THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, March 24, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Banana Pudding by Southern Culture on the Skids
There Stands the Glass by Van Morrison
There is Evil by The Waco Brothers
Dollar Dress by Jon Langford
What Goes On by The Meat Purveyors
Better Than Broken by The Bottle Rockets
Feb 14 by The Drive-By Truckers
Just Squeeze Me by Janis Martin

Don't Go by Hundred Year Flood
En Este Momento by Cordero
Through an Open Door by Smutfish
Tabitha by Ed Pettersen
Flat Chested Girl From Maynardville by Bobby Bare Jr.
A Man of God by Trilobite
Liver by Desdemona Finch

When I Stop Dreaming by Johnny Cash
California Cottonfields by Merle Haggard
The Comedians by Roy Orbison
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by The Bubbadinos
Horses, Hitches & Rocky Trails by Andy Hersey
Rainin' in Port Arthur by The Gourds
No Way Out But Down by Graham Lindsey

Bluebird Wine by Rodney Crowell
Alabama Highway by Steve Young
Snow by Curt Kirkwood
I Like My Wine by Michael Hurley
Are You Sincere by Bobby Bare
Trip Around the Sun by Big Al Anderson
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

WHERE'S THE TUNE-UP? YOU'VE ALREADY READ IT!

This week's Terrell's Tune-up is a distillation (yeah, that's the ticket!) of the blogging I did from South by Southwest in Austin last week. No need to reprint it here.

If you missed it, however, or if you have this bizarre urge to read those posts again, you can follow these handy links:

SWSW DAY ONE

SWSW DAY TWO

SWSW DAY THREE

SWSW DAY FOUR

SWSW DAY MOP-UP

And if you really want to read the version as presented in Friday's Pasatiempo, CLICK HERE

NUMBER ONE WHEN I WAS BORN

One of my friends on the No Depression Yahoo board just posted this link to a site that will tell you what the number one song in the country was on any given day, going back to the 1890s.

Sorry identity thieves, but I won't post my date of birth. However, the week I was born, the number one song was "Vaya con Dios (May God Be with You)" by Les Paul & Mary Ford

THE INVISIBLE PRIMARY

ABC News' political unit has devised what they call "The Invisible Primary," a system that considers 19 different categories to rank 2008 presidential candidates.

"The ratings reflect a sense of who has "juice" — a demonstrated ability to elicit favorable attention from critical sectors of the political world, including activists, major fundraisers, and member of the news media who are paying minute daily attention to what has become the earliest and most intense presidential campaign ever at this stage."

So far the leaders are Sen. Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side and Sen. John McCain for the Republicans.

No big surprise.

Gov. Bill Richardson ranks a modest 7th in the Democratic Invisible Primary so far.

According to ABC News, he does best in the "Hang Test" category, where he ranks second behind former Sen. John Edwards.

The Hang Test is:

"How does the candidate do in dealing with people in person in formal speeches before large audiences, smaller venues, spontaneous situations, pig roasts, sledding, flapjack-flipping, and town meetings? Coat on or off? Tie loosened or tight? Dress or pantsuit? Can the candidate turn on a room? Perhaps most importantly, can he or she `hang?'"

Richardson also tied for second in the "Fire in the Belly" category. He's with Clinton and Edwards here behind former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.

He has high ratings in television campaign skills and party constituencies.

However Richardson falls down in the category of ability to win the New Hampshire primary where, in spite of his recent visit there, he ranks 10th. And he ranks even worse (11th) in his chance of winning the Iowa caucuses.

And he ranks troward the bottom in the areas of "Biography and Spouse," and perceived electibilty.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: CONVENTIONS, POLLS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 23, 2006

So what did Gov. Bill Richardson say to the Democrats after they put him on the state primary ballot Saturday at the their pre-primary convention at Albuquerque’s Highland High School?

Nothing.

While Richardson spoke at the convention that morning, he left for New Hampshire before the delegates voted.

Something tells me there’s going to be more and more of these little anecdotes in the months to come.

Richardson has no primary opposition — in the governor’s race at least. But not everyone at the high school was there to cheer the governor.

