TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, April 26, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Dum Du by Butthole Surfers
Mummy Shakes by The Molting Vultures
Lonlely Weekend by The Remains
Spiderman by The Ramones
Rat's Revenge Part 1 by The Rats
Hit Me by The Fleshtones
Yesterday's Trash by The Hentchmen
Archive From 59 by The Buff Medways
Girl of Matches by Thee Headcoats
Minority Report by Los Straightjackets
Mystery Meat by Man or Astroman?

God Wanted to Be a Man by Goshen
Country Blues by The Tarbox Ramblers
The River Is Laughing by Stinky Lou & The Goon Mat
What The Hell by The Black Smokers
Mean and Evil by Juke Joint Pimps
Dreamin' About Flyin' by The Moaners
Train Song No. 35 by Edison Rocket Train
Debra Lee by BBQ

Short Fat Fannie by Larry Williams
Pappa Shotgun by Billy Stafford
Justine by The Righteous Brothers
Thunderbird by William "Thunderbird" Williams
Jungle Hop by Don & Dewy
Take a Bath by Charles Simms
Vendetta by Impala
Wine Head by Johnny Wright
My Baby's Comin' by Stud Cole
One Cup of Coffee and a Cigarette by Glenn Glenn
Primitive by The Cramps

Jesus Shootin' Heroin by The Flaming Lips
Greasy Heart by The Jefferson Airplane
Bass Strings by Country Joe & The Fish
World's End State Park by Giant Sand
True Love by Tiny Tim & Miss Sue
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE BLOOD OF THE KILLER

Thanks to Jim Terr for forwarding me this notice of a Nashville piano auction.

It's a Steinway model B grand pianoin ebony finish that was manufactured in Steinway’s New York factory on December 15, 1969, and sold to Claude P. Street Piano Co. in Nashville.

I don't even know how to play "Chopsticks," but hell, I'd love to own a piano that was used in recording by both Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Jimmy Swaggart.

My favorite part of the ad is this:

Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis both used this piano to record albums. A recording engineer on a particularly raucous Jerry Lee Lewis session remembers wiping The Killer’s blood off the keys after he had finished playing.

Check it out HERE:

LIPS, COMMIES TRIUMP IN SOONER STATE

Here's a strange little political battle that brought back memories, mainly bad, of my home state.

Seems like the Oklahoma State Legislature was just about name "Do You Realize" by The Flaming Lips as the official state rock song.

But then, Lips bassist Michael Ivins showed up at some ceremonial deal at the state Capitol wearing a bright red hammer & sickle T-shirt.

Oh boy ...

Politicians were aghast. Commies! Traitors! What kind of message does this send to the children?

Read about it HERE in the good old Daily Oklahoman.

A majority of the state House of Representatives passed a resolution for the song. But it didn't get the 51 votes needed to pass it.

But Gov. Brad Henry stepped in and used an executive order to declare "Do You Realize" the official Oklahoma State rock song. Henry said the Lips have made "creative, fun and provocative rock music" for more than 20 years. There's some kind of official ceremony in OKC on Tuesday.

Of course not all Okies agree. Some commenter on the Oklahoman site called them a "cussing tele-tubby band." Sounds like a cool new sub-genre to me.

Speaking of bad memories, this reminds me of the time when Okemah, Okla. was in the planning stages of erecting the statue of its most famous native son, Woody Guthrie. The Oklahoman was beside itself. A statue of a known communist? What next, the paper asked, a statue of his hippie son Arlo?

But politics aside, is "Do You Realize" the best choice?

I would have preferred "Jesus Shootin' Heroin."

