TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, July 17, 2011
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

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Perverts in the Sun by Iggy Pop
Folly of Youth by Pere Ubu
Curious Orange by The Fall
Rats in My Kitchen by The Fleshtones
Sookie Sookie by Steppenwolf
La Ruota Gira by Le Carogne
Jungle Seizure by The Makeovers

Cantina by Pinata Protest
Gilligan's Island by Manic Hispanic
Cretin Hop by The Ramones
Steppin' Out by Paul Revere & The Raiders
The Stomp by The Hives
On the Prowl by WolfBoy Slim & His Dirty Feets
Big Fat Mama by Paul Kimball
Ride In My 322 by Spyder Turner
I'm Insane by T-Model Ford
Goo Goo Muck by Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads
Delta Trip by Juke Joint Pimps
Pimps of Polka by The Polkaholics

Heartbreak Hotel by The Cramps
Spidey's Curse by The Black Lips
Just a Boy by Butthole Surfers 4
I'm a Nothing by Magic Plants
Booty City by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Hand of God by Soundgarden
Ring A Ling Dong by Rudy Ray Moore
It Ain't What You Say by Little Esther
Midnight Sun by Dex Romweber Duo

Pappa Legba by Pops Staples with The Talking Heads
Eddie's Gone by Houndog
I'm Wild About That Thing by Bessie Smith
Let's Go Get Stoned by Ray Charles
It Comes to Me Naturally by NRBQ
So Long by Jimmy Scott
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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FOLK REMEDY PLAYLIST

Sunday, July 17, 2011
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday Mountain Time
Guest Host: Steve Terrell (subbing for Laurell Reynolds)
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell (at) ksfr.org

I Wants My Lulu by Welling & McGee
Hapa Hole Hula Girl by Kalama's Quartet
Hula Girl by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
How You Want it by Big Bill
Gamblin' Dan by Cliff Carlisle
I've Got Blood in My Eye For You by The Mississippi Sheiks
I'm Gonna Live Anyhow Until I Die by Miles & Bob Pratcher
Two Sweethearts by The Carter Family
Carve That Possum by Uncle Dave Macon

Billy the Kid by Vernon Dalhart
Oh! Didn't He Ramble by Arthur Collins
I'll Put You Under The Jail by Butterbeans & Susie
Barbeque Bust by Mississippi Jook Band
Tired Chicken Blues by Cannon's Jug Stompers
Do You Call That a Buddy by Martin, Bogan & Armstrong
My Four Reasons by Banjo Ikey Robinson
I Heard the Voice of a Porkchop by Jim Jackson
The Titanic by Bessie Jones
Like a Monkey Likes Coconuts by The Hoosier Hotshots
Buffalo Gal by Blind James Campbell
Skip to Ma Lou by Uncle Eck Dunford

Parchman Farm Blues by Bukka White
Walkin' Cane Stomp by Kentucky Jug Band
I'll Put You Under The Jail by Butterbeans & Susie
Barbecue Bust by The Mississippi Jook Band
Tired Chicken Blues by Cannon's Jug Stompers
Cocaine by Dick Justice
The Spasm by Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah
Murphy's Wife by Frank Quinn
Old Rub Alcohol Blues by Dock Boggs

Are You Washed in the Blood? by Ernest Stoneman, & His Dixie Mountaineers
Strange Things by Henry Green
Lonely Tombs by Preston & Hobart Smith
The Morning Trumpet 85 by Henagar-Union Sacred Harp Convention
Soldiers of the Cross by Rev. Lonnie Farris
If I Had My Way I'd Tear This Building Down by Blind Willie Johnson
The Signs of the Judgement by Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers
I Got a Telephone in My Bosom by Amazing Farmer Singers of Chicago
Yeah Lord, Jesus is Able by Rev. Louis Overstreet

(I also did this show in January. That playlist is HERE)

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, July 15, 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
The Snake by Johnny Rivers
Sink Hole by Drive-By Truckers
Ain't Got No Dough by Peter Case
Payphone by Eric Hisaw
Never No More by Flat Duo Jets
I Want it So Bad by The Gourds
Road Bound by Bob Wayne
Crazy as a June Bug by Paula Rhea McDonald
Voodoo Queen Marie by The Du-Tels
The Voodoo man by Johnny Perry