A handful of members of the Hispano Round Table of New Mexico — an umbrella for nearly 50 Hispanic organizations and labor unions — was there to demonstrate against Richardson.

A press release from the group complained about Richardson’s “abuse of executive power when it comes to vetoing important funding initiatives as a way of punishing legislators who fail to support the governor’s priorities, many of which seem to serve the interests of a limited number of people, including some who aren’t even residents of the state. ... Instead of providing for adequate funding of children and youth programs, for school facility construction and repair, for water projects so desperately needed by countless New Mexico communities, and a minimum wage to help bring vast working populations out of poverty, they chose ... to invest in the pet projects of celebrities and other special interests.”

The planned Southern New Mexico spaceport, proposed by Virgin Galactic’s Sir Richardson Branson, is one such example, said Hispano Round Table president Evangeline Trujillo. “We’re a poor state,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s like a low-income family that chooses to buy a Hummer when their children can’t read and need shoes.”

(Spaceport backers, of course, say the project will bring good jobs to the state.)

The Hispano Round Table also expressed frustration with legislative leaders who are unwilling to challenge Richardson’s vetoes.

“We got a lot of people giving us thumbs up,” Trujillo said. But she admitted other Democrats asked whether it was good publicly to criticize a Democratic governor.

Will the Hispano Round Table back Richardson against his Republican opponent (most likely Dr. J.R. Damron of Santa Fe, who only has a write-in opponent in his primary)?

“Not necessarily,” Trujillo said. “We’re going to be issue-oriented. We’ll align ourselves with the candidate of either party who best addresses our issues.”

Poll sliding : Richardson still has a good popularity rating — especially with Hispanics — in the latest monthly poll by Survey USA and KOB-TV.

According to the poll of 600 adults in the state, taken by telephone between March 10 and 12, 59 percent approved of the job Richardson is doing as governor. That’s down five points from February.

The latest survey found 36 percent disapproved of Richardson’s performance — up from 32 percent last month.

But the poll still shows Richardson doing fairly well with Republicans. Results said 46 percent of GOP respondents approved of Richardson’s performance while 51 percent disapproved.
Richardson got his best ratings from Hispanics, who gave him a 69 percent approval rating (26 percent of Hispanic respondents disapproved of the job he’s doing).

The margin of error is 4 percent. Survey USA conducts monthly polls on governors in all 50 states.

More fun with polls: Survey USA is a scientific poll. I’d hate to be unfair to unscientific polls, so consider the recent Daily Kos poll for 2008 Democratic presidential contenders.

If I were doing spin for the governor, I’d write a press release proclaiming that Richardson tied with conventional-wisdom front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton and finished with twice the numbers of U.S. Sens. John Kerry, Joe Biden and Evan Bayh in the liberal blog’s monthly straw poll.

Only trouble is, Richardson and Clinton each only got a lousy 2 percent in the poll. The big winner was Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who scored 48 percent. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark was a distant second at 15 percent followed by ex-Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (11 percent); former U.S. Sen. John Edwards (7 percent) and “No Freakin’ Clue” (4 percent).

Unconventional convention: With Sweeney Center being torn down, where can political parties hold conventions here? If you’re the Green Party, just do it at Java Joe’s. The Rodeo Road coffee house, which has a capacity of about 50 people, is where the Santa Fe County Green Party is holding its convention tonight.

Speaking of parties: Local political activist Agnes Moses — best known as a former president of the Santa Fe branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People — turns 80 this weekend.

Seven of her nine children will be in town to eat gumbo and enchiladas at a private celebration Saturday.

Moses has lived in Santa Fe with her husband, Bob, for the past 13 years. She also held offices with the Democratic Women of Santa Fe County.

I worked with her a few years ago in the fight to save KSFR, Santa Fe’s public radio station. Happy birthday, Agnes.

