Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 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
My Dirty Life and Times by John McEuen
Welfare Music by The Bottle Rockets
Harper Valley PTA by Jeannie C. Riley
Burly Kind of Love by Reach Around Rodeo Clowns
Still Around by Scott H. Biram
Tiger by the Tail by The Waco Brothers
Ghost Train by The Saucer Men
Highway Queen by Nikki Lane
Dis Train Am Bound for Glory by The Delmore Brothers
Tell Me Why/That Nightmare is Me/Broke Broom Blues by Mose McCormack
Welcome to the Real World, Kid by Butch Hancock
The Bourgeois Blues by Ry Cooder
You Can't Break My Soul by Little Leslie & The Bloodshots
Knee Deep in the Wakurusa River by Chuck Meade & His Grassy Knoll Boys
Silver Threads and Golden Needles by Wanda Jackson
America is a Hard Religion by Robbie Fulks
The End of the World by Skeeter Davis
Common Man by The Blasters
Do They Dream of Hell in Heaven by Terry Allen
Your Father's Country Music by Jim Terr
Lonesome Wind Blues by Rhonda Vincent
Poison Love by Mac Wiseman
Blue Moon of Kentucky by Elvis Presley
Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning by Willie Nelson
Given to Me by Southern Culture on the Skids
Pastures of Plenty by Cedar Hill Refugees
One Time One Night by Los Lobos
I'll Think of Something by Hank Williams, Jr.
Don't Lie Buddy by Josh White
Wishing All These Old Things Were New by Merle Haggard
I'll See You in My Dreams by Asylum Street Spankers CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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UPDATED A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Jan. 20, 2017 Southern Culture on the Skids have carved out a niche for themselves as America’s premier rocking hillbilly/surf/hot-rod and sometimes exotica band. Their latest album, The Electric Pinecones, was advertised as the group’s venture into garage rock, folk rock, and psychedelia. Indeed, Rick Miller’s guitars are a little fuzzier on some songs, and there is a weird little keyboard riff on the opening song, “Freak Flag.” And it’s true that the song “Waiting On You” sounds like it could be a lost gem from a late ’60s Roger Corman movie.
But basically this album sounds pretty close to rocking hillbilly/surf/hot-rod and sometimes exotica to me — which is a good thing. Miller, Mary Huff, and Dave Hartman are so good at what they do, it would be a shame to lose them to experimentation for experimentation’s sake.
I believe all these songs would fit in seamlessly in a live set with SCOTS’ classic material. “Rice and Beans,” for instance, would be a nice side for the band’s “8 Piece Box” (as long as you have their “Banana Pudding” for dessert).
SCOTS, all psychedelc in Portland, 2014
One of the standouts here is the song “Midnight Caller,” sung by Huff in the Southern-soul manner she does with songs like Shirley Ellis’ early ’60s hit “The Nitty Gritty.” And speaking of fuzz, on “Dirt Road,” Miller borrows The Yardbirds’ “Heart Full of Soul” guitar riff.
But my favorite ones here are simple country tunes like “Baby I Like You,” and “I Ain’t Gonna Hang Around,” both of which I could imagine Buck Owens singing.
And this band has rarely sounded prettier than they do on “Given to Me,” a country love song featuring irresistible harmonies by Miller and Huff.
This album is named after an old side project in which the SCOTS crew played what Miller describes as “West Coast psych, folk, and country.” Sometimes the Pinecones served as Southern Culture’s opening act.
I don’t care what they call themselves, this is a band that continues to delight.
Also recommended:
* Made in Brooklyn by John McEuen. He was the tall, dark, and usually silent banjo ace with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Even as that band drifted into light country pop, every so often a McEuen banjo lick would rise out of the background and remind you that this was the group responsible for Will the Circle Be Unbroken and Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy.
McEuen has stayed true to his country/bluegrass roots, and his latest album, full of musical titan guest stars, sounds like a living room picking party you wish you’d been invited to.
