THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 19, 2010
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
Tomorrow's Just a Train Wreck Away by Joe Swank & The Zen Pirates
Beyond Our Means by Dollar Store
The Golden Inn Song by The Last Mile Ramblers
Preacher Man by Quarter Mile Combo
Hole in the Ground by Iggy Yoakam & His Famous Pogo Ponies
Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer by Johnny Russell
Detroit City by Bobby Bare
I Could Love You (If You Let Me) by The Persuasions
Frankie by Dyke's Magic City Trio
Look at That Moon by Carl Mann

George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues by Drive-By Truckers
Small Ya'll by George Jones
Drinking For Two by Mudhoney
Dirty Mouth Flo by Robbie Fulks
Baby He's a Wolf by Werly Fairburn
The Check's in the Mail by Johnny Dilks
Haggard (Like I've Never Been Before) by Merle Haggard
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong by John Lily
Zat You Myrtle? by The Carlisles
Kentucky Blues by Little Hat Jones

I'll Have to Forget You by The Pine Leaf Boys
Zydeco Gris Gris by BeauSoleil
Keep on the Sunny Side of Life by Bayou Seco
You're Not the First Girl by Lonnie Barron
Natural Man by Dale Hawkins
Rub a Dub Dub by Hank Thompson
Blues in a Bottle by The Texas Sheiks
Let You Light Shine on Me by The West Memphis String Band
Wade in the Water by Aylum Street Spankers

Up on the Ridge by Joe Ely & Joel Guzman
Are You Afraid to Die? by Red Allen
Rank Stranger by The Stanley Brothers
Your Love Light Never Shone by The Maddox Brothers & Rose
Take it Easy Mama by Ryan Bingham
Dreamin' My Dreams with You by Waylon Jennings
Old Friends by Roger Miller, Ray Price & Willie Nelson
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: ACOMPELLING SOUL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 19, 2010


The whole band only played one instrument — the human voice.

I'm talking about The Persuasions, the undisputed kings of a cappella soul. Armed only with their vocal cords, these guys, who first got together in New York City more than 40 years ago, made some magical sounds covering doo-wop, gospel, show tunes, rock 'n' roll, and, of course, sweet '60s soul.

On their latest release, The Persuasions: Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop, they do songs made famous by Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, The Drifters, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Mills Brothers, and Frank Zappa, and songs written by Arlen and Mercer, Leiber and Stoller, Thomas Dorsey, Kurt Weill, and Bobby Bare.

But it all sounds like The Persuasions to me. And that's a good thing.

This album was recorded 12 years ago in Santa Monica. (Local note: the night before they recorded this show, The Persuasions drove all night from Silver City. "It's wonderful," one of the group members says.)

After a rousing "I Woke Up in Love This Morning," The Persuasions launch into one of the greatest songs they've ever sung — Cooke's "Chain Gang," which kicked off their wonderful second album (the first Persuasions album I ever owned), 1971's We Came to Play. With no disrespect to Cooke's original, The Persuasions do this more convincingly than he did. While none of the individual Persuasions could match Cooke's vocals (few if any mortals can), without the strings and slick arrangement of Cooke's classic record, The Persuasions sound as if they really could be on a chain gang working on some highway or byway.

This is followed by "Looking for an Echo," which originally appeared on The Persuasions' 1977 album, Chirpin'. Though they didn't write it, they altered the lyrics a bit so it tells their story. "We used to practice in a subway, in a lobby, or a hall/Even in the doorway, singing doo-wops to the wall./And if we went to a party, and they wouldn't let us sing/We'd lock ourselves in the bathroom, and nobody could get in"

Two of my favorites on this album are Nat King Cole hits — "Mona Lisa" (with lead vocals by Jayotis Washington and bassman Jimmy Hayes) and "Ramblin' Rose." Lead singer Jerry Lawson's finest moment in this show might have been "500 Miles Away From Home." Shortly before this show, his home had been destroyed by a flood. He sings the refrain "away from home, away from home, cold and tired and all alone" with real urgency.

