Friday, January 20, 2012

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST


Friday, January 20, 2012 
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
Cool and Dark Inside by Blonde Boy Grunt & The Groans
Fried Chicken and Gasoline by Southern Culture on the Skids
Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves by Last Mile Ramblers
You Take the Cake by Sammy Johnson & The Rhythm Lads
(Now And Then) There's A Fool Such As I by John Doe & The Sadies
Learn to Say No by Lydia Loveless
The Ballad Of Bill Blizzard by The Fisticuffs
I Need Some Lovin' by Harold Allen

Baby Doll by Charlie Gracie
Nothing at All by Rick Brousard & Two Hoots and a Holler
Blue Collar Blues by Jason Eklund
Down, Down, Down, Down, Down by Dale Watson & The Texas Two
Bent by The Calamity Cubes
Here in This Honky Tonk by The Western Starlanders
Slippin' Away by Jean Sheppard
The Thief Upon the Tree by Roy Acuff
There's More Pretty Girls Than One by Hylo Brown & The Timberliners
Double Track by Ugly Valley Boys

This Old House by Willie Nelson
If I Should Wander Back by Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Wronglers
Roly Poly by Brett Sparks & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Time Changes Everything by Johnny Cash
Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette by Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen
Leaving Home by Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Big Rock Candy Mountain by John Hartford
Deep Elum Blues by Harmonica Frank Floyd
A Satisfied Mind by Porter Wagoner

Late Night Lover by Rachel Brook
A Girl in a House on Felony Flats by Richmond Fontaine
Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone by Graham Lindsey
The Scarlet Tide by Alison Kraus
Goodnight Irene by Wayne & Gina Hancock
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Them Old Country Songs

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Jan. 20, 2012



I probably won’t be here to collect, but I’d be willing to bet that in 50 years, country singers — whatever in Sam Hill country music looks like in 2062 — will still be making albums of nostalgic old country songs.

They won’t be recording songs by Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, or Jason Aldean. Nope, they’ll still turn to the songbooks of Hank and Lefty, Willie and Merle, Bill Monroe and Bob Wills. They’ll still turn to the finely crafted tunes by Harlan Howard, Floyd Tillman, Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, Merle Kilgore, and Cindy Walker.

And there’s a reason for that. Those old songs still pack a powerful punch. It’s not that any of the venerated masters shunned commercialism. Far from it. They wanted to make hits. But they did so without writing songs that sounded as if they were created by committee and the recordings checked by focus groups. Even though you’ve heard songs like “I’m Moving On” or “Footprints in the Snow” a jillion times, if a singer has a little soul, he or she can still cover those tunes and they will connect.

And Willie Nelson and Jimmie Dale Gilmore have a lot more than a little soul. Both of the latest releases by these Texas troubadours are worthwhile experiences, even if most the songs on each are very familiar.

Nelson’s Remember Me, Vol. 1 is his second album in the last couple of years consisting of hillbilly classics.

His T Bone Burnett-produced Country Music consists mainly of bluegrass, folk, and backwoods gospel songs. The new album is slightly more modern, covering country songs going back to the 1940s and one from the late ’80s — Verne Gosdin’s “That Just About Does It.” There are songs by Nelson’s contemporaries like Haggard and Kris Kristofferson, as well as tunes made famous by his heroes such as Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce, and Bob Wills.

Some are familiar, some are a little obscure. But there’s not a bad one in the bunch.

The arrangements, for the most part, are simple and basic — lots of fiddle and steel — though Nelson nods to the early-’60s Nashville sound on “Release Me,” which has vibes, a jazzy guitar, and a soft female chorus. With the exception of harmonica player Mickey Raphael, the band here is not Nelson’s usual Family Band, but the musicians serve him well.