David Bromberg adds his guitar and vocals all over the place here; John Cowan, formerly of New Grass Revival, sings, as does John Carter Cash ( Johnny and June’s boy). Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin) plays banjo while New York folkie Jay Ungar plays fiddle and Beat Generation jazzman David Amram plays flute and penny whistle.
The first tracks that grabbed me here are two songs written by the late, lamented Warren Zevon. One is a latter-day Zevon anthem, “My Dirty Life and Times,” which he wrote while dying of cancer (“Some days I feel like my shadow’s casting me/Some days the sun don’t shine”). The other is the wicked and wonderful “Excitable Boy” (“He took little Suzie to the junior prom, excitable boy, they all said/And he raped her and killed her, then he took her home”). With singer Matt Cartsonis and Bromberg sharing lead vocal duties, it’s amazing how well this works as a bluegrass tune.
Bromberg shines on a fresh acoustic recording of “Mr. Bojangles.” He played on the original Jerry Jeff Walker version, while McEuen, of course, played on the hit 1971 single by the Dirt Band. McEuen himself takes a rare lead vocal role on a laid-back version of a more unsung NGDB classic, “Travelin’ Mood,” which originally was recorded by New Orleans R&B man Wee Willie Wayne.
* Buried Treasures by Mose McCormack. This album is truly full of buried treasures. It’s a
collection of unearthed songs that go back to 1975, when McCormack, as he writes in the CD’s liner notes, “walked into John Wagner Productions [in Albuquerque] and made a deposit to record a demo tape for an LA record company.”
Thus began a decades-long (and ongoing) partnership between the singer and producer Wagner. The record company in California “didn’t take the bait, but John called me and said let’s search for gold.”
A year later, McCormack, an Alabama native who moved to New Mexico in the ’70s (he’s been living in Belen for the past few years), recorded his debut album Beans & Make Believe at Wagner’s studio. None of the Buried Treasures songs are on it. I’m pretty sure that Mose had forgotten about these early tunes; I’ve been following his music since the ’80s and I don’t think I’d heard any of these before.
But I’m glad he finally released them. Like most of his repertoire, Buried Treasures is mainly good, simple, and pure country music full of wit and hangdog humor. And these early tunes show more than a kernel of the talent that made listeners love McCormack’s music.
My favorites here are the fast-paced, Cajun-flavored “Long Walk,” with some impressive steel guitar (I suspect that’s Augé Hayes) and sweet fiddle, and “Blue in the Ocean,” the story about “a cowboy gone to sea.”
The most rocking number is the last one, “Tell Me Why.” There’s a classic McCormack couplet here: “Everybody’s feeling paranoid/Psychopathologically a humanoid.” Hopefully these and some of the other nuggets on this record will become part of his stage repertoire. UPDATE 1:30 pm FridayMose had to cancel his appearance on the SF Opry tonight. We'll reschedule in the near future.
Let's have some videos!
Let's start with that real purdy Southern Culture on the Skids tune I keep mooning over
Here's some Excitable John
This is a sampler from Mose McCormack's Buried Treasures
And here is one of my favorite Mose songs from a few years ago
When President Obama gave his farewell speech last week, I was impressed by the fact that the song that played onstage was one of the most powerful and inspirational Bruce Springsteen songs ever written: "The Land of Hope and Dreams."
Even though it was just a recording, it hit me far harder than Obama's speech.
What gives the song its power how it draws from an old American spiritual. Well not that old. It had had to come after the coming of the railroad. The entire second part of the song is a re-write of the song "This Train."
It's generally agreed that the first recorded version was made in 1922 under the title of "Dis Train" by the Florida Normal And Industrial Institute Quartette.
Sister Roseta Tharpe had something of a hit with "This Train in the 1930s. But it the '50s, she recorded it with an electric guitar. Here's a live version from 1964 with blues pianist Otis Spann. (Unfortunately, she's not playing guitar.)
It's one of those songs that found devotees among white hillbillies as well as Black gospel singers. Here are the Delmore Brothers:
The train pulled into Jamaica where Bunny Wailer got on board. This was the closing song on Bunny's Blackheart Man, (still the greatest reggae album ever recorded.)
Jazz priestess Alice Coltrane took the train into the cosmos. To the moon, Alice!
But getting back to Springsteen ...
The original song seems to be about who is excluded from the Gospel Train. Depending on who's singing it, this train don't carry no gamblers or midnight ramblers or liars or crap-shooters or whiskey drinkers. Even Bunny Wailer's train -- while surely having at least one car reserved for ganja smokers -- "only carries the children of Jah."
But Springsteen turns it around and lifts these severe restrictions. The train in his song is for the rest of us:
This train carries saints and sinners This train carries losers and winners This train carries whores and gamblers This train carries lost souls I said, this train dreams will not be thwarted This train faith will be rewarded This train hear the steel wheels singin' This train bells of freedom ringin'
This is a message we all may need to hear in the not so distant future. We're all in this together.
It's been about 20 years since I've been to a circus, so I can't really say I'm a huge aficionado.
Still, I felt ad last week when I read that The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was calling it quits. The final show will be in May.
Now I don't want to get into any arguments with animal-rights advocates. You guys won this one. Go preach on another soap box. Shoo!
I have fond memories of the circus. On the night when President Kennedy gave his televised speech about the Cuban missile crisis, Oct. 22, 1962, my grandmother was very upset and to a lesser extenr so was my mom. Pending Doomsday does that to people. I was only 9 years old and wasn't sure what was going on. But the family had tickets to the circus -- probably Ringling Brothers -- and dammit, we were going! So we did. And somehow, watching the spectacular that night I had a feeling that things were going to be OK.
I love circus posters, surreal circus imagery. Yes I love clowns. I love women in skimpy sequined dresses flying through the air with the greatest of ease. even though the circus showed a world of colorful wonderment, there always seemed to be an undercurrent of sadness surrounding the circus -- clowns who secretly wept, acrobats who might be hiding secrets, ringmasters running a circus of crime ...
So here's a musical tribute to a strange and seedy American art form (though the circus didn't originate in these United States and a high number of performers are from other countries.)
Goodbye Greatest Show on Earth!
Here's a pop song from the early '60s, "Goodbye Cruel World" by James Darren
Here's a goofy jug-band circus by Jim Kweskin's and crew
Bruce Springsteen told a cool circus story in his early years.
"When the Circus Comes to Town" is a sad tune tune by Los Lobos
And I would have loved to have seen the circus Tom Waits talks about here,
Finally, Graham Parker sings a classic circus tune called "The Man on the Flying Trapeze."
Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Goin' Down by Dinosaur Jr.
Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps
Orgasms by The Sex Organs
How to Fake a Lunar Landing by Alien Space KItchen
Too Much of You by Thee Fine Lines
War Going On by Sulphur City
Little Miss Hard of Hearing by The Mobbs
Hard Working Man by Jonah Gold & His Silver Apples
Broken Arms by Mark Sultan
Book of Alpha by Satan & The Deciples
Starry Eyes by Roky Erikson with Lou Ann Barton
Kremlin Dogs by Gregg Turner
Froggy by The A-Bones
Sunglasses After Dark by Archie & The Bunkers
Tip Toe Through the Tulips by Bernadette Seacrest & Kris Dale
Dragnet for Jesus by Sister Wynona Carr
Cheap Thrills by Ruben & The Jets
You Don't Love Me by The Dustaphonics
Red Sun by Jerry J. Nixon
Let Me Spend the Night by The Devils
Problematic by Hank Haint
Too Much at Steak by Wet Blankets
Whiskey Wagon by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Cock in Pocket by The Stooges
Big Road by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Big Green and Yeller by Seasick Steve
Heaven on Their Minds by Murray Head
Back When Dogs Could Talk by Wayne Kramer
Disciplinary Action by James Chance & The Distortions
Mighty Man by James Legg
(All You Have to Do is) Die by Rev. Tom Frost
Pennyroyal Tea by Nirvana
Before the Next Teardrop Falls by Big John Hamilton CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
