It was on this day in 1812 that Napoleon Bonaparte, decided to retreat from Russia. In June of that year, he'd invaded with an army of 500,000 soldiers. But things didn't go well.
Fastforward to 1937: Songcatcher Supreme Alan Lomax, traveling through Kentucky, recorded a fiddler named William Hamilton Stepp playing an old tune called "Bonaparte's Retreat." It sounded like this:
But before the tune made it into country music, it first had an impact on classical music. Aaron Copland used the melody for the main theme of his song "Hoe-Down" from his 1942 ballet Rodeo. Thus William Hamilton Stepp became rich and didn't have to work another day in his life.
Just kidding. Copland didn't give Stepp one bit of credit or a penny for the song.
Nice guy ...
In 1950, country star Pee Wee King added words to the melody. Nothing about burning Russian cities or starving soldiers. It was about a girl he met in a town way down in Dixie ....
Later in 1950, pop singer Kay Starr did a snazzy, jazzy version
But my favorite version has always been by Glen Campbell, who turned it into a big country hit in the mis '70s. Here's a clip from a few years later on a TV show with Barbara Mandrell. She plays a mean steel guitar, but Campbell plays a meaner bagpipe.
I have to mention here that The Chieftains in 1976 released an album called Chieftains 6: Bonaparte's Retreat, the centerpiece of which is a 14-minute song called, you guessed it, "Bonaparte's Retreat." This actually is a medley of various tunes, seemingly unrelated to the song I've spotlighted here.
Unfortunately I couldn't find the whole piece on YouTube or Spotify or anywhere else, but I did spot this.
So why didn't Napoleon XIV do a version of "Bonaparte's Retreat"?
Lee & Marina: I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride ...
Seventy eight years ago today, in the city of New Orleans a baby boy named Lee Harvey Oswald was born. He would grow up to change America.
As a young Marine he defected to the Soviet Union. But just a few years later he returned to the U.S. with his Russian bride.
Then, on Nov. 22, 1963, from a window of the Texas School Book Depository, he shot and killed President John F. Kennedy.
Unless you believe Oswald when he says he was just a Patsy.
Whatever the real story is, Oswald inspired some wild songs -- good, bad, ugly and beyond -- through the years.
Here are some of them. Let's start with that wigged out Texas combo, The Butthole Surfers, who to this day insist that "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave."
The Skatalites recorded this instrumental named for the assassin in Jamaica in the mid '60s -- while JFK's murder was still fresh on everyone's minds.
And I would quell your endless doubt to be the lover you call with my back against the world and my ear against your wall.
I just stumbled across this little piece of outsider art, posted only a couple of days ago. I wonder if the FBI has already visited Mr. Tommy Daniels.
But this Homer Henderson classic, "Lee Harvey," which also has been recorded by The Asylum Street Spankers, T. Tex Edwards, The Rockin' Guys, Laura Cantrell, Lucy Falcon and others, is the greatest Oswald song of all.
If you're into this sort of thing, check out my Tune-up column from a few years ago in which I reviewed Norton Records' Songs from The Grassy Knoll and the Conspiracy a Go-Go compilation from Turn Me On Dead Man Records.
Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Ring the Alarm by Quintron
Golden Key by The Vagoos
Don't Go Messin' by The Molting Vultures
Get Off the Road by The Man Eaters
Society of Plants by The Blind Shake
Stranger in Me Me by The Howlin' Max Messer Show
Hit the Road Jack by The Cat
Boys by The Beatles
Why is This Commercial by Negativland
Ghost of a Texas Ladies' Man by Concrete Blonde
The Black Cat by The Tombstones
Satanas es su Nombre by Los Eskeletos
Don't Shake Me Lucifer by Roky Erikson & The Aliens
Season of the Witch by Donovan
Sunshine Superman by Husker Du
Hurdy Gurdy Man by Butthole Surfers
Burn She Devil Burn by The Cramps
I'm in Love by Satan's Little Helpers
Home is Where the Hate Is by Mary's Kids
Burying the Bodies by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Caught in the Devil's Game by The Darts
This Situation by Lucy & The Rats
Pink Stillettos by The Stillettos
Start Together by Sleater-Kinney
Never Say Never by Romeo Void
Love is All Around by Joan Jett
Lusty Little Lucy by Nick Curran & The Lowlifes
James Leg by Mark "Porkchop" Holder
Oh Sinner Man by Black Diamond Heavies
Natchez Trace by Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls
You Went Away by Phil Hayes & The Trees
Red Eye Blues by Pere Ubu
The Curtain Falls by Bobby Darin CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Micah Chappell, drummer for the Santa Fe band Chango, died this morning. He'd been suffering a terminal disease.
Friends and family already had been planning a benefit show for him and his wife Chris Trusnovic-Chappell, who in addition to the emotional stress, has been under financial strain because of Micah's illness.
The above poster was created by Sam Haozous last night, obviously before Micah died. Now the show is a benefit for Chris and life celebration for Micah. It's Wednesday, Oct. 18 at The Underground (the basement of Evangelo's), 200 W. San Francisco St., in downtown Santa Fe. The show starts at 9 p.m.
