Saturday, November 24, 2007

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 30, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Hill Country Hot Rod Man by Junior Brown
Maybellene by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriquez
Riders in the Sky by Dick Dale
Undo the Roght/Somebody's Back in Town by The Flying Burrito Brothers
Red Rumor Blues by Ronny Elliot
Flash of Fire by Hoyt Axton
Thumbelina by Albert & Gage

November by The Rockin' Guys
Jack Ruby by Camper Van Beethoven
Lee Harvey by The Asylum Street Spankers
He Was a Friend of Mine by The Byrds

San Francisco by Ted Hawkins
I Made a Mess of This Town by Scott Miller & The Commonwealth

The Girl on Death Row/Psycho by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
Strangler in the Night by Albert De Salvo (The Buggs)
The Boston Strangler by Johnny Legend
Dolores by Eddie Noack
The Rubber Room by Porter Wagoner
Down in the Wrecking Yard by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
Way Out in the World by C.W. Stoneking
O'Reilly at the Bar by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
Collegiana by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Coffee Blues by John Sebastian & David Grisman
My Walking Stick by Leon Redbone
Cruelle Tendresse by Les Primitifs du Futur
Old Pine Box by The Dead Brothers
Wildwood Fkower by Amy Nelson & Cathy Guthrie
Thanksgiving by Loudon Wainwright III
No Expectations by Johnny Cash
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

Friday, November 23, 2007

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: MURDER MADNESS & COUNTRY MUSIC

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 23, 2007


One of the rough edges of country music that has been almost completely smoothed out by Nashville tastemakers in recent decades is the great tradition of hillbilly madness/murder songs. Sure, you can sing proudly about putting your boot in the orifices of approved enemies of the state, but you won’t find the likes of Willie Nelson’s “I Just Can’t Let You Say Goodbye” or even Marty Robbins’ slightly milder “Laura (What’s He Got That I Ain’t Got)” on today’s safe and sanitized country radio.

The world of alternative country, of course, always has had an odd fascination with the dark side of country music.

But before anyone had ever heard the term “alt country,” a band of misfits called T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole released Pardon Me, I’ve Got Someone to Kill, consisting of honky-tonk tales of crime and psychosis. Originally released in 1989 on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label, it’s been re-released recently by Saustex, based in Texas. The sound definitely is lo-fi — tinny even — but Pardon Me is a real kick.

To start with, the album contains some well-known classics of the sub-subgenre. There’s the title song, which originally was recorded by Johnny Paycheck. Here the narrator calmly tells a barroom buddy that he’s about to commit a crime of passion.

Edwards does a respectable take on the late Porter Wagoner’s horror tale, “The Rubber Room.” If there’s an Out on Parole reunion, I suppose they could do “Committed to Parkview,” an exploration of a similar theme penned by Johnny Cash and sung by Wagoner this year on his final album, Wagonmaster.

And Edwards does a pretty good version of “Psycho,” which was written by the great blind bard Leon Payne (best known for writing Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway”). A one-hit country wonder named Jack Kittel recorded perhaps the definitive version of this black-humor honky-tonker. Elvis Costello also recorded a version back in the ’80s, though I first heard it done by ex-Angry Samoan Gregg Turner here in Santa Fe. The narrator is talking to his mother, talking about killing a couple, about his crazy dreams, and his doubts about his sanity. “I woke up in Johnny’s room, mama/Standing right there by his bed/With my hands around his throat, mama/Wishing both of us were dead.” But is his mother really listening?

Considering that Edwards doesn’t have the voice of Johnny Paycheck, Porter Wagoner,or even Jack Kittel, the true gems of this album are the obscurities, oddities, and little-known novelty tunes. They include “The Girl on Death Row,” written by none other than Lee Hazelwood (I don’t think he ever sang this with Nancy Sinatra); “LSD Made a Wreck of Me,” a cautionary drug tale (“I started using LSD, it gave me quite a kick/Better than booze and easy to use/But it made me mentally sick”); and “Dolores,” a sad saga of a hapless serial killer who accidentally murders his own sweetheart. If only she’d listened to him and stayed inside!

The weirdest one here is “Strangler in the Night,” which has lyrics allegedly written by Albert DeSalvo, believed by many to be “the Boston Strangler.” When DeSalvo was in prison, a Cambridge record company actually released a spoken-word single with greasy ’50s-style slow-dance rock (reportedly by a Boston band called The Bugs) behind someone with a good radio voice reciting DeSalvo’s lyrics: “I don’t know a woman/And yet I crave on/My mind tells my body/Don’t just stand there, get one!” (You can find an MP3 of the original HERE.)