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, April 24, 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
Tall Tall Trees by Roger Miller
I Still Miss Someone by John Doe & The Sadies
Dying is Easy by The Sadies with Kelly Hogan
Belladona by Goshen
Sweet Young Thing by The Monkees
Country Playboy Special by The Pine Leaf Boys
Driving My Young Life Away by Wayne Hancock
Crazed Country Rebel by Hank Williams III
Crawking Eye by Deano Waco & The Meat Purveyors
Made For the Blues by George Jones
Mama's Gonna Shorten Your Days by Butterbeans & Susie

Why Do I Feel Like Running by Big Al Anderson
Already Gone by The Tarbox Ramblers
Don't Buy a Skinned Rabbit by Blind Boy Grunt
Cajun Joe (The Bully of The Bayou) by Doug Kershaw
Tears and Wine by Billy Miles Brooks
Lookin' for a Ride by John Egenes
East Side Boys by Martin Zellar
Haul Off and Love Me by Jean Shepard

Dan Hicks Set
All Song by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks except where noted
The Diplomat
Where's the Money?
The Buzzard Was Their Friend
Ragtime Cowboy Joe
Walkin' One and Lonely by Maria Muldaur
I'll Tell You Why That Is by Dan Hicks with Tom Waits
It's Not My Time to Go

18 Wheels of Love by Drive-By Truckers
Murdering Oscar by Patterson Hood
Soldiers Get Strange by Jason Isbell
Drink Me by The Dolly Ranchers
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: DAN'S THE MAN

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 24, 2009

UPDATE: This just in from FanMan: Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks Saturday, June 27 Santa Fe Brewing Co. Patio


Here's the short version of this review: Tangled Tales, the new album by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, is Hicks' best album since he began his big comeback at the turn of the century — which means it's his best since his heyday in the early 1970s. Not bad for a cranky old codger rapidly approaching the big 7-0.

A little history of Hicksville for the newcomers: Hicks, in the mid- to late-'60s, was the drummer for a seminal San Francisco psychedelic outfit called The Charlatans (not to be confused with The Charlatans U.K., who came much later). Even back in his Charlatan days, Hicks had a genuine love for Western swing, traditional jazz, vaudeville, jug-band blues, country, and other American roots sounds. So he started a crazy little side project — Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks — that featured acoustic instruments and two female singers he dubbed The Lickettes.

Soon the side project would become his top priority. He left The Charlatans and recorded an album. Original Recordings was an admirable effort, with a couple of tunes that would become Hicks staples through the years —"I Scare Myself" and "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away." But it wasn't until the next album, Where's the Money? — featuring a new pair of Lickettes — that the Hot Licks reached its stride. The group recorded two more albums, Striking It Rich (featuring the definitive version of "I Scare Myself") and Last Train to Hicksville (its subtitle, The Home of Happy Feet, provided a name for my favorite program on KUNM-FM 89.9).

And then in 1973, at the height of their popularity, Hicks and the Hot Licks broke up. Usual rock 'n' roll bummers, I suppose. After that, Hicks seemed to blow away. There was one album in 1978, It Happened One Bite, with Hicks and several of his old band mates. (It was recorded a few years earlier for a Ralph Bakshi cartoon feature that was shelved until the '80s.)

Hicks basically sat out the '80s and early '90s, at least as far as recording goes. His next album wouldn't come until 1994 — a live set called Shootin' Straight with a band called the Acoustic Warriors. Despite the discouraging lack of Lickettes, it was a decent album with some fine songs — which are reappearing slowly on Hicks' recent albums. (Five, yes five, of those songs appear on Tangled Tales.)

In 2000, Hicks returned, as did the Hot Licks name, with Beatin' the Heat. Since then, he released another studio album, 2004's Selected Shorts, plus two live albums.

Tangling the tale: The first difference a Hicks fan might notice between Tangled Tales and his two previous studio records is that the new one doesn't have a bunch of guest vocalists. Heat featured Hicks with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Ricki Lee Jones, and Bette Midler. Shorts had Hicks singing with Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, and Gibby Haynes. While one has to admire the perversity of any album featuring Jimmy Buffet and one of the Butthole Surfers, such pairings sometimes seem to be based more on marketing than artistic considerations.

But on Tangled, the only guest stars are instrumentalists — harmonica giant Charlie Musselwhite, mandolin man David Grisman, and blues guitarist Roy Rogers. In each case, these aces enhance Hicks' sound without overwhelming it.

