Start Off Your Thursday With Some Root Boy Slim

This should brighten your mood ring.

There's a cool article in Crawdaddy about the late Root Boy & His Sex-Change Band, whose first album was doomed from the start because it was released on Warner Bros. on the same day as the first Van Halen.

In a just world ...

Here's a cool clip from Mr. Mike's Mondo Video:

Tuvan Group's Instruments Stolen In Albuquerque

How's this for western hospitality. Some cowardly prick (or pricks) in Albuquerque smashed into the van being used by the band Alash -- Tuvan throat singers in town for the Festival of Asian Cultures. The thief or thieves stole instruments, passports and costumes. This happened on Sunday.

Here's from the group's website:

Alash's instruments and costumes were stolen in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Sunday, May 16, just before the band was to appear at the Festival of Asian Cultures. Some of their passports, visas, and clothes were also taken. The missing instruments are all handmade, and some are quite old. Although devastated by the loss, the group performed at the Festival, using only their voices. One fan wrote of the performance, "This was one of the most amazing moments in my life. These men, the depth of the talent, were inspiring."


Despite their successful performance at the Festival, the band needs instruments to continue their tour. And authentic Tuvan instruments are hard to come by outside of Tuva. Luckily, a friend and supporter in the U.S. has a few to lend. So Alash will be able to make all their concert dates, albeit with a few changes to the repertoire. The musicians are taking it in stride. Sean Quirk, their manager and interpreter says, "We can use this as an opportunity to push our creativity."


Anyone who wants to help can contact the group at alashensemble@gmail.com or the webmaster at jbb@kovitzsystems.net.

Here's a story in the Albuquerque Journal.

And here's Alash in action in Texas a few years ago.

Second GaragePunk Hideout Compilation is Here

Songs the Hideout Taught Us: The Best of the GaragePunk Hideout, Vol. 2, has been unleashed upon an undeserving world.

As I said on my radio show last night, there's reason for a little homestate pride. The Scrams from Albuquerque are included here with their song "Steve Sangre."

I reviewed the first volume, It Came From the Hideout, HERE

If you're an active member of the Hideout, it's free to download. If you're not a member, hey, it's free to join. Check it out HERE.

For lesser mortals, the compilation will be available on Amazon, eMusic, iTunes and Napster. (If it's not already on all those sites yet, it will be within a couple of days.)


Visit The GaragePunk Hideout

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 15, 2011
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 (at) ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Booooooogie by Stinky Lou & The Goon Mat With Lord Bernado
Walking with Barrence by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Mr. Highway Man (Cadillac Daddy) by Howlin' Wolf
I Drink Alone by George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Whistlin' Past the Graveyard by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Filipino Box Spring Hog by Tom Waits
Heart Attack by Don & Dewey
High and Lonesome by Jimmy Reed

Skunk by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Earthquake by Butthole Surfers
Abraxas by Churchwood
Hang On by BBQ
Funnel of Love by Mike Ness
Summertime Blues by The Outsiders
Since I Met You Baby by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Big 10-inch Record by Moose Jackson
Pretty Lord Sundance Part 1 by Lord Sundance

Steve Sangre by The Scrams
What You lack in Brains by Batusis
I'm Unsatisfied by Pan Ron
Cement Slippers by Dengue Fever
Whistlebait Baby by LoveStruck
School Is for Donkeys by Will Crum
Two Heads by Jefferson Airplane
The Trip by Donovan

Me and My Friend the Cat by Loudon Wainwright III
Big Black Cat by R.D. Hendon & The Western Jamboree
Makes No Sense At All by Husker Du
Almost Ready by Dinosaur Jr.
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by The Sir Douglas Quintet
My Soul's Got A Hole In It by Howard Tate
Understanding by Ray Charles
The Whip by The Creeps
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

UPDATE: The playlist has been reconstituted and repaired. Glory Hallelujah!