My one complaint about Pardon Me is that the liner notes should be better. We should know more about Johnny Legend, who wrote the song “Smitty” (and also ballads about the Boston Strangler, the Black Dahlia killing, etc.), and about where these other songs came from. But even without satisfying your inquiring mind, these songs are a twisted delight.

Also Recommended:
* Satisfied by John Sebastian & David Grisman. After immersing myself in the tasty but gruesome T. Tex Edwards album for the purposes of writing this review (the things I go through for you people!), a little nice music sounds pretty good and clears the palate. And good music doesn’t get much nicer and friendlier than this recent collaboration between mandolin master Grisman and former Lovin’ Spoonful frontman Sebastian.

These guys played together with Maria Muldaur and other future stars of folk in The Even Dozen Jug Band more than 40 years ago.
According to the liner notes, they hadn’t seen much of each other in 40-some years. But on this album they sound like they’ve been playing together forever.

My favorite songs are covers of Mississippi John Hurt: “I’m Satisfied,” plus “Coffee Blues,” the song that gave Sebastian’s famous band its name (“I’ve just got to have me my lovin’ spoonful”).

* The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 by Bob Dylan. Every few years, I guess, the rock ’n’ world needs another excuse to get all hot and bothered at the holier-than-thou folkie purists who got so hot and bothered over Dylan “going electric.”

This DVD contains that magic moment at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when Dylan came onstage with members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band with their (shudder) electric instruments.

While the folkie hecklers deserve all the scorn they’ve received, watching Dylan’s crazed version of “Maggie’s Farm” captured here shows why they were shocked. Dylan and his band are ablaze. He wasn’t singing about freedom anymore; he was living it.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: FUN WITH POLLS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 22, 2007


A new SurveyUSA poll on the New Mexico U.S. Senate race, performed on behalf of KOB-TV, confirms results of some other polls that have floated around in recent days.

Basically, U.S. Rep. Tom Udall is ahead of everyone in both the Democratic primary (where he has a near 2-to-1 edge over Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez) and the general election (where he’s leading Republican Reps. Heather Wilson by 15 points and Steve Pearce by 14 points.)
HEATHER & TOM
In the GOP primary, according to this poll, Wilson beats Pearce by 19 points. In a general election matchup, Wilson is ahead of Chávez by only 1 point. Pearce would defeat Chávez by 10 percentage points.

Where it gets fun is when you look at the demographic groups supporting the various candidates. In the Republican primary, Wilson is beating Pearce among Republicans who call themselves conservatives and those who call themselves moderate.

But here’s the surprise: Pearce — the man from Hobbs who has perfect or near-perfect ratings from a wide spectrum of conservative interest groups — is mopping up the earth with the more moderate Wilson among Republicans who identify themselves as liberals. He’s winning the liberal wing of the state GOP 70-18 percent.
David F. Cargo
One has to wonder: How many times did they call Dave Cargo?

But seriously, only 4 percent of the 500-plus New Mexico Republicans interviewed by SurveyUSA called themselves liberal.

On the Democratic side, Udall is ahead of Chávez in every demographic group except voters between the ages of 18 and 34. There, Chávez has a 4-point advantage. Maybe it’s all that fancy Internet stuff Chávez has been doing, such as his recent online town hall.

Udall has a 1-point lead among Hispanics.

The automated poll was conducted last weekend. A total of 1,737 registered voters were called. The margin of error was 2.5 percent in the general election questions, 4 percent in the Democratic primary questions and 4.4 percent in the Republican primary questions.

Meanwhile, back in Iowa: The ABC News/Washington Post poll of Iowa voters caused a stir this week — mainly because it had Sen. Barack Obama edging out front-runner, Sen. Hillary Clinton, for the first time.

Gov. Bill Richardson is in a distant fourth place, behind Sen. John Edwards. As in other recent Iowa polls, Richardson is returning to low double digits (11 percent here) after slipping for several weeks.

But again, the real fun is in the breakdown of the numbers.

