Sunday, October 27, 2013
NOOOOOOO! Lou Reed is Dead
Lou Reed, founding member of The Velvet Underground and all-around rock 'n' roll bad-ass is dead.
According to Rolling Stone the cause of death isn't known yet, but Reed received a liver transplant earlier this year.
I only got to see him live once, in Austin in 1996 when he was promoting his album Set the Twilight Reeling. Damn it, I'd like to write now that it was the greatest concert of my life. It wasn't. It was a good show, but just a couple of nights later his contemporary Iggy Pop did a free show right off Sixth Street and his crazy energy basically wiped Lou Reed's more sedate concert out of my memory.
Still, I cried when I learned that Lou Reed had died. I thought the surly son of a bitch was immortal.
I'll give Lou a proper send-off tonight on Terrell's Sound World. (10 p.m Mountain Time on KSFR, streaming HERE.)
Until them, here's a couple of Lou videos
Friday, October 25, 2013
THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST
Friday, Oct. 25, 2013
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
(It Was a) Monster Holiday by Buck Owens
The Lonesomest Ghost in Town by Southern Culture on the Skids
What's a Simple Man to Do by Steve Earle
Fightin' Side of Me by Bryan & The Haggards with Eugene Chadbourne
Workin' Man's Blues by Merle Haggard
Take a Letter Maria by New Riders of the Purple Sage
You and Your Damn Dream by Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders
Dark Hollow by Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys
Memories of Kennedy by Hasil Adkins
Dr. Demon & The Robot Girl by Captain Clegg & The Nightcrawlers
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Take an Old Cold Tater and Wait by Little Jimmy Dickens
Devil at Red's by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Ham Tramck Mama by The Volebeats
Marie Laveau by Bobby Bare
Voodoo Queen Marie by The Du-Tells
My Untrue Cowgirl by The Jewel Cowboys
Always a Friend to You by Alejandro Escovedo
According to Law by Carol S. Johnson
Junkyard in the Sun by Butch Hancock
Cowboy Boots by Dale Watson
Junkyard in the Sun by Butch Hancock
Cowboy Boots by Dale Watson
Thwarted by Rob Nikowlewski
Ghost Riders in the Sky by Last Mile Ramblers
Let's Go Burn Ole Nashville Down by Mojo Nixon & Jello Biafra
Never Be Again by Ugly Valley Boys
Willie the Weeper by Dave Van Ronk
Bringing Mary Home by Mac Wiseman
Big Joe & The Phantom 309 by Red Sovine
The Ghost and Honest Joe by Pee Wee King
Making Believe by Willie Nelson & Brandi Carlisle
Making Believe by Willie Nelson & Brandi Carlisle
That's Neat, That's Nice by NRBQ
I Never Go Around Mirrors by Lefty Frizzell
Buffalo Gals by J. Michael Combs
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Halloween Tingles
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 25, 2013
The holiday season is upon us, the time for trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples with razor blades and communicating with the spirits of the dead. And for listening to deliciously tacky rock 'n' roll like that found on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo.
This definitive Halloween collection of the year features the work of my three favorite bands on North Carolina's Yep Roc label, The Fleshtones, a New York garage band that’s been around since the ‘70s; Southern Culture on the Skids, a North Carolina trio that specializes in a raw Dixie-fried mix of rockabilly, swamp rock, country and surf music in songs about fried chicken, stock-car races and cheap liquor; and Los Straitjackets, an instrumental band known for wearing masks (Mexican wrestling masks) even when it’s not Halloween.
It's just what the (mad) doctor ordered. The album even has an cover by Steve Blickenstaff, best known. for creating the groovy ghoulie cover of The Cramps’ 1984 album Bad Music for Bad People, as well as doing the art for last year's GaragePunk Hideout Halloween compilation, Garage Monsters.
The good news is that the three Mondo Zombie bands are touring together. The bad news is that they aren't playing anywhere near Santa Fe, so this album will have to suffice for those of us in the rock 'n' roll hinterlands.
Yes, I do love all three of these bands, and all of them make worthy contributions to this compilation. But I have to say the best songs here are by Southern Culture on the Skids. I never knew until a couple of years ago, when they released a ready-for-Halloween album called Zombified, how fond SCOTS is of monster songs. The five new tracks of theirs on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo are swampy, twangy treasures. These include a cover of "Goo Goo Muck," a song made famous by The Cramps, but originally done by Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads. Mary Huff of Southern Culture sings it sexy.