The title track, which opens the album, is a Tubb song — the first version I ever heard was by Dean Martin back in the 1960s. No, it’s not the same as “Remember Me (When Candle Lights are Gleaming),” which Nelson sang on Red Headed Stranger. It’s a midtempo tune, maybe a little slow to kick off an album. But it draws a listener in, and that fiddle by Aubrey Haynie sure sounds sweet. Plus, the bridge offers a reassuring promise to Nelson’s listeners: “And through all kinds of weather you’ll find I never change/Through the sunshine and the shadows, I’ll always be the same.”

Wilson does a great finger-poppin’ take on Tennessee Ernie Ford’s greatest moment (written by Merle Travis), “Sixteen Tons.” And he does a jumping cover of the Tex Williams western-swing novelty tune “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette),” which most people my age probably first heard played by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen in the early ’70s. Nelson’s version is fun, though he’s not really known for smoking nicotine.

Speaking of western swing, Nelson’s take on “Roly Poly” is perhaps the best version of this Texas Playboys song I’ve ever hear. Much of the credit goes to drummer Eddie Bayers who pounds like a maniac.

The prettiest tunes have to be “Slowly,” an early-’50s Webb Pierce song, along with “Satisfied Mind,” a Porter Wagoner signature tune (though my favorite version is the one by The Byrds).

Nelson, who is pushing 80, gives these songs a sagely quality. I’m happy he’s still singing them.

Like Nelson, Gilmore is an excellent songwriter, but he loves playing the songs of his country forefathers. His 2005 album, Come on Back, which showcases his space-alien voice, cosmic spirituality, and honky-tonk sensibilities, consists of dusty old country songs that his dad loved.
Jimmie Dale & Wronglers

His latest, Heirloom Music, is more of a folk/blues/old-timey venture, an acoustic string-band affair with wonderful old songs like “Deep Elum Blues,” “Foggy Mountain Top,” and The Carter Family’s “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes.”

Gilmore and his band draw from bluegrass sources such as Bill Monroe (“Uncle Pen”), Flatt and Scruggs (“If I Should Wander Back”), and Rupert Jones (“Footprints in the Snow”).

He teams up for this album with The Wronglers, a northern California band — the album is actually credited to The Wronglers with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Warren Hellman, who founded the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, played banjo with the group. He died last month.

The main intersection with Nelson’s latest is a Bob Wills cover, “Time Changes Everything,” though Gilmore performs it as a sad country ballad, not as a western-swing tune. In an interview on NPR's  Fresh Air last year, Gilmore said he had found a bluegrass version of the song by Monroe, though he first came to it via Johnny Cash’s cover.

My favorite tune here is Charlie Poole’s version of “Frankie and Johnny,” which is titled “Leavin’ Home.” It’s the happiest-sounding song about domestic violence ending in murder you’ve heard. You almost believe that a pistol goes rooty toot toot.

Also commendable is The Wronglers’ version of the hobo fantasy “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” Hellman and Gilmore trade off on lead vocals. Maybe it’s not as heartwarming as the late John Hartford’s live version in the movie Down From the Mountain, but it’s up there.

Gilmore sounds like he enjoyed every second on this album. I did too.


Check out a performance by Gilmore with The Wronglers on Mountain Stage:


Monday, January 16, 2012

Kickstarting Gregg Turner

I did something I normally don't do for musicians and probably won't again real soon. But I've been friends with Gregg Turner for too many years and have been an occasional part of of his Hatchet-Wielding Jews revue. He played for free at my CD release party 15 years ago! He saved my life at the ol' swimmin' hole. He jack-knifed his 18 wheeler to save that busload of kids ...  So how could I turn him down when he asked me to plug his Kickstarter project? (Plus, he agreed to tape a quick spot for The Big Enchilada! The log-rolling is shameless!)

Turner, for the uninitiated, is a former member of The Angry Samoans, Vom, and I think maybe Herman's Hermits. More recently, he's played with a group of miscreants called The Blood-Drained Cows. And don't forget The Hatchet-Weilding Jews.

Turner is trying to raise money to record a new album called Gregg Turner Plays the Hits. Check out all the details HERE.

And check out the other fine testimony of Nicole Panter, former manager of The Germs, (and former College of Santa Fe instructor) HERE,  right below my own sleazy offering.




eMusic January

Here's my latest batch of downloads from eMusic:

* Jack Mack & The Heart Attack: Club Lingerie 1982. It was almost 30 years ago that I took a trip to California with my pals Alec and Rich. The stated purpose of the trip was to promote my then-new album Picnic Time for Potatoheads. But it was also a time to get out of the insular world of New Mexico and check out some music.

The most memorable music we saw on that trip included The Waitresses (popular at the time for their New Wave hit "I Know What Boys Like") and an obscure soul-revival group that nobody back home had ever heard of -- Jack Mack & The Heart Attack. We saw them at what I guess was their favorite haunt, Club Lingerie on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

These were the days when the sounds of Stax, Motown, Al Green and whatnot were way out of fashion. In fact, by the next year, the Motown-heavy soundtrack of The Big Chill would come to symbolize yuppie nostalgia and a sort-of rebuke to anything that came after. ("There is no other music, not in my house," Kevin Kline's character  declared indignantly in the movie.)

But Jack Mack and the boys weren't mere nostalgia merchants. Though it was obvious they loved the era they emulated, they were not a covers band. If they did any covers at all that night, they were so obscure I didn't recognize them.

And most importantly they played with an energy that set them miles apart from your usual bar band playing covers of "Soul Man" or "I Heard it Through the Grape Vine." I don't actually hear any overt punk or New Wave influences, but the Club Lingerie crowd, which was made up largely of early '80s Hollywood punks, loved it. It would be cool if there was a time machine and you could send Black Joe Lewis or JC Brooks or King Khan back in time to sit in with The Heart Attack.

I guess I was feeling a little neo-Big Chill nostalgia one recent night when I stumbled on this album while Googling Jack Mack & The Heart Attack. I was overjoyed when I saw it on eMusic. Though as the songs were downloading I feared the music would not match my memory. But I was far from disappointed. In fact, listening to "Wonderful Girl" took me right back there.

Weird Footnote: There's still a band called Jack Mack & The Heart Attack working today.  I'm not sure if any of the original players are in in, but there's a new "Jack Mack." The singer back in 1982 was a guy named Max Carl Gronenthal. After leaving The Heart Attack, he went on to sing with .38 Special and currently is singing with the current version of Grand Funk Railroad.

* Corn Demon by The Hickoids. "Cowpunk" is a term that gets thrown around quite a bit, but way back in the '80s, this Texas group helped get the concept off the ground. No, it's not just redneck parody -- though, as the Hickoids show on "Driftwood 40-23," a tender country lust song about a romance born in a truckstop restroom (you can hear it on my latest Big Enchilada episode) had a good knack for that sort of thing when they want.

But this collection, which features The Hickoids' first album We're In it for the Corn plus an early EP, basically is downhome ferocious rock 'n' roll played with hillbilly abandon. this is one dangerous rodeo.

One of my favorites is "The Longest Mile," which changes tempo at least a couple of times but maintains a fiery intensity even during the slow part. "Corntaminated" is an insane hoedown that starts out with a chicken-scratch guitar. I'm not sure what "Animal Husbandry" is about, but I assume it's something unwholesome. But you gotta love the stomping, twang-infused guitar slop.

Corn Demon mostly focuses on original tunes, ) but there's some wild covers too. Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting" becomes "Korn Fu Fighting" while Elvis' "Burning Love" becomes a hunka hunka crazy ride. One of my favorites here is the instrumental "Willamanza," which is a high-voltage melding of "The William Tell Overture" and, you guessed it, the theme from Bonanza. And perhaps the most radical cut here is the irreverent, screaming version of The Eagles' (!!!) "Take it Easy."  No, The Hickoids don't take it easy, but they take it.

* Crying and Sighing by McKinney's Cotton Pickers. This is what big band jazz sounded like back in the 1920s and '30s. Lots of horns of course, but also a prominent banjo and frequent vocals.

