TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, March 11, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
I Have Always Been Here Before by Roky Erikson
Pray for the Girls by Frank Black & The Catholics
Fight the Cuts by The Mekons
The Bluejackets' Manual by Mike Watt
Behind by Spanking Charlene
TV Set by The Cramps
99 to Life by Social Distortion
Jesus Christ Pose by Soundgarden

Highball with The Devil by Les Claypool & Holy Mackerel
Here Comes Sickness by Mudhoney
(You Must Fight to Live) On the Planet of the Apes by The Mummies
Blues For Joe by The Monsters
Demon Seed by TAD
Black Girls by The Violent Femmes
Unsatisfied by The Replacements

Porn Wars by Frank Zappa
Sharkey's Night by Laurie Anderson
Sing For Me by The Fiery Furnaces
Staring at the Sun by TV on the Radio
Gentles on My Mind by Queen Earlene

Patriot's Heart by American Music Club
The Murderer's Pub by Kult
Mamo, Snezhets Navalyalo by 3 Mustaphas 3
The Minotaur's Song by The Incredible String Band
Dad's Gonna Kill Me by Richard Thompson
Last Kiss by J. Frank Wilson
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, March 9, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Take Me to the Fires by The Waco Brothers
Roots Rock Weirdos by Robbie Fulks
Let's Invite Them Over by Southern Culture on the Skids
Satan Gets the Gold by Porter Wagoner
Some of Shelly's Blues by Michael Nesmith
Blues Stay Away from Me by Charlie Louvin with Bobby Bare and Tom T. Hall
Satan is Real/Straight to Hell by Hank Williams III
Stalin Kicked the Bucket by Johnny Dilks

It Is No Secret What God Can Do by Johnny Cash
Your Red Wagon by Paul Burch & His Honky Tonk Orchestra
Ain't it Funny What Love Will Do by The Holmes Brothers
Saginaw, Michigan by John Prine & Mac Wiseman
Forever (and Always) by Lefty Frizzell
Sweet Nutty by The Gourds
Gallo de Cielo by Tom Russell

My Mary by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price
These Hands by Johnny Bush
Philadelphia Lawyer by Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard
Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women by Ray Price
Night Watch by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price
Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride at All by Johnny Bush & Ray Price
Something to Think About by Willie Nelson
Sweethearts or Strangers by Merle Haggard
Born to Lose by Johnny Bush
Back to Earth by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price

Lady Pilot by Neko Case
Lost Highway by Jerry Lee Lewis with Delaney Bramlett
I'm Out of My Mind by Johnny Paycheck
Dreaming My Dreams With You by Waylon Jennings
Dreamboat by Eleni Mandell
Whiskey Girl by Gillian Welch
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: HONKY TONK HEAVEN

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 9, 2007

If you ask me, the greatest Bush ever to come out of Texas never was president of the United States. No, not Jenna. I’m talking about Johnny Bush, the shoulda-been-a-lot-more-famous honky-tonk star.

Johnny Bush, born John Bush Shinn III, probably is best known for writing the song “Whiskey River,” which his longtime pal and former bandmate Willie Nelson has been using to open concerts for more than 30 years.

Bush should have been a star. But right at the cusp of fame in the early ’70s — shortly after he wrote “Whiskey River” — he choked. Literally. His voice just went. First he couldn’t reach the high notes. After a while he could barely speak. Doctors thought it was a psychological problem. Eventually he was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called spasmodic dysphonia. It drove his career right off the cliff.

Bush recovered and started recording regularly again — for small labels — in the mid-’90s. He’s revered in Texas and by lovers of Texas honky-tonk music everywhere.

But he should have been a star.

Bush, who turned 72 last month, recently published an autobiography titled Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky-Tonk and recorded a CD called Kashmere Gardens Mud: A Tribute to Houston’s Country Soul. The book and the CD are basically two halves of a whole. The former tells Bush’s life story and the latter explores his musical roots.

