eMusic July

* Movin' On - 30 Songs by Hank Snow. You got your Hank Williams, your Hank Thompson, your Hank Cochran, your Hank Penny ... But ranking way up there in the pantheon of country music Hanks is Clarence Eugene Snow ,,, aka Hank.

Besides his music, Snow proved you don't have to be from the South or the West to play authentic country music. Or even the U.S. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1914.

Snow didn't sing about punching cattle, but he has a great sound about jigging squid ("The Squid Jiggin' Ground," unfortunately not included here) an homage to his shipmates on the fishing boat where he worked as a cabin boy after running away from home as a teen.

He's also a link in a great chain. Ernest Tubb got him on the Grand Old Opry in 1950. A few years later Snow did the same for a young singer named Elvis Presley. Elvis did a decent version of "I'm Movin' On." But he did an even better job on another tune Snow originally sang -- "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I."

This album includes some wonderful Snow hits such as his Jimmie Rodgers tribute "Jimmie the Kid" and "I Don't Hurt Anymore," which was an early hit for Snow. It's not that well known now, but it's classic early '50s country.

One of my favorites here is an upbeat country gospel tune called "My Religion's Not Old Fashioned But It's Real Genuine." Snow delved into a little country proto World Beat with "The Rhumba Boogie." And there's a little "countrypolitan" Nashville Sound here with "Invisible Hands," which features an old fashioned roller rinky organ and background choruses.

* Skiffle - Oldies But Goodies by Various Artists. There's something goofy and contradictory about British skiffle music of the late '50s.

At its best it sounds like a logical mutation of the Memphis Jug Band or Cannon's Jug Stompers. At its worst it sounds like some real-life version of the over-earnest folkies parodied in A Mighty Wind. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to imagine any of these bands playing "Potato's in the Paddy Wagon" in British accents.

But it's guileless and it's fun. The Chas McDevitt Skiffle group sound like they're having a blast jiving their way through the song "Deep Down." And it turned a lot of people onto some great American songs -- "Stack O'Lee," "Worried Man," "House of the Rising Sun" and others. And remember, John Lennon's first band was a skiffle group.

Most Americans who know anything about skiffle are familiar with Lonnie Donegan, who had pop hits in the '50s with "Rock Island Line" and the novelty classic "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor." This collection only has one Donegan tune "The Passing Stranger." It's a slow, spooky tune, unlike most the frantic paced washboard clacking sound associated with the genre.

Instead this album focuses on soe of the less famous perpetrators of skiffle, folks like McDevitt, The Coffee Bar Skifflers and Nancy Whiskey -- (Shane McGowan fans just perked up their ears.) Born Anne Alexandra Young Wilson, this sweet voiced Scottish lass, joining up with McDevitt's group had a hit with Libby Cortton's "Freight Train." She also does a pretty cool "Greenback Dollar."

Here's Nancy and Chas in action back in 1957.



It's not on this album, but below is some more authentic English skiffle from the '50s at it's geeky cool best. And you might recognize the guitarist.





* Thunder and Lightning by Bloodshot Bill. What is this, Canadian month? Like Hank Snow, Bloodshot Bill hails from the Great White North.

Thunder and Lightning, his latest, is 14 songs, mostly originals, in which Bloodshot sings of lost loves, good and bad. Like his recent work with The Ding Dongs (with partner Mark Sultan) and Tandoori Knights (with King Khan), the recording is inspiringly lo-fi, sounding like scratchy old 45s from long- forgotten labels. In fact, it sounds as if it’s recorded in mono.  In some ways, he’s the heir to the late Ray Condo, a fellow Canuckabilly.

I just reviewed this CD in last week's Terrell's Tuneup column. Read it HERE

PLUS

* 13 songs from  Fats Domino and Rhythm & Blues Friends. This is a bizarre little collection. There are a bunch of Fats Domino songs here -- live  tracks recorded God knows when. I downloaded a bunch of them, classic Domino hits like "The Fat Man," "Blueberry Hill, "Walking to New Orleans," etc.

But mostly the 100-plus tracks are songs by a variety of R&B songers from the 40s, 50s and early '60s. I nabbed some tracks from Johnny Otis, Eddie "The Chief" Clearwater, Big Joe Turner and others. Some may indeed be Domino "friends." Who cares?

I stumbled onto this album when looking for a particular song. On their new collaboration Lousiana Sun, Voodoo Rhythm bands Mama Rosin and Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers do a song called "Voodoo Walking" that was inspired by "It's Your Voodoo Working" by Charles Sheffield. I had to get the the original. Sheffield is a little known Louisiana R&B belter who did this tune in the early '60s. He got the hoodoo in him. So I found it in this compilation.

