Mose getting ready for his KSFR performance last March
One of New Mexico's finest country songwriters and singers Mose McCormack appeared on the Santa Fe Opry last March, so I wanted to post it on Mixcloud back then.
However, the recording didn't show up on the KSFR computer where it was supposed to be and I didn't I didn't locate it for several weeks. (Actually I didn't locate it, KSFR's crack staff did. Thanks, guys.)
Anywho, I finally got it posted. You can play it below.
Enjoy!
Here's the first hour of the show. Mose's segment starts about 17 minutes into it.
Friday, June 26, 2015 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 Here's my playlist : OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other) by Willie Nelson
I'm Little But Loud by Little Jimmy Dickens
Skip a Rope by Kentucky Headhunters
I Got a Date to Cut a Cake by Deke Dickerson
Back-Eyed Susie by Marty Stuart
The Week of Living Dangerously by Steve Earle
The Lost Cause by Legendary Shack Shakers
Ode to Billy Joe by Joe Tex
Lou's Got the Flu by Roger Miller
Preachin' to the Choir by Banditos
Sure Feels Like Rain by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Bug Ya for Love by Dale Watson
Big River by Johnny Cash
A Song Called Love by Slackeye Slim
Blood on the Saddle by Tex Ritter
Jesus Met the Woman at the Well by Tom Russell with Eliza Gilkyson
To the Work by Keb Mo'
The Palace Roses by Tod Andrews
I'm Sorry by The Beaumonts
Let's Do Wrong Tonight by Simon Stokes
Hungover Together by The Supersuckers with Kelly Deal
Sin City by Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen
Slidin' and Fightin' by Joey Delton
VD City by Woody Guthrie
That's the Way Love Goes by Lefty Frizzell
Who Put The Turtle In Myrtle's Girdle by The Western Melody Makers
Hogtied Over You by Billy Bacon & The Forbidden Pigs with Candye Kane
Just Because I Can by Seasick Steve
Lonesome On'ry and Mean by Waylon Jennings & The 357s
Thunderstorm by The Western Shore
Where I Fell by Robbie Fulks
Lonely Guy by Big Sandy
Friendly World by Shari Elf & The Kittens
Wrong's What I Do Best by Louie Setzer
Broadcaster's Prayer by Carl Shook 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
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican June 26, 2015 Banditosare a big, hairy, Alabama-bred, Nashville-relocated sextet that I’d never heard of until a few months ago. Except for singer Mary Beth Richardson, the band looks like the wild-eyed sons, or maybe grandsons, of Lynyrd Skynyrd. (But please note, that’s an American flag on the group’s album cover, not a Confederate flag, which Skynyrd and other old Southern rock bands liked to drape themselves in.)
But even though Banditos resemble countless other Southern rock groups that came before them, their self-titled album is, hands down, the most impressive country rock debut I’ve heard in years. They play a crazy brew of rootsy, rocksy sounds. You’ll hear strands of ZZ Top, Janis Joplin, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams, bluegrass, jug-band, honky-tonk, rockabilly, and Stax-style soul.
In spite of the fact that Banditos boast three lead singers — Richardson, guitarist Corey Parsons, and banjo man Stephen Pierce — you won’t hear those generic, cheesy, pretty-boy, Eagles-style peaceful, easy harmonies that scar so much of the alt-country, “Americana” (I still hate that term) country-rock universe. No, this is a raucous roadhouse crew that sounds like it’s more interested in rolling you for beer money than gently wooing your ears.
In interviews, Parsons has named several punk and garage groups as influences — The Stooges, The Cramps, The Minutemen, Black Flag, and The Sonics, among others. That intensity definitely is part of the mix. But in another interview, the group praised Randy Travis. Actually, I don’t hear much of either Black Flag or Travis in Banditos, so it’s probably better to just sit back and enjoy their music instead of getting hung up playing “name that influence.”
On the album, Banditos save their best for the first. That’s the loud, frantic boogie called “The Breeze,” which is reportedly a tribute to the band’s late, great 1993 Ford Econoline van, which saw them through their early tours. Another instant favorite is “Long Gone, Anyway,” which actually has crazy kazoo solos, prominent banjo and saloon-style piano, and a melody similar to Mississippi John Hurt’s “Candy Man.”
The group comes closest to country music on the twangy “Blue Mosey #2,” which owes a melodic debt to “Lost Highway,” and the fast-paced honky-tonker, “Waitin’,” sung by Richardson. But Richardson’s big moments on this record are a couple of showstoppers called “No Good” and “Old Ways,” both soul ballads into which she pours her heart. Richardson doesn’t actually sound much like Janis Joplin, but she has a throaty warble and a slow-burn attack. She has a way of mesmerizing a listener, so you barely notice when her sweet coo soars into a shout.
I’m impressed, and I want to hear more of these Banditos. Also recommended:
* Hey Y’all, It’s The Beaumonts by The Beaumonts. When I first played the first song on this CD, I almost thought Saustex Records put the wrong disc into the case. It wasn’t the music. The Texas Tornado-flavored “San Antonio” sounded pretty much like The Beaumonts with a Mexican accordion.
But there was something unsettling about the lyrics. There was no profanity! No raunchy sex, no blasphemy, no mention of specific body parts and, with the exception of a quick mention of “cheap weed,” no reference to drugs!
This couldn’t be The Beaumonts I know and love.
But before I could eject the disc to check the label, the very next song, “If You Take Drugs (You’re Gonna Die),” showed the band back in its inspired lowbrow splendor. The song is a bluegrassy (nice mandolin!) stomp that warns “You’ll sell your soul” (and a certain part of your anatomy) “if you take drugs.”
Despite the false start, singer Troy Wayne Delco and the band have crammed in way more of their quota of drinkin’, druggin’, and depravity into this record. There is a song called “Lubbock in the Springtime” about the group’s hometown. Somehow they don’t seem as enamored of Lubbock as they are of San Antonio. After a line about the unpleasant aroma of the place, Delco sings, “I lost my pickup at the feedlot/After drinkin’ nine shots of apple schnapps.”
Live in San Marcos
“Change My Name” is a gleeful stab at “bro-country,” those Nashville hacks who quit their modeling jobs, wear their baseball caps backward, and try to pass themselves off as outlaws.
“I’m Sorry” is a lengthy apology for all the places where the singer has puked, while “Baby, Tonight!” is about anticipating a heavy date in which Delco hopes to impress a woman with “dinner at my mama’s” and showing her his porno collection.
But if the lyrics veer toward the sophomoric, the truly amazing thing about The Beaumonts is what a tight band they are. “Hollywood” Steve Vegas is an ace country guitarist, while steel guitarist Chip Northcutt, who undoubtedly prays at least three times a day to the late Ralph Moody, is the group’s secret weapon.
In addition to this album, a few weeks ago, Saustex re-released the group’s first album, Get Ready for The Beaumonts. The bio sheet for the album says, “The label has spared no expense in carefully restoring the master tapes which were rescued from a ‘Bonfire of Filth’ sponsored by the Central Lubbock Baptist Church.” Video time! First a couple from Banditos And here's a classic tune from The Beaumonts
When you think about Woody Guthrie you probably think about his Dustbowl ballads, his labor songs, or maybe his best-known song, "This Land is Your Land."
Chances are you don't immediate think of Woody's songs about venereal disease.
Yes, Woody Guthrie wrote songs about syphilis and gonorrhea with lines like:
"It's a holiday for some folks / it's a day to dance and sing / It's a wedding day for sweethearts / But it's a VD day for me"
and
Once young and once healthy and happy / Now a whirlpool of raving insane / Lost here in this wild V.D. city / Where nobody knows you by name.
and “With syphilis my cargo, I’ll dock in your harbor no more.”
In 1949 Alan Lomax, the great folk-song field collector, got Woody a job with the U.S. Public Health Service writing such songs for an anti-VD radio campaign.
Basically Woody took the "scared straight approach" singing about horrible effects of these diseases.
On one tune "VD Gunman's Blues," the singer fantasizes about shooting the woman who gave him the dose -- and her landlady too. I'll never understand why that one never became a hit.
Lots of politicians play "This Land is Your Land" at campaign rallies. But I promise to vote for the first one who uses Woody's "VD Avenue" in a campaign ad.
Several of these songs are included in the 2013 box Woody Guthrie American Radical Patriot -- which also includes a 78 rpm record of Bob Dylan singing "VD City," which he recorded in the middle '60s. When introducing "VD Guman's Blues," Woody remarks that if all the songs on the jukebox were about veneral disease, there wouldn't be so many cases of it.
Now don't go catching no bugs.
Update: 10-10-15 Bad news. All of Woody's anti-VD songs have been pulled off Spotify, so that playlist that was embedded here is no more. Not sure of reason, but I assume it had something to do with copyright issues. (Have I told you lately how much I hate the music industry?) If just one person catches the clap because of these songs getting yanked, I'm blaming you, Spotify!
Anywho as a consolation prize, here's a version of Woody's "VD City" as performed by New Multitudes (Will Johnson, Jay Farrar, Yim Yames and Anders Parker)
I get zillions of emails from musicians, but this recent one brought a big smile to my face.
It started out.:
Hello my good friend Steve!
I'm so glad you like yourself, Steve!
And the email ended:
p.s. something good is gonna happen to Steve Terrell today!
It was from an iconoclastic musician, songwriter and artist from California I met a few years ago named Shari Elf. And no it wasn't really a personal email. It was a notice for her new album and video. But it was so Shari Elf, it brought a smile to an otherwise stressful day,
Did I mention a video?
Yes!
I met Shari Elf back in November, 2009 at a private party at Burt's Tiki Lounge in Albuquerque. Stan Ridgway, The Handsome Family and Jill Sobule were doing one of those "Roots on the Rails" gigs in which a bunch of musicians travel by train with a group of paying fans. This group was traveling between Albuquerque and Los Angeles. The night before they left all the musicians did a private gig at Burt's.
I struck up a conversation with tall blonde woman sitting next to me, who turned out to be Shari. She was a passenger on this ride. She went because she's a huge fan of The Handsome Family..
Unrelated fact: Sitting next to me on the other side was none other than Julia Sweeney, formerly of Saturday night live. She's a friend of Sobule and flew to Albuquerque for the show. It was a night of celebrities!
Shari lives near Joshua Tree, Calif. where she operates the Art Queen gallery and studio -- which looks like a center of what some call "outsider' art as well as The World Famous Crochet Museum. It's housed in a former Photo Quick building (you use to see them in shopping center parking lots all the time back in the '70s), and is a showcase for Shari's vast, colorful garage-sale crochet collection,
Shari's sweet, childlike songs are a universe unto themselves. They remind me a lot of Daniel Johnston, who she's listed as a major influence.
Here is one of my favorites from the new album by Shari with her band, The Kittens.
But she's also good at what she calls "sharioke." Or should it be "Cherioke"?
Somethng good is gonna happen to you on Wacky Wednesday, Shari.
UPDATED with a Mixcloud player for the first hour Sunday, June 21, 2015 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 Here's the playlist OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Slow Boy by Kim Gordon & J Mascis
Castin' My Spell by Daddy Longlegs
The Bag I'm In by Ty Segall
Steal Your Love / Do it Again by Jody Porter Interview with Jody Porter
Throw It Back by Jody Porter
Party World by Carbon/Silicon
Shoot the Freak by LoveStruck
Walking Down Lonely Street by Ty Wagner
Violent Shiver by Benjamin Booker
Mad Love by The Blue Giant Zeta Puppies
Bury You Alive by Batusis
Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner
Stab from the Past by Firesign Theatre
Bein' a Dad by Loudon Wainwright III
Who Stole the Kiska by The Polkaholics
So Far Away by Social Distortion
Fly Like a Rat by Quintron & Miss Pussycat
Elephant Stomp by Left Lane Cruiser
Ritalin by Sonic Reverends
Clip from The Further Adventures of Nick Danger by Firesign Theatre
Burying Grounds by The Sensational Nightingales
My Wonderful Councelor by The Famous Davis Sisters
Dying Under a Woman's Sword by Yol Auralong & Ros Sery Sothea
Everybody Knows by Concrete Blonde
I'm Your Man by Nick Cave
Field Commander Cohen by Leonard Cohen
Still I Dream of It by Brian Wilson 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
Terrell's Sound World is back on KSFR tonight with a live interview with Jody Porter, guitar slinger for the band Fountains of Wayne.
Through the magic of telephone technology, we'll talk about Jody's new solo album, Month of Mondays, which I've been playing on the show in recent weeks.
So tune in tonight, 10 pm Mountain Time at 101.1 FM, if you're in Santa Fe or Northern New Mexico or at www.ksfr.org if you're anywhere else on the planet.
Friday, June 12, 2015 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 Here's my playlist: OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Long Gone Anyway by The Banditos
Dusty Bibles and Silver Spoons by The Bloodhounds
Don't You Rock Me Daddy-o by Van Morrison, Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber
Old Joe Clark by The Dustbowl Revival
She's My Neighbor by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
I Want it So Bad by The Gourds
Life of a Poor Boy by Stonewall Jackson
Monterey by Paul Burch
No Longer a Sweetheart of Mine by Southern Culture on the Skids
Ronnie and Neil by Drive-by Truckers
Old Cracked Looking Glass by Tony Gilkyson
Long Black Veil by Mike Ness
Down in the Bayou by The Watzloves
18 Wheeler Fever by Scott H. Biram
A Girl Don't Have To Drink To Have Fun by The Stumbleweeds
Twenty Cigarettes by Ray Phillips
Blood Bank Blues Al Duvall
Save My Tears by Palomino Shakedown
Where's the Devil When You Need Him? by Legendary Shack Shakers
Change My Name by The Beaumonts
Memphis by Carl Newman
Goin' Down Rockin' by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
Pool Cue by Two Tons of Steel
Whiskey Drinkin' Women by Cornell Hurd
When Sinatra Played Juarez by Tom Russell
Shortnin' Bread by Guy Davis
Chocolate Jesus by Raw Death
Send Me Poppa's Fiddle by Louie Setzer
On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain Possessed by Paul James
Dink's Song by Dave Van Ronk
Take it Down by John Hiatt CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Did a happy, snappy American standard start out as a song about
malnutrition among rural African Americans?
I'm talking about "Shortnin' Bread," that favorite of Mammy's little baby, about
a tasty treat with strange medicinal power that can heal the sick and the half
dead. This tune has been sung and recorded by some of the country's best known
musicians, black and white, representing a number of styles and genres.
In her blog
Pancocojams, dedicated to "the music, dances, and customs of African Americans and of
other people of Black descent throughout the world," Azizi Powell writes.
Although "Shortnin Bread" is now considered a light hearted children's folk
song, its beginning verses reflect the fact that Black Americans often
lacked adequate food. In contemporary versions of this song, the first verse is given as "two
little boys/laying in bed/one was sick/and the other almost dead". The
reason why the boys were in those conditions was because they were suffering
from malnutrition because of the inadequate food rations that enslaved
families were given. In this song, the doctor was called to examine the children. His
prescription was that the children be given some food. However, in
actuality, enslaved Black people rarely saw any doctors. Also, shortnin
bread and coffee were rare treats for enslaved Black people.
James Whitcomb Riley
Even so, throughout the song's history, "Shortnin' Bread" has been played as a happy
good-time tune -- often as a children's song. That's a frequent thread in blues,
hillbilly music and other types of songs sung by poor people in this country --
finding humor and ultimately hope in terrible situations.
Some argue that "Shortnin' Bread" is a true folk song, coming from slaves on
southern plantations or their immediate descendants. But some say it could have
come from the minstrel shows, in which white performers parodied blacks. (Check
out this discussion over at
Mudcat.org)
Apparently the first known written version of the song was a poem, published in
1900, by
James Whitcomb Riley, written in black dialect.
The chorus goes:
Fotch dat dough fum the kitchin-shed— Rake de coals out hot an' red— Putt on de oven an' putt on de led,— Mammy's gwineter cook som short'nin' bread
Nowhere in the poem is anything about those two little children lyin' in bed, or
the doctor who prescribes shortnin' bread for them. While Riley took credit for
the poem, it's possible that he based the various (seemingly unrelated) verses
on songs or stories he heard from folk sources (i.e. plantation workers and the
descendants of slaves).
Powell points out that several folklorists, beginning in the 1920s, documented
versions of "Shortnin' Bread" -- who do have the familiar elements of the ailing
children and the doctor.
In 1924 country singer Henry Whitter recorded a harmonica-led instrumental
medley of "Hop Out Ladies & Shortenin' Bread." Gid Tanner & His Skillet
Lickers recorded it -- including lyrics -- a couple of years later. Both J.E.
Mainer, a proto-bluegrass artist, and Sonny Terry did versions in which the
Jew's harp was prominent.
Mississippi John Hurt didn't actually record it until the early '60s, but his
timeless style sounds like it could have been recorded decades before.
The song made it's way into the city. Paul Robeson
lent his baritone to it in 1933. Nelson Eddy sang it in the 1937 film Maytime.
And Fats Waller had a lot of fun with it in 1941. (Powell points out that Waller
sang about two "Senegambians" lyin' in bed. That's a reference to a region in
West Africa, though Waller seems to be using the word to describe African
Americans in general.)
The Andrews Sisters also sang it in the '40s.
The song found new life in the 1950s.
Dave Brubeck did a drum-heavy jazz version
called "Short'nin' Bread Gone With The Wind" in 1959. And there was a new
audience in R&B and rock 'n' roll. The song mutated into "Shortnin' Bread
Rock," which sounds heavily influenced by Big Joe Turner.
Etta James did a rocking version, as did Tony Crombie & His Rockets, who recorded it in 1956. But it's tough to match the crazy energy of The
Collins kids, who sang it on this TV appearance, introduced by country great Tex
Ritter.
Several early '60s "garage" bands recording the song in the early '60s.
Paul Chaplain & The Emeralds
recorded it in 1960. There also were fine rocking renditions by
The Bell Notes,
Johnny & The Uncalled Four. But my favorite of this style was the ferocious version by The Readymen.
Their wild arrangement appears to have inspired the cover by
The Cramps on their Stay Sickalbum.
There was a do-wop version in 1962 by a group called The Blisters.
And a tasty '60s soul version by Lee Dorsey
And in the early '90s The Residents found every ounce of weirdness in the tune
and, as they love to do, turned it into something bizarre and nearly
unrecognizable.
Last week a Facebook friend of mine posted the following on her page:
Anyone have a superloud playlist of jams for me to drown out this fucking ASSHOLE doing his homework loudly on Facetime? I'm not sure where she was where a jerk using Facetime would bother her like that. But everybody can relate to the being bugged so much by some noisy fool you just want to BLAST THEM OUT!
Now this lady is in the music biz, so lots of her music nut friends, including me, began suggesting loud and obnoxious songs The thread took on a life of its own.
So I decided to put a list together including some suggestions from the thread. And thus my latest Spotify list: Music to Drive Your Neighbors Nuts. Metal Machine Music was one of the first suggestions there. Someone else suggested some Tuvan throat singing (I chose something by Huun-huur-Tu).
Another contributor offered Shooby Taylor's weird version of "Stout-Hearted Men," I know that one from Irwin Chusid's Songs in the Key of Z Vol. 2. I couldn't resist adding another classic from that album, "Cousin Mosquito" by Liberian Congresswoman Malinda Jackson Parker.
Added some Skinny Puppy, Butthole Surfers, Zappa, Residents, a song with T. Valentine being T. Valentine, some Smile-era weirdness from The Beach Boys, a sinister little Charlie Manson tune and some supreme tackiness from David Hasselhoff that will make you want to commit unspeakable crimes.
You can use this to harass your neighbors, force ousted dictators out of their sanctuaries, torture prisoners ... lots of possibilities. Hey and since it's Spotify, chances are a couple of those obnoxious ads they run will pop up. These will fit right in.
For the record, I like my neighbors. I hope I didn't play this too loud when compiling this list.
