TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 16, 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

Timothy by The Nervebreakers
Blow Um Mau Mau by The Monsters
You Little Nothing by The Gories
Roundin' Up Girls All Day by L.C. Ulmer
Baby What's Wrong by The Come N' Go
Stiff Upper Lip by Monkeyshines
This Crushing Thing by Blood Drained Cows
Pagan Baby by Steel Wool
Undertaker by Southern Culture On The Skids

Living With the Animals by Mother Earth
Ass Welt Boogie by The Bassholes
Coming Back Alive by The Stomachmouths
Gopher Holes by Snake Out
Virginia Avenue by Kid Congo Powers
Dono by Afrissippi
Diddley Daddy by The Super Super Blues Band
Naggin' by Jimmy Anderson

Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Junkyard by The Birthday Party
I Can't Find Pleasure by Thee Mighty Caesars
Alleys Of Your Mind by The Dirtbombs
Romance by Wild Flag
What's Mine Is Yours by Sleater-Kinney

Everything Will Be Fine by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
No Sex by Alex Chilton
The Parable of Ramon by Richie Havens
Mercy I Cry City by The Incredible String Band
Built For Comfort by Willie Dixon And Memphis Slim
Calling All Demons by The Mekons
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, October 14, 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! terrel(at)ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Swamp Thing by Southern Culture on the Skids
To The Victor Go The Spoils by Have Gun Will Travel
Brand New Model by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Mama Don't Like Music by Smiley Burnette
Clickity Clack by The Ugly Valley Boys
Defibulator by The Defibulators
How Many Women by Lydia Loveless
Meadowlark Boogie by Buck Griffin
Because I'm Crazy by Kell Robertson

Hillbilly Thunder Machine by Joe Buck
Lipstick by Andy Vaughan & The Driveline
Pocket Dial by The Possum Posse
Down, Down, Down, Down by Dale Watson & The Texas Two
The Girl On Death Row by T.Tex Edwards & Out On Parole
I'm So Depressed by Delaney Davidson
Beer Drinking Blues by Rocky Bill Ford
Back in Your World/Forbidden Love by Billy Kaundart
Move Over Rover by Billy Hall & His Rhythm Boys

Broke Ass by Scott H. Biram
A Wedding In Cherokee County by Randy Newman
Coward's Sword by Robert Earl Reed
Burn Down That House by Poor Boy's Soul (Click the link to get free MP3 of this song!)
One Click Away From Judgement Day by The Imperial Rooster
That's All by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
I Do Drive Truck by Jon Wayne

Wishin' All These Old Things Were New by Merle Haggard
Broken Man by The Goddamn Gallows
Go Ahead and Cry by Rick Brousard & Two Hoots and a Holler
Southern Family Anthem by Shooter Jennings
How Cold by Rachel Brooke
Tryin' To Get Myself Home by Stevie Tombstone
Goodnight Juarez by Tom Russell
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:One-Man Blast

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 14, 2011

I was recently reminded of Randy Newman’s twisted love song “A Wedding in Cherokee County” when I first listened to Scott H. Biram’s “Broke Ass” on his new album Bad Ingredients.

For some of you younger readers (I know you’re out there!) who aren’t familiar with Newman’s classic songbook, “Cherokee County” is about a doomed backwoods couple. It appears at the end of his 1974 album Good Old Boys.

To the strains of a slow, genteel Stephen Foster-ish melody, the groom sings of his spouse-to-be: “Her papa was a midget/ Her mama was a whore/Her granddad was a newsboy ’til he was 84 (what a slimy old bastard he was) ... Maybe she’s crazy I don’t know/Maybe that’s why I love her so.”

My heart was warmed in a similar way when I heard the first verse of Biram’s song:

“I’ve been spending all my money on some worn-out $2 whore/And you may think it’s funny, but I don’t think it’s fair/ that that old two-timin’ headache could ever get herself anywhere / ... yeah she’s my woman / You can see her every night / Just dancin’, lookin’ wicked til the early mornin’ light.” The singer declares, “She’s my number one undercover lover, but she’s been runnin’ way too fast and way too long.”

