own name could be one reason why sales tanked and the record was largely forgotten. (Historical footnote: In that same golden year of 1973, rocker Leon Russell released Hank Wilson’s Back — consisting of country and bluegrass covers and released under a pseudonym. For some reason, Hank Wilson got far more attention than Fogerty’s record did.)

I’m not sure what prompted Fogerty to revive The Blue Ridge Rangers after 36 years — except, perhaps, that he still loves this music. This time, however, he hired other musicians to handle fiddle, steel, drums, bass, mandolin, background vocals, and whatever was needed. And, for better or for worse, he even brought in some superstar guest vocalists.

The new Rangers tackle some of the classics — Ray Price’s “Fallin’, Fallin’, Fallin’” and “I’ll Be There,” which, for the record, is my favorite song on this album; Buck Owens’ “I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)”; the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved,” a spirited duet with Bruce Springsteen; and “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away” by the near-forgotten ’70s country duo The Kendalls.

One of the strangest tunes here is “Moody River,” a dark tale of suicide and betrayal written and originally recorded by a rockabilly dude named Gary Bruce (released under the name Chase Webster) but best known in the early ’60s version by Pat Boone (!). And there’s a cool countrified take on Jumpin’ Gene Simmons’ R & B novelty song “Haunted House.” This is fun, though my favorite remains the one by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs.

For this album, Fogerty turned to several singer-songwriters of the ’70s. There’s a solid bluegrassy take on John Prine’s “Paradise,” and as far as “Back Home Again” goes, let’s just say this version is better than John Denver’s.

But the Denver song isn’t the worst of it. That would be Rick Nelson’s hit “Garden Party.” The song was a self-pitying account of Nelson getting booed at a 1971 rock ’n’ roll revival show at Madison Square Garden. It’s not a bad song, and I always love Tom Brumley’s steel guitar. But I’m not sure what drove me nuts more, the “oblique” but obvious lyrics (“Yoko brought her walrus” — was that secret code or something?) or the pop-psych Me Generation refrain, “You can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.”

To add insult to injury, Fogerty brings in two members of the smarmiest band in the world, The Eagles — not only for background vocals but to sing lead on a couple of verses. I hope they’re all pleased with themselves.

But there’s another early-’70s countryish pop hit on which Fogerty shines. That’s Delaney & Bonnie’s “Never Ending Song of Love.” With Jodie Kennedy and Herb Pederson singing background, Greg Leisz on steel, and Jason Mowery on fiddle, it’s country music at its best.

As for the Helm album, when I first heard he was doing a record called Electric Dirt, I was afraid it might have versions of the songs from his previous record, Dirt Farmer, done with psychedelic wah-wah guitars and over-miked drums. Fortunately, my fear was for naught.

This album, like Fogerty’s, consists mostly of down-home cover tunes — in a sound remaining true to The Band.

There are fewer traditional folk numbers than there were on Dirt Farmer. Helm branches out with a couple of Muddy Waters songs (“Stuff You Gotta Watch” and “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had”); a cool, clunky Grateful Dead tune (“Tennessee Jed”); and a cover of “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” a song best known in the Nina Simone version, here featuring some funky New Orleans horns arranged by Allen Toussaint, an old ally of The Band.

Helm does a tasty cover of Randy Newman’s “Kingfish,” again aided by Toussaint. But without the context found in Newman’s Good Old Boys album, in which the character of Louisiana Gov. Huey Long is a major theme, listeners unfamiliar with the song might wonder why Helm seems to hate the “Frenchmen” in New Orleans.

But my favorite on this album is the Pops Staples gospel song “Move Along Train.” Helms’ daughter Amy plays the role of Pops’ daughter Mavis.

American music doesn’t get much finer.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 13, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Jesus is God's Atomic Bomb by The Swan Silvertones
Boogie Woogie Country Girl by Sleepy La Beef
Shake Shake by The Bluetones
I'll Be There by John Fogerty
Wrecking Ball by Quarter Mile Combo
This Little Girl's Gone Rockin' by Rosie Flores & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Big Ol' White Boys by Terry Allen
I'm Here To Collect by Nancy Apple
People Are Sleeping Dreaming of Cheese by Cornell Hur Band featuring Blackie White

June Bugs by The Handsome Family
Liquor Store by The Meat Purveyors
Sinner by Young Edward
Out Behind the Barn by Little Jimmie Dickens
The Deal by Loudon Wainwright III
Cold Hard Facts of Life by Porter Wagoner
Daddy's Moonshine by Dolly Parton
Ghost Riders in the Sky by Lorne Green

Stupid Cupid by Patsy Cline
I Chickened Out by The Breakers
Teen Queen by Ferris Coffey
Peggy by Eric Hisaw
Lonesome, Ornery & Mean by Shannon McNally
Change Game by Dale Hawkins
The Edge of Night by Gary Gorrence
Nighttime Ramblin' Man by Hank Williams III

We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You by Kinky Friedman & His Texas Jewboys
Tramp on Your Street by Billy Joe Shaver
Underneath the Stars by Peter Case with Carlos Guitarlos
Floating Bridge by Sleepy John Estes
Is This My Happy Home by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
Move Along Train by Levon Helm
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

SCOTT H. BIRAM LIVE IN ST. LOUIS

Here's a little weekend entertainment I'm stealing from Mike at Thumbin' Sleazoid Cinema Blog, who got it from Lo-Fi Saint Louis -- which has several live Biram videos plus performances from the likes of King Khan & BBQ, Bob Logg III, Davila 666 and even Blowfly!

Watch this and read my review of Biram's latest album Something's Wrong/Lost Forever from a few months ago.

Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget, Sleazoid Cinema's Mike Ashcraft and I appear on the latest RadiOblivion podcast.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: GOGOL a GO-GO

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 13, 2009

Here's the perfect introduction to Gogol Bordello for those who have not been initiated to the wild joys of this international troupe — our impoverished state is one of the few places in the world in which Gogol has never played, and that's a whole lot of people. (In recent weeks the band has played Colorado, Arizona, and Texas. I swear to God, sometimes it seems like New Mexico is just a giant hole in the rock 'n' roll map.)

Live From Axis Mundi is a CD/DVD set that pretty much sums up this nine-member New York-based band. The 11-song CD consists mainly of live performances of Gogol classics, plus a couple of outtakes from previous studio albums, a few demos, and a dubby instrumental version of "Immigrant Punk." The DVD is a concert video culled from two New York shows on consecutive nights in July 2007, around the time of the release of the band's last studio album, Super Taranta!.

A little history: this band is fronted by singer/guitarist/songwriter Eugene Hütz, a Ukrainian whose family fled that land after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. Gogol fans just assume that Hütz, like Dr. Bruce Banner, was mutated and transformed by radiation. Whatever the case, The Incredible Hütz landed in New York City in the early '90s, where he fell in with like-minded musicians, many of them immigrants like himself. In an early incarnation of Gogol, the band reportedly played straight guitar/accordion-driven Gypsy music for Russian weddings. But Hütz is a rocker at heart and before the end of the decade, he crafted a sound he calls "Gypsy punk."

I find that phrase, like I do so many neat tags, a little too cute and glib. "Gypsy punk" doesn't come close to doing justice to the sound of the band, which includes musicians from Russia, Israel, Ethiopia, and Scotland. True, there are elements of Gypsy music in the mix. Sometimes there are even acoustic guitar parts suggesting flamenco. As for the "punk" elements, you won't hear much Ramones or Sex Pistols in the Gogol sound. But there are certain similarities with some of the latter-day Clash experiments. If Joe Strummer were still alive, I bet he would have produced at least one Gogol Bordello by now.

The Axis Mundi CD is not quite a greatest-hits affair or even a good survey of the four previous Gogol albums. It's weighted toward Super Taranta! (four songs from that album, plus an outtake) and, to a lesser extent, its predecessor, Gypsy Punk: Underdog World Strike.

But it does contain some of Gogol's finest tunes. Perhaps my personal favorite Hütz song of all time is "American Wedding" ("Have you ever been to American wedding? Where's the vodka; where's the marinated herring?"). The BBC version here is all fired up, even when Hütz fakes snoring in a quiet instrumental bridge. By the end of it, you're craving marinated herring.

"Stivali E Colbacco," an outtake from the Super Taranta! sessions, has an instrumental section featuring a guest banjoist playing off Moscow-born Sergey Rjabtzev's fiddle. For a minute or so, it's like a Slavic hoedown. A new treat is "You Gave Up," a multisegmented odyssey that takes a few minutes to heat up. In this tune you can hear the influence of one of Hütz's musical heroes, Nick Cave. I'm not sure why Hütz shouts "Cumbia!" at the end of the tune. (The electric guitar solo in "Mishto" sounds a lot closer to cumbia than it does in "You Gave Up.")

Gogol Bordello is one of those bands whose true disciples insist that you have to see the group live before you can really claim you're a fan. I tend to dismiss talk like that, but the DVD part of this package shows that the band's live performance is a wondrous thing.

Of course, watching the DVD in the comfort of your living room, even with the volume cranked loud enough to frighten your neighbors, isn't the same as being in the same room with the band and thousands of sweating, bouncing devotees. But seeing the stage show — Hütz's intense singing and wild antics (at a couple of points he pops up, as if by magic, in the balcony, surrounded by fans); Rjabtzev playing his fiddle like some subversive shaman and looking like a crazy Russian version of Mick Fleetwood; dancers Elizabeth Sun and Pam Racine playing cymbals and a big bass drum as if they've just escaped from some bizarre marching band — you realize that, besides being crafty musicians, the band's members are ace entertainers.

The song selection on the DVD includes most of the essential Gogol repertoire: "Start Wearing Purple," "Dogs Were Barking," and "Not a Crime" — my favorite besides "American Wedding" — complete with obnoxious sirens. The DVD also contains four promotional videos (Did MTV ever play these?), an enjoyable little bio doc called Creative People Must Be Stopped, and stray Gogol performance footage.

My only complaint about the whole package is that I wish there were audio versions of the concert songs so we could stick them in our computers and iPods. That way Gogol fans would never have to leave the show.

HEY MISTER, THAT'S ME ON RADIOBLIVION!

It's the third anniversary of Michael Kaiser's groundbreaking, earth-shaking RadiOblivion podcast over at GaragePunk.com. I was honored to be part of a panel of rock 'n' roll cronies on the show, which you can find HERE.

Others on that esteemed gaggle were The Hydes, a band from Brooklyn, filmmaker Mike Ashcraft of Thumbin' Sleazoid Cinema and Los Angeles musician/promoter Jorge Ojeda of The Jixes and Real Boss Hoss Productions Productions.

Go get yourself to RadiOblivion. Download it 0r listen on your computer. But whatever you do, don't really blow your radio up, baby!, like Kaiser says or you won't be able to hear me on KSFR Friday and Sunday nights.