They also do a western-flavored tune called "The Loneliest Ghost in Town," as well as "Demon Death," which starts out with a squall of feedback before settling into a Deadbolt-style doom-swamp groove, with Rick Miller speaking nearly all the lyrics.
But my favorite Southern Culture tune here is "Tingler Blues," which starts out with an audio clip from The Tingler, a 1959 Vincent Price movie best known for its promotional gimmick of installing vibrating devices in theater seats that simulating “tingling” in the scary parts of the movie. SCOTS’ Rick Miller sings in his lowest register: “I’ve got a monster living inside of me / It’s a killer and it won’t let me be …”
The least valuable SCOTS number here is an instrumental called "La Marcha De Los Cabarones." It's not bad, but when you're sharing an album with Los Straitjackets, you probably ought to leave the instrumentals to them.
And indeed, the musical luchadors from Memphis have some dandy instrumentals on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo. Most are theme songs from films like “Halloween,” “Young Frankenstein,” (a beautiful, almost Latin-sounding melody on that one) and, yes, “Ghostbusters.”
But even better is “It’s Monster Surfing Time,” a cover of a song by The Deadly Ones, a surf band from the ‘60s led by Joe South, (who later found fame writing songs like “The Games People Play” and “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.”)
Unfortunately, The Fleshtones is the least utilized of the three bands here. While the other two groups each have five tracks of their own on this album, The Fleshtones only have four. And one of those, “Ghoulman Confidential,” (which sounds like a crazy mash-up of “Short Shorts” and the Batman theme) was on a previous Yep Roc Halloween sampler, Rockin’ Bones, several years ago.
But the contributions of The Fleshtones are essential to the album especially “Sock It To Me Baby (in the House of Shock),” a silly ‘60s monster song originally done by a band called The Animated Sounds and “Haunted Hipster,” a Fleshtones original, which is a back-handed ode to the universally loathed modern-day hipster (“You think you’re cool, but you are dead too …”)
All three bands contribute to “Que Monstruos Son,” a Spanish version of “The Monster Mash” with The Fleshtone’s Keith Streng providing the Bobby “Boris” Picket imitation.
(This isn’t the first “Monster Mash” en Espanol. Search Youtube and you’ll find several videos of Mexican singer Luis "Vivi" Hernandez performing his hit he called "El Monstruo.")
Like the vampires and zombies who haunt this album, Halloween spook rock cannot die. Long may it rattle your bones.
Also recommended:
* Merles Just Want to Have Fun by Bryan & The Haggards featuring Eugene Chadbourne. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Merle Haggard fans listening to this album went away thinking that these guys were making fun of ol’ Hag considering some of the off-key horns and Bizzaro World solos that color this album.
But I don’t think that’s the case. Chadbourne, an avant garde guitarist, and sax maniac Bryan Murray indeed are having a lot of fun with the material – primarily Haggard songs and a medley of Bob Wills songs that Merle has covered, but they’re not making fun. But even though Hag didn’t do it this a way, this is a true tribute done with love in the heart.
Neither Chadbourne and Murray are country musicians, but both love country music – even though in their hands the music gets mutated into something new.
The first time I ever heard Chadbourne on the radio, she was doing a crazy Johnny Paycheck medley. As for Murray, this ain’t his first Merle rodeo. Bryan & The Haggards have a couple of previous albums filled with songs by their namesake.
On the opening cut, “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” one of Haggard’s most belligerent numbers is turned into what sounds like a drunken polka (Chadbourne begins the second verse, “I read about some squirrelly guy …” then abruptly changes the lyrics: “That’s me! I don’t believe in fightin’ …” Soon the tune melts down into jazz cacophony. Then there’s “The Old Man from the Mountain,” which Chadbourne and crew do as an insane rocker.
Other highlights include the aforementioned Bob Wills medley and “Listening to Wind,” which retains the song’s lovely melody even with the off-kilter jazz embellishments. And while the album starts with “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” it ends with “That’s the News,” a relatively recent Haggard song, in which the Okie from Muskogee had begun to question the endless wars of the 21st Century.
* Haunted podcast: Just in time for your Halloween party comes the sixth annual Big Enchilada Spooktacular. It's already terrifying people all over the internet.
Here's some Youtubes:
(This Los Straitjackets song's not actually on the Mondo Zombies album, but who cares?)
Here's Luis "Vivi" Hernandez
Start tinglin'
Oct. 25, 2013
The holiday season is upon us, the time for trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples with razor blades and communicating with the spirits of the dead. And for listening to deliciously tacky rock 'n' roll like that found on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo.
This definitive Halloween collection of the year features the work of my three favorite bands on North Carolina's Yep Roc label, The Fleshtones, a New York garage band that’s been around since the ‘70s; Southern Culture on the Skids, a North Carolina trio that specializes in a raw Dixie-fried mix of rockabilly, swamp rock, country and surf music in songs about fried chicken, stock-car races and cheap liquor; and Los Straitjackets, an instrumental band known for wearing masks (Mexican wrestling masks) even when it’s not Halloween.
It's just what the (mad) doctor ordered. The album even has an cover by Steve Blickenstaff, best known. for creating the groovy ghoulie cover of The Cramps’ 1984 album Bad Music for Bad People, as well as doing the art for last year's GaragePunk Hideout Halloween compilation, Garage Monsters.
The good news is that the three Mondo Zombie bands are touring together. The bad news is that they aren't playing anywhere near Santa Fe, so this album will have to suffice for those of us in the rock 'n' roll hinterlands.
Yes, I do love all three of these bands, and all of them make worthy contributions to this compilation. But I have to say the best songs here are by Southern Culture on the Skids. I never knew until a couple of years ago, when they released a ready-for-Halloween album called Zombified, how fond SCOTS is of monster songs. The five new tracks of theirs on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo are swampy, twangy treasures. These include a cover of "Goo Goo Muck," a song made famous by The Cramps, but originally done by Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads. Mary Huff of Southern Culture sings it sexy.
They also do a western-flavored tune called "The Loneliest Ghost in Town," as well as "Demon Death," which starts out with a squall of feedback before settling into a Deadbolt-style doom-swamp groove, with Rick Miller speaking nearly all the lyrics.
But my favorite Southern Culture tune here is "Tingler Blues," which starts out with an audio clip from The Tingler, a 1959 Vincent Price movie best known for its promotional gimmick of installing vibrating devices in theater seats that simulating “tingling” in the scary parts of the movie. SCOTS’ Rick Miller sings in his lowest register: “I’ve got a monster living inside of me / It’s a killer and it won’t let me be …”
The least valuable SCOTS number here is an instrumental called "La Marcha De Los Cabarones." It's not bad, but when you're sharing an album with Los Straitjackets, you probably ought to leave the instrumentals to them.
And indeed, the musical luchadors from Memphis have some dandy instrumentals on Mondo Zombie Boogaloo. Most are theme songs from films like “Halloween,” “Young Frankenstein,” (a beautiful, almost Latin-sounding melody on that one) and, yes, “Ghostbusters.”
But even better is “It’s Monster Surfing Time,” a cover of a song by The Deadly Ones, a surf band from the ‘60s led by Joe South, (who later found fame writing songs like “The Games People Play” and “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.”)
Unfortunately, The Fleshtones is the least utilized of the three bands here. While the other two groups each have five tracks of their own on this album, The Fleshtones only have four. And one of those, “Ghoulman Confidential,” (which sounds like a crazy mash-up of “Short Shorts” and the Batman theme) was on a previous Yep Roc Halloween sampler, Rockin’ Bones, several years ago.
But the contributions of The Fleshtones are essential to the album especially “Sock It To Me Baby (in the House of Shock),” a silly ‘60s monster song originally done by a band called The Animated Sounds and “Haunted Hipster,” a Fleshtones original, which is a back-handed ode to the universally loathed modern-day hipster (“You think you’re cool, but you are dead too …”)
All three bands contribute to “Que Monstruos Son,” a Spanish version of “The Monster Mash” with The Fleshtone’s Keith Streng providing the Bobby “Boris” Picket imitation.
(This isn’t the first “Monster Mash” en Espanol. Search Youtube and you’ll find several videos of Mexican singer Luis "Vivi" Hernandez performing his hit he called "El Monstruo.")
Like the vampires and zombies who haunt this album, Halloween spook rock cannot die. Long may it rattle your bones.
Also recommended:
* Merles Just Want to Have Fun by Bryan & The Haggards featuring Eugene Chadbourne. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Merle Haggard fans listening to this album went away thinking that these guys were making fun of ol’ Hag considering some of the off-key horns and Bizzaro World solos that color this album.