She might be a $2 whore, but the singer compliments her — I guess — when he calls her “the nicest piece of real estate to ever grace this town.”

It’s easy to imagine this wicked dancer laughing at the “mighty sword” of Biram’s protagonist, just like the bride of Cherokee County does in the song that immortalizes her.

 But dark humor isn’t the main point of Biram’s song. The narrator’s woman is just part of his nightmare, just one bad aspect of his life of poverty and despair. “Guess I’m just talkin’ to a stranger / Guess I’m just pissing in the wind , Guess I’m just lonely, crippled, and angry, ’til I get on my feet again,” Biram sings.

This song is slower and more melodic than most of Biram’s tunes, sweetened with a little organ not too high in the mix. As he showed on “Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue” on Biram’s previous album Something’s Wrong /Lost Forever, Biram is perfectly capable of keeping his raunchy integrity even when he does it nice and purdy.

“Broke Ass” is a standout on Bad Ingredients, but it’s not the only one. Biram, the self- proclaimed “dirty ol’ one-man band” from Austin, Texas, does what he does best — strumming his guitar like a madman, stomping his percussion as if the ghost of Keith Moon lived inside his foot, and growling his (frequently distorted) vocals.

Like on his previous works, the production here is simple. The music is a ferocious blend of blues and country with a lo-fi, punk-rock aura. For the most part he sticks to his one-man-band credo — with the exception of Walter Daniels’ sax on the swampy “I Want My Mojo Back” and some percussion help on a couple of tracks from Matt Puryear.

Most of the songs are original, though Biram throws in a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Memories of You, Sweetheart” and Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Have You Ever Loved a Woman.” But the best ones are the Biram originals.

I love the frantic rockers like the insane “Killed a Chicken Last Night,” “Victory Song,” (which starts off with some pretty fancy guitar picking), “Dontcha Lie to Me, Baby,” and “Hang Your Head and Cry,” which sounds like the history of Southern rock boiled down into a loud three-minute, 47-second roar. Also worthy are some of his smoldering blues tunes like “Just Another River,” which sounds like it’s begging to be covered by ZZ Top.

As I said, Biram does here what he does best. But he seems to keep doing it better. The man is nothing short of a one-man blast.

Also recommended:

* Indestructible Machine by Lydia Loveless. Here’s my favorite new female country vocalist. Loveless is a 21-year-old (I have shirts older than her!) punk-rock honky-tonk gal from Columbus, Ohio. I’m not the first one to think her throaty voice suggests an ancient soul.

When I heard her I was reminded of Marlee MacLeod, an Alabama-born singer who, sadly, hasn’t released any new music in nearly a decade. In, sometimes when I listen to Indestructible Machine and my mind drifts (the best way to listen to music, of course), I think I’m listening to some new MacLeod songs. That’s not a bad thing.

But Loveless’ tunes tend to be rowdier than MacLeod’s. The album starts off with “Bad Way to Go,” which features crunching distorted guitars and a banjo. Loveless’ voice wails over all the din.

But that’s followed by an even stronger punch, the minor-key “Can’t Change Me,” in which she sings a harsh tale of drinking, passing out, talking too much, and drinking more. “If I can’t change who I am I shouldn’t try so goddamn hard,” she snarls.

I’ve read a couple of reviews of this album that complain that there are too many alcohol-soaked lyrics. (Then there’s the album cover, which shows Loveless chugging a can of gasoline. What kind of message does that send to the children?)

Maybe it does seem a little weird that a 21-year-old woman writes lyrics that seem to imply that she could match Johnny Paycheck drink for drink. But is there any law that says women singers have to write mopey confessionals about boyfriends who have a hard time sharing their feelings?

The truth is, Loveless’ “How Many Women” is one of the most soulful country songs I’ve heard in months. Tammy Wynette should come back from the dead to cover it. Heck, I even wish Steve Earle would make the tongue-in-cheek fantasy of Loveless’ song named after him come true. The two could sing some wild duets together.

Bloodshot Records is on a roll. It released the Loveless and Biram albums. Check out www.bloodshotrecords.com .

BLOG BONUS
A couple of videos for ya





And the old master ...

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 9, 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
Volare by Alex Chilton
Raw Power by Iggy & The Stooges
Blues for Joe by The Monsters
Angry Hands by Manby's Head
Bad Boy by HeadCat
One-Eyed Girl by The Compulsive Gamblers
Old Folks Boogie by Jack Oblivian
Crawdaddy by Nine Pound Hammer
White Rabbit by The Frontier Circus

Spook Factor by The Memphis Morticians
Get Down (and Get Stupid) by The Del-Gators
Electric Band by Wild Flag
Family Tree by Black Lips
Sweet Jesus by Elvis Hitler
Sister Ray Charles by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Booty City by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Natural Man by The Dirtbombs
Crazy Clown Time by David Lynch

Victory Song by Scott H. Biram
Hail Bop! by The Bassholes
Primitive by Southern Culture on the Skids
The Pimps Don't Like It by Juke Joint Pimps
I Might Just Crack by April March
Good Bye Johnny by The Gun Club
Baila Bailme by Al Hurricane

Kool Thing by Sonic Youth
In the Dark by Jay Reatard
Outside Woman Blues by Blind Joe Reynolds
Frankie and Johnny by Kazik Staszewski
Lazy River Road by The Persuasions
Surf's Up by The Beach Boys
Greater Day by The Rev. James Cleveland
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis


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eMUSIC OCTOBER

* Pachuco Cadaver by The Jack and Jim Show. So you didn't think it was possible to make Captain Beefheart sound even weirder?

Well take a bite out of this little tribute album by guitar mutant Eugene Chadbourne and Frank Zappa's late original Mothers drummer Jimmy Carl Black. Some tunes sound like a lost congregation of hillbilly snake handlers somehow got hold of Beefheart's songbook and turned them into insane hymns and, in some cases like "Dropout Boogie," surreal comedy routines.

Black's gruff voice is perfect for the bluesier tunes here like "Sure 'Nuff Yes I Do," and "Willie the Pimp," done here as a Delta blues with Chadbourne playing slide.

When Beefheart did "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby" it was a blues growler. But here it's a pilgrimage  into the Dark Dimension, featuring the insect hum of a didgeridoo,  a jazzy basson and other instruments played by guests. Chadbourne plays banjo on this, as he does on several other tunes here, most notable, the seven-minute version of "Clear Spot" and the stompin' "Steal Softly Through Sunshine Steal Softly Through Snow."

I was lucky enough to see The Jim & Jack Show live in Albuquerque about a year before Jimmy died.  He lived in Germany the last years of his life and his trips to the states weren't that frequent.

A bunch of Jimmy's children came up from El Paso and Anthony to see the show. Both he and Chadbourne seemed to be having a great time. And they even did a couple of Beefheart songs -- "Willie the Pimp" and "The Dust Blows Forward and the Dust Blows Back" .


And I never miss an opportunity to brag that when I did Picnic Time for Potatoheads in the early 80s, Jimmy Carl Black was the Indian of my group. Hear his magic drums on "The Green Weenie" HERE. (It's the second song down.)

* Rockabilly Frenzy by Various Artists. Here's 53 tracks for $5.99. You do the math. It's a great bargain, like other cool compilations on the Rock-a-Billy label available at eMusic. (I've previously picked up 50s Rockabilly Hellraisers and 1950s Rock N' Roll & Rockabilly Rare Masters. I just can't get enough.) Many of the selections seem more hardcore honky tonk than rockabilly, but who's gonna quibble?

Frenzy concentrates mostly on unknown performers, though "Corky Jones," the rockabilly alter ego of   Buck Owens, is here with his shoulda-been-a-hit "Rhythm & Booze."

Speaking of booze, this album is overflowing with songs about alcoholic beverages. There's "Set Up Antother Drink" by Carl Phillips, "Booze Party" by Three Aces and a Joker (The Cramps covered this),  "Flop Top Beer" by Buddy Meredith, "Moonshine" by Montie Jones, "I'm Drinkin' Bourbon" by Billy Starr, "Wine Wine Wine" by Bobby Osbourne, "Whiskey Women and Wilid Living" by Tommy W. Pedigo, "Moonshine Still" by Jack Holt and "Pink Elephant" by Wally Willet.

What kind of message does this send to the children? I feel almost drunk after listening to all these.

But wait, there's more ...

There's a not-bad cover of George Jones' "White Lightning" by a band called The Valley Serenaders. But that's not nearly as remarkable as "White Lightning Cherokee" by Onie Wheeler. No, it's not a politically incorrect look at Native American alcoholism. It's about a guy who gets a better thrill from kissing his Indian girlfriend than drinking his pappy's brew. But he has no intention of giving up either.

And there's not one not two but three versions of a song called "Beer Drinkin' Blues." One's by Eddie Novak, another by Rocky Bill Ford. Johnny Champion calls his song "Beer Drinkin' Daddy." All deal with a hard-drinking alcoholic whose drinking is interfering with his marriage. Ford plays it sad, while Novak seems more comical. My favorite though is Champion's. It's an upbeat song with a snazzy organ solo. He seems almost defiant about his beer drinkin'.

* Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-1935 by Various Artists. The Mekons led me to this one. On their latest album Ancient & Modern, Sally Timms sings a song called "Geeshie," a spooky, bluesy little number I said sounds as if it came from "a speakeasy near the gates of Hell." The group based this song on an obscure blues song called "Last Kind Words" by a woman named Geeshie Wiley.

When I read that, I searched for the song on eMusic and found it here in this Yazoo Records collection, along with two other Geeshie tunes, "Skinny Legs Blues." (Look out, Joe Tex, the ghost of Geeshie is looking for you!) and "Pick Poor Robin Clean," which sounds like a crazy cousin of "Salty Dog" sung with Elvie Thomas.

Wiley is fairly obscure, but she might be the best known artist on this album. There's King Soloman Hill, who has a piercing voice that might remind you of Skip James. Blind Joe Reynolds does "Outside Woman Blues," a song revived in the '60s by Cream. I know now where Canned Heat got the "Bullfrog Blues." (It's by a guy named William Harris, who does that and two other tunes here.)

And Mattie Delaney was singing "Tallahatchie River Blues" decades before Bobbie Gentry and Billy Joe were throwing stuff off the bridge.

ALSO


* The final five tracks of Fire of Love by The Gun Club. As I said last month when I downloaded the first six tracks, I came to this band decades too late.

I don't regret that. In fact it's pretty cool that I left some great musical surprises for my old age.

This was the first album by Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the boys and it just gets better after each listening.  There's some pumped up version of old Mississippi blues -- Robert Johnson's "Preaching the Blues" and a six minute wrestling match with Tommy Johnson's "Cool Drink of Water."

But Pierce's originals are powerful in their own right. "Ghost on the Highway," "Black Train" and "Good Bye Johnny" are raw and wild. Even though I'm a new initiate, it's hard to imagine rock 'n' roll without these songs.

* "Rainmaker" by Eliza Gilkyson. I stumbled across this song a few weeks ago when looking for songs by New Mexico artists for one of my Spotify playlists. Released on a 2005 Gilkyson compilation called RetroSpecto, this is one of her earliest recorded songs, released in the late '60s or early '70s under the name of Tusker, a Santa Fe band that Gilkyson fronted back when she was known as "Lisa. Along with my personal favorite group of that era, The Family Lotus, Tusker represented the best of New Mexico hippie music.

The lyrics are pure hippie-dippie wanna-be Indian: "We can dance, people, bring that rain down from the sky/We don't have to let the land go hungry or run dry/We can dance and bring Rainmaker back before we die ..." But it sure brings back great memories.