OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
If You Don't Like Hank Williams by Kris Kristofferson
I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow by Townes Van Zandt
Your Cheatin' Heart by Ted Hawkins
Your Cheatin' Heart by Hank Williams
Alone and Forsaken by Social Distortion
Jambalaya by Professor Longhair with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
White Freight Liner Blues by Joe Ely & Joel Guzman with Ryan Bingham
Sorry You're Sick by Mary Gauthier
Hank Williams You Wrote My Life by Moe Bandy
Dollar Bill Blues by Townes Van Zandt
Angel of Death by Shane MacGowan & The Popes
There Stands the Glass by Ted Hawkins
Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do by Tom Jones
Settin' the Woods On Fire by Hank Williams
May You Never Be Alone by Skeeter Davis & NRBQ
Blaze's Blues by Townes Van Zandt
House of Gold by Willie Nelson
The Car Hank Died in by The Austin Lounge Lizards
Baby by Tina-Marie Hawkins Fowler & Elizabeth Hawkins
Waiting Around to Die by The Goddamn Gallows
I Can't Help It If I'm Still in Love With You by Hank Williams & Anita Carter
Ramblin' Man by Steve Young
Katie Belle by Townes Van Zandt
I Think Hank Woulda Done it This Way by The Blue Chieftains
Happy Hour by Ted Hawkins
Honky Tonkin' by The Maddox Brothers & Rose
Buckskin Stallion Blues by Jimmy Dale Gilmore & Mudhoney
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams
You Win Again by Mother Earth
Talking Thunderbird Wine Blues by Townes Van Zandt
The Love That Faded by Bob Dylan
The Lost Ones by Ted Hawkins
Fort Worth Blues by Steve Earle
Nashville Radio by Jon Langford
Did you miss it live? Hear it on Mixcloud in player below
Happy New Year, dear friends! Here is a list of my favorite albums of 2015. This list is in no particular order, but at some point throughout the past year, each one was my number-one favorite for at least a few days.
1)This Is The Sonics . Unlike The Standells, Question Mark and The Mysterians, Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs, and other giants of the garage-rock era of the mid-1960s, The Sonics didn’t get much radio play where I grew up. Thus, I didn’t really get exposed to them until well into my adulthood. And I didn’t become a complete babbling devotee of their cult until just a couple of years ago when I saw The Sonics — with three original members — rage, ravage, and conquer the Ponderosa Stomp festival in New Orleans. This is the band’s first studio album of all-new material in nearly 50 years, and it rocks harder than anything by any young whippersnapper I heard all year.
2) Mutilator Defeated at Last by Thee Oh Sees. John Dwyer is a miserable failure at hiatus. His attempt at putting Thee Oh Sees on the shelf only lasted a few months before he was back with a new line-up, which I begrudgingly have to admit is just as ferocious as the previous incarnation. The sound of Mutilator is unmistakably Oh Sees: rubbery post-psychedelic guitar-based excursions into the unknown with distorted echoes of garage rock, punk, and noise-rock.
3) Freedom Tower — No Wave Dance Party 2015by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. This album, the Blues Explosion’s second since the band’s resurrection with 2012’s Meat + Bone, is a loving song cycle about New York City. In several tunes, the band indulges in a little well-earned nostalgia about the sleazy, crime-ridden era of the ’70s and ’80s, those gritty days when punk rock, hip-hop, and yes, “No Wave” were born. Jon Spencer and the boys are as loud, frantic, and joyful as they were in their mid-’90s heyday.
4)The Ruffian’s Misfortuneby Ray Wylie Hubbard. Once again, Ray Wylie Hubbard has given the world a swampy, blues-soaked collection of tunes in which, in his trademark Okie drawl, he tells stories of sin and salvation; gods and devils; women who light candles to the “Black Madonna;” undertakers who look like crows (“red-eyed and dressed in black”); and hot-wiring cars in Oklahoma.
5) No Cities to Loveby Sleater-Kinney. These women are far better at hiatus than Thee Oh Sees. Sleater-Kinney’s little break lasted about 10 years. They roared back this year, though, with a mighty tour (including a memorable show in Albuquerque in April) and this new album. It’s brash, urgent, and emotional. And they make it seem so easy.