But I don’t think that’s the case. Chadbourne, an avant garde guitarist, and sax maniac Bryan Murray indeed are having a lot of fun with the material – primarily Haggard songs and a medley of Bob Wills songs that Merle has covered, but they’re not making fun. But even though Hag didn’t do it this a way, this is a true tribute done with love in the heart.
Neither Chadbourne and Murray are country musicians, but both love country music – even though in their hands the music gets mutated into something new.
The first time I ever heard Chadbourne on the radio, she was doing a crazy Johnny Paycheck medley. As for Murray, this ain’t his first Merle rodeo. Bryan & The Haggards have a couple of previous albums filled with songs by their namesake.
On the opening cut, “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” one of Haggard’s most belligerent numbers is turned into what sounds like a drunken polka (Chadbourne begins the second verse, “I read about some squirrelly guy …” then abruptly changes the lyrics: “That’s me! I don’t believe in fightin’ …” Soon the tune melts down into jazz cacophony. Then there’s “The Old Man from the Mountain,” which Chadbourne and crew do as an insane rocker.
Other highlights include the aforementioned Bob Wills medley and “Listening to Wind,” which retains the song’s lovely melody even with the off-kilter jazz embellishments. And while the album starts with “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” it ends with “That’s the News,” a relatively recent Haggard song, in which the Okie from Muskogee had begun to question the endless wars of the 21st Century.
* Haunted podcast: Just in time for your Halloween party comes the sixth annual Big Enchilada Spooktacular. It's already terrifying people all over the internet.
Here's some Youtubes:
(This Los Straitjackets song's not actually on the Mondo Zombies album, but who cares?)
Here's Luis "Vivi" Hernandez
Start tinglin'
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Thursday Music Treat: Dave Alvin Live in Santa Fe, 2008
This is Alvin at SF Brewing in 2009 |
Messing around on the Live Music Archive last night, I discovered this November 2008 show.
It's Dave Alvin, doing an acoustic show at the Gig Performance Space in November 2008 with guitarist Chris Miller.
There's a bunch of great tunes here, including non-electric takes on rockers like "Ash Grove" and "Jubilee Train," which normally are performed with a full band.
And you'll hear Alvin's dry humor. At one point when he's having a little trouble tuning his guitar, he says, "Ah hell, that's close close enough. It's only Santa Fe. You know, it's not like the bowling alley in Farmington, where people are discerning."
You can listen to the show here or go to The Live Music Archive and down any or all of the songs. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST
Check out the brand new Big Enchilada podcast, the 2013 Spooktacular. It's free at www.bigenchiladapodcast.com
Sunday, Oct. 21, 2013
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
Sunday, Oct. 21, 2013
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
Sock it to Me Baby (in the House of Shock) by The Fleshtones
Sugar on Top by The Dirtbombs
Many Times Worse Than Los Tentatkills
Single Again by The Fiery Furnaces
Watch Your Mouth by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Dog Faced Boy by The Eels
Dog Faced Boy by The Eels
At the Gates by The Night Beats
Electrocuted Blues by The Mooney Suzuki
Electrocuted Blues by The Mooney Suzuki
Dregs by Bass Drum of Death
It's Too Soon to Know by Irma Thomas
Gilligan's Island by Manic Hispanic
I Think of Demons by Roky Erikson & The Aliens
Death Train Blues by Daddy Longlegs
Death Train Blues by Daddy Longlegs
Jukebox by Left Lane Cruiser
The Bag I'm In by Big Foot Chester
I'm Sad About It by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Jump into the River. By The A-Bones with Roy Loney
Ninety Nine (Minimalist Mix) by Figures of Light
To the Other Woman ( I'm the Other Woman) by Sandra Phillips
Plastered To the Wall (Higher than the Ceiling) by Swamp Dogg)
Big Bad John by Big John Hamilton
Big Bad John by Big John Hamilton
If He Walked Today by Wolf Moon
The Hipster by Black Joe Lewis
Soul Power by Walter Washington & The Soul Powers
Lonely Street by Clarence "Frogman" Henry
Kiss Yourself for Me by Doris Allen
Vinon So Minsou by Oinsou Corneille & Black Santiago
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark by The Sonics
The Rad Lord's Return by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds
World of Freaks by Harry Perry
World of Freaks by Harry Perry
River of Blood by the Black Angels
Pussywhipped by Johnny Dowd
Pussywhipped by Johnny Dowd
The House of Blue Lights by Don Covay
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
BOO! It's the 6th Annual Big Enchilada Spooktacular!