There’s one issue in which the 500 likely Democratic caucus-goers polled say Richardson is the best qualified: immigration. A full quarter of those polled say Richardson is the best candidate on this issue. Obama comes in second with 22 percent.
RICHARDSON PREPARES FOR TV INTERVIEW
Unfortunately for Richardson, only 2 percent of the Democrats surveyed said immigration is the most important issue. The most important issue for Democrats, according to the poll, is Iraq, which got 33 percent. Only 15 percent said Richardson is the best candidate on this issue.

Richardson tied for second with Edwards on the question of which candidate had the best experience. They each got 16 percent. However, Clinton led this question with 38 percent of those polled.

While newspaper and magazine profiles about Richardson almost inevitably mention the fact he holds the world’s hand-shaking record, this poll shows Richardson should be shaking more hands in Iowa.

Thirty-three percent of Democrats polled said they’d met one of their party’s 2008 candidates. But of those, only 22 percent said they’d met Richardson. Again, he’s in fourth place in this category. The leader here is Obama. More than half of those who said they’d met a candidate said they’d met the Illinois senator.

Birthday boy: Richardson undoubtedly shook lots of hands last Friday at a birthday party thrown for him by Andrew and Sydney Davis in Santa Fe. (His actual birthday was the day before, but he was busy that night at the Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nev.)

According to those who were there, the place was crowded with politicians, government officials and a couple of Hollywood types, including producer Taylor Hackford and Scottish actor Gerard Butler.

Also spotted were Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, state Democratic Chairman Brian Colon, congressional candidate Don Wiviott and state House contender Brian Egolf.

Tom Udall was there — and was acknowledged by the birthday boy. But apparently not Marty Chávez. Could that have any political significance?

The Davises are best known for building a 26,000-square-foot residential complex on a hill overlooking Hyde Park Road. The mansion is still under construction, so the party was held at their current Santa Fe home. Andrew Davis is known to be a generous contributor to state and local Democrats. However, a check of federal election records shows he’s contributed not only to Richardson’s presidential campaign this year, but also to Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Guiliani.

I smell a rat!: While enjoying the aroma of your turkey and pumpkin pie on this Thanksgiving day, say a little prayer for the workers at the state Child Support Enforcement field office in Santa Fe.

On Wednesday, several workers had to work in different offices because the smell was so bad. One employee said there were dead mice in the old building’s ventilation system.

A spokeswoman for the state Human Services Department confirmed the agency had to call an exterminator to get rid of the dead rodents.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

SOME MUSICAL PLUGS


Been too busy to blog much lately, but I have a bunch of musical plugs I need to take care of.

First of all, don't forget the Lannis Loyd Celebration Jam at the Santa Fe Brewing Company Friday night. It's scheduled from 6-10 pm. I'll be stopping by before going out to KSFR to do The Santa Fe Opry.

Georgie "Angel" Adelo tells me some guy named Jamie Brown is supposed to show up to play. Anyone heard of this guy?

The event is free, but you'll also feel free to donate to the new Musicians Emergency Relief Fund, which George is starting.

XXXXXXX

Speaking of great old Santa Fe music memories, John Harvey, former co-owner of The Line Camp e-mailed me last week to let me know he's starting to organize the Line Camp's 30th Anniversary, which is going to be held at the Fuller Lodge on May 10, 2008. He ask me to "send out a message to all the musicians that I am gathering stories and images" of Line Camp memories for a scrap book he's putting together for publication. So if you have any stories or photos of fun at the Line Camp -- the best honky tonk Pojoaque ever had -- email John.

I wonder if he'll use my sad tale about the time I went out there to interview Taj Mahal -- my second interview EVER! -- and my first ex-wife got pissed off at me and left me stranded. The big-time rock journalist had to hitch hike back to Santa Fe with my cheap tape recorder that malfunctioned during the interview.

XXXXX

Finally I want to plug the commercial DVD release of Robert Mugge's New Orleans Music in Exile. I reviewed this documentary about Hurricane Katrina's terrible impact on New Orleans musicians last year in Terrell's Tune-up.

