THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, April 11, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Stranger in Town by Dave Alvin
Tongued Tied by Simon Stokes
Clown of the Town by Rev. Beat-Man
Take Off Your Mask by Possed by Paul James
Manana by Joe King Carasco y Los Coronas
I'm Sorry Huston by Drive-By Truckers
Skip to My Lou by The cast of Bonanza

Sittin' on a Jury (Prologue)/My Final Plea by The Wilders
Prisoner's Birthday by John Lilly
A Man Like Me by Roger Miller
Peroxide Blonde by Hank Penny
A Wreck of a Man by Artie Hill & The Long Gone Daddies
Gun Sale at the Church by The Beat Farmers
Up to My Old Tricks Again by Kim Lenz & Her Jaguars
Sting Ray by Jim Lauderdale
Tara's Song by Santa Fe All Stars

Ruination Day Set
April the 14th part 1 by Gillian Welch
The Titantic by Bessie Jones, Hobart Smith & The Georgia Sea Island Singers
Abraham Lincoln by Leadbelly
The Great Dust Storm by Woody Guthrie
Ruination Day by Gillian Welch
Legend of the U.S.S. Titantic by Jaime Brokett
Boothe Killed Lincoln (Fiddle Tune) by Bascom Lamar Lunsford

Mary's Bar by Kell Robertson
May You Never Be Alone by Hank Williams
Cynthia Margaret by Malcom Holcome
Statue of Jesus by The Gear Daddies
If You Don't Change Your Mind by The Waco Brothers
Miss Me by Eleni Mandell
Loving You by Elvis Presley
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

ONE LAST FAVOR PART 2

I'm not the only one who had some fun with Gov. Bill Richardson's most recent plea for money to pay off his campaign debts.

And I'm not even the first one to refer to Nigerian e-mail scams when talking about Richardson's post-candidacy fund-raising.

Columnist Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times today published this must-read.

This was the most shameless request for money I'd ever gotten from someone not living in Nigeria. Richardson was asking me for money not so that my interests would be reflected during his presidency, but just because he's a good guy in a spot of bother. If this works, I might be getting e-mails for the rest of my life from Richardson. "It's Bill again. Bad run at the blackjack table, but I'm pretty sure I can get out of it :)"

What's really funny though is that Stein actually got Richardson on the phone. Although local journalists usually get to talk directly to Richardson only if they can catch him coming out of the Capitol tv studio after appearing on CNN or Fox News, those from national news organizations never seem to have trouble reaching him.

POLITICAL TIDBITS

My story on last night's AFSCME forum for CD 3 candidates can be found HERE.

My photos of all the candidates are HERE.

In other news, Rep. Tom Udall released his latest quarter fundraising total for his U.S. Senate -- $1.3 million. I haven't heard from Republicans Heather Wilson or Steve Pearce yet.

Meanwhile, back to the Roundhouse, Kate has been blogging about the dreaded special session. HERE is is the latest.

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: STAGOLEE LIVES!

UPDATED: 6-18-20 Many broken video links fixed

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 11, 2008

A bulldog barks. Dice are thrown. Two men argue. Something about a hat. One of them begs for his life. A shot is fired.

It’s a murder that has been taking place virtually every night for more than a hundred years in the foggy backwaters of American song and mythology: Stagolee and Billy DeLyons, two men who gambled late.

And the song, in radically different forms, has found its way into at least three movies in the past year or so.

The tale of Stagolee, aka Stack O Lee, Stagger Lee, and who knows what other variants, is the story of a gambler, a pimp, and a killer who became an archetype — celebrated, reviled, and marveled at again and again by musicians from James Brown to Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan to Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians. Some say Stagolee is the spirit at the root of all those great blaxploitation movies in the ’70s and the gangsta rap that later arose.

The real Stagolee. For years the identity of the man was shrouded in mystery. But in his 2003 book Stagolee Shot Billy, folklorist Cecil Brown cites 1895 newspaper accounts in St. Louis that tell of a Christmas-night killing in a bar in which Lee Shelton, aka Stack Lee, shot and killed William Lyons.

The saloon wasn’t the Bucket of Blood, as it’s identified in some of the Stag tunes. And there’s no evidence that any bullet went through Billy and broke the bartender’s glass, as many versions say. But the argument that preceded the shooting indeed involved Shelton damaging Lyons’ hat, followed by Lyons taking Shelton’s Stetson, a mistake that proved fatal.

Both Shelton and Lyons were pimps, Brown says. But there was more to them than that. Lyons was part of a family that was loyal to the Republican Party — as was the case for most blacks in St. Louis in 1895. But Shelton was a Democrat, part of a new generation that felt the GOP had sold out the black community. The fatal squabble, according to some witnesses, started as a political argument.