ZERXING MY RESPONSIBILITIES

Mark Weber, the strongman of Zerx Records, just sent me the latest albuZERXque compilation, Volume 22 to be exact, and it includes my song "Parallel World," which Erik Ness had me record a few years ago down in Las Cruces in the old farm & Livestock Bureau building, which had just been vacated. Erik took my vocals and guitar part and fortified it in a proper studio with the Desperados, a Cruces country band. The compilation has a more folk/country bent than most of the AlbuquZERXque projects, including several fresh tunes from The Bubbadinos, plus Bayou Seco and Weber himself. So buy the damn thing!

SXSW MOP-UP

At the Austin Airport on my way out of town Sunday afternoon, I ran into Ronny Elliott standing in line for ice cream. He told me he'd just seen Karl Rove.

I think there's an omen in there somewhere ...

Sometimes I think I'm getting too old for SXSW -- the lines, the who-bribed-the-fire-marshal crowds, standing up for hours at a time, the goddamn Austin traffic, which I forget how bad it is every time ...

Like Karl Rove's most famous client says, "It's hard work!"

I'm getting too old for it.

But I've got the feeling I'll be back.





YOU'RE ALL GOING TO HELL, YOU DEGENERATE BASTARDS!













"Are you sure this is the venue where P.W. Long is supposed to play?"














Inside the Yard Dog











Beatle Bob joins the Waco Brothers














Watch out for flying chairs!















Leslie cruises Sixth Street












P.W. plays while the crowd watches the backdrop


















Kev Russell of The Gourds tries to prove you can't catch bird flu from the Funky Chicken.











The Entourage: "We're the pros from Dover."

SXSW DAY 4

I stopped to listen to this guy preaching on Sixth Street Friday night, a lonely Christian soldier armed only with a megaphone, an island in a hostile sea of drunks.

He basically was telling the St. Patrick's night revelers that they were a bunch of drunken scumbags and Hell-bound reprobates.

Trouble is, in some ways I kind of agreed with him.

So I spent much of my Saturday night in church.

It just so happened that two of the most high-energy shows I saw this year was scheduled at the Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Austin.

Granted, the religion I heard about at these shows didn't sound much like that preached Friday by Rev. megaphone. There wasn't much talk about Hell and damnation. Instead, I heard about love and blessings. The singers I heard sang about Jesus as a friend, not a warden.

The first show I caught there was The Jones Family Singers, a gospel group from Bay City, Texas fronted by five of the six daughters of Elder Fred A. Jones, founder and pastor of The Mt. Zion Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Several other family members play instruments -- guitars, bass, keyboards. And 13-year-old Ian D. Wade, who I'm guessing is Elder Jones' grandson, on drums.

The group was amazing. They had the congregation going from the first note. Singer Alexis Roberts led most of the songs, which featured choreography from her sisters. They kicked the Devil, rocked in Jesus and rolled in the Holy Spirit.


Later in the evening, Marty Stuart and his band The Fabulous Superlatives did a breathtaking gospel set at Central Presbyterian. Stuart, a longtime Nashville vet and former sideman for Johnny Cash, released a gospel album called Souls' Chapel -- which I've got to get my hands on.

Stuart and band infuse gospel with strong portions of rockabilly and blues, and, one one guitar instrumental, even a sanctified version of surf music.

He was on fire.

Between these two shows, I walked down to Sixth Street to catch Lisa Germano's set. Back in 1995, my first SXSW, Germano was one of my very favorite acts. This was during her strongest period, not long after the albums Happiness and Geek the Girl, both pure sonic treats.

But tonight I just couldn't get into Lisa. Maybe it's because she just played piano and didn't have her full band. Or maybe it's because following the Jones Family, her music just seemed too self-absorbed and needy. Fortunately Stuart's show elevated my spirit back up to the level where the Joneses had left it.

But I wasn't completely avoiding drunken hellbound reprobates Saturday. Early in the evening I caught Marah at the Yep-Roc party at the good old Yard Dog. The brothers Bielanko were rocking.

My favorite song of theirs still is "Round Eye Blues," a moving song about Vietnam -- a war way too old for the Bielankos to have any memory of. When they first released this song back in 2000 (on their best album Kids in Philly), the song seemed like some stray ghost of a memory. With its references to singers and songs of that era ("I was shakin' like Little Richard, I was sweatin' like old James Brown ...") it seemed a period peace.

