In the past several days I've seen the following video -- Donny & Marie
Osmond performing Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years" in 1978 on their old TV
show -- posted on two or three friends' Facebook pages. (I saw yours first,
Tommy T, so you're responsible for this.)
Behold:
Did you make it all the way through the ice-skating sequence?
But Donny & Marie weren't the only Top 40 pop stars to have their own TV
variety shows in the Me Decade. The airwaves were crawling with them.
Below are some memorable musical moments from some of these tacky shows.
Here's The Captain & Tennile backing up poet/spaceman Leonard Nimoy.
Former New Mexico Music Commissioner Tony Orlando with his back-up singers
collectively known as Dawn, had their own show between 1974 and 1976. Watch
'em boogie!
So you want some rock 'n' roll? In 1973 on their variety show, Sonny &
Cher did this medley featuring Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, The Four Seasons
and ... Bobby Vinton?????!!!??
The golden age of crappy TV variety shows is long gone. But a couple of
decades later on their short-lived syndicated TV talk show, Donny & Marie
outdid themselves with a big production where they attempted to lead the
children in to the dark world of the occult with this song from a movie about
a cross-dressing, multi-sexual vampire.
Sunday, July 9, 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
Keep Movin' by Freddy Cannon & The Gears
You're My Pacemaker by Archie & The Bunkers
Sheena's in a Goth Gang by The Cramps
Machine Born to Think by The Bonnesvilles
Don't Slander Me by Roky Erickson
Tin Foil Hat by Casy Jones Dead
One Night of Sin by Simon Stokes
Big Cluckin' Mistake by MFC Chicken
Lucid Nightmare by The Black Lips
Wreck My Flow by The Dirtbombs
The Trough by The Molting Vultures
Dirty Lil' Dog by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Don't Try to Tell Me by Thee Vicars
Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine by Country Joe & The Fish
She's a Woman by The Beatles
Remember by The Mekons
Crying in the Chapel by The Orioles
The Box by Gregg Turner
96 Tears by Aretha Franklin
Psychotic Reaction by Brenton Wood
The Train Kept a-Rollin' by The Yardbirds
Madhouse by Evan Johns
Home is Where the Hate Is by Mary's Kids
What Once Was Dead by Laino & The Broken Seeds
The Point is Overflowing by Left-Lane Cruiser
Tar Paper by The Blind Shake
Hold Me by The Angel Babies
Drop by Lauria
I Put My Trust in Thee by Marie Knight
Up in Flames by Julee Cruise CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, July 7, 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
Walkin' in L.A. by Steve Earle
Skip a Rope by The Kentucky Headhunters
Nothing at All by The Waco Brothers
Sappy by Iron Horse
I Got Stoned and Missed It by Shel Silverstein
Down in Sinaloa by Panama Red
No Glory by The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers
Dirty Little Blues by The Whiskey Charmers
Daddy Was a Preacher, Mama Was a Go-Go Girl by Miss DeLois & The Music Men
Don't Leave it a Lie by Shinyribs
Ladies in the Know by Slim Cessna's Auto Club
Brand New Heartache by Chris & Herb
Don't Take Your Guns to Town by Johnny Cash
I'm Coming Home by Johnny Horton
There's Two People Here Not Talkin by Miss Leslie
I Do Believe I've Had Enough by Zephaniah Ohora
Your Wife by Audrey Auld
We're All Gonna Die Someday by Kasey Chambers
Uneasy Rider by Charlie Daniels
Who Shot Sam by George Jones
Little Pink Mack by Kay Adams
She Got the House by Evan Johns
Trooper's Holler by Hank 3
Please Don't Take the Baby to the Liquor Store by The Reverend Horton Heat
Can You Blame the Colored Man by South Memphis String Band
Pay Day by Laino & Broken Seeds
Them Stems by Chris Stapleton
Stems and Seeds by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
Tomi Tomi by The Hawaiians
Shadows Where the Magic Was by James Hand
Silver Tongue by Modern Mal
Mississippi by The Cactus Blossoms
Last Drop by Chris Mars 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
Today would have been rock 'n' roll pioneer Bill Haley's 92nd birthday.
He didn't make it. He died in 1981 at the age of 55 in Harlingen, Texas.
He's best known for his hit "Rock Around the Clock," which he recorded in 1953 -- nearly three years before Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" was released. "Rock Around the Clock" was used as the theme song to the 1955 juvenile delinquency cautionary tale Blackboard Jungle. That lead to appearances by Bill Haley & His Comets in two 1956 movies, Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock.
But throughout his troubled life, Haley never received the respect he deserved as a rock innovator.
From the Allmusic Guide:
Bill Haley is the neglected hero of early rock & roll. Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly are ensconced in the heavens, transformed into veritable constellations in the rock music firmament, their music respected by writers and scholars as well as the record-buying public, virtually every note of music they ever recorded theoretically eligible for release. ... he's often treated as little more than a glorified footnote, an anomaly that came and went very quickly, in most histories of the music. The truth is, Bill Haley came along a lot earlier than most people realize and the histories usually acknowledge, and he went on making good music for years longer than is usually recognized.
Haley's final years, in which he lived in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, were marked by
alcoholism and erratic behavior. According to an article on the Pop History Dig website
... in May 1980, Haley set off to tour once again, this time to South Africa for three weeks of shows. But there, according to his wife Martha who traveled with him, he had some bizarre moments on stage, telling stories to his audience rather than singing. Back in Texas, in the fall of 1980, family members noticed more odd behavior, including his son Jack, who had come for a brief visit that proved troubling. Old friends and former business associates were getting rambling, late night phone calls as well. At this point, he appears to have begun living in the pool house, while the family stayed in the main house. In the fall of 1980, Haley was picked up by the police and detained, then bailed out by Martha, who had him see a psychiatrist, who gave him some medication. Some believe Haley may have had an underlying anxiety disorder, leading to a chemical imbalance in the brain, with Haley then self-medicating with alcohol. In any case, there were more episodes of Haley’s odd behavior, some paranoia, and becoming almost a Jekyll-and-Hyde type character. There had also been news reports of Haley having a brain tumor, but these appear to have been fabrications, or false stories used to keep him from further touring.
Bill Haley, Jr. talked about his father's life and death in a 2013 interview with the New Zealand music magazine Elsewhere
My father didn't live up to his responsibilities as a father and I think that troubled him and ate at him, but the fact he became an alcoholic really spun him out of control and there was a physical deterioration and mental instability. There were rumours he had brain cancer and there were other explanations for his erratic behaviour. He would spend hours and hours in the middle of the night calling friends and acquaintances, myself included, but I can tell you of one instance in particular where he said “I'll call you in the morning”. Now I didn't think he would, but he did and he was sober which was the exception not the rule. And he was clear, alert and lucid. So I think the drinking was the real cause of the behaviours which leads to the speculation as to what the real issues were. And I gotta say this about my dad, he had a tendency to fabricate things – why I don't know – but I think it goes into the cause of his alcoholism which was guilt. If the question is what do I think killed him, it was alcoholism exacerbated by a guilty conscience. That's my best answer.
According to Pop History Dig:
One evening in February 1981, Haley’s youngest daughter, Martha Maria, living in the main house in Texas, had brought her father some food in his pool house. She has recalled being very sad at the experience, as he gave her “the biggest hug” that evening. Crying as she relayed the story of seeing her father, she described the scene: “I wanted to get out of there. It was so painful to see him in that condition. He was lonely and wanted to feel loved.” Bill Haley died the next day. He was 55 years old. News reports listed “natural causes” in Haley’s death, likely a heart attack. He was found fully clothed on his bed in the pool house after the mailman came by. ... In some ways, no doubt, the lack of recognition contributed to his sad ending, breaking his spirit. True, Haley had his demons and insecurities, not least was his life-long impaired vision in one eye. Others suggest that he may not have had the personality for the life he chose and was just not a good fit for the high-exposure world of pop music celebrity. ... In the end, Bill Haley was a musician, with an irresistible itch to scratch – to record, to write, to create something new. Which he did in some profusion.
Tom Russell and Dave Alvin wrote a moving song about Haley's death called "Haley's Comet" :
There was no moon shinin' on the Rio Grande A truck of migrants pulled through town The jukebox was busted at the bus depot When Haley's comet hit the ground
To commemorate Haley on his birthday, let's go a bit beyond "Rock Around the Clock." Here are some other songs by Bill Haley & His Comets. First one called "Crazy Man Crazy."
This one has been a favorite of mine since childhood.
Here's one that indeed is "barbaric."
And here's that powerful song by Tom Russell and Dave Alvin (backed by Katy Moffat in this version.)
Birth of SPAM: July 5, 1937 One of the more popular—and ridiculed—foods of the 20th century makes its debut when George A. Hormel & Company launches a new product it calls SPAM luncheon meat. It’s mainly pork shoulder, a part of the pig that generally was thrown away because it was too fatty for ham, but not fatty enough for bacon. At, first, the company simply had called it Hormel Spiced Meat, but switches to SPAM as a result of a contest to come up with another name (The winner was awarded $100.). Why SPAM? One company spokesman said it’s meant to be short for “Shoulder pork and ham.” A later story contended that it stands for “Spiced meat and ham.” It would later be given more unflattering names, such as “Something posing as meat.” At 10 cents a can, though, it’s a big hit. Within a year, one out of every five American families—with the worst of the Great Depression still fresh in their memories–make SPAM a part of their diets. It really took off in World War II because it could easily be shipped overseas and stored. SPAM became a staple of the American GIs diet, served meal after meal. Overall, Hormel sent 100 million pounds of SPAM overseas during the war.
Need I say more? Let the music begin!
That's from the 1989 compilation Monty Python Sings. But it wasn't the first time Monty Python sung the praises of Spam' Here's a sketch from 1970.
Yes, Weird Al had an opinion or two about "Spiced Meat and Ham."
A rapper called Milk Dee in 1994 teamed up with Ad Roc from The Beastie Boys for this song called "Spam," which dropped this wisdom:
Spam! Ain't the move it's imitation ham! Ham is pork and the pork is foul Cut it like a pig and that ain't my style Two MC's you know we're versatile
So happy anniversary, Spam!
Most people are happy that this was a limited edition
Sunday, July 2, 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
4th of July by X
Poor Beast, Marginal Man by Rattanson
Bless You by The Devil Dogs
It Won't Be Long by The Black Lips
Down on the Street by The Stooges
Don't Bug Me I'm Nutty by New Bomb Turks
A Girl Like You by The Mummies
Shiver by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Who Shot the Druggies by Lynx Lynx
I Ain't Got Nobody by Patti Smith
Cheap Thrills by Ruben & Jets
Underneath the Sheets of White Noise by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
The Slow Drag Under by Benjamin Booker
Queen of the Pill by The Jackets
No Friend of Mine by The Cynics
Golden Surf II by Pere Ubu
Mailman by The Count Five
The Push by The Molting Vultures
Baby Scratch My Back by Slim Harpo
Unknown Passage by Dead Moon
Smells Like Teens Hear It by Public Enemy
Burn Em Brew by Left Lane Cruiser
He Looks Like a Psycho by The Electric Mess
Big 10-Inch Record by Moose Jackson
Never Coming Home by Reigning Sound
Tucson Girls by Gregg Turner
Little Egypt by The Coasters
Dignity by Bob Dylan
Full Moon in the Daylight Sky by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
O Money by The Mekons
Edge of My Bed by The Angel Babies
Chapel of Dreams by The Dubs
On the Nickel by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Boy, is it hot out there. How hot is it? So hot you'll need asbestos earphones just to handle all the sizzling sounds on this pulse-pounding Big Enchilada episode. Let it burn!
Friday, June 30, 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
Big Balls in Cowtown by Don Walser
I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised) by Johnny Paycheck
Cowboy Boots by The Backsliders
Girl on the Billboard by Del Reeves
Gotta Get Up Every Morning by Junior Brown
Poor Rambler by Sturgill Simpson
Daddy Was a Badass by Jesse Dayton
A Week Before the Fourth of July by Boris McCutcheon
Fourth of July by Dave Alvin
American Epic Set
Mama's Angel Child by Jack White
On the Road Again by The Memphis Jug Band
Ragged But Right by Riley Puckett
Three Nights in a Barroom by Wade Mainer
Louis Collins by Mississippi John Hurt
Last Kind Words by Christine Pizzuti
Mal Hombre by Lydia Mendoza
Killer Diller Blues by Alabama Shakes
Cheap Motels by Southern Culture on the Skids
A Six Pack to Go by Leon Russell
Delete and Fast Forward by Willie Nelson
Don't Cheat in Our Hometown by Ricky Skaggs
Back Street Affair by Webb Pierce
Trophy Girl by Bobby Bare
Girl at the End of the Bar by The Waco Brothers
I Love You, Baby (And I Hate Myself) by Uncle Dave & The Waco Brothers
Worried Mind by Johnny Dowd
Truck Stop by Marty Stuart with Emmylou Harris
Write Your Own Songs by Dale Watson & Ray Benson
Bottom Dollar by Panama Red
I Left My Car at Maria's by Joe West
I Changed the Locks by Lucinda Williams
Selfishness in Man by George Jones
I Love You a Thousand Ways by Lefty Frizzell
Country Bumpkin by Cal Smith 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 June 30, 2017
Back during the height of Watergate, Paul Simon sang, “We come in the age’s most uncertain hour to sing an American tune.” We’ve had lots of uncertain hours since then, and I still find strength in those American tunes, the old creaky blues, gospel, hillbilly, jug-band records, those crazy songs of joy, wry humor, and simple wisdom sung by people living in severe poverty in isolated regions, in an era of harsh injustice and racial apartheid. I find comfort in those weird musical stories of horrible murders, of hopping trains, of hopeless drunks finding the Lord, of spooky old pines where the sun never shines, of carefree ducks diving into rivers of whiskey. So during this uncertain, tense, and violent era I was heartened in recent weeks when PBS presented American Epic, its excellent documentary series about the dawn of the American recording industry in the mid-1920s, when record companies sent talent scouts to scour the hills, hollers, and honky-tonks of the South to find musicians that the folks in rural America could relate to. The series, directed by British filmmaker Bernard MacMahon and narrated by Robert Redford, focuses on a handful of greats like the Carter Family, Mississippi John Hurt (a sweet, gentle spirit who is one of my major musical heroes), blues pioneer Charlie Patton, and South Carolina gospel singer and preacher Elder J.E. Burch — whose parishioners included the young Dizzy Gillespie. American Epic features three episodes of musical history, plus one called “The American Epic Sessions,” which consists of performances of (mostly) old songs by contemporary artists including Alabama Shakes, Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, Beck, Willie Nelson with the late Merle Haggard, and more. These tunes were recorded on an old pulley-driven Western Electric Scully lathe, the kind that the record companies hauled around to record the immortals in the ’20s and ’30s. Throughout “Sessions,” the directors show a near cargo-cult fascination with this Rube Goldberg-like device. Though the South is the main focus of American Epic, there are also excursions into the West. There is a segment on Tejano music queen Lydia Mendoza and a trip to Hawaii, where we hear the story of Joseph Kekuku, the man who invented the steel guitar. And there is a segment on Hopi music, telling the story of how racist religious nuts in Congress sought to ban the tribe’s Snake Dance, calling the Hopi religion “a weird cult” after unauthorized film footage of the dance — which had been attended years before in Arizona by President Theodore Roosevelt — leaked out. In response, a group of Hopi religious leaders went to Washington, D.C., in 1926 to perform the Snake Dance for a crowd of dignitaries on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. They also recorded several songs for RCA Victor.
Being a jug-band fanatic, my favorite segment deals with the Memphis Jug Band, led by Will Shade. At one point the rapper Nas talks about the similarities between hip-hop and jug-band music. “These guys are talking about carrying guns, shooting something, protecting their honor, chasing after some woman who’s done them dirty.” Nas, backed by an acoustic band led by Jack White, performs a version of the Memphis Jug Band’s “On the Road Again” in the “Sessions” episode. Sony has released nine American Epic albums, including a single-disc soundtrack of the artists covered, a five-disc box set, a “Sessions” soundtrack by modern musicians, and several for individual artists and genres. Critic Robert Christgau recently joked — was he joking? — that “American Epic is a Sony plot to poach/rescue the American folk music franchise from the Smithsonian and the great Harry Smith.” Most of this music is available on other compilations. Here are some other great American roots-music collections:
Harry Smith
* Anthology of American Folk Music. The fabulously eccentric Harry Smith compiled this collection in 1952 from old 78 rpm records in his personal collection. The 84 songs — blues, hillbilly, Cajun, gospel — originally were recorded between 1927 and 1932. Among the artists included are Mississippi John Hurt, Charlie Patton, the Carter Family, Dock Boggs, Blind Willie Johnson, Rev. J.M. Gates, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Uncle Dave Macon. Keep in mind, the anthology came about in 1952, back when only a few academics and the most obsessive record collectors knew who any of these people were. *The Bristol Sessions. The first episode of American Epic tells the story of RCA talent scout Ralph Peer setting up a makeshift recording studio in an old furniture store in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1927 and striking gold. Among those he attracted to Bristol were the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. Also among the Bristol bunch were West Virginia bard Blind Alfred Reed, Ernest Stoneman, and the Tenneva Ramblers, whose song “The Longest Train I Ever Saw” would in subsequent years be handed back and forth among black bluesmen and white hillbilly and bluegrass singers under various titles (“In the Pines,” “Black Girl”). It would re-emerge in the 1990s as Nirvana’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.” (There are a few versions of this collection available ranging from a single disc to a five-disc box.)
* Ruckus Juice & Chitlins: The Great Jug Bands. This is a set of two CDs (sold separately) of classic jug-band recordings from Yazoo Records. The collection includes seminal acts like the Memphis Jug Band, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, Earl McDonald’s Original Louisville Jug Band, Whistler & His Jug Band, and more. (Vol. 2 can be found HERE) * My Rough and Rowdy Ways: Badman Ballads & Hellraising Songs, Classic Recordings From the 1920s and ’30s. This is my second-favorite two-disc collection from Yazoo. The subtitle says it all. It’s a bunch of great hellraising blues and hillbilly songs about sex, booze, drugs (Dick Justice’s “Cocaine” kicks offVol. 2), gambling, and murderers — from Stack-O-Lee to Billy the Kid to the psycho who killed Pretty Polly. I did a quick Throwback Thursday blog post on American Epic a few weeks ago, including a few videos. You can see that HERE. Here are some more videos, starting with The Memphis Jug Band
Here's Dick Justice's take on the same subject
Was Donald Trump thinking about Lydia Mendoza's classic song when he spoke of "bad hombres" crossing our borders?
This song by The Alabama Shakes is one of my favorites from American Epic Sessions
UPDATED
This week on Throwback Thursday I'm going to look into a great old country song that's been covered so many times by so so many great singers, many folks have forgotten -- if indeed they ever knew -- who did it originally.
And yes, I'm among them. I had to look it up before I learned that the song originally was recorded in 1959 by a singer named Billy Grammer.
Billy who?
According to The AllMusic Guide, Grammer was a pretty accomplished dude.
He was one of 13 children born to a coal-mining family in downstate Benton, Illinois. Despite a youthful interest in science and engineering, the young Grammer often played fiddle, guitar, or mandolin at local gatherings, accompanying his father or performing solo. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and worked as an apprentice toolmaker. But after discharge, work was scarce for an eager young musician. When Grammer heard about an opportunity with Connie Gay's Radio Ranch, he hitchhiked to Arlington, Virginia; auditioned; and made the cut. Two years later, he made his recording debut. In 1955, Gay suggested to Jimmy Dean that Grammer join his television show. During his years on The Jimmy Dean Show, Grammer was a sideman in several bands, including those of Clyde Moody, Grandpa Jones, and Hawkshaw Hawkins.