Shelton went to prison for Lyons’ murder. But despite what some songs say, he wasn’t executed for it. In fact, he was paroled in 1909, though two years later he was arrested again on charges of pistol-whipping and robbing another man. By this time Shelton was sick with tuberculosis. He died in a prison hospital in February 1912.

Stag, Stack, Stagger. The songs started popping up before Billy’s body was cold. In a chapter in The Rose and the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad, Brown suggests that the original Stagolee ballad was written by a street singer named Bill Dooley, who also composed the first song based on another St. Louis murder that took place four years after Shelton killed Lyons — “Frankie and Albert,” later known as “Frankie and Johnny.”

Although perhaps hundreds of versions of “Stagolee” exist, Greil Marcus, in his 1976 book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ’n’ Roll Music, deals mainly with two — Mississippi John Hurt’s “Stack O’Lee Blues” from the late 1920s and Lloyd Price’s 1950s rock ’n’ roll hit “Stagger Lee.”

Hurt’s version takes a conservative view. He’s upset that police let the bad man run wild for so long and is happy when the killer is on the gallows. Price’s song, however, with its honking sax and giddy female chorus, seems to revel in the badness of the man in the Stetson. “Go Stagger Lee! Go Stagger Lee,” Price sings, at least in the version of the tune we all know and love.

According to Marcus, when Price appeared on American Bandstand, Dick Clark forced him to expunge all the references to gambling and murder. Price performed a bowdlerized version in which Stag and Billy argue over a girl but apologize to each other the next day. Price’s record company pulled the original and made Price record the Bandstand version (on which, Marcus argues, Price sounds even more impassioned). But the original, violent version is the one you still hear on oldies radio today.

Stag’s recent movie cameos: The song appeared late last year in Honeydripper in a version by contemporary blues singer Keb’ Mo’. I’ve never been a huge Keb’ Mo’ fan. I’ve always considered his music to be a little too touchy-feely — closer to Jackson Browne than Howlin’ Wolf. But nothing he ever did actually offended me until a few years ago. On a Johnny Cash tribute album, he altered the words to “Folsom Prison Blues,” changing “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” — one of the greatest lines in American music — to the bloodless, politically correct “They say I shot a man in Reno, but that was just a lie.”

No, Dick Clark didn’t get to Keb’. The singer explained at the time that he never could stomach the unrepentantly violent nature of the original lyrics. I say he should have been indicted on charges of desecrating a national monument.

Luckily Keb’, who plays a blind street singer named Possum in the movie, doesn’t sanitize his “Stack O Lee.” It’s an acoustic version with some nice slide guitar and harmonica.

More interesting, though, is the old soul-rock version by a forgotten band called Pacific Gas & Electric that was used in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof section of Grindhouse in 2007. In “Staggolee,” singer Charlie Allen has Stag die, go to hell, and conquer the devil. Beating the devil is a motif found in several old versions of the Stag saga. The idea can be traced back to Irish and British folk songs, such as “The Farmer’s Cursed Wife,” in which a nagging woman proves meaner than Satan.

A version by actor Samuel L. Jackson is the highlight of the soundtrack for 2007’s Black Snake Moan. Although he’s not a singer, Jackson provides the best of the recent Stag renditions.

His “Stack-O-Lee” is a first-person tale based on the late R.L. Burnside’s spoken-word version. Backed by Burnside’s longtime guitarist Kenny Brown and the bluesman’s grandson Cedrick Burnside on drums, Jackson brings the bad man back to life in full swagger and bile. As the spirit of Stagolee fully possesses Jackson in the performance, it’s clear Stag will never really die.

Check out: A Staggerific comic, The Story of Stagger Lee by Timothy Lane CLICK HERE.

And this week on Terrell’s Sound World, at 10 p.m. Sunday on KSFR-FM 101.1, don’t miss “Stagorama.” Hear the legend told by Nick Cave, The Clash, The Black Keys, and others.

UPDATE: A guy who commented on this column has a blog (She'll Grow Back) that posts a new version of Staggerlee every week. Check it out HERE

BONUS: Check out these cool Stagolee Videos:

Samuel L. Jackson



R.L. Burnside



Wilbert Harrison



Frank Hutchison



Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds



Lloyd Price


For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook

eMUSIC APRIL

* Surreal Folk Blues Gospel Trash Vol. 1 by Rev. Beat-Man. Bitchen! Voodoo Rhythm Records, the greatest psychobilly, trash-rock label to ever come out of Switzerland (or just about anywhere else) is back on eMusic. About a year ago I stumbled across Voodoo Rhythm here and promptly downloaded King Khan & The Shrines' Three Hairs and You're Mine. But when I came back for more the next month, Voodoo Rhythm was gone. Let's hope they stick around around this time. (Unfortunately they haven't brought back King Khan & The Shrines, at least not yet.)