La Bamba by Bud & Travis
Psychopath Of Love by The Dusty Chaps
Freeborn Man by Junior Brown
Out of Control by The Last Mile Ramblers
Truck Driver's Woman by Nancy Apple
I'll Tell You what to Do by Ronny Elliott
Hiding in the Hills by Butch Hancock

Gary, Indiana 1959 by Dave Alvin
Some of These Days I'll be Gone by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Sixteen Chicks by J.P. McDermott & Western Bop
Banshee by Ed Sanders & The Hemptones
Nails In My Coffin by Jerry Irby & His Texas Ranchers
Victoria's Secret is safe With Me by Arty Hill
Tall, Tall Trees by Roger Miller
The Last Word in Lonesome is Me by The Desperados
Right String Baby (But the Wrong Yo Yo) by Carl Perkins

Runnin' Wild by James Cole's Washboard Four
Old Gospel Ship by Ruby Vass
Get Yourself a Monkey Man Make Him Strut His Stuff by Butterbeans & Susie
My Lord Keeps a Record by The Mountain Ramblers
Get a Load of This by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
Keep it Clean by Charley Jordan
When He Calls Me I Will Answer by Howard Armstrong
Heard it Through the True Vine by Flora Molton
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Alvin Turns it Up to 11

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 15, 2011


On his new album, Eleven Eleven, Dave Alvin sounds tougher than ever, playing hard-edged blues-soaked songs of people on the outskirts facing desperate odds, harsh choices, and bittersweet memories.

As usual with Alvin records, my favorite tunes here are the rowdy rockers. But I have to admit that most of Alvin’s softer, prettier songs are knockouts as well. To use the words he sang about his father a few years ago, Alvin “can swing a sledgehammer or soothe a baby that’s cryin’.”

The title of the album comes from the fact that this is Alvin’s 11th solo album (not including his three live ones), and it was released in 2011. (That kind of begs the question of why he didn’t wait until November to release it.)

In this long-time fan’s view, this one ranks up there with his best.

“The songs are about life, death, love, family, friendship, faith, doubt, labor, money, justice, and survival,” Alvin writes in the liner notes. “The usual stuff.”

He effortlessly shifts between a pretty, folkie duet with Christy McWilson on “Manzanita” and a raw song of lust like “Dirty Nightgown” — and it all sounds true.

The album starts off with snarling guitars and stormy drums breaking into a moody boogie called “Harlan County Line,” which has music that reminds me of Canned Heat’s “On the Road Again.” It’s about a lost lover whose memory apparently comes through as the narrator clears his mind one morning with menthol cigarettes.

This leads into a fiery little blues called “Johnny Ace Is Dead,” which deals with the 1954 backstage suicide of R & B singer John Marshall Alexander Jr., aka Johnny Ace.

Alvin’s not the first to write a song about this incident, which, according to legend, was a game of Russian roulette gone bad. Released in the early ’80s, Paul Simon’s “The Late Great Johnny Ace” weaves the death of Johnny Ace with the killing of John Lennon into a sad nostalgic tale.

Alvin’s song is more literal. He has Big Mama Thornton — who was on the same bill as Ace that fateful night — telling the doomed singer to quit fooling around with his gun. “He said, ‘Ladies, want to see me play a wild little game?’ / But Big Mama Thornton said ‘Go sing your song / And put that damn thing down before something goes wrong.’ ”

By the next verse, Ace’s record company owner, Don Robey, is already plotting to exploit the death. “I’m gonna send him back to Memphis in a refrigerated truck / Cause Johnny Ace is gonna make me a million bucks.”

Amy Farris at SF Brewing Co. 

Ace is not the only suicide victim Alvin sings about. “Black Rose of Texas” is a somber ode to Amy Farris, the fiddle player in Alvin’s Guilty Women band a few years ago. She killed herself with pills in 2009, about a month after performing with Alvin at the Santa Fe Brewing Company.