The CD includes Texas beer-joint classics like Moon Mullican’s “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone” and Floyd Tillman’s “They Took the Stars Out of Heaven.” (There are some vocals from Tillman, who died in 2003.)

There’s a Tex-Mex tune called “Tequila and Teardrops,” with accordion by Ruben Laredo and vocals by Dale Watson (who wrote the song); there’s an instrumental “Jole Blon” (the “Cajun national anthem”) recorded in 1975 that guest-stars “Fiddlin’” Frenchie Burke; “I Want a Drink of That Water,” an original bluegrass gospel tune Bush sings with his brother the Rev. Gene Shinn; some big-band blues with “Free Soul”; and a full-on Ray Pricey horns ’n’ strings tuxedo-country version of the country-western touchstone “Born to Lose.”

Bush pays homage to another giant from Houston, Townes Van Zandt, with a cover of “Pancho and Lefty.” Nelson joins Bush on that song, as he does on the even more impressive acoustic version of “Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On,” a song by Houstonite Hank Locklin that was a pop hit for Dean Martin in the ’60s.

And Bush performs a couple of Willie Nelson songs here: the Outlaw-era “Bloody Mary Morning” and an early stab at gospel, “Family Bible.” But what ties all this together is the title song, and it’s one of the most personal pieces Bush ever wrote.

“Nothing good ever grew in Kashmere Gardens,” Bush sings of the Houston hillbilly ghetto where he grew up: “Only bitter weeds and flowers of despair.”

The song recounts the poverty he knew, the apocalyptic fears he knew as a child at the dawn of the nuclear age, the trauma of his parents’ divorce. All of this is told in more detail in Bush’s book. But boiled down to a three-minute song, it’s just devastating.

Bush has made some pretty fine little albums in recent years. Green Snakes (2001) and HonkyTonic (2004) are worth seeking out. But Kashmere Gardens Mud makes you feel like you know Johnny Bush.

Also recommended:
*Last of the Breed Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price. Speaking of venerated masters of the honky-tonk, this double-disc council of tribal elders is nothing but pure delight.

Haggard and Nelson, if not at full strength these days, remain vital artists. Price, who’s a decade older at 81 (and the only one of this trio who hasn’t toured with Bob Dylan), has slowed down his recording career. But, as his work here indicates, his voice remains strong and clear.

A little history: Nelson used to play in Price’s band the Cherokee Cowboys (as did Johnny Bush, Roger Miller, and Johnny Paycheck). The California-raised Haggard, who has recorded with Nelson, is a devotee of Texas music, having recorded definitive tribute albums honoring Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzell.

Among the 22 songs on this collaboration, the three titans harmonize and trade verses on some good Wills western-swing numbers (“My Life’s Been a Pleasure,” “Still Water Runs the Deepest”); some classic Texas honky-tonk (“I Love You So Much It Hurts”); some countrypolitan hillbilly jazz (“I Gotta Have My Baby Back”); a couple of Frizzell tunes (“Mom and Dad’s Waltz,” “I Love You a Thousand Ways”); a Hank Williams song (“Lost Highway,” actually written by Leon Payne); a Kris Kristofferson song (“Why Me Lord,” with Kristofferson singing background harmonies); a Mickey Newbury gem (“Sweet Memories”); a cornball but irresistible Gene Autry chestnut (“That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine”); new material from Nelson and Haggard (“Back to Earth” and “Sweet Jesus,” respectively); and a remake of one of Price’s greatest hits (“Heartaches by the Number”).

The singers are backed by some top-notch instrumentalists, including Buddy Emmons on steel guitar and Johnny Gimble on fiddle.

No, they don’t break much new ground here. But if you’ve ever liked any of these singers, there’s no way you can listen to this without a huge smile.

The bad news is that this album won’t be released until March 20. The good news is that Willie, Merle, and Ray are appearing 7:30 p.m. Sunday night, March 11, at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. The backup band for this tour is none other than Asleep at the Wheel. Tickets, available at Gettix.net, range from $55 to $86.

But the Santa Fe Opry is free: Hear all these honky-tonkers on KSFR-FM 90.7 from 10 p.m. to midnight Friday. (Yes, it’s free, but the station fundraiser is coming up, so start writing those checks!)

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: TELEPHONE BANKING

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 8, 2007

Thumbing through lobbyist reports at the Secretary of State’s Office, you don’t find only records of lavish parties for lawmakers and expensive dinners for legislative committees.

Another expense popping up lately involves what’s known as telephone banking.

Last week, I reported on a Texas lobbyist for Philip Morris who spent $4,000-plus to have a Virginia company call New Mexico smokers and urge them to tell their legislators to vote against House Bill 965, which would raise cigarette taxes.

It’s not just big industries spending money on phone banks, however. It’s citizens groups, too.

According to recent lobbyist reports required to be filed within 48 hours of the expenditure, Matt Brix, executive director of and registered lobbyist for New Mexico Common Cause reported spending $2,607 on phone banking late last month.

The calls were made to constituents in strategically selected legislative districts, Brix said Wednesday.

If the person called agrees to urge his legislator to vote for ethics-reform bills, he is immediately patched through to the legislator’s phone.

In addition to using a professional phone banker, Brix said, Common Cause is using volunteers to make calls.

Another group is helping Common Cause in this effort. The Albuquerque-based state chapter of the League of Young Voters reported spending $4,565, about half of which was for phone banking on behalf of the ethics legislation,such as a bill that would restrict gifts to public officials.

The other half went for a radio ad targeting House Bill 685, sponsored by Rep. Dan Silva, D-Albuquerque.

This measure would require state agencies to disclose the names of whistle-blowers who report alleged violations and limit a state agency’s rule-making ability to only those areas which the Legislature has already put into law. A fiscal-impact report by the Legislative Finance Committee says this could greatly reduce an agency’s ability to act, League of Young Voters co-director Keegan King said Wednesday.

The bill got a unanimous do-pass from the House Business and Industry Committee and currently is in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.

The jury is still out on whether legislators are influenced more by expensive parties and fancy dinners or by phone calls generated by phone banks.

Wanted: Songwriting Cowboys: Rep. Gloria Vaughn, R-Alamogordo, is learning that getting an “official state cowboy song” through the Legislature is nearly as hard as passing ethics-reform bills. For a couple of years now, she has tried unsuccessfully to get a song called “New Mexico” by Calvin Boles and R.D. Blankenship designated the official cowboy song. (CLICK HERE, then scroll down to the singing cowboy for more info on this song.)

It’s not that the Legislature is unfriendly to cowpokes. On Wednesday, the House unanimously passed House Memorial 81, sponsored by Rep. Anna Crook, D-Clovis, which declares March 15 as Cowboy Day in the House.

Vaughn’s cowboy-song bill stalled this year, according to state folklorist Claude Stephenson, because nobody can find Blankenship’s heirs. For a song to be declared an official state song, the writers or their heirs must transfer the rights to that song to the state, Stephenson said.

But Vaughn isn’t giving up. She introduced House Memorial 70, which calls for a state competition to write an official state cowboy song.

The measure still is in committee. Stephenson said if the House passes it, the state Music Commission — of which he’s a member — would set up a committee to judge the competition.

“The winner forfeits his copyright but will gain notoriety and will be enshrined forever in the state Blue Book,” Stephenson said.

Bye, centennial?: But will they sing the state cowboy song at the New Mexico Centennial celebration, which is coming up Jan. 6, 2012?

Not if the state doesn’t start planning its 100th birthday, the state folklorist said.

“We’re going to have a party in 2012, like it or not,” Stephenson said. “It’s coming up in less than five years. Do we want to plan for a good celebration or not?”

The state government of Arizona, which also became a state in 1912, has been working on its centennial for two years — with a $2.5 million budget, Stephenson said.

Rep. Rhonda King, D-Santa Fe, introduced HB 511, which would set up a 13-member Centennial Commission with a $250,000 appropriation. But the proposal apparently didn’t make the state budget.

