Friday, January 30, 2009

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, January 30, 2009
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@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Forbidden Love by Billy Kaundart
Blood is Thicker Than Water by Shaver
Punk Rockin' Honky Tonk Girl by The Blue Chieftains
Lonley at the Top by Dan Baird
Johnny Valentine by Andy Anderson
Lose Your Mind by Wayne Hancock
Midnight Train by Maddox Brothers & Rose
Send Me To the 'Lectric Chair by David Bromberg

How You Drink The Wine by Amber Digby
I Just Can't Be True by Webb Pierce
Hot Dog That Made Him Mad by Wanda Jackson
Walk on By by Charlie Pride
Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride at All by Ray Price & Johnny Bush
I'll Be a Bachelor Til I Die by Hank Thompson
You're the Reason by Nancy Apple
Miss Froggy by Warren Smith
To Each His Own by Butch Hancock
Funky Butt by Mississippi John Hurt

Tex Mex Mile by The Gourds
Heartaches and Grease by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Rainbow Stew by Jason Ringenberg
My Pretty Quadroon by Jerry Lee Lewis
You Asked Me To by Waylon Jennings
I'm Mad With You by Cornell Hurd
Thirty Dollar Room by Dave Alvin
That's the Smoke They're Blowin' by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks

Going Away by The Flatlanders
Knoxville Girl by The Louvin Brothers
To Which Cross Do I Cling by Chris Darrow
Men With Broken Hearts/ I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Flow by Porter Wagoner
The Blind Child's Prayer by Hank Williams
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: GOURDS STILL STANDING

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
January 30, 2009


Of all the bands that rose out of the alt-country scare of the mid-to-late ’90s, the only ones that remain standing do a lot for me these days: The Waco Brothers and The Gourds.

Wilco is a whole other story. It’s still around, of course, but its music stopped resembling alt-country — much less country — years ago. Then there’s The Handsome Family, which I tend to think of more as a duo than a get-down band. And there’s the Bottle Rockets, but they haven’t had a new record in three years or so. Come to think of it, The Wacos haven’t had an album of new material in nearly four years.
GOURDS LIVE on the Plaza, July 2008
But The Gourds keep cranking ’em out, and the band’s new one, Haymaker!, is its strongest in a long time. If you’re not familiar with The Gourds, who have played Santa Fe several times in recent years, this album would be as good a place as any to start.

Like the best stuff from this Austin group, it’s good, rocking country-flavored fun, with more than a hint of Cajun and Tex-Mex music, thanks largely to Claude Bernard’s accordion. The musicians worship Doug Sahm, but they never sound like they’re trying to imitate him. They are often compared to The Band, but their humor is far goofier. The Gourds’ musicianship is tight, and yet they make their records sound like loose backyard parties. You can almost smell the barbecue and beer.

There are two main singers and songwriters in the group — Kevin Russell (who, for reasons best known to him and his god, calls himself “Shineyribs” in the Haymaker! album credits) and Jimmy Smith. I’m not sure which is John and which is Paul, but the George Harrison of The Gourds is multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston, who sings lead on two songs, including the slow, soulful, and lovely “Valentine,” which is guaranteed to get him laid on Feb. 14.

Haymaker! isn’t a concept album, but it has the feeling of a crazy travelogue. Lots of songs deal with travel. “Wake up! We’re going to the country,” are the first words of the first song, “Country Love.” That tune perpetrates the country-music truism that “country lovin’ ” is somehow preferable to urban sex.

Keeping with the unstated travel theme, Russell’s “All the Way to Jericho” sounds like it’s about some cosmic pilgrimage. “All the way to Jericho in a rusted automobile,” he sings. Listeners might be reminded of that old song about pulling into Nazareth.
Shineyribs
Shineyribs is back to this earthly plane, however, in the song “Shreveport,” in which he’s on a “midnight drive down on Jewella Road.” This little rocker has references to methamphetamine use and “heavy metal rednecks and their frizzy blond hair.” In “Bridget,” Smith tells about not-so-sweet hitchhiker wearing a Che T-shirt. When he lets her off at a rest stop, she says, “Thanks for the lift, you old geezer.”

Smith’s best contribution to this album is “Blanket Show,” a crazy hoedown injected with garage-band energy. He sings of “warthog rage” and gets away with the line “My heart was heavy but my fu was kung.”

But my favorite Haymaker! song has to be “Tex-Mex Mile,” whices a trip to South Austin sound like Homer’s Odyssey set to the tune of “Six Days on the Road.” “I lost 10 years down there smoking that Pachuca weed/I was Rip Van Winkle but I thought I was Apollo Creed/I couldn’t find my dingo boots, hell I couldn’t even find my feet/I kept a waking and a baking even though it was mostly seeds.”