The Cotton PIckers were a black group that started out in in 1926, led by drummer William McKinney but led by Don Redman, a former member of the Fletcher Hendeson Orchestra. At various points in its history, members of the Cotton Pickers included Fats Waller on piano, Coleman Hawkins on clarinet and tenor sax, Doc Cheatham on trumpet  and Benny Carter on clarinet and alto sax.

I actually downloaded this album because it contains a jazzy version of
 "Beedle Um Bum," a song usually associated with jug bands and Tampa Red. It's credited to gospel songwriter Thomas Dorsey, in his earlier incarnation as "Georgia Tom" was Red's piano player. "Down in Memphis, Tennessee, lives a girl named Cindy/ With a meat shop on her block, she's always got the gimme ..."  But's not the only Tampa Red/Georgia Tom tune in this collection. Also there's great versions of "It's Tight Like That" (one of Red's signature songs) and "Selling That Stuff."

* Whatever I Want by Mark Sultan. " I can see how a one-man band set-up can leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth. ... I hate one-man bands. Seriously. There are only a couple I like, and those few I do like I like because I 'don’t consider them one-man bands, but rather musicians who manipulate minimal gear and sounds and transform it and themselves into something special and transcend what they present. "

That's what Sultan --  who has made a name for himself partly by his work as a "one-man" band"  -- said a few months ago on his website. Thus, it's fitting that Sultan's latest work doesn't have a typical one-man band feel.

He uses guest musicians including pals from The Black Lips (with whom Sultan plays in the garage/gospel supergroup The Almighty Defenders) and Dan Kroha of The Gories.

Basically, Sultan does what he does best -- melodic (mostly) tunes colored by doo-wop, rockabilly and primitive rock 'n' roll. My favorite so far is "Blood on Your Hands," which sounds like a weird team-up of Danny & The Juniors and some mid '60s garage band.

Also notable is "Just Like Before," on which Sultan goes right for the doo-wop jugular.

Whatever is one of two Sultan albums released last fall. (I'll talk about the other, Whenever I Want It, next month. There's also a CD called Whatever/Whenever that consists of music from both albums.)

Plus
A bunch of Christmas songs for The Big Enchilada podcast or Terrell's Sound World, or both.

* "Black Santa" and "Sock it to Me Santa" by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
* "A Christmas Duel" by The Hives and Cyndi Lauper 
* "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" by Los Straitjackets

Sunday, January 15, 2012

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Sunday, January 15, 2012 
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
Watching My Baby by The Reigning Sound *
Judgement Day by The Pretty Things
Magic Touch by The Plimsouls *
Devil in a Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly by Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
Maelstrom by Rocket From The Tombs
Who Do You Love/Spoonful by Johnny Thunders
Haunting You by Jay Reatard
High Gear by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Strawberry Soda by Bastard Winos
Mary Had a Little Lamb by Old Skull

Hot Coffee by Andre Williams & The Goldstars
Wilder Wilder, Faster Faster by The Cramps
I'm a Hog For You Baby by Screaming Lord Sutch
Come Levitate With Me by The King Khan Experience *
Anala by The King Khan & BBQ Show
I Hate CDs by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
Hurricane Boogie by Dick Lewis & His Harlem Rhythm Boys
The Drag by Ty Segall

Safe as Milk (Take 5) by cCaptain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Crazy with the Blues by Cleo Harve
Catfish Blues by Jimi Hendrix
I'm Not Satisfied by The Fall
Do You Understand by The Sinister Six
Alleys of Your Mind by The Dirtbombs
Geraldine by The A-Bones

Rock 'n' Soul Music/Love by Country Joe & The Fish
Graceful Bow by The Revelations feat. Tre Williams
What You Lack in Brains by The Batusis
Wormeater by Grinderman
Ac-cen-tu-ate the Positive / Things Are Getting Better by NRBQ
Traveling Mood by Wee Willie Wayne

* Follow link to free download

 MORE TO COME (Keep refreshing your browser until midnight)

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, April 28, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrel...