BOY, I'M PROUD TO SHARE A NAME WITH THIS PAPER

The Terrell Tribune in Terrell, Texas sparked a protest from some of its readers after the paper's Wednesday headline dealt with a county commission race, not the presidential race. In fact the front page had no mention of the presidential results at all.

In response to readers who said they were disappointed because they wanted to keep a copy of the Tribune for the future, the publisher, whose name isn't Terrell replied, ""We run a newspaper, not a memory book service."

Sometimes The New Mexican is criticized for not having enough world and national news. But at least we generally make mention of the presidential race the morning after the election.

Here's the story about the Terrell Tribune. CLICK HERE.

eMUSIC NOVEMBER

Here's my 90 eMusic downloads for this month:
* Slide Guitar Gospel (1944-1964) by various artists (Actually only The Rev. Utah Smith and The Rev. Lonnie Farris.) Only recently was I turned on to The Rev. Utah Smith (sometimes called "Elder Utah Smith".) It was on the recent Sonic Nightmares podcast with Gringo Starr and Rev. Beat-Man. (Listen yourself HERE.) which featured Smith's song "Take a Trip." Gringo describes Smith, who started out as a traveling, electric-guitar slinging evangelist, donning "wings" and flying over his congregation (with the help of ropes and pulleys.)

So I sought him out on eMusic and found this great compilation on Document Records -- six Utah Smith tracks (including the one I heard on Sonic Nightmares) and 16 of the Rev. Lonnie Farris.

The Smith songs live up to the romise of "Take a Trip." The guy sang like Blind Willie Johnson and played guitar like a hopped up Sister Rosetta Tharpe. There's three versions of his song "Two Wings" here, but all are worthy. These songs were recorded in the '40s and '50s.

I came for Elder Smith, but I stayed for Rev. Farris. These are more recent recordings than Smith's -- from the 1960s I believe. His music sounds like a direct precursor of the Sacred Steel records we've come to know and love from Arhoolie.

But on some songs, Rev. Farris has a sax player. These are some of the grittiest recordings to ever come out of a church.

* Hey Mom! the Garage is on My Foot by various artists. Yes, one reason I downloaded this is because I like the cover.

This is a 1996 collection from Damaged Goods Records, Billy Childish's label. Billy's here, kicking off the album with Thee Headcoats, doing a song called "Deer Stalking Man" a tune lampooning hunting, done with a Bo Diddley beat.

Billy's pal Holly Golightly is represented with a hard-thumping fuzzbuster called "In You."

My favorite track here is "Haywire Hodaddy" by The Hodads. It's surf gone wrong, making The Trashmen look like The Lennon Sisters.

And hell, it's the closest thing eMusic has to "Hodad Makin' the Scene With a Six Pack" by The Silly Surfers. When is someone going to re-release the Silly Surfers/Weird-ohs album?

*The Wham of That Memphis Man by Lonnie Mack. Here's a classic 1963 debut album from an influential rock 'n' blues guitarist and underrated soul shouter.

It's from that post rockabilly/pre-Beatles period when rock 'n' roll supposedly had died. Maybe the teen idols ruled the charts, but the underground was alive with the likes of Lonnie Mack.

This album has plenty of Lonnie's best known instrumentals like "Memphis," "Susie Q" and "Wham," plus a generous helping of sweet greasy ballads, where Lonnie goes from a sob to a shout in nothing flat.


*America's Queen Mother of Soul Got a Brand New Bag by Big Maybelle. You got your ridiculous -- "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago" -- and you got the sublime -- "That's Life," yes, the Frank Sinatra tune. And both with "Mellow Yellow." This is a collection of mid '60s hits that some producer almost certainbly forced this blues shouter to sing. It wouldn;t surprise me if she hated it. And it's sure not Maybelle's best.

But it's a hell of a lot of fun. She turns "96 Tears" into a soul workout." Same with The Troggs' "I Can't Control Myself." And she pours her guts into the soggy, middlebrow Eddy Arnold hit "Turn the World Around the Other Way."

Had I been the producer of this record (instead of being 14 years old or whatever I was at the time, I wouldn't have let Big Maybelle touch the wimp-rock whiner "There Has to Be a Word That Means More than Love." She sounds as if she's trying to imitate Eartha Kitt here, but she ends up sounding more like Claudine Longet here. But she makes up for it with the electrifying "Black is Black."