Beat-Man with his scratchy, sinister voice, is the founder and president-for-life of this company.

This record shows him all over the place, even trying his hand at what sounds like Russian folk music. And there's even a near-7-minute sermon, "The Beat-Man Way," in which Beat-Man shares his theological insights.

Beat-Man already has released a Surreal Folk Blues Gospel Trash Volume 2, which I hope eMusic snags soon. (Volume 3 apparently will be a DVD.)

For loads of fun, check out the Rev's podcast (with Gringo Starr) Sonic Nightmares on Garagepunk.com Click HERE for the podcast feedplayer.



* We Have You Surrounded by The Dirtbombs. Nothing like a little apocalyptic paranoia to make a body want to rock. And you’ll find plenty of that on this new album by The Dirtbombs.

On nearly every song singer/guitarist Mick Collins seems to be looking over his shoulder and not liking what he sees. Civilization is decaying, burning. The future’s so dim Collins can’t wear his shades. The end is near and everyone’s out to wreck his flow.

The Dirtbombs is one of the many Detroit bands of the 1990s that didn’t become famous when The White Stripes rose. (But don’t call his group a “garage band, or Collins will twist your head off and eat your children.) With a lineup that includes two bassists and two drummers, Collins pays vocal tribute to the soul greats of his hometown’s past.

I'll have more to say about this album in an upcoming Terrell's Tune-up. Stay tuned.


* Rib Tips and Pig Snoots by Andre Williams. After seeing Andre at SXSW, I couldn't wait for his upcoming release on Bloodshot Records. I needed some Andre now -- so I downloaded this collection of early material.

Just like I hoped for, these songs, recorded back in the '60s, are funky, raunchy and funny.

It was great seeing Andre at the Yard Dog last month, but damn, I wish I could have seen him back when these tunes were recorded.


*Live, Raw & Funky by Ike & Tina Turner. Few bands matched the raw intensity of Ike & Tina at their peak. This set includes lots of their own hits ("Nutbush City Limits," "Ooh Poo Pah Doo," "Proud Mary," "River Deep, Mountain High") covers of hits of that era ("Respect," "Son of a Preacher Man," "I Heard It Through the Grapevine") and some good old blues like the near 10-minute "I Smell Trouble," showcasing Ike's guitar as well as Tina's voice.

One of my favorite moments is Tina's rap during the middle of "Respect": "I want to talk about soul music" she says."I wanna talk about it because you see, soul is what I call grease. Comes from the kitchen, that's where you cook it."

Some of the sound quality isn't great here. But it's good and greasy. the soul burns through.


* The Secret Strength of Depression by Bassholes. I stumbled across this album while researching a well-loved, oft-covered American song. (See tomorrow's Terrell's Tune-up.)

Bassholes is a two-man blues/punk/garage band -- originally from Columbus, Ohio -- working the same side of the street as The Flat Duo Jets and early White Stripes.


Through much of their career they've been compared with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion -- though they never got nearly as famous.

They play mainly originals, tough rock seeped in raw blues. One of my favorites on this album,(released in 2000 and recorded live at a radio broadcast) is the discordant "Bowling Ball." How could you not love a song that starts out, "There's a bowling ball in the back seat of the killer's car ..."?


* Bordertown & Viva San Antone by Joe "King" Carrasco y Los Coronas. At one point in the early-to-mid '80s, Joe "King" Carrasco & The Crowns practically were the house band at Club West in Santa Fe. They were playing here every time you turned around. And what a show Joe put on! He literally climbed the walls. His frantic Farfisa-fueled "Nuevo Wuevo" -- a hopped-up fusion of mid-'60s Chicano garage rock and Tex Mex cantina music was an irresistible invitation to hop around and sweat.

Carrasco was known as the personification of "Party Party Weekend" and his music embodied that notion. But by 1984, Joe was getting pretty pissed off at the Reagan administration's Latin American policies. His album Border Town, which makes up about of this collection had loads of rocking fun.

But there were songs that showed Carrasco had another side too. "Current events are making me tense," he says in the opening tune. But even stronger was "Who Buy the Guns" was about the murder of four American nuns in El Salvador by right-wing death squads. It was almost like an outtake from The Clash's Sandinista!, but it rocked more convincingly.