And according to the New York Times:
Mr. Grammer also designed and produced flat-top acoustic guitars under his own name through a company he started in the 1960s. He donated his first model to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969, and in 2004 Sotheby’s sold an abalone inlay acoustic model played by Johnny Cash for $131,200.
And here's something weird. On May 15, 1972, Grammer and his band, The Travel On Boys played at the George Wallace rally in a Laurel, Maryland shopping center when Arthur Bremmer shot and critically wounded Wallace, leaving the former Alabama governor in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
But enough talk, let's get on with the music. Here's a live version of "Gotta Travel On" by Billy Grammer.
The first version I ever heard of "Gotta Travel On was on sausage baron Jimmy Dean's 1961 album Big Bad John and Other Fabulous Songs and Tales.
Bill Monroe was a fan of the song. It was on his 1962 album My All Time Country Favorites.
Jerry Lee & Linda Gail Lewis made it rock.
And more recently, in 2013, French rocker Rev. Tom Frost did a "graveyard blues" cover of the song on his Bloody Works album
UPDATE 9:30 pm 6-29-17
A reader, Tom from New Jersey, informed me about a blog, Chimesfreedom, that has far more information on this wonderful song.
First of all, "Gotta Travel On" has very similar predecessors recorded years before Billy Grammer's hit. Here's one called "Police and High Sheriff Come Ridin' Down" from 1927 by bluesman Ollis Martin.
Chimesfreedom points out that the song we've come to know as "Gotta Travel On" was copyrighted in 1959 by Paul Clayton, Larry Ehrlich, David Lazar, and Tom Six. Clayton was active in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the '60s.
But the blog also says "The three latter names listed as writers were pseudonyms for members of The Weavers. Ehrlich was a pseudonym for Lee Hays, Six was a pseudonym for Fred Hellerman, and Lazar was a pseudonym for Pete Seeger."
Now I'm not certain that's true that Lazar was a pseudonym for Seeger. According to a 2002 obituary for David Lazar in the Washington Post, Lazar, who was best known as a diplomat:
had some early success as a lyricist. He helped write words for popular tunes that included "Gotta Travel On," which was recorded by Pete Seeger, The Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan and countless others. ... During his youth in Chicago, Mr. Lazar liked to hang out in blues, folk and jazz clubs. He heard Pete Seeger in the 1950s and was among a small group, including Paul Clayton, that helped Seeger write new lyrics to the tune later recorded as "Gotta Travel On."
But apparently Seeger was involved at some level. What rich irony that a troubadour for George Wallace got famous on a song written by a bunch of coffee house folkies who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
God Bless America!
Plus Chimesfreedom linked to another blog that reminded me that Neil Young & Crazy Horse did this song on their Americana album.
Mel Brooks, center, as Gov. William J. Lepetomane in Blazing Saddles, 1974
Mel Brooks, the comic force behind some of the funniest movies of the '70s, turns 91 today.
Happy birthday, Mel!
Though he's basically known as a comedian, writer, director, producer and actor, Brooks also had an ear for music. The songs in his movies helped make them memorable
To celebrate his birthday this Wacky Wednesday here are some of the best songs from his films.
Let's start with this scene in Blazing Saddles featuring Madeline Kahn as the Marlene Dietrich-like Lili von Shtup singing a ditty called "I'm Tired."
In Young Frankenstein Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein and Peter Boyle as his monster teamed up for a rendition of "Puttin' on the Ritz."
Robin Hood: Men in Tights was one of Brooks' later movies (1993.) Here Cary Elwes as Robin Hood serenades Maid Marian (Amy Yasbeck) with "The Night is Young and You're So Beautiful," a song Dean Martin recorded a few decades before.
Brooks himself sings the theme of his 1977 Hitchcock spoof High Anxiety in a hotel lounge. He wrote the song too.
But music-wise I don't believe Brooks ever topped this glorious anthem from his 1968 film The Producers.
