GOP SENATE DEBATE

I'm late posting this, but my coverage on the Heather Wilson/Steve Pearce debate in Los Alamos Friday night is HERE.

While a lot of Democrats are getting depressed over the neverending Obama Clinton battle, at least in New Mexico Dems can take heart that in this state two major Republicans are happily ripping into each other.

But will this heated debate fester into an animosity that will hurt the GOP through the general election?

As Brian Sanderoff told me a couple of weeks ago, once the primary is over, so much national party money on both sides is going to pour into the state for the Senate race alone, it'll even things out somewhat.

ONE-MAN HILLBILLY/BLUES-BAND JAM

In conjunction with with today's Terrell's Tune-uo column about Possessed by Paul James, here's a collection of YouTube videos of PBPJ and other one-man hillbilly/blues bands.

If you like this sort of thing, be sure to tune into Terrell's Sound World Sunday night. I'll do a whole set of these artists. The show starts at 10 p.m. nd I'll do this set shortly after the Eleventh Hour. That's on KSFR, 101. FM (Click that link if you want to hear it live on the Web.)

(And speaking of KSFR, I've got to cover a political debate tonight, so Tom Adler will substitute for me on The Santa Fe Opry.)

Here's some videos:

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: LIKE A MAN POSSESSED

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 25, 2008

Here’s a backwoods, back-to-basic music treat. Working under the stage name of Possessed by Paul James, songwriter Konrad Wert is a one-man band, playing guitar, banjo, fiddle, and a foot-operated percussion instrument called a stomp box. But the most significant part of his music is his voice. As evidenced on his latest album, Cold and Blind, when he gets going, he sounds like (you had to have seen this coming) a man possessed.

Possessed by Paul James joins that loud, rowdy pantheon of blues-shouting, one-man bands like Richard Johnston, John Schooley, Scott H. Biram, and Bob Log III. But Wert is creakier and more country than these others, though just as wild. He’s like some lost Lomax field recording come to life.

Although Cold and Blind is on a European label (the irrepressible Voodoo Rhythm Records from Switzerland), Possessed by Paul James is American through and through. He was born and raised in an Amish-Mennonite family in Immokalee, Florida. According to some accounts, his dad was a preacher. “Paul James” is a combination of his father’s and grandfather’s names. Wert spent some time in Colorado; these days he lives in Kerrville, Texas, and has a day job as a special-education teacher.

The important thing is that Wert sounds as if he’s emerged from some primordial swamp where every shadow might be a demon. As he shouts and yelps, which he does on the title song and on “The Gallows,” you can imagine him as some sinner in the hands of an angry God.

“I didn’t see much flashiness as a kid in the family or within the church community,” Wert said in an interview in Whoopsy magazine. “We couldn’t dress for Halloween, no dancing, no secular radio, sacrifice for others so they can grow, etc., etc. So, you see, when you get a chance to sing, man, ...YOU FUCKING SING.”

And when Wert plays his fiddle at what seems like 1,000 miles an hour, as he does on “Sweet Mary Alice,” it’s hard not to think about Stephen Vincent Benét’s poem “The Mountain Whippoorwill (Or, How Hill-Billy Jim Won the Great Fiddlers’ Prize)” — and Charlie Daniels’ song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” — about the country boy working his bow like a maniac to save his soul in a contest with the devil.

Wert is explosive on crazed stompers like the ones mentioned above. There are some softer, slower songs here, like “Vodka and a Fight” and “Ferris Wheel” that aren’t as impressive. But I guess you have to catch your breath sometimes. Even when you’re possessed.

Also noted

* The Ballad of Don Clavio by Bobby Brodsky. This is probably the greatest work of outsider music to ever come out of Santa Fe, at least since singer-songwriter Julien Aklei (best known for her album We Can Mate With Rabbits) left town. This record is produced by none other than the ever-prolific Joe West. By comparison, West’s Mike the Can Man EP is downright mainstream.

Brodsky is a singer and poet (and longtime potter in La Cienega) whose stream-of-consciousness lyrics and recorded telephone conversationse the album. He rambles on about all sorts of things: a friend’s suicide, his belief that someone had stolen his guitars, and old drug habits. The best tracks come off as actual songs featuring a band led by West. It’s a lo-fi affair to be sure, but much of it is charming in a weird way.

Perhaps my favorite tune is “Talk to the Animals,” with Brodsky’s childlike rhymes: “I love to talk to the animals/And my favorite is the seal/He swims and prances/And he gets on his back and he dances/He claps he smiles and he asks me for a minnow/And then I go to the zebras.”

Also cool is “Love Is in the Air,” which features a folk-rockish tune with a truly tacky organ lead interrupted every few seconds by Brodsky saying, “There’s love in the air,” sounding like his voice was recorded from a shortwave radio broadcast. And I’m not sure why a minute or so of some random movie or TV dialogue was tacked on.

"Then there’s a nasty little garage-rock groove called “Rules of Bobby” that’s a whole lot of fun.

The main problem with the album is there’s too much aimless chatter. Brodsky’s seven-minute meditation on his first name (“My Name Is Bobby”) gets tiresome. But West has to be commended for his innovative use of chirping birds, which frequently pop up in unexpected places.


* Santa Fe All Stars. This is another recent project involving West. He sings and plays guitar with the aptly named All Stars, a group that includes mandolinist Sharon Gilchrist, upright bassist Susan Hyde Holmes, and guitarist Ben Wright. Their music is steeped in bluegrass.

This is a seven-song EP (26 minutes in all) featuring three West originals, a Gilchrist composition (a gorgeous lullaby called “Walker”), a Tom Waits cover (“Jockey Full of Bourbon,” sung by Holmes), and a couple of traditional folk-bluegrass standards (“Handsome Molly” and “Billy in the Lowground”).

The album is short but full of delight.


*The Cerrillos Islanders by the Overman Family Trio. I’ve been a fan of Dennis Overman’s music much longer than any of us would like to admit. I first heard him play when I was a freshman in college back in 1971 (please don’t do the math), when he was in a band called The Family Lotus with Jim Bowie, Jerry Faires, and other card-carrying hippies.

The trio, also known as the Cerrillos Islanders, consists of Dennis, his son Ian, and his daughter Gretchen. Dad learned ’em good in the ways of music.

This is a nice, laid-back acoustic album of good original songs with lots of banjo and Dobro.

My personal favorites are “Where’s My Check?” the ballad of a motel maid or janitor with an attitude sung partly in Spanish; Ian’s marimba in “What’ll It Be (A Soldier’s Song)”; and the lonely lament “Just Because,” which sounds nice and spooky.

UPDATE: In case you got here by permalink, be sure to check out my collection of one-man hillbilly/blues-band videos featuring Possessed by Paul James and other favorites HERE.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: IT DON'T MEAN A THING IF YOUR STATE DON'T SWING

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 24, 2008

Get ready, New Mexico. This state, according to people who keep track of all these things, is destined once again to be a major battleground in the presidential contest.

It don’t mean a thing, if you ain’t in a swing state.

Last week, Washington Post political blogger Chris Cillizza listed New Mexico as the third most likely state that went for Bush in 2004 to go Democratic in 2008.

“No state has more competitive contests at the federal level than the Land of Enchantment,” Cillizza wrote. “Four of the five federal offices (Senate as well as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd congressional districts) are open this November — a level of fluidity that means that millions of dollars are going to pour into the state.

"McCain gives Republicans a fighting chance in the state due to his neighbor appeal, but the state has been trending Democratic of late and either Clinton or Obama will be favored in the fall.”

Also, a New Jersey-based pollster who has conducted automated telephone surveys in this state told me he fully expects a November nail-biter in New Mexico.

“It will be fought to the very end,” said Jay Leve, president of SurveyUSA in a telephone interview. “Your state will be one of two, three, four of the closest states in the country. New Mexico has a track record of producing cliffhangers.”

He’s right there. Republican Bush won in 2004 by less than 1 percentage point. And in 2000, Democrat Al Gore won the state by less than 300 votes.

In its most recent New Mexico poll, SurveyUSA showed Republican John McCain edging out either Barack Obama (50 percent to 44 percent) or Hillary Clinton (49 percent to 46 percent.)

But Leve said these numbers are bound to fluctuate in the months to come. “Nothing in our polling suggests that a consensus has been formed (in New Mexico),” he said. “I expect a razor-thin margin.”

Indeed, SurveyUSA’s past months’ presidential matchup results in New Mexico (CLICK HERE and HERE) shows a wild array of results in which each of the three candidates has been on top at various times.

Why does this state produce such close elections? Leve said perhaps it’s due to the mixture of cultures here. He also said in New Mexico, like many Western states, there is less loyalty to political parties based on family traditions.

“It may turn out that your five (electoral) votes could turn out to be the most important,” Leve said. “It’s my hunch that New Mexico and Colorado and a couple of other Western states could be pivotal, especially if Obama is the Democratic nominee.”

Do they still call it “soft money”?: Our neighbor to the West, McCain, hasn’t forgotten about New Mexico. Not only did he launch his first general election television ad in this state, he’s also included this enchanted land as one of a handful states in a fundraising plan.

According to the Wall Street Journal on Monday, McCain is asking wealthy donors to give more than $70,000 each to special fundraising accounts.

Yes, this is the same John McCain who co-sponsored the McCain/Feingold Act, which limits individual contributions to campaigns to $2,300 for primaries and $2,300 for general elections.

According to the WSJ, most of the money won’t go directly to the McCain campaign. Most of it would go to the Republican National Committee while some of it would be divided among the state Republican parties of New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The paper said the McCain campaign also plans other accounts to route money to California, Ohio and Florida.

The last lonely superdelegate: The state Democratic Party’s Central Committee will meet in Albuquerque on Saturday to choose its “at-large unpledged” delegate — in other words, New Mexico’s last superdelegate — to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August.

In past years, when the party’s nominee had long been settled, this position held little interest outside a small circle of party activists.

But with the Obama/Clinton contest going into extra innings, Saturday’s vote will be a test of strength between the two camps. Who knows? The way things are going, the whole nomination could boil down to New Mexico’s final “unpledged” delegate.

So far, six of the state’s superdelegates have endorsed Clinton, while two have endorsed Obama. One of those is Gov. Bill Richardson, who still has a lot of clout in the party.

Three are still undecided. These are U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, Sen. Jeff Bingaman and state party chairman Brian Colón.

Colón, under party rules, nominates the at-large superdelegate. Josh Geise, acting executive director of the party, said Wednesday that Colón has yet to decide who to nominate.

None of the undecideds will tip their hands Saturday on who they’re supporting.
Spokeswomen for Udall and Bingaman said neither will be attending the meeting. Colón normally just presides at the meetings and doesn’t vote, Geise said.

Free BBQ: Congressional candidate Don Wiviott is hosting a free Earth Day celebration and barbecue Friday at Monica Lucero Park on Bellamah Drive.

According to a news release, the party starts at 5:30 p.m., and Wiviott will address the crowd on environmental issues at 6 p.m.

Wiviott’s news release stresses that the local developer, who prefers the description “green builder,” is a “dedicated environmentalist who has been on the forefront of providing a green energy future for New Mexico.”

Wiviott obviously still is interested in capturing a chunk of the environmental vote, despite recent endorsements for his opponent, Ben Ray Luján, by the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters.

NEW JERRY LAWSON SONG/ SAD NEWS ABOUT NATHANIEL MAYER

I just got a nice e-mail from Jerry Lawson, formerly of The Persuasions, and his wife Julie alerting me to a new Lawson song you can hear streaming on the Web.

The new one is called "Down on My Knees," featuring Jerry backed by a band (cool slide guitar and reggae beat.)

And from that page you can find two songs of Jerry with Talk of the Town, an a-capella group from Phoenix. The songs aren't named, but I recognize the last one as Randy Newman's "He Gives Us All His Love." (The other is good too. It's called "I Hope.")

Check them out by clicking the icon below: (It'll take you to "Down on My Knees" You'll find links to the other two on the right side of the page.)



But here's some bad news. According to Norton Records:

"... we received word yesterday that Nathaniel Mayer suffered a stroke this past week. Our prayers are with Nay Dog for a full recovery. LOVE YOU NATHANIEL!!!!

Ditto from Santa Fe, Nathaniel.

TERRELL'S SOUNDWORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, April 20, 2008
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
Greasebox by TAD
7 and 7 Is by Love
A Small Demand by International Noise Conspiracy
Buckethead by Carbon/Silicone
Elevator Ride by The Chesterfield Kings
Leopardman at C&A by The Dirtbombs

Martin Scorcese by King Missile
Live With Me by The Rolling Stones
Champagne and Reefer by Muddy Waters
Skinny Minnie by The Mummies
Birthday by The Sugarcubes
Searchin' For Love by The Come n' Go
God Jazz Time by Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
1970 by Mission of Burma

I Wanna Dance With You by Nathaniel Mayer
Night Train by James Brown
You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth by The Temptations
What Have You Done For Me Lately Part 1 by Sharon Jones
Deuce and a Quarter by The Bo-Keys
Hard Hustling by Andre Williams
Give Me a Chance Part 1 by Lee Fields
Rocket 69 by Todd Rhodes & Orchestra featuring Connie Allen
Tiger Rag by Brand New Orleans Country Brass Band
Pachuko Hop by Chuck Higgens