Playing there will be The Imperial Rooster from Espanola and The Dildonts (who I haven't heard, though I love their name.) Also there will be a silent auction offering the works of Santa Fe artists.
In addition to Wednesday's event, there is a Go Fund Me campaign to help Chris.
Friday, Oct. 13, 2017 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
Weakness by Margo Price
Blood, Sweat and Murder by Scott H. Biram
Papa Was a Steel-Headed Man by Robbie Fulks
Honky Tonk Flame by Tyler Childers
Bonapart's Retreat by Glenn Campbell
Black Cat by Tommy Collins
Single Boy by Legendary Shack Shakers
Will I Ever Feel Fine by Tommy Miles & The Milestones
They'll Know Who I Am by Silkie with JJ
Demons in Your Head by The Imperial Rooster
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Maple Court Tragedy by Ed Sanders
Party Dolls and Wine by Eddie Spaghetti
Cheap Motels by Southern Culture on the Skids
Bad Elevator by Beth Lee & The Breakups
Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends by Buddy Miller
Killer Diller Blues by The Alabama Shakes
Spider, Snaker and Little Son by Ray Wylie Hubbard
If Mama Coulda Seen Me by Steve Earle
Lucifer and The Fallen Angels by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way by Steve Earle
'Merica (The Good Ole USA) by Hellbound Glory
The Poor Girl's Story by Eilen Jewell
My Man's a Jolly Railroad Man by Moonshine Kate
Moonshine Kate by Fiddlin' John Carson
Old Man Trump by Ryan Harvey
The Nail by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Tallacatcha by Alvin Youngblood Hart
No More Crying the Blues by The Cactus Blossoms
Old Churchyard by The Wailin' Jennys
There Will Be Nights When I'm Lonely by Possessed by Paul James
Walk Through This World With Me by George Jones
My Own Peculiar Way by Willie Nelson CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE Enjoy the latest hillbilly episode 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 Oct. 13, 2017
The arrival of a new album by Ray Wylie Hubbard is more than just getting the latest from one of your favorite songwriters. It’s like getting a message in a bottle from some shipwrecked sea dog from centuries ago, who somehow beat Poseidon in a poker game to gain immortality. Or it’s akin to stumbling across the taped confessions of an old train robber who went mad hiding out in the desert — but still has a lot of insightful stories to tell. Or maybe it’s like finding some old scroll with the original version of the Book of Revelations — before God edited all the jokes out.
Hubbard’s latest, Tell the Devil I’m Gettin’ There As Fast As I Can, is another fine revelation from the crusty old Texan, who has been on a pretty impressive roll since shortly after the turn of the century. Turning seventy hasn’t softened Hubbard’s edges. In fact, he only seems to get tougher and ornerier with age. Tell the Devil takes its place with other recent Hubbard gems like GROWL, Snake Farm, and Grifter’s Hymnal.
Like the Bible, the album starts out with the creation story — a song called “God Looked Around,” in which Hubbard, in his knowing drawl and slow-moving guitar, tells the story of the origin of the universe, Adam and Eve, and that pesky snake. My favorite part is when Adam wakes up to find a beauty with “ravishing curly raven hair” and tells God, “Whoa, Lord! You done answered my prayers.”
But the next song, “Dead Thumb King” goes right to the hoodoo, as the narrator, lest you doubt, explains he’s armed with “some dirt from Lightnin’ Hopkins’ grave,” “bones from an old black crow” and a “rattlesnake tail inside my guitar.”
With “Spider, Snaker and Little Sun,” Hubbard pays tribute to a trio of musical inspirations — “Spider” John Koerner, Dave “Snaker” Ray, and Tony “Little Sun” Glover — from the darker edges of the 1960s folk revival. “It wasn’t no clean-cut folk group,” Hubbard explains. “They looked like sinister, low-key criminals.”
Ray Wylie & son Lucas playing during SXSW 2012
at The White Horse in Austin
The rocking “Old Wolf” is about an old blues singer in some dull club where “there ain’t a lot of action around the tip jar.” Hubbard introduces the shady clientele and people who work there, including the waitress (“Her name is Maggie, but they call her ‘Black Betty/Bam a lam, bam a lam!’ ” Hubbard sings, properly feeding the spirit of Leadbelly).
And in the title song, backed by the vocals of Lucinda Williams and mainstream country star Eric Church, he tells the story of some anonymous picker who plays a sunburst Gibson in an unnamed alt-country band (they opened for Son Volt in Los Angeles!) who’s in love with a woman “who can out-cuss any man.” (Speaking of cursing women, in “Dead Thumb King,” Hubbard growls, “I sleep with a woman who cusses in French”).
But the most moving, and most disturbing, love song here is the tragic “House of the White Rose Bouquet,” a minor-key acoustic tune with a foreboding mandolin in which the narrator lives in “a house of ill repute and sin” with “a young woman of desire” who “enjoyed the company of rakish men.” I won’t reveal what happens in this story, but it doesn’t end well.