Sunday, June 25, 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! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Occidental Front by Black Lips
Girl Happy by Elvis Presley
The Point is Overflowing by Left Lane Cruiser
Crybabies Go Home by The Ghost Wolves
I'm Not Like Everyone Else by The Rockin' Guys
Bikini Girls With Machine Guns by The Cramps
The Grace by The Molting Vultures
I Shot All the Birds by The Blind Shake
Truck Stop by Suzi Quatro
Voodoo Priestess by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Walk on Guilded Splinters by Jello Biafra & The New Orleans Raunch and Soul All-Stars
The Lucky Ones by Mudhoney
That's When I Reach for My Revolver by Mission of Burma
Demon in Profile by Afghan Whigs
Heathen Child by Grinderman
Every Girl Deserves a Song by The Electric Mess
Skintrade by The Mekons
Almost a God by Movie Star Junkies
No Rocks on Mars by The Vagoos
You Never Had It Better by The Electric Prunes
Hap Hap Happy Heart by Pamela Lucia
Time Can Do So Much by Negativland
Burning Love by The Residents
Days of Being Wild by ... and You Will Know Us by The Trail of Dead
The Thing That Should Not Be by Primus
Falling by Xiu Xiu
I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound by Dion CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, June 23, 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
Move it on Over by George Thorogood
In the Jailhouse by The Grevious Angels
Hotdog That Made Him Mad by Wanda Jackson
If You Play With My Mind by Cornell Hurd
Lonesome 7-7203 by Hawkshaw Hankins
Bottom Below by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
3-Pecker Goat by Jesse Dayton
Punk Rockin' Honky Tonk Girl by The Blue Chieftains
This is How It Ends by Steve Earle
White Trash by Fred Eaglesmith
The Love In by Ben Colder
Broken Halos by Chris Stapleton
Armistice Day by The Yawpers
Visionland by The Banditos
Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods by Beck
Dolores by Eddie Noack
Hucklebuck by The Riptones
Good Morning Judge by Louis Innis & His Stringbusters
Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves by The Last Mile Ramblers
How Fast Them Trucks Can Go by Claude Gray
Truck Drivers Blues by Cliff Brown
Give Me 40 Acres by The Willis Brothers
Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man by The Byrds
UFOs Big Rigs and BBQ by Mojo Nixon & The World Famous Blue Jays
Highway Cafe by Kinky Friedman & The Texas Jewboys
Truck Drivin' Man by Terry Fell
Mama Hated Diesels by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
A Tombstone Every Mile by Dick Curless
Diesel Daisy by Killbilly
Truck Stop Hooker by Stinky Joe McCoy
Giddy Up Go by Red Sovine
Truck Stops and Pretty Girls by Jim & Jesse
Six Days on the Road by Rig Rock Deluxe (Dale Watson, Rosie Flores, Wayne Hancock, Toni Price, Kim Richie, Jon Langford, with Lou Whitney & The Skeletons)
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 Listen to the Truck Drivin' Set below
An overflow crowd at a public meeting in Santa Fe showed up to protest a
proposed Flying J truck stop off I-25 south of the city.
According to
a news story
by my Santa Fe New Mexican colleague Justin Horwath, residents of the
nearby Rancho Viejo neighborhood claimed the truck stop would bring
unwanted traffic, crime and pollution. One guy even warned of the danger of
light pollution coming from a 24 truck stop.
In other words, a fairly typical Santa Fe
NIMBY
battle. I must have covered a million of 'em back when I had the City Hall
beat.
But for a lover of vintage country music, there just seems something un-American
about attacking a truck stop,
As any serious country music fan knows, a truck stop is a hallowed place, an
oasis on the highway, where a pretty waitress will pour you another cup of
coffee (for it is the best in the land!)
A truck stop is where the brave men and women who bring the food to our
supermarkets, and other goods to our stores can take a shower, grab a burger and
a piece of pie and share a little face-to-face conversation with fellow humans
to relieve the tedium that white-line brings.
Surely that outweighs a little light pollution.
Whenever someone protests a truck stop, somewhere out on the Lost Highway, the
ghost of Big Joe sheds a quiet tear as he drives his
Phantom 309
through the shadows.
O.K., I'll stop. Enjoy some classic American truck driver songs. Most of these
have been banging around in my head since I read Justin's story,
I first heard "Truck Drivin' Man" done by Buck Owens. But it was written and
first recorded back in 1954 by an Alabama-born singer named
Terry Fell.
UPDATE 7-8-17: Wow! Just a couple of weeks after I posted this,
someone yanked the Terry Fell version off of YouTube. So I guess we'll just have
to settle for the Buck Owens cover.
Dave Dudley
-- born David Darwin Pedruska in Spencer, Wisc. -- is best known for
his truck-driver songs in the 1960s. His best-known song is this hit from
1963.
Red Simpson
was a pioneer of the Bakersfield Sound as well as an important purveyor of truck
driving songs. "Roll, Truck Roll" is my favorite Simpson tune.
Kitty Wells,
one of the giants of 1950s country music, sang a sweet testimonial to truck stop
waitresses
Dick Curless,
a New Englander who wrote many truck driving songs in the 1960s, did this song
about "truck stops with swingin' chicks" in this tune called "Chick
Inspector."//
Here's another Red, Woodrow Wilson
"Red" Sovine, who made it big with truck driver tunes. He's responsible for the spooky "Big
Joe & The Phantom 309." This maudlin little weeper, also a "talking" song --
or maybe you can call it "white rap" -- was even a bigger hit for Sovine. It's
about a guy who drives a truck called the "Giddy Up Go."
But this one is my favorite truck driving song of all time. I prefer the version
by New Mexico's own
Last Mile Ramblers, who performed and recorded it back in the '70s. But a Texan named
Doye O'Dell was the first to record "Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves" back in 1952.
The song features a hotshot steel guitarist named Speedy West.
You can bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to play a big load of truck driver
songs on
The Santa Fe Opry Friday night on KSFR.
On this Wacky Wednesday let us now praise The Residents and the joy they bring.
This anonymous music and art collective has been together for more than 40 years in various evolving forms.
Today we salute one particular aspect of The Residents -- their cover songs. They've been reinterpreting, deconstructing and mutating popular songs by better-known artists in their own peculiar way since the very beginning.
In fact, the very first track on their very first album Meet The Residents(1974) was a version of Nancy Sinatra's "Boots." Check this out.
Since that time, The Residents have released entire albums of covers of specific artists including Elvis Presley (The King & Eye), Hank Williams and John Phillip Sousa (Stars & Hank Forever) and George Gershwin and James Brown (George & James). Here's a tune from that one.
The eyeball boys took a stab at Ray Charles ...
Here's a classic performance of an Elvis classic on Night Music, a syndicated show in the late '80s and early '90s that remains my favorite TV music show since Shindig. On that same episode, The Residents backed Conway Twitty on a song.
Here's a Rolling Stones favorite as re-imagined by The Residents
The Residents go country ... but I don't think Hank done it that a way.
Sunday, June 18 , 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
All Was Well by Benjamin Booker
Whettin' My Knife by The Ghost Wolves
Baby, I'm in the Mood for You by Dion
Bionic Girl by The Exterminators
You Can't Sit Down by Wolfman Jack
The World by The Count Five
Rocketship to Freedom by The Molting Vultures
Wandering Black Hole by Rattason
I Smell A Rat by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Killing the Wolfman by The King Khan & BBQ Show
Ghost Robot by Willis Earl Beal
Murder in My Heart for the Judge by Moby Grape
Society of Plants by The Blind Shake
Death of an Angel by Destination Lonely
Onion by The Mekons
Into the Floor by Afghan Whigs
Nutbush City Limits by Ike & Tina Turner
Mama Guitar by The Oblivians
I Fuck Alone by The Grannies
I Think I'm Going Down by Weird Omen
The Beat Generation by Bob McFdden & Dor
Advanced Romance by Frank Zappa & The Mothers with Capt. Beefheart
Squatting in Heaven by The Black Lips
Happy People Make Me Sick by The Monsters
Wasn't That Good by Wynonie Harris
Psycho Love by The Meteors
Think About It by Grey City Passengers
Give Me Back My Wig by Hound Dog Taylor
Over the Mountain, Across the Sea by Johnny & Joe
Lips of a Loser by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Village of Love / Going Back to the Village of Love by Nathaniel Mayer
Leaving it All Up to You by Don & Dewy
Come on Up to the House by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, June 16, 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
Ain't I'm a Dog by Ronnie Self
Settin' the Woods on Fore by The Tractors
Gonna Be Flyin' Tonight by Wayne Hancock
Big Mouth by Nikki Lane
So You Wannabe an Outlaw by Steve Earle with Willie Nelson
Take Your Love Out of Town by Zephaniah Ohora
She's No Angel by New Riders of the Purple Sage
The Nail by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts) by BR5-49
It's Her Turn Now by Boris McCutcheon
Hurtin' on the Bottle by Margo Price
Jubilee by Ashley Monroe
My Tennessee Mountain Home by Dolly Parton
Come as You Are by Iron Horse
Last Thing I Needed First Thing this Morning by Chris Stapleton
Truck Driver's Woman by Nancy Apple
Nobody's Dirty Business by Bettye Lavette
Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me by Mississippi John Hurt
Did You Hear John Hurt by Dave Van Ronk
It Gets Easier by Willie Nelson
Cumberland Gap by Jason Isbelle
Fair Swiss Maiden by Roger Miller
Lover of Your Dreams by Zeno Tornado
Intentional Heartache by Dwight Yoakam
Make Him Behave by The Collins Kids
Nothing Takes the Place of You by Shinyribs
Please Don't by Lauria
I Drink by Bobby Bare
Lost From Me by Stephanie Hatfield
I'm Going Home by Slackeye Slim
Old Dog Tray by Peter Stampfel & The Bottle Caps 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 June 16, 2017
This week I’m looking at a recently released album by one of my favorite new artists of the past few years as well as one by a guy whose music I’ve enjoyed for nearly 60 years. I’m talking about Benjamin Booker— age twenty-seven, for those keeping score at home — and the mighty Dion DiMucci, who will turn seventy-eight next month.
Three years ago, Booker’s rocking self-titled debut album was one of the most exciting records I’d heard in years. His record company had hyped the album as a cross between the dark punk-blues of Gun Club, the Mississippi gospel of Blind Willie Johnson, and the crunching glam-rock of T-Rex.
But it wasn’t only that. “I was just a music lover who wondered what it would sound like if Otis Redding strapped on a guitar and played in a punk band,” Booker told NPR a couple of years ago. And dang if that’s not what he sounds like.
His first album was so good that I almost dreaded hearing the follow-up. How could the kid possibly top that album? How could Booker possibly avoid the dreaded sophomore slump?
Now the wait is over. Booker’s new one, Witness, is here. And, while it’s not nearly as head-turning as his first, it would be wrong to call the new record a slump or a setback. The late Richie Havens had a sweet and wise song called “Younger Men Grow Older,” and indeed, Booker seems to have grown in the past three years. Witness shows the effects of maturity on this artist. Not only are the lyrics more pointed, more socially aware, but the music shows a willingness to experiment and explore, with the end result even more grounded in gospel and soul music.