Six Forty Five by Firewater
Musica Aggressia by Gogol Bordello
Meine Kleine Russian by Reverend Beat-Man
Hey Amigo by Havana 3 AM
Samisen Boogiewoogie by Umekichi
If I Have to Go by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, April 18, 2008
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
Arise! by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
The Taker by Waylon Jennings
On a Monday by The Detroit Cobras
The Tough Sell by The Drive-By Truckers
Hurricane Party by James McMurtry
Trip to Roswell, NM by The Santa Fe All-Stars
Love Problems by Johnny Paycheck
Split Personality by Clyde Leopard's Snearly Ranch Boys
Truck Drivin' Son of a Gun by Dave Dudley

I Don't Want to Love Anyone This Much Again by Cornell Hurd
Smoke & Wine by Hank Williams III
Night Train to Memphis by Roy Acuff
Bouncing Beer Cans Off the Jukebox by Dallas Wayne
Put Me in Jail by Joe "King" Carrasco
Sweet Mary Alice by Possessed by Paul James
Hard Travelin' by Simon Stokes
Always Late with Your Kisses by Lefty Frizzell
Twisted World by Doug Sahm

CHRIS GAFFNEY TRIBUTE

Midnight Dream by The Hacienda Brothers
The Gardens by The Texas Tornados
Zero Hour by Chris Gaffney
Six Nights a Week by Dave Alvin
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights/Volver Volver by Billy Bacon & The Forbidden Pigs with Chris Gaffney
Life's Little Ups and Downs by The Hacienda Brothers


Polly's Last Ride by Cedar Hill Refugees
Laredo by Snakefarm
Chante Moi by Christine Albert
What'll It Be (A Soldier's Song) by The Cerrillos Islanders
The Sky Above, The Mud Below by Tom Russell
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

For info on a webcast of a Hacienda Brothers concert 2 pm Mountain Time Saturday, check out this video. And dig Android Girl! Supposedly the show will be HERE
But there's also some Hacienda Bros. interviews with Big Kev HERE.


Tribute to Chris Gaffney of the Hacienda Brothers - Watch more free videos

R.I.P CHRIS GAFFNEY

Chris Gaffney of The Hacienda Brothers and Dave Alvin's Guilty Men died Thursday, losing a bout with liver cancer. He was 57.

That's him playing accordion here with Alvin at the 2006 Thirsty Ear Festival.

There's a decent obit in the L.A. Times:

Gaffney sang in a tuneful yet conversational voice that was both
sandpapery and sweet. He had no pretentiousness about his music. In a 1992 Times interview, he described taking part in a songwriters panel at a folk festival: "The kids were asking, 'How do you write songs?' I said, 'I'm sitting in front of the TV, having a beer, and something comes to my mind, and I go 'what the hell' and write it down."

As I blogged earlier, Alvin and Gaffney's family set up a Web site to help with Gaffney's medical expenses. Though Chris is gone, I'm sure the medical bills live on, so if you can contribute, please click the banner below.

I'll do a little tribute for Gaffney tonight on the Santa Fe Opry. (KSFR, 101.1 FM, 10 to midnight. Webcasting from KSFR's site.)

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: APOCALYPTIC PARANOIA ROCK

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 18, 2008

Nothing like a little apocalyptic paranoia to make a body want to rock. And you’ll find plenty of that on We Have You Surrounded, the new album by The Dirtbombs.

On nearly every song, singer/guitarist Mick Collins seems to be looking over his shoulder and not liking what he sees. Civilization is decaying, burning. The future’s so dim Collins can’t wear his shades. The end is near, and everyone’s out to wreck his flow.

There’s even a twist with the album title. We Have You Surrounded sounds triumphant. But there’s no song by that name on the album. Instead, there’s one called “They Have Us Surrounded” — a change of perspective or perhaps a fatal turnabout.

The Dirtbombs are one of the many Detroit bands of the 1990s that didn’t become famous when The White Stripes rose. (But don’t call his group a “garage band,” or Collins will twist your head off and eat your children.) With a lineup that includes two bassists and two drummers, Collins pays vocal tribute to the soul greats of his hometown’s past.

The album starts out with a searing little tune called “It’s Not Fun Until They See You Cry,” in which Collins seems to adapt a British accent and sounds almost like a tougher version of The Fall’s Mark E. Smith as he spits the menacing refrain, “Ah, you got what you wanted-uh. ...”

Although “Ever Lovin’ Man” is basically a love song (or at least a plea-for-sex song), it’s one of the most urgent-sounding and desperate tunes on an album steeped in urgency and desperation. It’s there from the first line: “Time is running out, and I can’t wait/I have to say this before it’s too late.” A cool little fuzz-tone guitar hook sounds as if it’s been shoplifted from a spy-movie soundtrack.

There’s a crunching rocker called “I Hear the Sirens” and a masterful cover of Dead Moon’s “Fire in the Western World” (“The red sky’s moaning, and the wind is blowing hard/Better take warning, ’cause this time it’s gone too far”).

In “They Have Us Surrounded,” the music fades in, as if thon for some time. It’s a plodding but intense cacophony that goes on for a few moments before you can detect faint vocals. Someone’s still alive in there! Collins sings in a scared falsetto. It’s hard to understand exactly what he’s saying — except the refrain “They have us surrounded, and there’s no way out.”

One of the most masterful selections here is “Wreck My Flow,” with scatter-bomb lyrics (“Holy roller/despot/car bomb in the parking lot/kid blow/new show/prime-time lead slot”) that might remind you of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” The Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion” or R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” But despite the sociopolitical nature of the words, Collins, ever the put-out hipster, is mostly concerned that “everybody’s tryin’ to wreck my flow.”

But the coolest and craziest song here is “Leopardman at C&A,” which features lyrics by artist Alan Moore, who did a graphic novel of the same name. Ature-shock techno tribalism: “We’ll hunt down television sets and kill them for their skins/We’ll squeeze the juice from cellphones, and we’ll smear it on our faces/While zebra cars and trucks drink from a gasoline oasis/With our necklaces of radio teeth and bar-code based tattoos/We’ll build a tribal fire of sound bites/Cut from central network news.”

The album ends with a song called — what else? — “La Fin du Monde” (The End of the World). Sung in French, it’s ironically the happiest, poppiest tune on the record.

The major misstep on We Have You Surrounded is “Race to the Bottom,” an eight-minute-plus electro-noise collage that mainly seems to serve as filler. But it’s a forgivable sin. All in all, this record is a real joy — in a paranoid, apocalyptic kind of way.

Also Recommended:

* Something’s Got to Give by The Come n’ Go. Forget the old stereotype about young Europeans only loving bleak, neutered electroSwitzerland between the French-speaking and German-speaking parts, comes this crazy little band that was apparently raised on gunpowder, old Yardbirds 45s, and Oblivians CDs.

The Come n’ Go play nothing but good, back-to-basic guitar stomp, colored occasionally by a wild harmonica. They went all the way to Memphis to make this record. You can almost smell the barbecue.

* Psychedelic Sunrise by The Chesterfield Kings. It would be impossible to count the number of bands that wished they could be The Rolling Stones. In fact, it would be a lot easier to count the ones that didn’t. But Stones envy seems to be extremely apparent in The Chesterfield Kings, a band from upstate New York that has been recording since the late ’70s. Their latest album, released last fall, even has liner notes by ex-Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham.

And you can hear ’60s-era Stones in nearly all of the songs on Psychedelic Sunrise. If “Spanish Sun” got much closer to “Paint It Black” itd prompt a cease-and-desist letter from the Stones’ lawyers. Cool sitar part though.

There are other influences, too: The New York Dolls, The Flamin’ Groovies. My favorite number here is “Elevator Ride,” which borrows from The Who’s “I Can See for Miles” as well as Alice Cooper’s “Black Juju” (check that nasty little organ fill). And the end of “Streaks and Flashes” sounds like The Beatles’ “Rain.”

The Chesterfield Kings are probably doomed to be forever known for emulating earlier bands. But somehow they pull it off, putting it all together in a way that almost always sounds fresh.

TRUCKERS & MCMURTRY

Here's some exciting musical news: The Drive-By Truckers and James McMurtry are scheduled to play the Santa Fe Brewing Company on Tuesday June 17. No details on tickets yet, so stay tuned.

The Truckers played here last year as part of their their quasi- acoustic "Dirt Underneath" tour. But this year they're a full-fledged electric band, which is how I like them best.

June looks like a great month for the Brewing Co.

On Friday June 6, X is playing there with the Detroit Cobras as an opening act.