What a difference these years have made. The jungle's now a desert, but those same fears and horrors in "Round Eye Blues" are more relevent than ever.

And yes, I did on Friday attend more services at the Waco Brothers' Church of the Dollar Apocalypse.

As usual, I ended my SXSW with another Wacos show, their "official" showcase at Bourbon Rocks. While not as crazy, chaotic and inspiring as their Yard Dog gig the night before, (and indeed, Tracey survived what had to be a vicious hangover from his adventures the night before) it was a good and proper Viking funeral for this year's festival.

One surprise -- Garland Jeffreys, who had played a set earlier at Bourbon Rocks, joined the Wacos on stage for a version of "The Harder They Come."

Back to Santa Fe tomorrow ... back to work Monday ... It's been fun.

SXSW DAY 3

You probably can tell by reading these posts that I really enjoy South by Southwest and love coming here.

But sometimes it's not hard to get cynical about the monstrosity the whole shebang has become.

My big SXSW moment of the day was when I was outside of the Yard Dog Gallery, taking a break from the Bloodshot Party and calling my girlfriend on my cell phone. As I was talking with Helen, some wide-eyed kid comes up to me and hands me a CD in a paper envelope. I smile and nod, assuming he'll buzz off.

But no.

He starts giving me the song and dance about the band whose CD I now held in my hand, where I can catch them playing, and so on. I look at the little dunderhead and snap, "I'm trying to talk on the phone!"

The stupid kid is lucky I wasn't the man with the big cigar who could make him a star. Maybe I did him a favor so he won't bother someone who actually could help him. Of course, I thought of that kid later Friday walking down Sixth Street and ever so often seeing a bunch of scruffed up CDs lying among the paper pizza plates and plastic cups.

Oh well, on to the music.


The entourage and I spent most of the daylight hours at the annual Bloodshot Party. We got to see Bobby Bare again, who sang a couple of tunes -- "Detroit City" and one called "The Stranger," which is about a cowboy who has sex with cows. No joke. Bobby also sang an unfinished original concerning adultry.

Other highlights of the party:

The Bottle Rockets did a spirited set, despite the fact that the bass player blew an amp.

Cordero, a new Bloodshot band, was my surprise favorite discovery of the day. I know nothing about this band except they have a talented female singer, a trumpet player, and play a Latin-flavored rock that reminds me of Calexico.

Speaking of big surprises, during The Meat Purveyors' set, a guy standing behind me hopped up for a second on the stage with Cherilyn DiMond, the stand-up bass player. At the end of the song, Cherilyn said, "Oh my God, my boyfriend just proposed to me!

I think her answer was "yes."



As always though, the highlight of the Bloodshot party was those rascally Waco Brothers. They didn't play the last year I was here (2004), so I hadn't seen them since 2002.


This was the best Waco set I've seen in years. It was obvious that magic would be made as many began singing along with "Nothing at All," one of Deano Waco's best angry political songs.

Raw, inspired chaos seemed to be the order of the day. This is due in part to Tracey Waco's drunken highjinx. I'd never seen him this way. Usually he seems like a nice quiet guy. Not last night. He literally was falling-down drunk. At the end of the night Jon Langford said, "Tracey's going straight back to the hotel without his supper."

After the Wacos, almost anything would seem like a letdown. But it truly was a letdown when I learned that soul singer Bettye LaVette cancelled her performance. I'm not sure what her reasons were, but I was disappointed. She was one of the main acts I wanted to see here.


But someone who didn't disappoint was Big Al Anderson. I had assumed that his SXSW showcase would be on the mellow side, which was to support his newly released After Hours, a relatively mellow, sometimes jazzy album.

Instead, Al was rocking, reminding people why he was such an asset to NRBQ. My favorite songs he did were "All You Ever Do is Let Me Down" (a hit for The Mavericks, which he co-wrote with Raul Malo), "It Comes to Me Naturally" and Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm"(both from his NRBQ days)

The next show I caught was a guy named P.W. Long. He's a fomer frontman for the band Mule, and a favorite of most the guys in the entourage.

