TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 12, 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
It Should Be Me by Billy Childish & Musicians of The British Empire
Just Moved In by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Wine, Wine, Wine by The Classics 5
Throw That Girl Away by The Dwarves
It's Great by Wau & Los Arrrgs!!!
Modern Art by The Black Lips
FM Receiver by The Brimstones
Berlin by Dickey B. Hardy
Endsville Eddie by The Weird-ohs
Night of the Sadist by Larry & The Blue Notes
Davy, You Upset My Home by Joe Tex
The Ugly Side of the Face by Hang in the Box

Periodically Double or Triple by Yo la Tengo
Swamp Water by Mama Rosin & Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers
My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama by Frank Zappa
I Need Somebody by ? & The Mysterians
Your Love by The Reigning Sound
Pokin' Around by Mudhoney
Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Jerry Lee Lewis
Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill by The Bostweeds

American Triology by Unknown Elvis Impersonator
Sky Language by Prolly
Call the Doctor by Sleater-Kinney
I'm Alright by The Hipshakes
Mini-Skirt Blues by Simon Stokes & The Heathen Angels
Why Don't You Give It to Me? by Nathaniel Mayer
Stumblin' Man by TAD
Priscilla foi pra Toquio by Horror Deluxe

Buke E Kripe Ne Vater Tone/Kalaxhojne by by Three Mustaphas 3
Future Kings by Gogol Bordello
La Marcia Del Amor Negato by The Pussywarmers
Weiner Dog Polka by Polkacide
Please Warm My Weiner by Bo Carter
Bad Attitude by Lisa Germano
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 10, 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 (at) ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Ophelia by Levon Helm
Shadow My Baby by Ray Condo and the Ricochets
Brain Cloudy Blues by Gal Holiday
Go-Go Truck by The Defibulators
Voodoo Walking by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers with Mama Rosin
Lonesome Side Of Town by Johnny Dilks And His Visitacion Valley Boys
Okie's in the Pokie by Jimmy Patton
Jimmie the Kid by Hank Snow
Crazy as a Junebug by Paula Rhae McDonald
Bad Blood by Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue by Scott H. Biram

I Like the Way by The Imperial Rooster
Some Happy Days by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Oh Honey Baby Doll by Bloodshot Bill
I'm Lonesome Without You by Hazeldine
I'm A Hobo by Danny Reeves
I Wanna Hot Dog For My Roll by Butterbeans & Susie

Leash My Pony by Jimbo Mathus
Loco by DM Bob & The Deficits
Meet Me in the Alleyway by Steve Earle
I Got Me a Woman by Andy Anderson
Laundrymats and C-Saws by Black-Eyed Vermillion
Streamlined Mama by Buddy Jones
It Won't Hurt When I Fall From This Barstool by The Sweetback Sisters
Lil Liza Jane by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Dancing Days by Bad Livers

Crazy Sons of Bitches by John Egenes
Across the Wire by Calexico
Joy by Joe Ely
I Found A Million Dollar Baby by The Boswell Sisters
Must Be Somethin' in the Water by Rachel Brooke
It Takes An Old Hen To Deliver The Goods by Cliff Carlisle
Tennessee Waltz by Sally Timms
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: Southern Storytellers Jimbo & Levon

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 10, 2011

Jimbo Mathus covers a lot of Southern-music ground in his new solo album Confederate Buddha. With his band, The Tri-State Coalition, Mathus romps through blues, honky-tonk, and Allmanesque boogie. The influence of gospel music is apparent on some tracks, and there are even some Southwestern sounds in the Mexican-influenced ballad “Aces & Eights.”

There is just about everything but the neo-Dixieland/ vaudeville sounds of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, the band that launched Mathus’ career in the ’90s. As a SNZ fan, I would have liked some of that, but hey, it’s his album.

Most of my favorites here are the simple country and blues songs. “Leash My Pony” is a hearty blues, starting off with an acoustic guitar lick. The band is nice and loose.

“Town With No Shame,” a honky-tonk lament with a mournful steel guitar, sounds like something Ry Cooder would have pitched to The Rolling Stones. “Glad It’s Dark” shows the influence of Doug Sahm. It’s a country weeper, but instead of fiddles and steel, it features an electric organ.

Where Mathus excels is in the great tradition of Southern storytelling. “Jimmy the Kid” (not to be confused with the Jimmie Rodgers song of similar title) is an old-fashioned outlaw ballad — rock ’n’ roll style. Perhaps it’s an “autobiography” of ol’ Jimbo in a fanciful kind of way. “He went back East and he came out West/A .45 pistol strapped to his chest./Down in Texas he robbed the Alamo/The poor boy was stranded in a herd of buffalo.”

“Aces & Eights” is about the killing of Wild Bill Hickok by the coward Jack McCall, who inspires the wisdom, “There’s nothing worse than a desperate man who holds a grudge.” The title of the tune refers to the cards Hickok was holding when McCall shot and killed him — according to legend, a pair of aces and eights — which became known as the “dead man’s hand.”

One little puzzle:the Mexican music is historically inaccurate, as Hickok was killed in Dakota Territory (as Deadwood fans all know.) Maybe the mariachi touches were to give the song a Marty Robbins feel. Whatever the case, it works.

The final song, “Days of High Cotton,” reminds me of The Band’s “King Harvest (Has Surely Come).” It’s a sad tale of economic ruin coming to the South told by a narrator who has seen much better times.

The only trouble with this record is that sometimes the music drifts into a generic late-’70s Southern rock sound like you might hear on an old Dickey Betts solo album — a little overproduced, a little uninspired. I’m thinking of tracks like “Wheel Upon Wheel” and “Walks Beside.” These songs aren’t bad; they’re just not as ear-opening as the others.

Also recommended:

* Ramble at the Ryman by Levon Helm. Levon Helm is basically all we have left of The Band. Rick Danko is dead. Richard Manuel is long dead. Robbie Robertson hasn’t made music that sounds like The Band — or is nearly as good as The Band — in decades. I don’t know what Garth Hudson is doing.

So Helm is it, and dang if he still doesn’t make you smile when he opens his throat and sings songs like “Ophelia” and “Rag Mama Rag.” These songs and other Band classics are ancient and I’ve heard them a million times, but Helm and his current group showed at this 2008 show in Nashville that they still live and breathe.

No, Helm’s voice isn’t what it was way back when. He’s had struggles with throat cancer, and there were a few years when he couldn’t sing a note. So he’s helped out by a small army of guest stars including Buddy Miller, John Hiatt (who trades verses with Helm on “The Weight”), and Sheryl Crow, who sings the Emmylou Harris part on “Evangeline.”

Actually though, my favorite guest vocalists are the lesser-known ones. A guy called Little Sammy Davis sings a couple of songs, the best being a blues tune called “Fannie Mae.” Then there’s Teresa Williams, one of Helm’s background singers, who rages during her solo number “Time out for the Blues.”

Undoubtedly the prettiest song here is “Anna Lee,” a song from Helm’s 2007 album Dirt Farmer. Helm sings accompanied only by Larry Campbell on fiddle and his daughter Amy Helm and Williams singing harmonies.

My only complaint here is that Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell” isn’t included in this show. Helm and crew have been known to do the song in recent years, as evidenced by a handful of substandard audience videos on YouTube. (Pardon me. I already ranted about my love for this song a couple of weeks ago in this column.)

A film of Ramble at the Ryman was broadcast on PBS and has been released as a DVD.

Enjoy some videos, kids:

Upcoming Santa Fe Music Gigs Worth Your While

Lotsa cool music coming up in Santa Fe this month.

This weekend is the 12th Annual Thirsty Ear Festival, now relocated to various spots around now, but mostly at the venue formerly known as the Santa Fe Brewing Company, now called Santa Fe Sol. I'm especially looking forward to Calexico Saturday night at Sol. It'll also be cool to see Cederic Burnside's band. I haven't seen him since the last time he was through town drumming with his late grandpappy, R.L. Burnside.

Also worth noting is a cool punk/garage show coming to The Underground (The basement of Evangelos') on Friday June 24 featuring The Hickoids, The Blood-Drained Cows and Manby's Head. Hometown boy Tom Trusnovic will be drumming for The Hickoids, whose latest album I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. (He's also drummer for BDCs).

In the meantime, here's a couple of videos from The Imperial Rooster, who are playing right before Calexico Saturday at  Thirsty Ear. These are songs doing songs from their new album Decent People. They did these for the prestigious Couch by Couchwest , which Rooster drummer Dusty Vinyl said was "was a Twitter joke about bands who couldn't make it to SXSW ..." It was recorded on the porch at International Imperial Rooster Corporation Headquarters, which apparently is near a very busy highway.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 5, 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
Ready for Action by Mexican Moustache
Pictures of Lily by The Hickoids
Chimp Necropsy by The Scrams
Something Else by The Nobles
The Ballad Of Beebo Bull by The Screamin Yeehaws
Foggy Notion by Rocket from the Tombs
Graveyard in your Memory by Nekromantix
Love Your Money by Lolita #19
Have a Ball by The Montesas
Fat Mama by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Beautiful Zelda by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

Alcohol by Gogol Bordello
Family Business by Dengue Fever
Taxidermy Porno by The Hex Dispensers
Greyhound Part 2 by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (Killa Priest Remix)
Roll The Cotton Down by The Zipps
Seven Days of Cryin' by The Cavaliers
Crazy Dreams by Ding Dongs
Heart Attack and Vine by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

I Wanna See You Bellydance by The Red Elvises
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants
Turkish Song Of The Damned by The Pogues
Mustafa Sandal by Kalmadi
Telephone Call From Istanbul by Tom Waits

Ouh Poo Pah Doo by Ike & Tina Turner
The Boogie Man by The Curlee Wurlee!
Pontiac Flannagan by Churchwood

Land of 1,000 Dances by The Thyme
Like A Rolling Stone by Johnny Thunders & Wayne Kramer
Dig It by The Beatles
Liar Liar by The Castaways
Sporting Life Blues by Champion Jack Dupree
Treme Second Line by Kermit Ruffins
I'll Take Care Of You by Gil Scott-Heron
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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