Sounds like a pot-luck dinner and no-host bar for New Mexico in 2012.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, March 4, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Oowee Baby by The Cramps
Backstreet Girl by Social Distortion
Psychodelic Nightmare by Dead Moon
Here Comes Sickness by Mudhoney
I Hate Girls by Spanking Charlene
Searching by The Monsters
Rockabilly Madman by Screaming Lord Sutch
Here Comes the Terror by King Automatic
Bermuda by Roky Erikson

Jack by TAD
Everybody lets Me Down by J. Mascis & The Fog
They Ride by The Twilight Singers
Dumb All Over by Frank Zappa
Vicki Is a Pro by Jesus H. Christ & The Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse
Sing No Evil by Half Japanese
Single Again by The Fiery Furnaces
Come on a My House by Julie London

Stack O Lee by Samuel L. Jackson
Little Betty by Otis Taylor
Victory by P.J. Harvey
Fish in the Jailhouse by Tom Waits
Release It by The Time
She Cracked by Seaweed
Missing My Baby by G Love

Rhinocratic Oaths by The Bonzo Dog Band
Blue V Woman by Pere Ubu
Strange Apparition by Beck
Constant Sorrow Man by Frank Black & The Catholics
King Eternal by TV on the Radio
Out of Nowhere by Mark Lannegan
Fountains and Tramways by Beirut
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, March 2, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Bloody Mary Morning by The Supersuckers
Great Atomic Power by Charlie Louvin with Jeff Tweedy
Cash on the Barrelhead by Joe Nichols & Rhonda Vincent
There Goes Bessie Brown by Jim Lauderdale
Waiting For a Train by Dickie Betts
Pictures Can't Talk Back by Johnny Paycheck
Who Shot Sam by George Jones
Big Daddy's Rye by Arty Hill & The Long Gone Daddies
The Hunch by Hasil Adkins

I Love You So Much it Hurts Me by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price
The Face of a Fighter by Willie Nelson
I'll Sail My Ship Alone by Johnny Bush
Hand of the Allmighty by John R. Butler
Sweet Rosie Jones by Buck Owens
Old Dogs, Children & Watermelon Wine by John Prine & Mac Wiseman
Sweet Thing by Ernest Tubb & Loretta Lynn
Picture Show in My Mind by Brent Hoodenpyle & The Loners
Red Silk Stockings & Green Perfume by Maddox Brothers & Rose

Engine Engine # 9 by Southern Culture on the Skids
When Two Worlds Collide by Roger Miller
If It's Really Got to Be This Way by Bill Kirchen
Learning How to Live by Mike Ireland
Bonapart's Retreat by Mike Nesmith
Oh Lonesome Me by Don Gibson
Lubbock Lights by Thrift Store Cowboys
I Don't Wanna Work by Eric Hisaw

Standin' So Still by Boris McCutcheon
Distant Drums by Jim Reeves
These Days by Susan Clark
Close the Door by Eleni Mandell
Last Seen in Gainesville by Audry Auld Mezera
The Pilgrim by Jerry Lee Lewis & Kris Kristofferson
California Stars by Billy Bragg & Wilco
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: COUNTRYPOLITAN HAMS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 2, 2007

Countrypolitan — an outgrowth of the Nashville sound of the ’50s —
is among the most commercially oriented genres of country music. The Nashville sound emerged in the ’50s as a way to bring country music to a broad pop audience. The movement was led by Chet Atkins, who was the head of RCA Records’ country division. Atkins designed a smooth, commercial sound that relied on country song structures but abandoned all of the hillbilly and honky tonk instrumentation. He hired session musicians and coordinated pop-oriented, jazz-tinged productions. ... In the late ’60s, the Nashville sound metamorphosed
into countrypolitan, which emphasized these kinds of pop production flourishes. Featuring layers of keyboards, guitars, strings, and vocals, countrypolitan records were designed to cross over to pop radio and they frequently did.