*Canten En Espanol by Wau Y Los Arrrghs!!!
There are some bitchen sounds coming out of Spain these days.
The Hollywood Sinners commemorated these guys, their fellow countrymen in song, and I gave them another listen when I was writing about Spanish-language rock in my recent review of Los Peyotes. The group's members include Juanito Wau, Satu Arrrgh!!!, Molongui Arrrgh!!!, Isidro Arrrgh!!! and Fletan Arrrgh!!!

This is their 2005 album from Voodoo Rhythm. About time for a new album, no?

* Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! by Edison Rocket Train. I discovered this right after I got I Have Fun Everywhere I Go, the recent spoken-word CD by Mike Edison, a former editor of High Times, Screw, and some pro wrestling rag. Backed by a band including Jon Spencer, it's some of the craziest stuff I've heard all year. It was love at first listen (and you'll hear more about it in Terrell's Tune-up in the near future.)

This album isn't quite up to that level. But it's got a lot going for it. Just good crunching punk-ass blues with vocals (Mr. Edison I assume?) that sound like Captain Beefheart's criminal little brother. Spencer plays theremin on a couple of songs, but this is a blues explosion in its own right.

* PLUS ... Four tracks from Passover by The Black Angels. I've been meaning to get this one for awhile. I saw these guys at The Roky Erikson Ice Cream Social in Austin during SXSW and I loved their latest album, Directions to See a Ghost. (It's on eMusic HERE.) Passover, the tracks I've heard at least, is the same kind of psychedelic guitar space rock. It seems to be full of anti-war songs -- "The First Vietnam War," "Sniper at the Gates of Heaven" "Young Men Dead," etc. Intense fare all around. I'll nab the remaining tracks when my eMusic account refreshes next week.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 7, 2008
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
Cherokee Boogie by Cornell Hurd
You're the Reason by Nancy Apple
Lover of the Bayou by The Byrds
Sixpack of Beer by Hank Williams III
Get Off on Your Porch by Charlie Pickett
Hell or High Water by Hundred Year Flood
Cuckoo Rock by The Collins Kids
Big Dwarf Rodeo by Rev. Horton Heat
I'm Happy by Rev. Beat-Man

Truckload of Art by Terry Allen
Honky Tonk Song by Webb Pierce
Worried, Unhappy, Lonesome and Sorry by Merle Haggard
Big Mamou by Waylon Jennings
Prisoner's Birthday by John Lilly
Think About Your Troubles by Asylum Street Spankers
A Summer Love Song by Dr. West's Medicine Show & Junk Band
The Eggplant That Ate Chicago by Big Maybelle

Harder Than Your Husband/Lonesome Cowboy Burt by Frank Zappa with Jimmy Carl Black
Death Don't Have No Mercy by Hot Tuna
Miss the Mississippi by Bob Dylan
Satisfied by Lonnie Mack
Hot Dog Baby by Hasil Adkins
Get My Mind Together by Greezy Wheels

Ain't I Right by Marty Robbins
Single Women by Dolly Parton
A Satisfied Mind by Porter Wagoner
Ballad of Dead Men's Hollow by Dead Men's Hollow
The Cold Hard Truth by George Jones
Stand by Fred Eaglesmith
Eyes on the Prize by Mavis Staples
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

BROTHER STEVE'S GODCASTS

While indulging in the sin of vanity -- specifically, Googling to see how easy it is to locate my podcasts -- I stumbled across yet another Steve Terrell -- another podcasting Steve Terrell.

He's Brother Steve Terrell and he's associated with the First Baptist Church in Lepanto, Arkansas. You can find his most recent "Godcast" HERE.

So please, don't get confused. If you're looking for stories of Jesus dealing with the Pharisees to describe how Jesus came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it, you're probably looking for Brother Steve. If you're looking for weird music shows with Angry Johnny & The Killbillies, you're probably looking for me.

PUPPYDOG TALES

Remember Barack Obama's victory speech Wednesday night, how heartwarming it was when he told his little girls, " ... you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House."

It truly was sweet and I'm sure it means a lot to Obama and his family. But it sounded kind of familiar to me. I suddenly realized Obama isn't the president to charm the nation by talking about his cute little daughters and their dog.