No, Booker hasn’t forgotten how to rock. The album opens with “Right On You,” which could go blow-for-blow with the wildest tunes on the first album. “Off the Ground” starts off deceptively mellow, with Booker singing gently over an acoustic guitar and piano for about a minute before suddenly shifting into a full-throttle rocking rage. And the album ends with the frantic “All Was Well,” in which Booker borrows freely from Rev. Gary Davis’ “Samson & Delilah.” (“If I had my way, I would tear this building down.”)
But this album is bound to be better remembered for the slower, more gospel-soaked songs like “Believe,” in which Booker sings, “I just want to believe in something/I don’t care if it’s right or wrong.” One of my favorites is “The Slow Drag Under,” a funky tune with a swampy guitar. It almost could be a Prince song. I suspect this and “Truth Is Heavy” have their psychic roots in Prince’s Sign O’ The Times.
The title tune features guest background vocals by none other than Mavis Staples, the living embodiment of soul and gospel music. It was inspired not only by police killings and white nationalist violence of recent years but also by a personal incident in Mexico, where Booker was shoved around by locals who, as a Mexican friend explained to him, “don’t like people who aren’t from here.”
Booker sings, “Right now we could use a little pick-me-up/Seems like the whole damn nation’s trying to take us down/When your brother’s dying/Mother’s crying/TV’s lying.”
This album might be the closest thing to Marvin Gaye’s landmark album What’s Going On that we’ve heard in years.
Speaking of musicians in transition, that certainly was the case of the venerated rocker Dion in the mid-’60s. Norton Records has just released his “lost” album of 1965, Kickin’ Child.
Here’s a man who started off literally singing on New York street corners with his doo-wop group, the Belmonts. Dion knew exactly how it hurt to be a teenager in love, and he had the hit single in the late ’50s to prove it.
Then, going solo in the early ’60s, he was responsible for three of the toughest songs of the era: “Ruby Baby,” “Runaround Sue,” and, most bitchen of all, “The Wanderer.”
His record label, Columbia, had other plans for Dion. They saw this handsome Italian singer as some kind of lounge singer, a potential monster of easy listening.
But Dion wouldn’t go for that. He’d developed a love for the music of Bob Dylan and a friendship with Columbia producer Tom Wilson, who was responsible for Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home. Wilson agreed to produce an album by Dion and his new band, The Wanderers.
But Columbia wasn’t quite sure what to do with the album. The company released a few singles, including the title song, and through the years, some of the songs have dribbled out on various Dion compilations. But the actual album was shelved, never released for public consumption until now.
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate the music industry?
The aura of Dylan and folk-rock in general are palpable here. There are three Dylan songs on the record. One is a passable cover of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” Then there’s “Farewell,” an obscure one from the early ’60s. But I prefer the tracks that eschew the jangly, Byrdsy sound in favor of a harder-edged Highway 61 Revisited blues-rock sound.
By far the best Dylan song is another obscure one, “Baby, I’m in the Mood for You,” which Dion makes his own. And even better than that is a Dion original, “Two-Ton Feather.” That one plus the title song are the best examples of Dylan’s influence on Dion’s songwriting and The Wanderers’ sound.
But that’s not to say the more folkie style doesn’t suit Dion well. He sang another song here written by a major ’60s folk-scene figure. “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” is one of singer Tom Paxton’s greatest songs. And Dion rips into the heart of it with his emotional performance.
Let there be video!
Witness this ....
But young Benjamin stills knows how to rock
Here's the title song of Kickin' Child
And here's "Two Ton Feather"
And here's a cool video Dion recently posted on his Facebook page
As I wrote yesterday, I'm dealing with the loss of my dear old mutt, my friend and security dog, Rocco Rococo. On Wacky Wednesday I posted some great old novelty tunes about man's best friend (plus a pretty cool houserocker by Hound Dog Taylor). Today I'm posting some classic American songs about dogs.
In 1853, Stephen Foster revealed himself to be a major dog lover with his sentimental song "Old Dog Tray."
Old dog Tray's ever faithful, Grief cannot drive him away, He's gentle, he is kind; I'll never, never find A better friend than old dog Tray.
My favorite version is by Peter Stampfel, singing here with The Bottle Caps.
Here's one that would have been appropriate for Wacky Wednesday as well as Throwback Thursday, "Quit Kickin' My Dig Around" by Gid Tanner & The Skillet Lickers.
Another old favorite is "Old Blue," which has been recorded by many folks. (The Byrds did a great cover on their album Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde. But here's an older recording by Memphis bluesman Furry Lewis.
Hank Williams knew what it was like to be in the doghouse. Here's "Move it On Over."
Even sadder than "Old Dog Tray" is "Old Shep." Hands down, the greatest version of this tearjerker is Elvis Presley's 1956 cover, I posted that on my Facebook page the day Rocco died. But the original was by Red Foley. "I cried so I scarcely could see ..."