"Voodoo Walking" appeared on my latest Big Enchilada podcast. So did  "Davey You Upset My Home" by Joe Tex. This is  is a politically incorrect novelty tune inspired by the 1950s success of the Davy Crocket television show. A woman's love for the man from Tennessee leads to domestic violence.

Then there's what I call the "Wino Suite": "Wine-O Baby" by Big Joe Turner, "Wine Wine Wine" by Floyd Dixon and "Red Red Wine" by Milt Buckner. No, it's not the Neil Diamond song. Maybe this month I'll download "Wine O Wine" by The Gators. In fact, I'll probably download all the tracks I skipped last month.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, July 8, 2011
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 (at) ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Guilty Until Proven Innocent by Last False Hope *
Jungle Drums by Dex Romweber Duo
Shake It and Break It by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
What's Goin' On With Grandpa by The Possum Posse
Diesel Drivin' Devil by Carol Huff
The Fall by Fifth on the Floor *
That's What She Said Last Night by Billy Joe Shaver
Music Makin' Mama From Memphis by Hank Snow

Crazy Party by Bloodshot Bill
Great Shakin' Fever by Ray Condo and the Ricochets
Flyin' Saucer by Yuichi & The Hilltop Boys
What's Up With Your Brother by Dave Alvin with Phil Alvin
Precious Memories (The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised) by The Blasters
Just Tell Her I Loved Her by Joe Swank & The Zen Pirates
Gettin' High by Mama Rosin with Hipbone Slim & The Kneetremblers
Come on Home to Houston by Cornell Hurd
Tell Laura I Love her by Ray Peterson

Too Long in the Wasteland by James McMurtry
The Vintage by The Imperial Rooster
Barnyard Beatnik by Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys
Mississippi Muddle by Hank Penny & His Radio Cowboys
Marie by Beausolei
Goody Goody by Paula Rhae McDonald
Memories Cost A Lot by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
All Men Are Liars by Nick Lowe

City of Shame by Rachel Brooke *
Ruby (Are You Mad) by Buck Owens
The Haircut by John Egenes
Mom and Dad's Waltz by Tokyo Matsu
Desert Rose by The Desert Rose Band
Volver, Volver by Ry Cooder
Go Devil Go by Madam Ira Mae Littlejohn
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

* From the Southern Independent Vol. 1 compilation, available NOW for free at the "Give Me My XXX" website

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Bloodshot Bill plus FREE XXX Music!

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 8, 2011

He was one half of The Ding Dongs with Mark “BBQ” Sultan, playing lo-fi, trashy rockabilly. Then he made some curry-flavored rockabilly slop with Sultan’s former partner King Khan in a snazzy duo called The Tandoori Knights.

And now the Montreal maniac known as Bloodshot Bill is once again turning his attention to his solo career. He’s back with an album called Thunder and Lightning.

BB mostly performs as a one-man band. He is always getting himself compared with the likes of Hasil Adkins and Charlie Feathers (he’s got the Feathers hiccup nailed). But a word of caution here: listening to Bloodshot Bill could compromise your patriotism. Nearly five years ago, he got himself banned from entering these United States.

No, it wasn’t drugs, violence, or insurrection. Supposedly he was caught trying to “smuggle” merchandise — I believe it was his “Bloodshot Bill Nice ’n’ Greasy” hair pomade — he was planning on selling at his shows. His website measures the exact amount of time before he can re-enter the land of the free and home of the brave. (As I post this, it’s 125 days, 0 hours, 5 minutes, and 51 seconds.)

Thunder and Lightning is 14 songs, mostly originals, in which BB sings of lost loves, good and bad. Like his recent work with The Ding Dongs and Tandoori Knights, the recording is inspiringly lo-fi, sounding like scratchy old 45s from long- forgotten labels — like it’s recorded in mono. Unlike the new generation of “psychobillies,” BB is basically a traditionalist. No metal riffs, no songs about zombies, Satan, or werewolves. In some ways, he’s the heir to the late Ray Condo, a fellow Canuckabilly.

Some instant favorites here include “Puppy Dog Love,” which, as BB says, isn’t as corny as the title suggests. Then there’s “Hang in There,” which is what the Allman Brothers’ “One Way Out” might have sounded like had it been recorded at Sun Studio in 1955. Meanwhile, on “Old Moon,” Bloodshot’s voice doesn’t sound anything like Johnny Cash’s, but the chunka-chunka beat will remind you of the music of the Tennessee Two.

While most of the songs on this album are loud and fast, Bill can also go low and slow. “Dark Lonely Street,” an Eddie Cochran cover, is nothing short of lovely. The title of “Crazy Party” might suggest a wild romp, but this one is a countryish lament. The craziest thing about it is BB’s weird laugh at the end of the bridges.

Thunder and Lighting is available on vinyl from Norton Records and as an MP3 download at the usual places.