Friday, May 13, 2011
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
Broken Man by The Goddamn Gallows
Low Down Dog by Sleepy LaBeef
Seven Cups of Coffee and 14 Cigarettes by Cornell Hurd
DWI Marijuana Blues by The Imperial Rooster
Johnny Law by Wayne Hancock
Big Dark World of Hate and Lies by Graham Lindsey
Freeway Ballet by Chipper Thompson
Waitin' on the Sky by Steve Earle
Diamond Joe by Bob Dylan

Lovely Hula Hands by Junior Brown (Click HERE for White Rock concert info)
Run Conejo Run by Dave Alvin
Bones to Pick by Black Eyed Vermillion
They're Cutting My Coffin At The Sawmill by Ed Sanders & The Hemptones
Down in the Willow Gardens by The Everly Brothers
Me and Rose Connelly by Rachel Brooke

Steel Strings No. 1 by Peter Case
Time Has Come Today by Coco Robicheaux
Lay Me Down by The Perreze Farm
Gimme a Lock a Yo' Hair by Andy Anderson
Wreck of the Old '97 by Hank III
Turn the Lights Down Low by Moonshine Willy
Looking for a Fight by The Sweetback Sisters
Lawtell Two-Step by Pine Leaf Boys
One Way Street by Pee Wee King

Mississippi Bo Weevil Blues/ Elder Greene Blues by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Come Around To Me by Mike Cullison
Sittin' On Top of the World by Gal Holiday
A One Sided Love Affair by Hylo Brown & The Timberliners
Can You Forgive Me by Red Allen
Drifting Too Far From The Shore by The Stanley Brothers
Take Away the Sting by Ando & The Jolly Beans
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Farmageddon is Upon Us!

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
 May 13, 2011

One of my favorite record companies — one that I hadn’t even heard of until a few weeks ago — came into being because a music fan in Montana got sick of having to drive hundreds of miles just to see the bands he liked.


Farmageddon Records is the brainchild of Darren Dorlarque, a Bozeman guy who loves alt-country, “underground” country, whatever you call it (just please don’t call it “Americana”) and took it upon himself to start booking shows in Big Sky Country for bands he liked. There were some quasi-famous folks like Wayne “The Train” Hancock, but mostly they were artists that few had ever heard of. With a growing stable of under-appreciated 21st-century hillbilly singers from all over the country, a record company seemed like the next logical step. And thus, Farmageddon was born.

A wonderful introduction to the Farmageddon universe is a new compilation called Danielle Colby Presents the Music of Farmageddon Records. Fans of the History Channel show American Pickers should recognize Colby. She runs the Antique Archaeology store in the series, which features a couple of her friends going around the country  finding antiques and collectibles. She’s also a former roller-derby girl and a burlesque dancer, but that’s another story. The important thing is she has great taste in music.

Like lots of the independent labels I love, there’s a family feel with Dorlarque’s rogues’ gallery. Check the credits and you’ll see members of various Farmageddon bands playing on one another’s tracks.

Much of the music on the compilation could be classified as country punk. There’s The Goddamn Gallows from Michigan, whose “Broken Man” features a twitchy repeated blues lick and distorted vocals. High Lonesome, a Milwaukee band, does a fierce minor-key stomper called “Headhunter.” Black-Eyed Vermillion, from Austin, almost reminded  me of The Waco Brothers with the sing-along chorus on their song  “Fare Thee Long.” But frontman Gary Lindsey’s vocal chords are far more shredded than Waco’s Jon Langford’s ever will be.

There is also lots of good retro-style country here. Jayke Orvis sings a snazzy little tune called “Thunderbolts and Lightning” that has a rockabilly rhythm (and a cool doghouse bass) as well as a banjo. Orvis, for the record, was the very first to record a record for Farmageddon.

Walker & The Texas Dangers, who indeed hail from the Lone Star State, have obviously listened to a lot of Wayne the Train. Their song “Love My Baby” contains the lyrics “No, we don’t make love, we don’t call it that/It’s such a euphemism for a violent act.” Meanwhile, “Delia Rose,” by a Kansas group called The Calamity Cubes, has a Dixieland feel with a muted trumpet and banjo.

