THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 18, 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
Move it on Over by The Maddox Brothers & Rose
Living With the Animals by Mother Earth
Hard Luck and Old Dogs by Nancy Apple
There Goes the Bride by The Derailers
A Mess o Blues by The Starline Rhythm Boys
A Fool Such as I by John Doe & The Sadies
Down by The Riverside by The Million Dollar Quartet
My Boy Elvis by Janis Martin
This Cat's in the Doghouse by Rosie Flores & The Pine Valley Cosmonats

Whoop and Holler by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Brimstone Rock by 16 Horsepower
The Hammer Came Down by House of Freaks
I Know I Got Religion by Angola Vocal Group
How Dark My Shadow's Grown by The Bad Livers
Just Like Geronimo by The Dashboard Saviors
Santa Bring My Baby Back by The Rev. Horton Heat
Old Toy Trains by Roger Miller

Ants on the Melon by The Gourds
Pissin' in the Wind by Simon Stokes with Texas Terri
The Fame of Lofty Deeds by Jon Langford
Moonglow, Lamp Low by Eleni Mandell
Round-Eye Blues by Marah
My Eyes by Tony Gilkyson
Like a Rolling Stone by Drive-By Truckers

Santa Can't Stay by Dwight Yoakam
Artificial Flowers by Cornell Hurd
Hanging Dog by Jacques & The Shakey Boys
Satin Sheets by Jeannie Pruett
I Push Right Over by Robbie Fulks
You've Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley by Luther Dickson & The Sons of Mudboy
Don't Let the Devil Ride by Clarence Fountain & Sam Butler
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: ROSIE'S GONE ROCKIN'

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 18, 2009
In the realm of rockabilly and rocking country, one major underappreciated voice is that of Rosie Flores. Though she’s never enjoyed much fame of her own, Flores — who’s spent most of her life between Texas and California — did a lot to resurrect the careers of rockabilly pioneers Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin. Flores convinced both to come out of retirement to help out on her album Rockabilly Filly back in 1995.

And Flores’ version of “Red Red Robin,” which appeared on a Bloodshot Records children’s album a few years ago, is not only the greatest version of that song I’ve ever heard, but it’s also the definitive song of spring.

It’s been too many years since sweet Rosie has graced us with an album of new material. Except for a Christmas record and a live album, her new one, Girl of the Century, is her first since 2001’s Speed of Sound. She’s got one fine band behind her — The Pine Valley Cosmonauts, led by Jon Langford (The Mekons, The Waco Brothers) and featuring Jon Rice on pedal steel, fiddle, and other stringed instruments and Tom Ray on stand-up bass.

There’s some solid rockabilly here with Johnny Cash’s “Get Rhythm,” “This Little Girl’s Gone Rockin’,” and “This Cat’s in the Doghouse.” Flores sings a couple of Langford tunes — “Halfway Home” and “Last Song” — both of which sound like the type of ballads The Waco Brothers favor when they do slower songs.

But my favorite track is “Who’s Gonna Take Your Garbage Out,” a duet with Langford that was originally recorded by Ernest Tubb and Loretta Lynn. There’s some classic hillbilly humor here. The best line is “Callin’ a man like you a husband is just like callin’ old wild cat a pet.”

Another classy Flores/Langford duet is “Little Bells,” a song written by alt-country honky-tonker Paul Burch (from his recent album Still Your Man). It’s the type of tune Ray Price would have killed back in his early days.

The album ends with the title song, a slow tune featuring a Spanish guitar. As far as slow ones go, I vastly prefer the sexy, jazzy “Dark Enough at Midnight.”
Also recommended:

* Honey Moon by The Handsome Family This latest album by The Handsome Family, released earlier this year, is actually a theme album. As the title implies, the theme is love.

It’s basically Brett and Rennie Sparks’ anniversary gift to themselves, as they have been married 20 years. It’s not that they haven’t tackled the subject of love in the past — just never in such a concentrated form and never so sincerely. As Brett’s baritone strains for the high notes in the refrain of “My Friend” and in “The Loneliness of Magnets,” he sounds as if he’s embodying the lovesick blues.

The Handsomes — who have lived in Albuquerque for the past several years and have played here a couple of times (including a Plaza Bandstand gig in 2007) — are known for dark and twisted tunes (lyrics all by Rennie) that feature mythological motifs often wrapped in mundane, modern imagery.

The Honey Moon tunes are lighter in spirit but no less poetic than their songs on previous albums. Take the first verse of “A Thousand Diamond Rings”:

“A smashed windshield, the dust of a pickup truck/ Shining with silver secrets in the Albuquerque sun/The light makes jewels of pawn shops and drive-through banks/Wrinkled faces staring out of the laundromat/;And even the broken glass in the street/Shines like a thousand diamond rings.”

But don’t worry, Handsome fans. The sweet weirdness of Mr. and Mrs. Sparks hasn’t vanished. It’s not all sweetness and light on this Honeymoon.

For one thing, this album is full of bugs. There’s a “cloud of honey bees” in “Down in the Winding Corn Maze.” And “June Bugs” is a slow country waltz full of huggy, kissy lyrics in which springtime and reawakening love are symbolized by June bugs and hawk moths returning to the yard.

But the greatest bug song of all is “Darling, My Darling,” which is sung from the perspective of a lusty male insect willing to give all to the gnawing fangs of a female insect lover.

Now that’s true love!

* Shine by Nancy Apple. This Memphis country singer hasn’t done an album with a full band in several years. With this one — recorded at Sun Studio in her hometown and produced by Keith Sykes — she’s back with a vengeance.

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The album starts out with a Ronny Elliott song, the slow, pretty “Creole Boy With a Spanish Guitar.” But just when you think this is going to be a strictly mellow affair, Apple slaps you in the back of the head with “Voodoo Woman,” a bluesy romp featuring a wild harmonica (by Robert “Nighthawk” Tooms).

Another wild ride is “Rockin’ Granny,” a song for Apple’s friend Cordell Jackson, a crazy rocker during her lifetime. (True story: Apple was in New Mexico, appearing on my radio show The Santa Fe Opry, the day she got word of Jackson’s death in 2004. She had to cut her trip short, returning to Memphis to sing at Jackson’s funeral.)

A couple of my favorite Apple songs are on this CD. “Cathead Biscuits and Gravy,” which first appeared on a duet album with singer-songwriter Rob McNurlin, gets a full country-band treatment here, with McNurlin sharing the vocals. The album ends with “Moonlight Over Memphis,” a soulful ballad that Apple wrote, inspired by moonlight over the Jémez Mountains on one of her trips to New Mexico.

* Hear songs from these albums on The Santa Fe Opry: 10 p.m. Friday on KSFR-FM 101.1 and streaming live HERE. And don’t forget Terrell’s Sound World, same time, same station on Sunday.

* Christmas Enchilada: Red and green podcast featuring some of my favorite Christmas songs, available for free HERE.


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TERRY ALLEN WINS FELLOWSHIP

Santa Fe musician/artist/barroom philosopher Terry Allen is one of six New Mexicans to be awarded a $50,000 fellowship from United States Artists, the state Department of Cultural Affairs announced today.

Allen, originally from Lubbock, Texas, is responsible for albums including Lubbock on Everything, Juarez, Human Remains, and The Silent Majority. Needless to say he's a Santa Fe Opry favorite. I did a profile of him (along with The Handsome Family and Joe West) in New Mexico Magazine a few years ago. A version of that can be found HERE. (Scroll down quite a ways.)

The others from this state to be awarded were musician Rahim AlHaj of Albuquerque; author Antonya Nelson of Las Cruces; glass artist Mary Shaffer of Taos; and the team of Delores Garcia and Emma Mitchell of San Fidel, who learned the craft of pottery from their mother Lucy Lewis of Acoma Pueblo.

SICK AS A CAT

Former Stray Cats singer Brian Setzer collapsed during a performance at Isleta Pueblo last night. According to this report from KOB TV, he was about two songs into his set with the Brian Setzer Orchesta.

Here's the Associated Press story. which blames "dehydration, high-altitude sickness and vertigo."

Nothing about hairballs.

Reportedly he's OK now and will play a show in Phoenix tonight.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 13, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Paranoia by Pierced Arrows
Where the Flavor is by Mudhoney
Low Budget Life by J.J. & The Real Jerks
Goin' Down South by Paul "Wine" Jones
The Clown of the Town by Rev. Beat-Man
Melvin by Thee Headcoatees
I Need Your Lovin' by Wolfman Jack & The Wolfpack
Little Drummer Boy by Joan Jett

Wowsville by Bob Taylor
Worried About My Baby by Howlin' Wolf
Wear Your Red Dress by Barrence Whitfield
I Won $400 by The Raniers
Stormy Monday by Question Mark & The Mysterians
Let it Grow by The Black Lips
I'll Be Loving You by The King Khan & BBQ Show
Jihad Blues by The Allmighty Defenders
Mercy Mercy by The Remains
Eggnog by The Rockin' Guys

Inca Roads by Frank Zappa
God Box by The Fall
Ice Nine Hop by Tin Huey
Booze, Tobacco, Dope, Pussy, Cars by The Butthole Surfers
Sue Egypt by Captain Beefheart
There's No Truth in the Night by King Automatic
Exploder by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Chestnuts Roasting by Rick King

Transparent Life by The Chesterfield Kings
Amnesia by The Mekons
Heart Full of Soul by The Yardbirds
Ruins of Berlin by The Dex Romweber Duo
Wanderlust King by Gogol Bordello
Wasn't That Good by Wynonie Harris
Fairytale of New York by The Pogues with Kirsty McColl
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

The 2009 BIG ENCHILADA CHRISTMAS PODCAST!

The elves have finished putting it together and now the Be-bop Santa Claus has delivered the second annual Steve Terrell Podcast Christmas Special right into your electronic stocking. There's a little Christmas cheese and a little Christmas sleaze with Yuletide goodies from The Rockin' Guys, Wildman Fischer, Andre Williams, Pee Wee King, The Fall, Nervous Norvous, Be-Bop Santa Claus, The Turtles, The Drive-by Truckers, The Handsome Family and more.

CLICK HERE to download the podcast. (To save it, right click on the link and select "Save Target As.")

Or better yet, stop messing around and CLICK HERE to subscribe to my podcasts and HERE to directly subscribe on iTunes.

You can play it on the little feedplayer below:




The official Big Enchilada Web Site with my podcast jukebox and all the shows is HERE.

Here's the play list:

(Background Music: We Wish You'd Bury the Missus by The Cryptkeeper)

The Last Month of the Year by The Tarbox Ramblers

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by The Legendary Shack Shakers

I Want to be King of Orient Ah by Elastica

There Ain't No Santa Claus on the Midnight Stage by Captain Beefheart

Be-Bop Santa Claus by The Be-Bop Santa Claus

Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus by Pee Wee King

Sleigh Bells, Reindeer and Snow by Rita Faye Wilson

(Background Music: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by BeauSoleil )

A Christmas Carol by Tom Leher

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by The Fall

I'm a Christmas Tree by Wild Man Fischer

Rudibaker's Christmas Wish by Andre Williams

Monsters Holiday by Bobby "Boris" Pickett

(Background Music: Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer by Los Straitjackets)

Something Funny in Santa's Lap by The Moaners

Santa and The Sidewalk Surfer by The Turtles

I'm Waiting for Santa Claus by Nervous Norvous

Mrs. Claus' Kimono by Drive-By Truckers

A Johnny Ace Christmas by Squirrel Nut Zippers

Jinglecide by The Rockin' Guys

So Much Wine by The Handsome Family

(Background Jingle Bells by Twitty Bird & Friends)

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 10, 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
Crazy Ex Boyfriend by Rev. Horton Heat
Endless Sleep by Tav Falco
Sing Me Back Home by The Chesterfield Kings
Country Hixes by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
It Was the Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me) by Jerry Lee Lewis
Love Letters by The Dex Romweber Duo
Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy by Uncle Dave Macon
There Goes My Everything by Jack Green
Christmas in the Honkytonks by Ethyl & The Regulars

Hopes Up High by Bill Hearne
Under Lock and Key by Gary Gorence
Loudmouth Cowgirls by Kim & The Cabelleros featuring (Chipper Thompson)
In the Jailhouse Now by Webb Pierce
Hey Thurman by The Gourds
Liza Pull Down the Shades by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Mean Mean Mama (from Meana) by The Light Crust Doughboys
Hong King by Chris Darrow
Blue Christmas Lights by Chris & Herb

Wreck on the Highway by The Waco Brothers
Gorgeous George by Ronny Elliot
He's in a Hurry by Johnny Paycheck
Big River by Johnny Cash
Heartaches by The Number by Roseanne Cash with Elvis Costello
Dark Enough at Midnight by Rosie Flores & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Blues Keep Calling by Janis Martin
Hound Doggit Blues by Cordell Jackson
Christmas Ball Blues by Leon Redbone

The Great Car Dealer War by The Drive-By Truckers
Only You (Can Break My Heart) by Buck Owens
It's Four in the Morning by Faron Young
Back Home in Sulpher Springs by Norman & Nancy Blake
Midnight Stars and You by Wayne Hancock
Good Night Irene by John McKelvy
Be Real by Freda & The Firedogs
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: GIVE THE GIFT OF LOCAL MUSIC

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 11, 2009


Here are some suggestions for presents that will bring joy to your loved ones and help keep the Santa Fe music scene alive. I'm talking about the gift of local music.

A whole pile of CDs by bands and singers from the Santa Fe area were released in recent weeks and months. Fans can find the discs in local stores — at least I think there are a few places here that still sell CDs — or on the artists' Web sites and MySpace pages. Amazon, iTunes, and other online services sell works by several of the following artists. Or better yet, skip the middleman, go to their gigs, and buy the CDs in person.

* A Good Ride by Bill Hearne. Unlike most of Hearne's recent CDs, which focus on his love for hard-core honky-tonk, his newest one showcases his acoustic, folky side. It's not quite as danceable as his last few, but it does feature that great flat-picking that Hearne fans love. He performs songs by The Blasters (a sweet, sad "Border Radio"), Gordon Lightfoot, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, Ian Tyson, and Chuck not to mention a tune by Frogville label-mate Joe West ("I Remember Lovin' You") and one by former local picker John Egenes ("The Railroad Is Calling My Name"). Hearne's main musical partner on A Good Ride is the wonderful Don Richmond, who plays just about any stringed instrument you can name. But the best news is that on a couple of tracks he's backed by his main musical partner in life, wife Bonnie Hearne, who in recent years has been too ill to perform very much.

* Straight Ahead by Gary Gorence. And the winner of the 2009 track most likely to be mistaken for Creedence Clearwater Revival is ... "Change in the Weather" by John Fogerty. But coming in second is Gary Gorence's "Under Lock and Key," the first song from his new album. It's a cool, swampy rocker that will remind you of "Green River," "Born on the Bayou," and other Creedence tunes. Gorence is backed by his band, The Jakes, and the whole album is full of good, rootsy, country-and-blues-influenced working man's rockence is a decent storyteller, too, as he proves with "Monica's Mother." The CD release party for Straight Ahead starts at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, at Tiny's Restaurant & Lounge.

* Stephanie Hatfield & Hot Mess. If the music reminds you of Hundred Year Flood, there's good reason. HYF's Bill Palmer co-produced and plays guitar (and other instruments) on this hot mess and also wrote the opening song, "Suffer." But the real star of the album is Hatfield's soulful voice. My favorite tune here is the hard-rocking "Fishboy." Hey, they're playing New Year's Eve at the Cowgirl BBQ & Western Grill!

* Crooked by Jaime Michaels. Singer-songwriter Jaime Michaels is backed here on various cuts by some of Santa Fe's finest — Jono Manson (who also produced the album) on guitar, Sharon Gilchrist on mandolin, Mark Clark on drums, Peter Williams on bass, Tom Adler on banjo, and Ben Wright on guitar. And there are some appearances by some pretty impressive "outsiders," like Tejano accordion ace Joel Guzman, guitarist Andrew Hardin, and the Austin duo of Christine Albert (a singer formerly of Santa Fe) and Chris Gage (who plays a sweet, sad accordion on the title song).

* You Can Take a Child Out of the Ghetto But ... by Willy Magee. As you've probably noticed, all the other albums I've mentioned here are in the folk/country/blues/roots-rock vein. Not this. Here sweet Willy — who has played in numerous local bands, including Alex Maryol's — lays down funk, hip-hop, and sly humor. Magee played most of the instruments here himself. But on "Freakaholic," Lydia Clark plays keyboards and Jay "Rusty" Crutcher blows sax. And on "Woo You," Magee reveals his Marcia Brady fantasies.

* One Man's Music by Vince Bell. Twenty-seven years ago this month, singer-songwriter Bell, who moved to Santa Fe more than five years ago, was driving home from a recording session in Austin, Texas, that involved ideman named Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bell was broadsided by a drunk driver in a Ford Fairlane and thrown 50 feet from his car. "My right arm was not recognizable, and my liver had been forced out of my midsection and onto the pavement. There was substantial injury to my spinal cord and brain. I would have scar tissue in my eyeballs as a result of lying in gasoline," Bell wrote. But he lived — despite a premature report in the Austin American-Statesman to the contrary (an error that, as a reporter, made me cringe nearly as much as the description of Bell's injuries).

And he's still making music, as demonstrated by this album, released earlier this year along with Bell's autobiography of the same name (published by the University of North Texas Press). The CD features Bell on vocals and Ned Albright on piano. The music is sparse and haunting, perfect background music for reading the book, which deals not only with the accident but also with his years of recovery, both physical and mental.

NEW ADVENTURES IN LALA LAND

The last couple of days I've been listening to my digital music collection on Lala.com. I've uploaded about 30,000 songs -- some of those are duplicates, which I'm trying to weed out, though that's a pretty tedious task.

I first signed up at Lala about three years ago when it mainly was a CD swapping service. (I wrote a Tuneup column about that, which you can see HERE. A couple of updates: Since writing that I have received several unplayable CDs. Also I eventually located Surfin’ in Harlem by Swamp Dogg and The Electric Prunes’ Stockholm 67.)

Eventually the CD-trading aspect of Lala dried up. The last CD that was supposed to be sent to me never arrived.

But recently I've been noticing that when I'm searching for information about a particular song on Google, many times it results in a playable full version from Lala right at the top of the page. Lala has evolved into a major music streaming service. That means, you can listen to your entire music collection from any computer anywhere.

And then there was the recent news that Apple has purchased Lala -- some speculate as a vehicle to make iTunes more Web friendly.

There some bugs in Lala, however. Apparently when it scans your music collection, some of the songs that end up in your Lala collection are a little different.

For instance, The Cramps' version of "Heartbreak Hotel" somehow turned into a rather blah instrumental version. And "Murder's Crossed My Mind" a dark, folkish tune by my Brooklyn friend Desdemona Finch somehow got translated into a hair-metal screamer.

Oh well, surprises are good sometimes.

My Lala profile is HERE. (Some of you will remember the pseudonym I'm using there)

My Radio Shows on YouTube

This was put together by KSFR News Director Bill Dupuy who did some others as well for the special one-day KSFR fund-raiser this Thursday.

Speaking of which, BC of Blue Monday and I will be doing a shift together from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, so do tune in 101. FM or stream us on the Web . And most important, GIVE US YOUR MONEY!