From Allmusic.com

It was the more excessive countrypolitan sounds of early-’70s Nashville (as well as the creative stranglehold exerted by Nashville’s record labels) that prompted the Willie ’n’ Waylon outlaw revolt that briefly turned the country-industrial complex on its head 30-some years ago. You could argue it also sparked Buck Owens’ Bakersfield rebellion.

It’s natural for me to side with the rebels against the establishment in situations like this and to vilify the purveyors of countrypolitan for trying to smooth over good, raw American hillbilly sounds for lowly purposes of filthy lucre.

The only thing is — and I’m sure Willie and Waylon would agree — the countrypolitan era produced some great music.

Sure, there was crap and pap like Johnny Tillotson, “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife,” Eddie Arnold’s squishier moments, “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.,” Ronnie Milsap, and Olivia Newton John’s tenure as a “country” singer. And sure, it was countrypolitan that later morphed into the Urban Cowboy scare of the ’80s and the Hot New Country scourge of the ’90s. And it’s probably to blame for Kenny Rogers as well.

But give the countrypolitans credit where it’s due. What would American music be like without Patsy Cline or Jim Reeves or Tammy Wynette or Charlie Rich? And my Okie hero Roger Miller was considered countrypolitan — and if you’re running down Roger, you’re walking on the fightin’ side of me.

Southern Culture on the Skids, that surf-guitar/trashabilly/voodoo-and-fried-food-obsessed trio from North Carolina, recognizes the value of this misunderstood music. SCOTS’s new album is titled Countrypolitan Favorites. And indeed, this all-covers affair includes some prize tunes of the genre.

The musicians do a version of one of the first singles I ever bought in the early ‘60s, Claude King’s “Wolverton Mountain.” They do raw renditions of Taos resident Lynn Anderson’s hit “Rose Garden” and Don Gibson’s “Oh, Lonesome Me.” They cover the wife-swapping classic “Let’s Invite Them Over,” originally recorded by George Jones in 1963 (and more recently recorded just a few years ago by John Prine and Iris DeMent).

And they do a respectful and respectable take on a Roger Miller song, “Engine Engine # 9,” with railroad drums and a Floyd Cramerish piano as well as Rick Miller’s trademark surfy guitar.
There’s “Tobacco Road,” a song that bounced around between rock ’n’ roll bands and soul singers — from The Blues Magoos to Lou Rawls. But it was written by Nashville tunesmith John D. Loudermilk.

Don’t expect the same kind of overproduction that glumped up so much of the country music of the countrypolitan era. Most of these songs sound much closer to the hard-twanging, R & B-informed style of SCOTS than the slick Nashville studio sounds of Owen Bradley or Billy Sherrill. Miller and crew don’t make the mistake of trying to camp up these songs.

They keep the yodels on “Wolverton Mountain,” but they add an Augie Meyers-like, “96 Tears”-style organ for a Tex-Mex flavor. And Miller’s snarling guitar intro to “Rose Garden” never would have been found on a Lynn Anderson record — though I bet Lynn wouldn’t have any problems with Mary Huff’s vocals here.

And as for “Tobacco Road,” the biggest surprise here is that SCOTS hasn’t recorded this classic before now. It dealt with Southern culture on the skids long before there was a band named after the phenomenon.

But don’t expect to find only countrypolitan classics on Countrypolitan Favorites. For some reason it also includes a bunch of rock songs by the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Kinks, The Byrds, and even T. Rex.

Don’t get me wrong. Most of these sound fine, especially the Kinks’ country rocker “Muswell Hillbilly.” (There’s that garage-band organ again.) The relatively obscure Creedence tune “Tombstone Shadow” sounds like it was written for SCOTS. And Huff makes Wanda Jackson’s rockabilly torch song “Funnel of Love” her own.

But I would have preferred if SCOTS had stuck to the theme and rescued more lost countrypolitan songs. Jim Reeves’ “Distant Drums,” written about a soldier going to Vietnam, would be just as meaningful today. The group could have worked magic with Joe South’s “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” or Bobby Bare’s “Detroit City.” Huff would sound great interpreting just about any of Wynette’s hits.

She even might have been able to redeem “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.”