In short, it's wonderful. Check it out on Amazon.com

Monday, November 19, 2007

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 18, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Torquay by The Fireballs
Nicole Told Me by Half Japanese
Bootcheck by Gas Huffer
Let's Go Trippin' by Dick Dale
Please Mr. Engineer by Bo Diddley
Daddy, Buy me a Girl by The Golden Earrings
New Kind of Kick by The Cramps
Slime and Oxygen by The Black Lips

Amazing by Johnette Napolitano
Days and Days by Concrete Blonde
Hip Shot from the Slab by Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains
Spy World by Wall of Voodoo
Thunderball by Martin O.
Goldfinger by Webb Wilder
Awa Didjen by Tinariwen

Caberet of the Seven Devils by The Fiery Furnaces
The Idiot Kings by Soul Coughing
Booze, Tobacco, Dope, Pussy, Cars by The Butthole Surfers
I, Zombie by White Zombie
Tripping by The Pretty Things
A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors by The Hives
Fall Sound by The Fall
Police Story by The Dirty Projectors
Thirsty and Miserable by Black Flag

My Man is a Mean Man by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
The Last Time by Bettye LaVette
The Harlem Shuffle (NY Mix) by The Rolling Stones
Handsome Stuff by Simon Stokes
Drop Down Mama by Dion
The One I Love by R.E.M.
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, November 17, 2007

eMUSIC NOVEMBER

* Still Stuck in Your Throat by Fishbone. I've been on a real Fishbone kick for the past couple of weeks. It started when I found a used copy of their 2002 album The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx at Natural Sound. I'd nearly forgotten about this group and I was surprised at how vital they still sounded. I saw them play the 1990 Lollapalooza in Denver and loved how they could sound like George Clinton one moment, Pantera the next, and then Frank Zappa -- all mixed in with a hopped-up ska sound. I also was impressed, back then in '93, at how they weren't aftraid to lay on the showmanship -- a quality you didn't much find with some of the other acts like Dinosaur Jr., Alice in Chains and Rage Against the Machine.

So in recent days I was lucky to get a couple of Fishbone albums from LaLa.com (the classic Truth and Soul and the relatively new Live at the Temple Bar and More. I also ripped the Fishbone CDs I already had onto my computer -- and then I stumble across this album, released just last year, on eMusic. Nearly six and a half hours of Fishbone is going through the shuffle mode of my mind. I want to say Fishbone is a major overlooked band of the '90s -- but they're still going strong and still seriously underrated -- in this century as well.


*100 Days, 100 Nights by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. I reviewed this one recently in Tune-up, along with the new Bettye LaVette CD and the new 3-disc Wattstax collection. You can find the whole piece HERE

In fact, I liked 100 Days so much, I downloaded Sharon & Dap-Kings' 2005 album, Naturally. And if anything, I'm liking it even more. There's a duet with Lee Fields ("Stranded in Your Love") in which Lee & Sharon become a modern Butterbeans and Susie. And there's a totally revamped "This Land is Your Land." It doesn't sound like Woody, but I bet he'd love it.

Basically, I can't get enough soul music. I'm happy there's a cool "soul revival" going on and especially happy that the focus is on the music, not some bogus nostalgic cuteness. The world needs more soul.


*The Big Eyeball in The Sky by Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains. This is a good-time collaboration between Les Claypool and drummer Brain of Primus , funk keyboard great Bernie Worrell and the guitar goon known as Buckethead. So while basically it's a supercharged version of Primus with Col. Claypool in command, Bernie and Buckethead put their own peculiar stamps on the music. There's lots of tasty jams and nary a dull moment. Even the 10-minute epic "Elephant Ghost" slinks along quite nicely. It sounds like the funkiest circus you've ever seen.


*Live at Joe's Place by Hound Dog Taylor. Hound Dog was the closest the blues ever came to punk rock. Well, maybe T-Model Ford, but Hound Dog was out there a ways.

This live record (a 1972 bar gig) is nice, raw and raucous. A few standards here -- "Dust My Broom," "The Sky is Crying," "Kansas City" and a good nine-minute "Freddy's Blues."

And there's one of those strange and unintentionally funny eMusic typos -- "Give Me Back My Wig" somehow becomes "Glue Back My Wig." I like that title better.



* Emotions by The Pretty Things. Talk about being a latecomer -- I didn't really really get into this 40-plus-year-old British Invasion band until Balboa Island, thier latest, released just this year.

Emotions is from that golden year of 1967, when the group plunged into psychedelia. Unfortunately in many cases they went overboard with the horns, strings, harpsichords, harps and other Sgt. Peppery affects. Still some bitchen stuff though. Love the fuzz tone on and whatever stringed instrument (I don't think it's a sitar -- sounds almost like a banjo) on "One Long Glance." I'm also loving the acoustic pyschedelic blues of "Tripping."