Gospel music was always one of The Persuasions' major strengths. They do some fine versions of "Peace in the Valley," "Come on and Save Me," "I Have but One Desire," and Weill's "Oh Heavenly Salvation." So it comes as a real sucker punch when they do Frank Zappa's "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing," a cynical look at church hypocrisy and superstition right between "When Jesus Comes" and "Building a Home" ("Some take the bible/For what it's worth/When it says that the meek/Shall inherit the Earth/Well, I heard that some sheik/Has bought New Jersey last week/'n you suckers ain't getting nothing.")

True fact: The Persuasions and Zappa went back a long way. He signed the group to his Bizarre label, on which they released their first album, Acappella, in 1970. The group paid tribute to him in 2000 with an all-Zappa covers album called Frankly A Cappella.)

But they sound heavenly, even when singing Zappa's hilarious blasphemy. If there is a kingdom come, I bet Zappa and Mark Twain are up there listening to The Persuasions.

I'm not sure why Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop took so long to release. Perhaps it had something to do with Lawson leaving the group in 2003 and moving to Arizona (where he hooked up with a group called Talk of The Town.) But it really doesn't matter. This is timeless music that sounds good in any decade.

Also recommended:

* The Filthy South Sessions by Bernadette Seacrest & Her Provocateurs. Back in the early part of this century, Seacrest, then with a band called The Yes Men, was a fixture on the Albuquerque and Santa Fe circuit, playing smoky, sultry, sexy torch songs and cocktail jazz. The group broke up by the end of 2005 and Seacrest grew discouraged with the music biz in general. She flew south. But she reemerged in Atlanta with a new band, The Provocateurs, and she sounds as smoky, sultry, and sexy as ever.

All the songs on this album are written by her guitarist, Charles Williams. (The other Provocateur is Kris Dale, whose main instrument is double bass.) The tunes are all well suited for Seacrest's voice and persona, and a few really stand out.

"Empty Streets" is slow and ominous with its refrain, "I love you, daddy, but put down that gun" — it sounds like it could be straight out of some film noir soundtrack. "G-d's Been Drinking" — which starts out with a sweet, a cappella "Amazing Grace" — is bound to invite comparisons with Tom Waits ("When the locusts start to flyin' I started thinkin'/What would happen if God started drinkin'").

"The Rain Has Rained Away" hints at Seacrest's rockabilly roots (an early band of hers was The Long Goners), with a cool steel-guitar solo by Dale.

Most of the tracks feature the basic band, but the up-tempo "Where Does it Hurt," which has guest drums and organ, is a treat, as is "Trashcan Lens," which features a horn section and brake-drum percussion.

It's great to hear from Bernadette again.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 14, 2010
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
I'm 18 by Alice Cooper
Valentine by Concrete Blonde
Valentine by The Replacements
Gentle Violence by Black Lips
Al Capone by Salvajes
The Midnight Creep by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Night of the Hunter by Kim Fowley
Young Man Blues by The Who

Number Nine Train by Dale Hawkins
Suzie Q by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Wildcat Tamer by Dale Hawkins

Attack of the Zorch Men by The Meteors
I Got the Rock in My Underpants by Lightning Beat-Man
Wowsville by Bob Taylor
Down on Me by Big Brother & The Holding Company
Niki Hoeky by Bobby Rush
Little Red Rooster by Sam Cooke
Angelita by Mod East

The Next Stop is Jupiter by The Cosmic Rays
I'm Gonna Unmask the Batman by Lacy Gibson
Batman & Robin Over the Roofs by The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale
Little Sally Walker by The Crystals
Africa by Nu Sounds
Zippity Do-Dah by Sun Ra
Teenager's Love Letter of Promises by Juanita Rogers & Lynn Hollings

Cure for Pain by Morphine
All Over Again by Jay Reatard
(How Can I Keep You) Outta Harms Way by King Khan & The Shrines
Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon by The Jefferson Airplane
The City Never Sleeps by The Fall
Who's Buying? by Bernadette Seacrest & Her Provocateurs
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 12, 2010
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
Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way by Carl Smith
Wrong by Splitlip Rayfield
Crazy Boogie by Merle Travis
I Needed You by Johnny Gimble with Dale Watson
Rock Me by Little Jimmy Dickens
Jesus Walking on the Water by Asylum Street Spankers
My Knees Are Tremblin' by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers
Ring of Fire by Mingo Saldivar

I Cry, Then I Drink , Then I Cry by Cornell Hurd
I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive by Rosie Flores
Rockin' Rollin' Mama by Budddy Jones
Freight Train Boogie by Doc & Merle Watson
Cattin' Around by Charlie Adams
Stripper Song by Jacques & The Shakey Boys
Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets by DM Bob & The Derelicts
Sittin' on Top of The World by Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys
Wild Little Willie by Ronnie Hawkins

Under the Chicken Tree by Geoff Muldaur & The Texas Shieks
The Diplomat by Maria Muldaur
Easy Ridin' Mama by Devil in the Woodpile
Old Hen by South Memphis String Band
Ragtime Cowboy Joe by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
That Nasty Swing by Cliff Carlisle
Skinny White Girl by Trailer Bride
Voodoo Queen Marie by The Du-Tells

Valentine's Day by Steve Earle & The Fairfield Four
Blue Kentucky Girl by Loretta Lynn
One Sweet Hello by Merle Haggard
I Just Want to Meet the Man by Robbie Fulks
Just Between You and Me by Charlie Pride
Louise by Jerry Jeff Walker & Nicolette Larson
I Know I've Been Changed by Johnny Hammond & Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

BLOGOCIDE: THE CAT STRIKES BACK

In the great cat-and-mouse game known as the digital music revolution, the cat struck back last week.

As The Guardian (UK) reported:

In what critics are calling "musicblogocide 2010", Google has deleted at least six popular music blogs that it claims violated copyright law. These sites, hosted by Google's Blogger and Blogspot services, received notices only after their sites – and years of archives – were wiped from the internet.

The law being invoked here is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The blogs in question are Pop Tarts, Masala, I Rock Cleveland, To Die By Your Side, It's a Rap and Living Ears.

Of those, Samuel Axon on Mashable wrote, "Each was dedicated to introducing music fans to new songs and genres they might not otherwise experience, usually from obscure and independent artists."

The Guardian says:

Although such sites once operated on the internet's fringes, almost exclusively posting songs without permission, many blogs are now wined, dined and even paid (via advertising) by record labels. After the success of blog-buzzy acts such as Arcade Fire, Lily Allen and Vampire Weekend, entire PR firms are dedicated to courting armchair DJs and amateur critics.

A Los Angeles Weekly story, published a week ago appears that the assault started slowly, with individual blog posts -- not entire blogs -- disappearing. Weekly writer Jeff Weiss noted:

U.K.-based Web-scouring copyright detective Web Sheriff will soon open its first U.S. office, no doubt spurred by its success in policing the Web for unauthorized mp3 leaks. Music bloggers are bracing themselves for a new round of scrutiny, and are taking measures to prevent the RIAA from working its way into their music blogs.

Google's response on Wednesday:

“When we receive multiple DMCA complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorized manner, we will remove the blog.”

Yesterday there was an update that said:

We looked into this issue further and identified one case where a blogger did not receive notification of any DMCA complaints before their blog was removed. We're sorry about this.

We've contacted the blog owner and restored their blog, effective immediately ... We know the DMCA process can be difficult to navigate, and we're working on ways to make this process as smooth as possible.

Smooth move, Google.

The ball is in the mice's court.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: SUN RA's COSMIC GRIT

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 12, 2010

In the eyes of many jazz critics and jazz fans, there is "serious" music (jazz) and there is lowbrow unwashed pop music, which is to be disdained or perhaps tolerated in a condescending way.

Of course, a lot of actual jazz musicians don't quite feel that way. Miles Davis dug Hendrix and Sly. Sonny Rollins recorded with The Rolling Stones. Even back in the early days, Louis Armstrong recorded with country-music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. And Herman Poole "Sonny" Blount, better known in this solar system as Sun Ra (1914-1993), not only played cosmic jazz but also dabbled in doo-wop and R & B in the 1950s and a little funky soul in the '60s and '70s. And danged if Ra didn't make that sound cosmic too!

Norton Records recently released three CDs of his material. Interplanetary Melodies and The Second Stop Is Jupiter feature recordings from the mid-1950s, while Rocket Ship Rock spans the late '50s through early '70s. Some of these songs appeared, mostly in different versions, on earlier Sun Ra lations like The Singles (1996) and Spaceship Lullaby (2003).