Another fallen musical partner of Alvin’s gets a tribute here. “Run Conejo Run” is about Chris Gaffney, who played accordion with Alvin’s Guilty Men before he died of liver cancer in 2008. It’s one of the strongest rockers on this CD, with a punchy Bo Diddley beat. Gaffney sings with Alvin on “Two Lucky Bums,” the last song on the album. It’s a jazzy, mellow acoustic number, with Gaffney’s accordion sounding like a harmony.

Alvin with Chris Gaffney
Thirsty Ear Festival 2006

There’s at least one song I suspect was inspired by recent headlines. “Gary, Indiana, 1959,” which recalls the glory days of American labor, has to be sparked by the union struggles in Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states this year.

A couple of tunes deal with crime. “Murrietta’s Head” is about a poor guy considering the governor of California’s bounty on celebrated outlaw Joaquin Murrieta back in the Gold Rush era. More contemporary is “No Worries, Mija,” a Mexican-flavored acoustic song in which the narrator assures his lover that everything will be great after he makes some money doing some unspecified “job” across the border. “Yeah, there may be some trouble, honey I won’t lie,” the narrator admits.

Phil Alvin with The Blasters
Hootenanny Festival 7-4-09

For those, like me, who became familiar with Alvin’s music in the early ’80s, when his band The Blasters was making glorious punked-up rockabilly, R & B, and blues, the song “What’s Up With Your Brother” will be a true treat.

This is a duet with Dave Alvin and his brother Phil, the Blasters’ singer — and it’s the first time the Alvin brothers have ever sung together on record. (In the strict division of labor in that band, Dave played guitar and wrote songs but kept his mouth shut.)

On “What’s Up,” the two poke fun at their sibling rivalry, trading verses complaining that, despite their individual accomplishments, all anyone asks them about is what the other brother is doing. The song ends in a mock spat, acknowledging with a sweet wink the bitter way Dave left the band. A third Blaster is on this song too. Gene Taylor plays piano, as he does on “Gary, Indiana, 1959.”

The spirit of Eleven Eleven is summed up in a plea for sex on the song “Dirty Nightgown.” “Life is beautiful and sad, baby, and you know our time ain’t long / Friends and family pass away and tomorrow we may be gone / So just let your hair down, baby, and put your dirty nightgown on.”

Catch Me On Folk Remedy Sunday Morning

This Sunday morning at 8 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time (twisted, I know) I'll be subbing for Laurell Reynolds on her Folk Remedies show on KSFR.

I've only done this show once before and I loved it.

About 90 percent of of the music I'll be playing will be Old Weird America stuff -- blues, hillbilly, gospel, jug band, cowboy songs, madness -- from the '20s and '30s, plus some field recordings from the South back in the late 50s, early '60s. So tune in and get remedied.

Here's the type of stuff you'll hear:

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, July 10, 2011
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

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Cheap Thrills by Ruben & The Jets
Bad Knots by The Subsonics
Final Solution by Rocket from the Tombs
I Was On (The Bozo Show) by Nobunny
Gloria in Excelsis Deo by Patti Smith
Go Ahead and Burn/Barefoot Susie by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Blew My Speakers by the Angel Babies

I Wish You Would by The Dex Romweber Duo
Crazy Little Things by Captain Beefheart
I Gotta Way With Girls by The Fuzztones
The Pimps Don't Like It by Juke Joint Pimps
Cosmic Cars by The Dirtbombs
I Ain't Drunk by Jimmy Liggins
Solo Sex by Pussy Galore
Send Me Some by The Pussywarmers
Gomp Blues by Johnny Otis
But Officer by Sonny Knight

Tonight I'm Going To Jail by Felix y Los Gatos
Mojo Workout by King Salami & the Cumberland 3
Land of the Freak by King Khan & The Shrines
Disconnect by The Black Saxons
Night of the Living Bride by Mississippi Grover
The Zombie Stomp by Danny Ware
Dead Moon Night by Dead Moon
Down By The Riverside by Snooks Eaglin

Johnny Ace is Dead by Dave Alvin
The Late Great Johnny Ace by Paul Simon
Pledging a Love by Johnny Ace
On My Way by Mahalia Jackson
Let the Four Winds Blow by Fats Domino
Wrong Side Of The Road by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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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.