6) Long Lost Suitcase by Tom Jones. No, I’m not being ironic here. In 2015, Tom Jones — the old British pop star who sang “It’s Not Unusual,” the cheesy ’70s TV star and Las Vegas sex symbol at whom grown women threw their underwear — made one of the year’s finest albums. I was drawn in by his haunting cover of Gillian Welch’s “Elvis Presley Blues,” but I stayed for his rocking version of Billy Boy Arnold’s “I Wish You Would,” and Los Lobos’ “Everybody Loves a Train” – not to mention his stark take on one of my favorite early Willie Nelson tunes, “Opportunity to Cry.” I was so impressed, I sought out Jones’ previous albums with producer Ethan Johns — the gospel-drenched Praise & Blame and Spirit in the Room. Jones’ powerful voice is still in impeccable form and his taste in material has never been better.
7) Giving My Bones to the Western Lands by Slackeye Slim. On his latest album, Joe Frankland, aka Slackeye Slim, continues his exploration of the shadows. As usual, many of his songs are frequently cast in an Old West setting, though his themes of sin, redemption, loneliness, desperation, and freedom are universal. Slackeye lived among us in New Mexico for a few months, forming a sinister musical alliance with The Imperial Rooster, an Española band. He’s moved back to Colorado, but promises he won’t be a stranger.
8) Walk on Jindal’s Splinters by Jello Biafra & the New Orleans Raunch and Soul All-Stars. This is a live New Orleans concert by former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra that was reportedly done on a dare. Teaming up with a rootsy but raucous band (including a horn section), the West Coast punk-rock icon blasts his way through a bunch of Big Easy R & B classics.
9) Bailazo by Rolando Bruno. This is my choice for world-beat heavyweight champion of 2015. Rolando Bruno’s label, Voodoo Rhythm Records, describes his sound as “Full Blast Psychedelic Latino Cumbia Garage with a very Cheesy Touch of a ’70s Supermarket!!!” Bruno, a former member of the Peruvian garage-punk band Los Peyotes, also throws in Middle Eastern riffs, kung-fu movie soundtrack sounds, and other surprises to create a wacky but very danceable brew.
10)Coulda Shoulda Woulda by Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs. Holly Golightly and her partner “Lawyer Dave” Drake continue their streak of bare-boned funky-clunky country bluesy albums. Golightly is a native Brit, but this is a big sloppy homemade American mess, which of course I mean as a compliment. The whole album is packed with crazy fun.
OK, enough of this Auld Lang Syne crap! As this year goes down the tubes of eternity, let's get down down with some New Year's blues with some of the great blues artists from the last century.
Let's kick it off with Blind Lemon Jefferson and this song from the late 1920s.
Lightnin' Hopkins did this jaunty little jumper in the early 1950s
Back in 1962 Roosevelt Sykes sang about his troubles keeping New Year's resolutions.
Also in the early '60s Lonnie Johnson had some New Year's blues
This 1935 recording features Mary Harris on vocals, Charley Jordan on guitar and Petey Wheatstraw (William Bunch) on piano.
The new year is nearly upon us, so it's important to remember that there's more than one way to tip a cup of kindness with "Auld Lang Syne."
For instance, there's the Japanese one-man band way.
Here is another street musician, this one from Texas. "Folkie Kay" doesn't normally dress this way. She was wearing a costume that she says was "made for a production of Shakespeare's play Richard III at the University of Texas in the early 50s." Listen close and you'll hear a kazoo in the background.
Then there's this guy, performing what Dangerous Minds calls a "David Lynchian" version of Auld Lang Syne" on a theremin.
There's the slasher-movie/serial-killer way ...
And finally, here's how you do it if you're a cigarette-smoking cartoon lamb working for an Christian e-card company ...
For more on Auld Lang Syne CLICK HERE Happy New Year!
I believe that Gene Autry was America's greatest singing cowboy.
I realize that Roy Rogers fans would dispute that. But one thing that's not debatable is that Autry was America's greatest singing Christmas cowboy. He could claim that title just for writing the following holiday hit (performed in 1953 in this video.)
But Autry also wrote this song, which he sang in the 1949 movie "The Cowboy and The Indians," in which Autry helps the Navajos, including Jay Silverheels (who also played Tonto in The Lone Ranger) against an an evil trading post operator. The movie poster says, "Autry Blasts Pale Face Renegades."
And while Autry didn't write this next song, he was the first to record it, back in 1950