Of the 14 artists on this collection, I was familiar with only one. That’s Graham Lindsey, not to be confused with Sen. Lindsey Graham. This one’s a country-flavored singer-songwriter from Wisconsin. I reviewed his first solo record, Famous Anonymous Wilderness, in this column in 2004.

As a pre-teen Lindsey was a member of a grade-school punk rockers called Old Skull, which somehow got a recording contract. They were great, if your idea of great is a bunch of 9-year-olds screaming about the C.I.A. Lindsey is much better as a solo artist. His song here, “Big Dark World of Hate and Lies” is stripped-down country — fiddle, bass, and acoustic guitar. It sounds like some long-lost Hank Williams tune.

Lindsey also is a member of The Perreze Farm, which does a catchy little fiddle-driven tune called “Lay Me Down.”

But for my money, the star of this record is a singer named  Rachel Brooke. On the compilation, she does a rocking tune called “Mean Kind of Blues” which sounds like classic outlaw country — I can easily imagine Waylon Jennings doing this song — except for the addition of loud, distorted guitars that add a weird counterpoint to Brooke’s yodeling.


Brooke is kind of like the Wednesday Addams of country music. Her voice is sweet, almost cute. On most songs, the accompaniment is spare and simple — mostly just her guitar. But listen to the lyrics on some of the songs on her recently released Farmageddon album Down in the Barnyard, and you’ll realize she’s got a twisted, evil side.

The song  “The Barnyard” is the tale of a jealous, murderous lass who tells in graphic detail how she takes revenge on her boyfriend and best friend. Then there’s “Me and Rose Connelly.” Fans of old murder ballads will recognize Rose’s name as the tragic victim of the song “Down in the Willow Garden.” That song is told from the perspective of the murderer. Brooke sings it as a girlhood friend of the victim.

Even creepier is “The Legend of Morrow Road,” a haunting, seven-minute song done as an acoustic dirge with fake record scratches. It’s the story, apparently derived from a Michigan folk tale, of a woman who gets pregnant by a man (not her husband) and then disappears without a trace — except her ghost is occasionally seen down on Morrow Road.

So You Don't Think They Do Anything Worthwhile in Washington, D.C.?

Then you're WRONG! 

The Library of Congress has just launched what they are calling The National Jukebox, which, as The Washington Post explains "allows listeners to stream a vast archive of more than 10,000 pre-1925 recordings of music, speeches, poetry and comedy. Much of it hasn’t been widely available since WWI."

You can find it HERE.


You can hear cool scratchy recordings of Al Jolson, Enrico Caruso, old jazz recordings, opera, great old crooners, "Crocodile Isle" by Billy Murray, Bob Roberts 1912 version of "Ragtime Cowboy Joe," "Red Hot Mama" by Coon Sanders & The original Nighthawk Orchestra and thousands more.

You can create playlists and share them on Facebook, etc. (I'll take advantage of that when I get off work tonight.)

And here's a tantalizing tidbit: There's actually a disclaimer regarding offensive recordings.

These selections are presented as part of the record of the past. They are historical documents which reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress does not endorse the views expressed in these recordings, which may contain content offensive to users.

That's probably due to some of the overtly racist songs recorded back in the early part of the past century. However I checked and some of the more offensive tunes, like the ones I wrote about in my music column a few years ago, aren't there. But some others made the cut, such as "Pickaninny Polka" by Charles P. Lowe.

At least they don't have "Kung Fu Fighting"

One little technical glitch: I tried to copy the embed code on a couple of songs to inclunde here, but it wouldn't let me copy. Hope they clear that up. I'm going to have some fun with this.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 8, 2011
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
Take Me Out to the Ballgame by Bruce Springstone
The Ball Game Sister Wynona Carr
Negro y Azul by Los Cuates De Sinaloa
I Want to be Sedated by The Ramones
30 Seconds Over Tokyo by Rocket From The Tombs
Sugar Buzz by The Ruiners
Two Headed Dog by Roky Erickson (with The Nervebreakers)