BOO! Happy Halloween, my dear young friends! Welcome to the 6th (!!!!) annual Big Enchilada Spooktacular, where once again I've dug up some ghostly, ghastly tunes by some of your favorite artists and mine (plus a bunch you might never have heard of.) And guess what: This is the 5th anniversary of this podcast. I've been doing this since I was a young man ... well, slightly less-old man.
Here's the playlist:
(Background Music: It's Monster Surfing Time by Los Straitjackets)
Demon Death by Southern Culture on the Skids
He's Waitin' by The Sonics
Honeymoon at Hell by The Monsters
Mummy Shakes by The Molting Vultures
Black Leather Monster by The Plasmatics
'Tain't No Sin (To Take Off Your Skin) by Fred Hall
(Background Music: Theme from Halloween by Los Straitjackets)
Por Mil Demonios by Horror Deluxe
Monster Rock by Screaming Lord Sutch
Satan's Little Pet Pig by Demon's Claws
Haunted Hipster by The Fleshtones
Hoodoo Bash by Peter Stampfel & Jeffrey Lewis
(Background Music: Ghostbusters by Los Straitjackets)
Haunted Head by Kid Congo Powers
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Witch on Fire by Dan Melchior's Broke Revue
Hush, Hush, Hush, (Here Comes the Boogie Man) by Henry Hall
Bad She Gone Voodoo by Chief Fuzzer
Play it below
My past Halloween podcasts:
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2012: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2011: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2010: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2009: CLICK HERE
Big Enchilada Spooktacular 2008: CLICK HERE
Or see 'em all HERE
Friday, October 18, 2013
THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST
Friday, Oct. 18, 2013
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
Hogs on the Highway by Bad Livers
Bob's Breakdown by Asleep at the Wheel
Up on the Hill Where They Do Do the Boogie by John Hartford
Funnel of Love by T. Tex Edwards & The Swingin' Kornflake Killers
Funnel of Love by T. Tex Edwards & The Swingin' Kornflake Killers
DWI Marijuana Blues. By The Imperial Rooster
Nitty Gritty by Southern Culture on the Skids
Special Love by Rolf Cahn
Ditty Wah Ditty by Ry Cooder
The Devil You Know by Todd Snider
The Devil You Know by Todd Snider
Oh Boy by Joe Ely & Todd Snider
Funky Tonk by Moby Grape
Just Like Geronimo by Dashboard Saviors
I Love You a Thousand Ways/My Feeholies Ain't Free Anymore by Augie Meyers
You're Bound to Look Like a Monkey by Great Recession Orchestra
Somewhere Between by Willie Nelson & Loretta Lynn
No Good for Me by Waylon Jennings
Tennessee by Reigning Sound
Chewin' Chewin' Gum by Stringbean
Cheap Living by Eric Hisaw
Don't Start Crying Now by Hasil Adkins
Don't Start Crying Now by Hasil Adkins
Motorcycle Man by The Riptones
House Rent Jump by Peter Case
She Taught Me How to Yodel by Kenny Roberts
Bowling Alley Bar by The Handsome Family
You Better Move On by Johnny Paycheck & George Jones
Code of the Road by The Band of Blackie Ranchette
Harper Valley PTA by Syd Straw & The Skeletons
Accentuate the Positive by Kelly Hogan & Jon Rauhouse
Blue and Wonder by Richard Buckner
Cool and Dark Inside by Kell Robertson
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Willie & The Girls
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 18, 2013
Here's a promo for the album
Oct. 18, 2013
Willie
Nelson is a little like the weather in Oklahoma. If you don't
like his latest album ... wait a minute.
Case in point: I was basically unimpressed by Let's Face the Music and Dance,
released back in March, and I wasn't that wild about Heroes, released less than a year before that. (Heroes was the one featuring a song
called “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die,” celebrating reefer with fellow
celebrity pothead Snoop Dog.)
But it's October already and dang if the ultra-prolific
octogenarian doesn't have a new album. To All the Girls…. It's a collection of
duets with various female singers -- from venerated country queens like Loretta
Lynn and Dolly Parton to the new crop of Juliette Barnes wanna-bes and many in
between. And guess what. The weather in Oklahoma just got nicer.
He almost could have called this album “Daughters”
because so many of his singing partners are the offspring of famous singers –
Roseanne Cash (Johnny Cash), Tina Rose (Leon Russell), Norah Jones (Ravi
Shankar), and Paula Nelson (uh, Willie Nelson).
No, not every tune is a winner. There’s some
over-produced, adult-contemporary fluff here. In fact, had I only listened to
the opening track, "From Here to the Moon and Back," a super-gooey
duet with Parton that made me miss Kenny Rogers, I probably would have
dismissed the record as just another ill-advised Willie product. But out of
respect, I went on to the next song. And I'm glad I did.
It’s a song Waylon
Jennings wrote, “She Was No Good for Me,” one of the finest Waymore did in the
‘90s. (I always loved how he described the subject of the song: “a
high-steppin’ mover, the kind men talk about.”) I’m not the biggest fan of
Nashville songbird Miranda Lambert, Willie’s duet partner on this song, but she sounds
fine here.
While I was disappointed in Dolly's contribution,
Willie's duet with Loretta brings out what I love about both artists. It's a
slow, yearning waltz called "Somewhere Between," with the two singers
swapping verses about doomed love. “Somewhere between your heart and mine,
there’s a door without any key …”
Some of the best songs on To All the Girls… are honky-tonk classics. Nelson sings “Making
Believe,” a song made famous by the late Kitty Wells, with Brandi Carlisle, who
has an impressive country voice. Then there’s “After the Fire Is Gone,” a song
Nelson recorded back in the ‘70s with Tracy Nelson (no relation.) Here he sings
it with Tina Rose, Like her old man, Leon, Tina’s voice is full of personality.
Nelson tackles on of Kris Kristofferson’s most
under-rated songs, “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends,” aided soulfully
by Roseanne Cash. Actually, the third star in this song is Trigger, Nelson’s
guitar. Nelson shows here that his distinct picking style has not faded.
And,
speaking of soul, his duet with Mavis Staples on Bill Withers’ “Grandma’s
Hands” is nothing short of superb. And it probably packs more of an emotional
punch when you realize that Nelson was raised by his grandparents.
Several songs here are remakes of songs Nelson recorded
before. I actually like the new version of “Always on My Mind,” done here with
Carrie Underwood, better than Willie’s ‘80s hit version. The arrangement on the
new version with its cocktail-lounge piano reminds me a little of “Don’t It
Make My Brown Eyes Blue.”
And better yet, there are not one but two songs from Phases and Stages, the best Willie
Nelson album in all recorded history. With Nora Jones he does a sweet, slow
version of “Walkin’.” But most
impressive is his rollicking remake of “Bloody Mary Morning,” Wynonna Judd
sounds as if she came to party on this track.
To
All the Girls … doesn’t rank up there with Phases and Stages or his other truly
great albums. Very little does. Chances are he’ll never reach that level again.
But as the man once sang, “The life I love is makin’ music with my friends,”
and he’s determined to keep that music flowing. I hope it never stops.
Also
Recommended
* Loves Lost and Found by Augie Meyers. Meyer’s is the mad organ
player of The Sir Douglas Quintet, whose Tex-Mex electric organ riff in “She’s
About a Mover” became one of the most recognizable sounds of the mid-60s. He’s
the big dude in The Texas Tornados whose drawling vocals turned the simple act
of “making guacamole” into an erotic escapade.
Meyers is known chiefly as the
sidekick of the late Doug Sahm, -- and in recent years backing up the likes of
Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. But Meyers for decades has quietly released a stream
of solo albums on small labels. (I haven’t heard the entire album, but my
favorite title of these is My Freeholies
Ain’t Free Anymore, from 2006.)
This new record shows Meyers’ country side. Some tracks
are C&W classics like “Pick Me Up on Your Way Down” (written by Harlan
Howard and covered by Charlie Walker, Faron Young, Ray Price and a million
others) and Lefty Frizzell’s “I Love You a Thousand Ways” (True story: Lefty
wrote this in Roswell in 1947 when he was in the Chaves County jail on a
statutory rape charge.) He also does a sweet version of a Sahm song, “Be Real.”