The Prince of Darkness is the star of a five-minute picaresque tale called “Lucifer and the Fallen Angels.” He’s a hitchhiker who holds up Nervous Charlie’s Fireworks and All-Night Liquor Store, and may have killed a clerk in the process. But he also offers Hubbard some good advice about trying to get a publishing deal in Nashville. “Why go to Nashville when you ain’t never going to be mainstream?” the Devil advises.
I have the feeling that Lucifer’s not the first person to tell Hubbard that. But I don’t think he really cares, at least not anymore. And neither do his fans — as long as we can still hear that snake rattling from inside his guitar. Ray Wylie Hubbard’s website is www.raywylie.com. And check his Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/raywylie.
Also recommended:
* So You Wannabe an Outlaw by Steve Earle & The Dukes. Let’s cut to the chase: This is the best Steve Earle album in well over a decade. Through most of the 1990s and into the first part of this century, Earle consistently delivered some of the finest country music, alt-country, country-rock, or whatever you want to call it.
But at some point his albums started becoming less and less interesting. It’s tempting to say — as others have — that it was when his records started getting more and more political, but that’s actually kind of lazy. Some of his political songs from the early aughts — “Rich Man’s War,” “John Walker’s Blues” (a sympathetic look at John Walker Lindh, the “American Taliban”), and my personal favorite, the cheeky “F the CC” — are excellent protest songs. But somewhere during his Jerusalem/The Revolution Starts Now period, the magic seemed to start wearing off.
But So You Wannabe an Outlaw is hot stuff. It’s definitely his most country album. Country fiddles and steel guitar dominate several cuts and there are vocal contributions from Willie Nelson on the title song, and, even better, from Johnny Bush (he wrote “Whiskey River,” kids) on “Walkin’ in LA,” which may be the honky-tonkiest song you’ve ever heard by Earle.
Other highlights include the jumping “The Firebreak Line,” an ode to hotshot forest firefighters; “If Mama Coulda Seen Me,” which, with its nasty guitar hook and prominent fiddle, can be considered as Earle’s “Mama Tried”; and “This Is How It Ends,” a break-up song that has country star Miranda Lambert providing heartbreaking harmonies.
By all means, check out the deluxe version of this album, which includes four covers of Willie and Waylon Jennings songs from the 1970s outlaw era. These aren’t groundbreaking by any means, but Earle’s joyful delivery makes for a fine tribute.
Steve Earle will appear in a benefit concert for the Jesuit Refugee Service/USA with Joan Baez, Patty Griffin, and other special guests at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, at the KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave. SW in Albuquerque. Check for ticket availability at www.kimotickets.com. Let's have some videos!
It's a live version of "Spider, Snake and Little Sun"
This is the official video for "House of the White Rose Bouquet"
Here's "The Firebreak Line"
And what do you know, I found Steve Earle and Ray doing "Pancho and Lefty" together
Here's a hillbilly singer from the 1920s who deserves more recognition. She was born Rosa Lee Carson but she was known professionally as "Moonshine Kate.
Born in Atlanta 108 years ago yesterday, (Happy birthday, Kate!) she was the daughter of one of the biggest hillbilly stars of his time, Fiddlin' John Carson.
Carson made her recording debut in June 1925 at the age of fifteen, when she accompanied her father on guitar on four songs for OKeh Records. At the session she also recorded two solo sides, "The Lone Child," a Tin Pan Alley song about a ragged, wandering orphan boy, and "Little Mary Phagan," a sentimental ballad, composed in 1915 by her father, in response to the Leo Frank case. For the next nine years Carson accompanied her father and the Virginia Reelers on tour and on recording sessions in Atlanta, New York, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Camden, New Jersey. In addition to the recordings she made with her father, she also recorded a handful of solos and duets on which she sang lead, including "The Drinker's Child," "Texas Blues," "The Last Old Dollar Is Gone," and "The Poor Girl Story." In 1928 Polk Brockman, OKeh's Atlanta records distributor and talent scout, gave Carson the nickname Moonshine Kate to enhance her hillbilly image, and she embraced it proudly for the rest of her life.
Moonshine Kate died in 1992, mostly forgotten except for by record collectors and fans of proto-country music.
Here are some of her songs. Let's start with "The Poor Girl's Story."
Here's a duet with her dad, which sports the best title in the bunch: "Ain't No Bugs on Me."
This one's my favorite: "My Man's a Jolly Railroad Man."
Here's the murder ballad about "Little Mary Phagan." It pins the murder on Leo Frank, who many now believe was framed for the crime because he was a Jew in the South.
True confession: I only got turned on to Moonshine Kate recently. The delightful Eilen Jewell (she's a former Santa Fe resident, ya'll!) covered Kate's "The Poor Girl's Story" on her latest album Down Hearted Blues. And here it is:
And hey, there's not one but two Moonshine Kate songs on the latest exciting Big Enchilada podcast -- "Railroad Man" by Kate, "Poor Girl" by Eilen. Check that out HERE