*The Live Ones 6 Tracks by The Standells. Eddie Munster was right. The Standells were cool guys. Only few have surpassed their level of bitchenicity. If you don't like 'em, flake off! Get yourself a crewcut, baby! This is a way too short live show by the Dirty Water boys at Michigan State University in 1966. Good clear sound quality. My only regret is that there are only six tracks.


*Mutiny/The Bad Seed by The Birthday Party. Although I've been a Nick Cave fan for years, I basically missed out on his earlier band back in the '80s. (I wasn't invited to the Birthday Party!) I really did miss out! This band has all the spooky, threatening power of the Bad Seeds, abrasive but very listenable. Lots of critics -- including me, I think -- compared Cave's current band Grinderman to The Birthday Party. For good reason.

This collection is two BP EPs starting out with Cave shouting, "Hands up! Who wants to die" in the hard crunching "Sonny's Burning." It doesn't let up from there. "Deep in the Woods is especially frightening. "Deep in the woods a funeral is swingin' ..." Yikes!

*Nuclear War by Sun Ra Akestra. I already had an MP3 of the title track and I needed seven tracks to make my monthly 90, so this worked out perfectly.

The story behind the album, as told in the Allmusic Guide is hilarious in itself:

"Originally Ra was so sure the funky dance track was a hit, he immediately took it to Columbia Records, where they immediately rejected it. Why he thought a song with the repeating chant "Nuclear War, they're talking about Nuclear War/It's a motherf***er, don't you know/if they push that button, your ass gotta go/and whatcha gonna do without your ass" would be a hit is another puzzle in the Sun Ra myth.
Beyond the title song, many tracks here -- "Celestial Love," "Blue Intensity," "The Nameless One Number Two" -- have a cool, bluesy, sleazy yet otherworldly quality with Ra's magial roller-rink organ out front. Call it crime jazz from Neptune.

UPDATED UPDATE: Soon after I posted this I discovered that Bloodshot Records is offering its Free Label Sampler 2007: Yr Welcome, World compilation for free. So I added that too. It's got a few tunes I already have on CD by the likes of Graham Parker, The Detroit Cobras and The Gore Gore Dirls, some new material by Bloodshot stalwarts like Jon Rauhouse and Deano Waco's Dollar Store, and some acts I'm not familar with like The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir and Ha Ha Tonka.

Speaking of which, the roots-rocking Ha Ha Tonka also is offering a free five-song live in-studio set called The Hear Ya Sessions on eMusic. I think these guys would have a lot to talk about with Hundred Year Flood. It's a little bit country, a little bit psychedelic. And, like I said, it's free!

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 16, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
When Will I Be Loved by The Flying Burrito Brothers
Honky Tonk Lifestyle by Cornell Hurd
Love Problems by Johnny Paycheck
Dreaming Cowboy by Sally Timms
Perfect Mirror by The Mekons
I'm a Gonna Kill You by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
Broke Down South of Dallas by Junior Brown
Too Many Rivers by Webb Wilder
Moving Day in Jungle Town by The Hoosier Hotshots

Oh Set a Light by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
That Little Old Wine Drinker Me by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers
I Cast a Lonesome Shadow by Hank Thompson
Holdin' Our Own by Jesse Dayton & Brennen Leigh
Hungover Again by The Supersuckers with Kelly Deal
Morning After the Night Before by James Luther Dickinson
English Noblemen by Michael Hurley
Rabbits Don't Ever Get Married by Hank Penny
Sex Crazy Baby by Hasil Adkins
Waltz Across Texas by Golden Delicious

Be My Chauffeur by Clifton Chenier
Chez Moreau by The Pine Leaf Boys
Oh Yeh Yai by Terrance Simien & The Mallet Playboys
In The Summertime by Buckwheat Zydeco
Cajun Stripper by Doug Kershaw
Zydeco Two Step by Nathan Williams & The Zydeco Cha Chas
Bozoo That's Who by Bozoo Chavis & The Majic Sounds
Zydeco Gris Gris by BeauSoleil

Eye For an Empty Heart by Holly Golightly
When Jesus Calls All His Children In by Buck Owens
Loser by Dave Alvin
Moonglow, Lamp Low by Eleni Mandell
Palookaville by Peter Case
Keep Smiling Old Pal by Norman Blake
Elijah's Church by Low Red Land
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Albums Named for Unappetizing Food

O.K., I'll admit this is a pretty dumb idea.  It came to me yesterday after I ran into my friend Dan during my afternoon walk along the ...