As noted above, nearly half of this album consists of songs from the long-out-of-print Shootin' Straight. Considering four others are cover tunes, that probably indicates that Hicks' songwriting is slowing down. You can't hold that against him, though. Heck, what has Willie Nelson written lately? Truth is, the new versions of "Who Are You?" (featuring some fine harp from Musselwhite), "Savin' My Lovin'," "13-D," "The Rounder," and "A Magician" are superior to the 1994 live versions. Maybe it's the addition of the Lickettes (who these days are Roberta Donnay and Daria).

Hicks' choice of covers hits the target, too. The song "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" was written especially for Dan Hicks (decades before his birth). I can't believe he's never recorded it before. Also a natural choice is "The Blues My Naughty Baby Gave to Me." A far less obvious choice though is Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." But, aided by Rogers' slide guitar and those lovely Lickettes, this somehow evolves into a Dan Hicks song before your very ears.

Even more surprising is Hicks' inclusion of "Song for My Father," written by jazzman Horace Silver. It's slow and smoky, almost a bosa nova. It might remind old Hicks fans of "I Scare Myself." But what's unlike the Hicks we thought we knew is the raw sentimentality of the lyrics, a sweet tribute to the narrator's father. In the past when Hicks has done sentimental — I'm thinking of songs like "My Old Timey Baby" — it has usually been campy. That's not the case here. And it works just fine.

One of my favorites is "The Diplomat," a jaunty little tune. It contains weird lines that haunts a listener through the whole album: "I go in to cash a check so I can buy a fern/The bank is out of money and besides it's not my turn." I'm not sure why the image of Hicks buying a fern — and standing in line at the bank to accomplish that — seems so funny. But it is.

And then there's the title song, which is a fast-paced bopper featuring Hicks and the ladies scat-singing. It's an impressive display. That comes right before the album ender, "Let It Simmer," which slows things down as Hicks advises listeners to slow down and take it easy. As the song winds down, a male chorus sings in the background "Where's the money? Where's the money?," which hearkens back to the early days of Hicks' career.

Hicks knows by now that there ain't no money in the music biz for the likes of him. Thankfully, he still does it for the love.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, April 19, 2009
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@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Tubby by Los Straightjackets
In My Brain by Pierced Arrows
It's Not Real by Ravin' Blue
Butthole Surfer by The Butthole Surfers
Big Black Baby Jesus of Today by The Black Lips
Don't Tease Me by Question Mark & The Mysterians
Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend by Nekromantix
Down on Me by Big Brother & The Holding Company
Everyone in Town Wants You Dead by Singing Sadie

You Must Fight to Live on The Planet of the Apes by The Mummies
Planet of the Apes by Frankenstein Drag Queen
Down in the Beast by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
We Do, Wie Du by The Monks
Pretty Lightning by The New Bomb Turks
Ghost Rider by Alan Vega
Crack Head Joe by Little Freddie King
The Happy Wanderer by The Polkaholics

Chet Boghassa by Tinariwen
Brimful of Asha by Cornershop
Dum Maro Dum by Asha Bhonsle
And You Are Becoming an Indian by Kazik
Mr. Orange by Dengue Fever
Consulat by Cheba Nouria
Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello
Cler Archel by Tinariwen

Walk on Water by Otis Taylor
Got a Thing on My Mind by Sharon Jones
You Messed Up My Mind by James Carr
Let Me Down Easy by Bettye Lavette
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

TINARIWEN AT BREWING CO.

Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Tinariwen, a bunch of Tuareg tribesmen with traditional garb and electric guitars from Saharan Mali. Their only drum is a conga-like derbouka. But believe me, they rock -- in a hypnotic kinda way.

Four of the six members (excluding the electric bassist the derbouka man) and take turn singing and playing guitars, so there's lots of variety. I don't know his name, but the guy in the gold robe, (pictured above with turquoise-colored guitar) was a crazy guitarists. His tunes were the best.

Of course, I didn't understand a word they sang. But according to the All Music Guide, Tinariwen's music has been banned in Mali and Algeria, so they must be saying something important.

One disappointing thing was that the group's leader Ibrahim Ag Alhabid wasn't there. I understand he wasn't there last time the group was in town. Is Ibrahim the Brian Wilson of Tinariwen?