But most of the album consists of original Meyers songs,
starting out with the opening track, an uptempo “But Not Now,” in which Bobby
Flores’ fiddle is out front and ending with “Prosperity Street,” a nifty
western-swing number. In between there’s other high points, including “Side
Effect” (“I looked in the mirror and I looked like a wreck/ I think I’m in the
middle of a side effect …”) and “I Found Love,” a pretty tune that could almost
be a long-lost Don Williams song, featuring Tommy Detamore on dobro.
And just in case you didn’t know where Augie Meyers is
from, there are two novelty numbers that The Austin Lounge Lizards would
classify as “stupid Texas songs”: “Deed to Texas,” in which the singer fantasizes
about buying the entire state and seceding from the union (“next time address
us as `the country of Texas,’ ” goes the refrain.) And there’s the less
militant “The Sun is Shining Down on Me in Texas,” in which the singer seems to
prefer the Lone Star state because of the weather. Obnoxious as these are, the
songs are catchy.
I hope Texas doesn’t secede from the union. I like living
in the same country as Augie Meyers.
(This album is available at CD Baby, www.cdbaby.com/cd/augiemeyers.)
Here's a promo for the album
Sunday, October 13, 2013
TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST
Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013
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
Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner
Prostitution by Tiger Sex
Rock 'n' Roll Deacon by Screamin' Joe Neal
Rock 'n' Roll Deacon by Screamin' Joe Neal
Rat King by The Night Beats
The Rats' Revenge Part 1 by The Rats
Juice to Get Loose by Left Lane Cruiser
Everybody Loves Somebody by Hasil Adkins
Spooks by Ghost Bikini
I'm Mr. Big Stuff by Jimmy Hicks
Ooh Poo Pah Doo by Jessie Hill
He's Waitin' by The Sonics
The Witch by Los Peyotes
Psycho by The Swamp Rats
Strychnine by Barrence Whitfield
Shot Down by The Sonics
Shot Down by The Sonics
Stick with Her by The Gaunga Dyns
Great! Now We've Got Time to Party by Figures of Light
Ted by The Amputees
Hook and Sling by Eddie Bo
Wife Sitter by Swamp Dogg
Gettin' Plenty Lovin' by The Lyres
Don't Look at the Hanged Man by Big Foot Chester
Shrimp and Gumbo by Dave Bartholomew
Black Sheep by The Reigning Sound
Don't Try It by Devil Dogs
Seven and Seven Is by Love
Blues From Phyllis by the Flamin' Groovies
Makin' Love by The Sloths
You Always Hurt the One You Love by Clarence " Frogman" Henry
Killer Diller by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds
If He Walked Today by Wolf Moon
Sunny by Johnny Rivers
Afflicted by Charles Brimmer
You Look Like a Flower by Richard Caiton
I Wish I Was In New Orleans by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, October 11, 2013
THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST
Friday, Oct. 11, 2013
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
Drinkin' Wine Spo Dee O'Dee by Jerry Lee Lewis
Don't Wanna Wash Off Last Night by The Gaunga Dyns
Bloody Mary Morning by Willie Nelson & Wynonna Judd
Meanest Jukebox in Town by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
Cool Arrow by Hickoids
Country Hixes by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
Cajun Joe (Bully of the Bayou) by Doug & Rusty Kershaw
New River Train by Jackie Powers
Your Sugar is All I Want by Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders
Hobos Are My Heroes by Legendary Shack Shakers
Slaughterville iWreck by Family Lotus
Slaughterville iWreck by Family Lotus
Hometown Shit Beer by Joe West
Wish You Would Kiss Me by James Hand
Sweet Georgia Brown by Johnny Gimble with Merle Haggard
She's My Five Foot Five by Joel Savoy
Mississippi Showboat by Powder Mill
There Stands the Glass by Webb Pierce
Firewater Seeks Its Own Level by Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore
But Not Now by Augie Meyers
Boney Fingers by Hoyt Axton
Beans and Make Believe by Mose McCormack
Liquor Store by. The Meat Purveyors
Out There Aways by The Waco Brothers
Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends by Joan Osborne
Wildwood Boogie by Charley Gracie
Wine, Women and Loud Happy Songs by Ringo Starr
Guitar Man by Junior Brown
Long I Ride by Robbie Fulks
This Ain't a Good Time by Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys
Carlene by Robert Earl Reed
Alberta #3 by Bob Dylan
Last Date by David Bromberg
Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time by Mickey Gilley
Maverick by George Thorogood
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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