Ra's relationship with R & B goes back to the late 1940s. His first recordings were with R & B wild man Wynonie Harris. Back in 1954, Ra, then living in Chicago, became fascinated with R & B vocal groups. According to John F. Szwed's 1998 biography Space Is the Place: The Loves and Times of Sun Ra, Ra grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, listening to gospel quartets, so writing music for doo-wop groups came naturally to him.

Among those who appear on Interplanetary and Jupiter are The Qualities, The Crystals (not the girl group Phil Spector made famous), and, most appropriately for Sun Ra, The Cosmic Rays. But The Cosmic Rays weren't as otherworldly as The Nu Sounds, who performed on songs like "Spaceship Lullaby" and the drum-heavy "Africa."

One of the truest delights on the first two albums is Juanita Rogers, who sang a couple of heartbreakers called "Teenager's Letter of Promises" and "I'm So Glad You Love Me." Interplanetary has little Juanita singing the first song a cappella (under the title "Love Letters Full of Promises"). This is immediately followed by the full-blown version featuring a spoken introduction — with heavy reverb — by a guy named Lynn Hollings, saying, "Yes, teenagers do sometimes keep their promises. Meet Little Juanita, a teenager with the soul of an angel and the recipient of a love letter full of promises."

My favorite of these three albums is Rocket Ship Rock, simply because the music is at least a couple of notches crazier than it is on the other albums. Credit this to a singer called Yochanan, an R & B shouter who made Little Richard sound like a certified public accountant by comparison.

According to Szwed's book, by the mid-1950s, Ra had a way of attracting top-notch musicians, as well as some outright weirdos:

"The band was also a magnet for the strange, drawing all sorts of people off the streets for rehearsals and performances. One of the most bizarre of those who turned up was Yochanan ... [who] had many stage names, including the Man from Outer Space, the Man from Mars, and the Muck Muck Man, and declared himself a descendant of the Sun. Dressed in turban, sandals, and red, orange, and yellow 'Asiatic' robes, he was always quick to hold forth to anyone on his private philosophy. And when he performed, he was unpredictable and crude, often working bawdy material into the last song he sang at club appearances."

In other words, my kind of entertainer.

The Man from Mars is featured on the first nine tracks of Rocket Ship Rock. His shining moment is the down-and-gritty "Hot Skillet Mama." There are two versions on the CD, one of which was the flip side of the single "Muck Muck," which also appears in two versions here. But even nuttier than Yochanan's contributions is the song "I Am Gonna Unmask the Batman." There are two versions. A short one (under four minutes) is sung by Chicago blues guitarist Lacy Gibson, who at the time was Ra's brother-in-law. A horn riff suggests the "Batman Theme" from the Adam West television show. This is an extended version of a single released by Ra in 1974. And then there's a sprawling seven-minute lo-fi version that sounds like a rehearsal.

This wasn't Sun Ra's first encounter with the caped crusader. In 1966, he played organ on what Szwed called a "children's album" — but I call a "cash-in" record — titled Batman & Robin, released during the height of popularity for the TV series. It's jazzy, kinda cheesy, mostly instrumental rock — with song titles referring to the Dynamic Duo and the villains they fought. The band was called The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale, and musicians include Al Kooper and members of The Blues Project. It's actually available —
in glorious mono! — for download on Amazon and iTunes.



These Norton CDs show that while Sun Ra had his head in the cosmos, his feet were firmly planted in the soil and grit of this crazy planet.

Radio Ra: Hear selections from these new Sun Ra collections — plus a little taste of that crazy Batman record — on Terrell's Sound World, free-form weirdo radio, 10 p.m. Sunday. And don't forget The Santa Fe Opry, the country music Nashville does not want you to hear, same time on Friday, both on KSFR-FM 101.1.

HEY MISTER, THAT'S ME ON THE JUKEBOX

Nothing like using the title of a James Taylor song to plug the fact that The Big Enchilada is now part of the official GaragePunk Jukebox!

The latest 20 shows from podcasters all over the world are there. Hours of entertainment right on your computer. The newest show will always be on top, so the latest Big Enchilada currently is number seven there, right between Rock 'n' Roll Rampage and The Mal Thursday Show.

So check out the jukebox. Won't even cost you a quarter.

UPDATE: Feb. 11, 2010 _ There were some technical difficulties for a few days there -- and problems my feed apparently caused at least one of the GaragePunk music players to crash. But it seems to be working again.