No matter, this band was super.

And hey, I just learned that all three of their albums are on eMusic, including the one I didn't have! CLICK HERE

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, April 17, 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
Guv'ment by Roger Miller
Right or Wrong by Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel
After All These Years by Mose McCormack
Lookin' at the World Through a Windshield by Bill & Bonnie Hearne
Cold Hard Facts of Life by John Doe & The Sadies
Blood Sweat and Murder by Scott H. Birham
Hillbilly Heartache by Don Rigsby
The Rounder by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Say a Little Prayer by Mary & Mars

Keep on Truckin' by Hot Tuna
I'm Not That Kat Anymore by Terry Allen
Tequila Shiela by Bobby Bare
Throwin' Away My Money by Wayne Hancock
Down on the Farm by Big Al Dowling
Heartbreak Ahead by Wanda Jackson
Between Lust and Watching TV by Cal Smith
I Spent All My Money Loving You by Beausoleil
Big Mamou by Doc Gonzales
Bright Lights, Big City by Jimmy Reed

Jamie III by Joe West
A on Horseback by Charlie Pickett
Pendergast Machine by Ha Ha Tonka
Adios Mexico by Joe "King" Carrasco & The Texas Tornados
Classy Sassy Lassy by Andy Anderson
Long Run by John Egenes
Five Days, Five days by Robert Gordon
Rooster by Ray Wylie Hubbard

Down Throught the Holler by Hundred Year Flood
Neon Rainbow by Phil Lee
Stuck on a Hat Check Girl by Al Duvall
Breeze by Sunshine Skiffle Band
Can't Be Satisfied by Guy Davis
Stateline Bar by Deano Waco & The Meat Purveyors
Linda on My Mind by Conway Twitty
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: HOLY MOSEY!

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 17, 2009

Mosey Mack is back.

Mose McCormack, one of the finest country songwriters in New Mexico, has just released his first album in 12 years. Appropriately enough, it's called After All These Years.

Not only that, he's re-released all of his old albums on CD. Two of those, Beans and Make Believe and Mosey Mack, have never been on CD before. Another, Old Soldier's Home, recorded in the late '70s, has never been released at all.

For those unfamiliar with Mose, here's his story: McCormack was born in Dothan, Alabama, and went to high school in Georgia, but he got out of the South not too many years after getting his driver's license. He went to California. After a brush with the law in Hawaii, McCormack became a professional jewelry maker. "My teachers were the Hopis and the hippies," he told me in an interview for No Depression magazine in the late '90s. "I started doing that for a while, and people kept telling me I could sell more jewelry if I moved to Santa Fe."

He did that in 1973. Except for some short stints in Nashville and Tulsa, McCormack has lived in New Mexico since. He hasn't been seen much in these parts in recent years, though. He's been living in Belen with his wife, Becky, and daughter Alma, who was just a baby when his previous album, Santa Fe Trail, came out.

McCormack recorded After All These Years, like all his other albums, at John Wagner Studios in Albuquerque. That could be one reason the music sounds so timeless. A bunch of Wagner/McCormack regulars play on it, including Augie Hayes on steel guitar, Mike Montiel on guitar, and Gretchen Van Houten on fiddle. There's just a little more age in McCormack's voice, but most of the tracks from the new album would fit in on the older ones, and vice versa. But most important — after all these years — McCormack still writes some mighty fine country songs.

The album kicks off with "Battle of Love," a jumpy little stomper that starts with "That white trash trailer house rockin' to the battle of love/On a rocky foundation there's a whole lot of shakin' goin' on." My favorite part is the refrain, "But I open my big mouth, uh oh/Little brain went south, oh no." Another favorite is "Another Clown," a heartache two-stepper in which Hayes and Van Houten especially shine. "No, I ain't funny anymore," McCormack sings. "Find yourself another clown."

There's a song about his daughter, "Little Alma"; a Cajun rocker; and the norteño-flavored "Dusty Devil," which has the refrain, "Came from Alabama with a banjo on his knee/Came for your tortillas, you obliged so graciously."

One might suspect that the title song of an album called After All These Years would be slow and maybe a little maudlin. Not so here. This is a fast-paced, good-humored country rocker. The first verse says, "I met her in Albuquerque/At the Waffle House down at the Big I/I said 'I feel like ham,' she said, 'You look like turkey'/I knew, then, I'd love her till the day I die."

This album is full of joy. I just hope it doesn't take Mose 12 years to do the next one.

Here's a look at the reissues:

* Beans and Make Believe (1976). "That's 25-year-old Mosey on the cover," McCormack told me in a recent e-mail. Indeed it is. But that's probably the only dated thing about McCormack's debut. This one has the first recording of the singer's signature tune, "New Mexico Blues," as well as the title song, about a lovesick man living in a little dump "out behind Hamburger Heaven."

* Old Soldier's Home (1979). Mose has the best description, which appears on the liner notes: "This album was dug out of the great Hillbilly vs. Hollywood wars. The 'Major Record Deal' that got canned so deeply, we didn't think it would ever see the light of day." Or as he told me, "My 'stardom' was casually flushed into the sewers of Sunset Boulevard." It's clear there are some bad memories here. But the music, while just a little slicker than most of his stuff, is fine. I especially like "Bustin' for the Door," which, like several McCormack tunes, changes time signatures several times — though unlike most Mose tunes, this one's got sax bteaks.

* Mosey Mack (1981). This CD has the distinct honor of being the first Mose album I ever reviewed — back when I was freelancing for The Santa Fe Reporter. It's got a cool Cajun-like tune called "Mama Copacabana" and a rocked-out banjo stomper called "Bootlegger." But after 28 years, my favorite song still is "Louie," the sad tale of a working man seeking his freedom and $100 whores.

* Santa Fe Trail (1997). This is just a mighty fine CD. When it first came out, I wrote that my favorites were the hard-core honky-tonkers "It's No Secret" and "That Nightmare Is Me." That's still true, though his cowboy song "Mama's Picture" is worthwhile too.

After All These Years is available on CD Baby, Perhaps the reissues soon will be there too. You can find Mose at myspace.com/mosemccormack, but it doesn't look like he updates it much. Oh well, it's almost refreshing these days to come across a musician who's not all Internet-obsessed. If you want to buy a CD, e-mail him at mccorma696@cs.com. And CLICK HERE for a 1997 Pasatiempo profile of Mose by the late Woody Thompson.

Podcast Plug: Mose McCormack's song "Beans and Make Believe" is on my latest podcast, Santa Fe Opry Favorites Vol. 2, at http://terrellpodcasts.blogspot.com.

FREE MUSIC ARCHIVE

Here's my latest internet music obsession: WFMU's Free Music Archive. It's a huge library of free -- and legal -- downloads of cooperating independent artists.

WFMU, that great station from Jersey City started the thing, but other stations and venues have contributed. Lots of the tracks -- which you can stream as well as download -- are live performances in WFMU's studio.

Most of the artists here I've never heard of, but I'm quite familiar with some of them: Dengue Fever, Pierced Arrows (the new band from Dead Moon's Fred & Toody), Alan Vega, The New Bomb Turks, The Moaners (featuring Melissa Swingle of Trailer Bride), Edith Frost, Bobby Bare Jr., Xiu Xiu and more.

One of the most interesting sections in the archive is the Old-Time/Historic section. Not only are there some great old recordings by the likes of Sophie Tucker (the Last of the Red Hot Mamas!) and Billy Murray, but there are some interesting new artists dabbling in the old styles. There's Al Duvall (who claims to have been in 1877, nudge nudge wink wink) who reminds me a lot of C.W. Stoneking. And best of all, there's Singing Sadie. When I first listened to her songs "Put Down The Carving Knife" and "Everyone in Town Wants You Dead" I thought it was from some bizarre 78s from the '30s. I later learned she's "the all singing all dancing queen of the burgeoning underground show tunes scene. "

I've barely begun to wade through most of this treasure trove. Looking forward to diving in deeper.