He's got a raspy voice, a beat-up guitar and a pissed-off attitude. He's backed only by a drummer -- the basic White Stripes/Black Keys/Moaners/Doo Rag arrangement.

P.W. was fun. But for good rocking rage, the Wacos were still ringing in my ears and Mr. Long didn't quite measure up to that standard.

I ended the evening at the Stan Ridgway showcase. He played with his acoustic trio feature his wife Pietra Wexstun on keyboards and Rick King on guitar. I knew it was going to be good when they opened with a slow spooky version of "Police Call," one of my favorite songs from the first Drywall album.

There was a Tex-Mex version of "Mexican Radio" a crazy romp on "Come on Down to The Barbecue," a strong "Call of the West" (from Stan's Wall of Voodoo days) and a good classic spookhouse rendition of "Ring of Fire."

I'd better get some sleep now or I'll be in worse shape than Tracy Waco Saturday.

SXSW DAY 2

If you were hoping for a thoughtful analysis of Neil Young's keynote speech -- sorry! For the first time in my SXSW history I overslept and missed the keynote speech. Blame it on my blogging.

It was another strong night of music. So strong, after the triple assault of The Fiery Furnaces, The Twilight Singers and The Drive-By Truckers, my delicate ears are still ringing.

The day started off nice and mellow at the party at The Gingerman hosted by singer/songwriter/producer Ed Pettersen and his lovely wife Jane. Truly a class affair with good music, tasty food (including fresh pineapples, blueberries and mango slices) and good friends. (You folks know who you are.)

My new musical discovery there was Andy Hersey, an Arizona cowboy singer (whose music you'll soon be hearing on The Santa Fe Opry.)


Ed played the strongest set I've ever seen him perform, backed by ex Dictator/Del Lord and longtime Pettersen crony Scott Kempner, who also played a solo set.

A funny note: during Kempner's set, a band at the bar next door, began doing a sound check on the outdoor stage -- a loud and insane ruckus that sounded like New Year's Eve in the nuthouse. Scott growled, "I guess it's revenge. I think when when I was a kid growing up, all my records sounded like that to my parents."

The first official SXSW showcase I caught Thursday night was Bobby Bare, making a rare appearance to promote his latest album The Moon Was Blue. His son Bobby Jr. sang background and played some guitar, harmonica and keyboards.

Bare's friendly voice still is in fine form. He played most of his greatest hits -- "Detroit City," "Streets of Baltimore," "Marie Laveau" -- but the stunner was "Are You Sincere" from the new album.


For my next musical treat I chose a jolter -- The Fiery Furnaces.

This brother-and-sister-led band made one of my very favorite albums last year, Rehearsing My Choir, much of it narrated by and centering around stories told by their grandmother.

I had wondered how the group would handle this. I imagined them using the taped voice of Granny Olga. I was secretly hoping for a guest appearance by the lady.

Instead, the Furnances did radically different versions of the Choir songs. In fact, live, they sound much different than their records. The synth-sounds are gone, replaced by a full guitar attack. The results are quite pleasing.


Speaking of favorite albums, Greg Dulli routinely makes my yearly Top 10 lists -- with his former group The Afghan Whigs and his latest one, The Twilight Singers.

He was in excellent form Thursday, playing his dark, intense music. He played some familiar Twilight tunes -- "Teenage Wrist Band," "Martin Eden" -- but much of his set was new material, presumedly from his upcoming album "Powder Burns."

It sounds promising. There was a slow, slinky, almost voodooistic song that I loved,

My only complaint -- nothing from the Whigs songbook.


And then there was The Drive By Truckers, who didn't play any of my very favorite songs -- "Sink Hole," ""Lookout Mountain," "Putting People on the Moon," "Steve McQueen" -- but still managed to pull off a terrific show.

This is the first time I've seen them with their current line-up, which includes singer/guitarist Jason Isbell and bassist Shona Tucker. They also had a steel guitarist sitting toward the back of the stage.

They did some new songs from their new album A Blessing and a Curse but the one that impressed me most tonight was "Cottonseed" from their previous album The Dirty South.

I'm about to pass out. Too bad I don't have any speech to sleep through on Friday morning.