It's Mighty Crazy by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
I've Fallen (And I Can't Get Up) by The A-Bones
Bullfrog Blues by Canned Heat
Kill My Baby by Nick Curran and the Lowlifes
Bad Girl by Detroit Cobras
Ma Juju girl by King Salami & the Cumberland 3
She's So Scandalous by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
New Orleans by Wolfman Jack & The Wolfpack
Big Fat Mamas Are Back in Style by Candye Kane

Whiz Kid by The Hickoids
Digging Up My Date by Blood Drained Cows
Can O' Worms by Churchwood
All the Way to Memphis by Mott the Hoople
Beaver Fever by The Brain Eaters
She's Hit by The Birthday Party
Double Trouble by Half Japanese
Mary Had a Little Lamb by Old Skull

Love Street by The Doors
Cab it Up by The Fall
Roving Eye by James Chance
Sporting Life Blues by Champion Jack Dupree
Falling by Exene Cervenka
Twilight Zone by Dr. John


CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Happy Mother's Day From Mr. T

eMUSIC MAY

* The Best Of 1954-60 by Hylo Brown & The Timberliners. He never got to be as well known as his former bandmates Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, but Frank "Hylo" Brown is a bluegrass titan.

Brown got his nickname because of his vocal range -- he could sing high or low. His first hit was a cry-in-your moonshine bluegrass waltz  "Lost to a Stranger," (included here) recorded in 1954. That got him a recording contract with Capitol Records.

Three years he hooked up with Flatt & Scruggs. Then for awhile, Hylo Brown & The Timberliners became basically a B-Squad touring unit for Flatt & Scruggs for several years.

While the high-and-lonesome is his foundation, this collection shows that he could slip the surly bonds of bluegrass. A couple of songs here, featuring The Jordanaires on background vocals, show evidence of the early "Nashville Sound." His song "Stone Wall Around Your Heart" has an electric guitar solo, though I don't think anyone would argue that it's not pure hillbilly.

My favorite tracks here are "In the Clay Beneath the Tomb," about a guy who finds the grave of his sweetheart and "Get Lost, You Wolf"  in whih a country Romeo gets his comeuppance.

* Cajun Fais Do-Do. Hitchhiking Flashback -- August 1975. I was just outside Lake Charles, La., thumbing my way to new Orleans. A beat-up old station wagon stops to give me a lift. I did a double-take. The driver looked so much like Doug Kershaw, it was frightening -- dark hair, dark eyes, long sideburns, wearing a straw cowboy hat bent to come down between the eyes and accent his long nose.

His car radio was blasting a local station playing Cajun music. I told him I liked it. He smiled and said, "This is nothing. You should have been at my house when I was growing up. Every Saturday night after dinner, the neighbors would come over. And my parents and my grandparents would go get their instruments. And they would BOOGIE!"

I bet it sounded a lot like this album. 

* No Time For Dreaming by Charles Bradley. Here's the latest album offering from the mighty Daptone label. Bradley is a late bloomer, but I like this flower. His voice is rough and gritty and more than a little world-weary. His band is a tight little group that seems to be well-versed in the records of Otis Redding and Al Green.

I reviewed this fine album in Tune-up a couple of weeks ago. You can read the whole thing HERE.


PLUS 

* Five tracks from The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From the Tombs. These are lo-fi live recordings by the classic Cleveland band that had future members of Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys as well as the late self-destructive punk icon Peter Laughner.

My initial batch of downloads include the Rocket take on "Sonic Reducer" (which later wold become the Dead Boys' best-known anthem), a cover of The Stooges' "Raw Power" and a near six-minute slow burner called "Ain't It Fun," which sounds like a lost Dead Moon treasure. (I don't think Fred and Tootie ever covered this one, but Guns 'n' Roses did.)

More on this album in next month's eMusic report.

* Six tracks from Sun Recordings by Carl Perkins. I was astonished to learn that I didn't have these rockabilly classics in any form -- except on an old cassette tape I found in a local bargain bin about 25 years ago. My favorites here are "Right String Baby (But Wrong Yo Yo)" and "Her Love Rubbed Off," which sounds even spookier than the version by The Cramps.