Also recommended:

* Southern Independent, XXX, Vol. One. Earlier this year, I wrote a column about Shooter Jennings and his effort to create a new genre or subgenre or some kind of musical classification called XXX Country. XXX is supposed to be for artists who are “too country for rock, too rock for country.” Don’t expect to find Donny and Marie here.

In case you’re still not quite sure what kind of music this is, Jennings has begun compiling songs by several of his favorite artists and making them available as free downloads. The first volume came out this week.

There is a good mixture of artists you’ll probably recognize — the Drive-By Truckers, Jimbo Mathus, and Shooter himself — as well as several who are well worth discovering, such as Robert Earl Reed, a Mississippi songster whose slow-burning “Road to Hattiesburg,” co-produced by Mathus, kicks off the album with a Southern gothic vibe.

The Truckers contributed “Used to Be a Cop,” a seven-minute saga about a former law-enforcement officer with severe anger- management issues, from their latest album, . Mathus, whose Confederate Buddha I reviewed here a few weeks ago, is represented with a sweet Stonesy ballad called “Skateland Baby,” an old song from an album called Knockdown South. Jennings’ song is a new one, “Southern Family Anthem,” about a proud hillbilly clan. “We may be trash but we’re a family” is the defiant refrain.

Rachel Brooke, one of my favorite newer country artists, whose music I just learned about this year, is here. Her song “City of Shame” — which, like many Brooke songs, sounds sweet though with a dark underbelly — is also found on her excellent album Down in the Barnyard. Her Farmageddon Records labelmate Slackeye Slim does a Mexican-flavored tune called “Introducing Drake Savage.” I can almost hear Calexico doing this one.

“Road Bound” by Bob Wayne is a bluegrass-colored rocker that reminds me of “Rainwater Bottle” by Taos resident Chipper Thompson — though Chipper doesn’t cuss as much as Wayne does, at least on his records.

Then there’s a Chicago band called Last False Hope, which describes its sound as part bluegrass, death metal, and punk. Indeed, the song on this collection, “Guilty Until Proven Innocent,” shows elements of all. And it works. Fifth on the Floor, a Lexington, Ky. band, shows the influence of Billy Joe Shaver on the song “The Fall” — it reminds me of Shaver’s “Tramp on Your Street.”

Somewhat more traditional outlaw-country tunes here include Hellbound Glory’s “Rusted Up Old Pickup Trucks,” “I’m Bitter” (a good-natured song of negativity by Southern boys J.B. Beverley and Ronnie Hymes), and the sweet, nostalgic “Carolina Sunshine” by Cincinnati singer Dallas Moore, with Willie Nelson’s guitarist Jody Payne.

So no excuses. This album’s free! Get yourself over to the XXX website. The second volume is already in the works, and word is Española’s favorite gonzo roots band, The Imperial Rooster, is on it.

UPDATE: This column has been corrected to show that the band Fifth on the Floor is not from Chicago, but Lexington, Ky.

Amazon Cloud Gets Bigger

I've got to do an update to my recent Tune-up column on the Amazon and Google cloud music services.

I couldn't believe my eyes a few minutes ago when playing music from my Amazon cloud I noticed where it once said I had just a few MBs of space left, it now says, "You have unlimited space."

Goodness Gussie, it was true! From an article in CNET posted last night:

For a limited time, Amazon customers who purchase a $20 annual Cloud Drive storage plan will receive unlimited storage space for their MP3 and AAC (.m4a) music files. Previously, Amazon Cloud customers automatically started with 5GB of free storage, upgradable to 20GB with the purchase of an Amazon MP3 album. Additional storage space could then be purchased in plans beginning at $20 per 20GB per year

Since Google launched its Google Music Beta, I've found that I've been using it far more than Amazon. I haven't quite even uploaded half of the 20,000 songs Google lets you store and I was almost at capacity on Amazon with just over 4,100 songs.

Assuming Amazon keeps its feature that lets you download songs -- which means your cloud is an actual storage locker for your music -- that alone makes it a better deal.

Looks like there are still some bugs though. My Amazon uploader just stalled before even starting to upload my massive collection. I'm assuming this will work itself out. If not, then disregard anything nice I said here.

Happy Fourth of July, Fellow Patriots

I've been Blipping some of these but in case you missed those, here they are:

Two years ago today I say The Blasters do this at the Hootenanny festival in Irvine, Calif. This 2010 video features Dave Alvin on lead guitar.



No video action here. Just enjoy this classic fleshtones song:



July 4, 1975: 6 or 7 of us crammed into Mustang convertible and drove from Albuquerque to Santa Fe to party. Turned on the radio and this song started playing. Come on dudes! Let's get it on!



Again, no video. Just a great American song by Wayne Kramer