The amazing thing that The Gourds pull off is that they have managed to stay true to their basic sound. They really haven’t changed much since their earliest works, and they certainly don’t try to keep up with trends. They’re just a great unsung American band. May their fu remain ever kung.

Also noted:
* Lucky 13
by the Paula Nelson Band. Paula is Willie’s daughter. She doesn’t sound much like the old man, but you can hear the DNA in her nasal voice.

She’ll never be as highly regarded as her dad. But then again, Willie can never say he’s worked as Jessica Simpson’s stunt driver. Paula can.

I caught the last part of her set at Austin’s Saxon Pub a couple of years ago (she’s got a weekly gig there, and she went on right before Hundred Year Flood), and I liked what I heard. As this album, released last year, shows, she’s got a blues-rock sound.
HYF at Saxon Pub, July 2007
My favorites are her rockers, like “Standing Tall,” “Fire Below,” and “Baby You’re Mean.” But she also proves she can handle sad songs and waltzes like “Surrender.” I had to check the credits to make sure that wasn’t a Willie tune.

Most of the songs are original, but there are a few covers. Her rocking version of the Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra, Johnny Cash/June Carter hit “Jackson” is pretty decent, but much better is her take on a lost Rickie Lee Jones gem, “Easy Money.”

My biggest beef is with her selection of “Angel From Montgomery.” John Prine wrote it; Bonnie Raitt turned it to a wimp-rock classic; and Paula Nelson didn’t need to cover it.

The Paula Nelson Band plays at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 30, at the Santa Fe Brewing Company (37 Fire Place, santafebrewing.com); the cover charge is $10.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

PLUGS FOR PALS & RELATIONS

I've been so busy with my political blog I've been letting this one go to Hell.

But just so you don't think I've completely lost myself to Roundhouse madness, here's a couple of music links for you to chew on.

First, a little nepotism: Check out my brother's project with John Carter Cash, The Cedar Hill Refugees. There's guest spots by Ralph Stanley, Marty Stuart, The Peasall Sisters and more.

Then there's my friend and fellow KSFR DJ Dave Barsanti has archived a bunch of his Twisted Groove radio shows. Santa Fe Opry fans know this is the show that comes on right afterward on Friday night (technically early Saturday morning.) Check that out HERE. Like podcasts, you can download the shows or listen to them on Dave's site.

One of my favorites, an Afro-funk show, is HERE

Speaking of podcasts, don't forget my new gospel show.

Monday, January 26, 2009

I BROKE DOWN ...

and joined Twitter.

Follow me. I won't hurt you. I'm your friend, I'm not like the others.

NEW PODCAST: STEVE TERRELL'S GOSPEL FAVORITES

Welcome to Volume 1 of Steve Terrell's Gospel Favorites.
A SIGN ON THE FLOOR OF THE CHURCH AT MOUNT CARMEL
Fill your soul with a heap of gospel music just like God likes it -- or at least the way I like it, nice and raw and full of spirit.

I'm not here to promote any religion nor to disparage it. I just love this music.

CLICK HERE to download the podcast. (To save it, right click on the link and select "Save Target As.")

CLICK HERE to subscribe to my podcasts (there will be more in the future) and HERE to subscribe on iTunes.


Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: from "The Eagle Stirs in Her Nest" by The Rev. C.L. Franklin)
Old Time Religion by Rev. James Cleveland
Dragnet For Jesus by Sister Wynona Carr
My Troubles Are So Hard to Bear by Ethel Davenport
I Have a Friend Above All Others by The Soul Stirrers
Jesus is God's Atom Bomb by The Swan Silvertones
The Sun of the Soul by The Carter Family
(Background Music: Don't Let the Devil Ride by The Campbell Brothers with Katie Jackson)

Jesus Throwed Up a Highway for Me by The Holy Ghost Sanctified Singers
God's Mighty Hand by Rev. Utah Smith
A Night at the House of Prayer by Rev. Lonnie Farris
Two Little Fishes and Five Loaves of Bread by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb by Uncle Dave Macon
Goodbye to the Chain Stores Part 2 by Rev. J.M. Gates
(Background Music: Christian Soldier 57 by The Denson Quartet)

What a Wonderful Feeling by The Humbard Family
Let's Have Mercy by The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi
Slip in and Tip In by Isaiah Owens
This May Be the Last Time by The Staple Singers
(Background Music: Don't You Ever Let Nobody Drag Yo' Spirit Down by Linda Tillery & Cultural Heritage Choir with Wilson Pickett & Eric Bibb.)

Play it here:

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday,  December 1, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell ...