I get zillions of emails from musicians, but this recent one brought a big smile to my face.
It started out.:
Hello my good friend Steve!
I'm so glad you like yourself, Steve!
And the email ended:
p.s. something good is gonna happen to Steve Terrell today!
It was from an iconoclastic musician, songwriter and artist from California I met a few years ago named Shari Elf. And no it wasn't really a personal email. It was a notice for her new album and video. But it was so Shari Elf, it brought a smile to an otherwise stressful day,
Did I mention a video?
Yes!
I met Shari Elf back in November, 2009 at a private party at Burt's Tiki Lounge in Albuquerque. Stan Ridgway, The Handsome Family and Jill Sobule were doing one of those "Roots on the Rails" gigs in which a bunch of musicians travel by train with a group of paying fans. This group was traveling between Albuquerque and Los Angeles. The night before they left all the musicians did a private gig at Burt's.
I struck up a conversation with tall blonde woman sitting next to me, who turned out to be Shari. She was a passenger on this ride. She went because she's a huge fan of The Handsome Family..
Unrelated fact: Sitting next to me on the other side was none other than Julia Sweeney, formerly of Saturday night live. She's a friend of Sobule and flew to Albuquerque for the show. It was a night of celebrities!
Shari lives near Joshua Tree, Calif. where she operates the Art Queen gallery and studio -- which looks like a center of what some call "outsider' art as well as The World Famous Crochet Museum. It's housed in a former Photo Quick building (you use to see them in shopping center parking lots all the time back in the '70s), and is a showcase for Shari's vast, colorful garage-sale crochet collection,
Shari's sweet, childlike songs are a universe unto themselves. They remind me a lot of Daniel Johnston, who she's listed as a major influence.
Here is one of my favorites from the new album by Shari with her band, The Kittens.
But she's also good at what she calls "sharioke." Or should it be "Cherioke"?
Somethng good is gonna happen to you on Wacky Wednesday, Shari.
UPDATED with a Mixcloud player for the first hour Sunday, June 21, 2015 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org Here's the playlist OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Slow Boy by Kim Gordon & J Mascis
Castin' My Spell by Daddy Longlegs
The Bag I'm In by Ty Segall
Steal Your Love / Do it Again by Jody Porter Interview with Jody Porter
Throw It Back by Jody Porter
Party World by Carbon/Silicon
Shoot the Freak by LoveStruck
Walking Down Lonely Street by Ty Wagner
Violent Shiver by Benjamin Booker
Mad Love by The Blue Giant Zeta Puppies
Bury You Alive by Batusis
Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner
Stab from the Past by Firesign Theatre
Bein' a Dad by Loudon Wainwright III
Who Stole the Kiska by The Polkaholics
So Far Away by Social Distortion
Fly Like a Rat by Quintron & Miss Pussycat
Elephant Stomp by Left Lane Cruiser
Ritalin by Sonic Reverends
Clip from The Further Adventures of Nick Danger by Firesign Theatre
Burying Grounds by The Sensational Nightingales
My Wonderful Councelor by The Famous Davis Sisters
Dying Under a Woman's Sword by Yol Auralong & Ros Sery Sothea
Everybody Knows by Concrete Blonde
I'm Your Man by Nick Cave
Field Commander Cohen by Leonard Cohen
Still I Dream of It by Brian Wilson CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Terrell's Sound World is back on KSFR tonight with a live interview with Jody Porter, guitar slinger for the band Fountains of Wayne.
Through the magic of telephone technology, we'll talk about Jody's new solo album, Month of Mondays, which I've been playing on the show in recent weeks.
So tune in tonight, 10 pm Mountain Time at 101.1 FM, if you're in Santa Fe or Northern New Mexico or at www.ksfr.org if you're anywhere else on the planet.
Friday, June 12, 2015 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
Long Gone Anyway by The Banditos
Dusty Bibles and Silver Spoons by The Bloodhounds
Don't You Rock Me Daddy-o by Van Morrison, Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber
Old Joe Clark by The Dustbowl Revival
She's My Neighbor by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
I Want it So Bad by The Gourds
Life of a Poor Boy by Stonewall Jackson
Monterey by Paul Burch
No Longer a Sweetheart of Mine by Southern Culture on the Skids
Ronnie and Neil by Drive-by Truckers
Old Cracked Looking Glass by Tony Gilkyson
Long Black Veil by Mike Ness
Down in the Bayou by The Watzloves
18 Wheeler Fever by Scott H. Biram
A Girl Don't Have To Drink To Have Fun by The Stumbleweeds
Twenty Cigarettes by Ray Phillips
Blood Bank Blues Al Duvall
Save My Tears by Palomino Shakedown
Where's the Devil When You Need Him? by Legendary Shack Shakers
Change My Name by The Beaumonts
Memphis by Carl Newman
Goin' Down Rockin' by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
Pool Cue by Two Tons of Steel
Whiskey Drinkin' Women by Cornell Hurd
When Sinatra Played Juarez by Tom Russell
Shortnin' Bread by Guy Davis
Chocolate Jesus by Raw Death
Send Me Poppa's Fiddle by Louie Setzer
On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain Possessed by Paul James
Dink's Song by Dave Van Ronk
Take it Down by John Hiatt CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Did a happy, snappy American standard start out as a song about
malnutrition among rural African Americans?
I'm talking about "Shortnin' Bread," that favorite of Mammy's little baby, about
a tasty treat with strange medicinal power that can heal the sick and the half
dead. This tune has been sung and recorded by some of the country's best known
musicians, black and white, representing a number of styles and genres.
In her blog
Pancocojams, dedicated to "the music, dances, and customs of African Americans and of
other people of Black descent throughout the world," Azizi Powell writes.
Although "Shortnin Bread" is now considered a light hearted children's folk
song, its beginning verses reflect the fact that Black Americans often
lacked adequate food. In contemporary versions of this song, the first verse is given as "two
little boys/laying in bed/one was sick/and the other almost dead". The
reason why the boys were in those conditions was because they were suffering
from malnutrition because of the inadequate food rations that enslaved
families were given. In this song, the doctor was called to examine the children. His
prescription was that the children be given some food. However, in
actuality, enslaved Black people rarely saw any doctors. Also, shortnin
bread and coffee were rare treats for enslaved Black people.
James Whitcomb Riley
Even so, throughout the song's history, "Shortnin' Bread" has been played as a happy
good-time tune -- often as a children's song. That's a frequent thread in blues,
hillbilly music and other types of songs sung by poor people in this country --
finding humor and ultimately hope in terrible situations.
Some argue that "Shortnin' Bread" is a true folk song, coming from slaves on
southern plantations or their immediate descendants. But some say it could have
come from the minstrel shows, in which white performers parodied blacks. (Check
out this discussion over at
Mudcat.org)
Apparently the first known written version of the song was a poem, published in
1900, by
James Whitcomb Riley, written in black dialect.
The chorus goes:
Fotch dat dough fum the kitchin-shed— Rake de coals out hot an' red— Putt on de oven an' putt on de led,— Mammy's gwineter cook som short'nin' bread
Nowhere in the poem is anything about those two little children lyin' in bed, or
the doctor who prescribes shortnin' bread for them. While Riley took credit for
the poem, it's possible that he based the various (seemingly unrelated) verses
on songs or stories he heard from folk sources (i.e. plantation workers and the
descendants of slaves).
Powell points out that several folklorists, beginning in the 1920s, documented
versions of "Shortnin' Bread" -- who do have the familiar elements of the ailing
children and the doctor.
In 1924 country singer Henry Whitter recorded a harmonica-led instrumental
medley of "Hop Out Ladies & Shortenin' Bread." Gid Tanner & His Skillet
Lickers recorded it -- including lyrics -- a couple of years later. Both J.E.
Mainer, a proto-bluegrass artist, and Sonny Terry did versions in which the
Jew's harp was prominent.
Mississippi John Hurt didn't actually record it until the early '60s, but his
timeless style sounds like it could have been recorded decades before.
The song made it's way into the city. Paul Robeson
lent his baritone to it in 1933. Nelson Eddy sang it in the 1937 film Maytime.
And Fats Waller had a lot of fun with it in 1941. (Powell points out that Waller
sang about two "Senegambians" lyin' in bed. That's a reference to a region in
West Africa, though Waller seems to be using the word to describe African
Americans in general.)
The Andrews Sisters also sang it in the '40s.
The song found new life in the 1950s.
Dave Brubeck did a drum-heavy jazz version
called "Short'nin' Bread Gone With The Wind" in 1959. And there was a new
audience in R&B and rock 'n' roll. The song mutated into "Shortnin' Bread
Rock," which sounds heavily influenced by Big Joe Turner.
Etta James did a rocking version, as did Tony Crombie & His Rockets, who recorded it in 1956. But it's tough to match the crazy energy of The
Collins kids, who sang it on this TV appearance, introduced by country great Tex
Ritter.
Several early '60s "garage" bands recording the song in the early '60s.
Paul Chaplain & The Emeralds
recorded it in 1960. There also were fine rocking renditions by
The Bell Notes,
Johnny & The Uncalled Four. But my favorite of this style was the ferocious version by The Readymen.
Their wild arrangement appears to have inspired the cover by
The Cramps on their Stay Sickalbum.
There was a do-wop version in 1962 by a group called The Blisters.
And a tasty '60s soul version by Lee Dorsey
And in the early '90s The Residents found every ounce of weirdness in the tune
and, as they love to do, turned it into something bizarre and nearly
unrecognizable.
