A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Aug. 30, 2019
So you kids like the rock ’n’ roll? I sure do. Here are several albums that have been making me happy in recent weeks.
* Lost Weekend byJack Oblivian & The Dream Killers (Black & Wyatt): The man born Jack Yarber was a member of the iconic 1990s garage-punk trio out of Memphis known as The Oblivians. They split up about 20 years ago (though they reunite every so often, and in 2013, released a fantastic album called Desperation).
This album is a collection of tracks that, according to the record company, are mainstays in Jack’s live shows. Most of the songs were recorded in his home studio, which means the sound lacks a polished sheen but is rich in immediacy.
My favorites are the sweaty, urgent minor-key rockers like “Lone Ranger of Love” and “Scarla,” the latter driven by a slithering slide guitar. Then there’s “Boy in a Bubble,” (no, not the Paul Simon song), which starts out, “I was born on the 15th floor/New Year’s Eve in the Psycho Ward …”
I also like the sleazo, jazzy “Guido Goes to Memphis.” Starting out with a soulful electric piano part (which reminds me of the old Hugh Masekela hit “Grazing in the Grass”), the tune just screams “Memphis!”
* First Taste by Ty Segall (Drag City): It seems like only yesterday — actually it was early June — Fudge Sandwich, which consisted of wild covers of songs by the likes of John Lennon, Neil Young, Funkadelic, The Grateful Dead, War, and various obscure punk groups.
when I wrote about the prolific Segall’s album.
The ink was barely dry when he released this new one. (And actually, I recently learned that he released a live record, Deforming Lobes, sometime between Fudge City and this one). The kid’s barely over 30, and he’s driven.
Like Segall’s best work, most the songs on First Taste are fuzzed-out guitar attacks. But he also embellishes his sound with tasteful electronics that never overwhelm the rock, a horn section on the five-minute “Self Esteem,” and on at least a couple of songs, mandolin.
Standouts here include the frantic-paced tune called “The Fall” — funny, The Fall never recorded a song called “Ty Segall” — that includes an actual drum solo; the upbeat “I Sing Them,” where you hear that mandolin as well as what sounds like a crazy flute (though I suspect might actually be some electronically altered sound); and the hard-edged “I Worship the Dog,” a profound statement of religious faith.
* Surrealistic Feast by Weird Omen(Dirty Water): I was trying to figure out what made this hopped-up psychedelic French trio sound so unique. Then I learned that instead of a bass, Weird Omen has a baritone sax player — Fred Rollercoaster — who used to play with King Khan & The Shrines. Along with guitarist-singer Sister Ray (thank you, Lou Reed) and drummer Remi Pablo, Weird O is an aural treat.
The accurately titled “Earworm” is a 100-mile-an-hour blast, as is the hypnotic but muscular “Trouble in My Head.” But the fast-and-loud aesthetic isn’t the only trick Weird Omen knows. “The Goat” starts out slinky and bluesy but soon transmutates into some kind of audio Godzilla stomping on your city.
And in the last song, “I Will Write You Poetry,” the band mines the rich vein of doo-wop in their own peculiar way. I take that as an omen for more weirdness to come from this inventive band.
* Lowdown Ways by Daddy Long Legs (Yep Roc): Here’s a blues-stomping trio who rose from the The Vampire, the one they did with R&B maniac T. Valentine) before moving to their current label.
swamps of backwoods Brooklyn, New York, to create an addictive kind-of-rootsy, kind-of punky sound. Led by a long, tall, full-throated singer, guitarist, and harmonica honker named Brian Hurd (originally from St. Louis), DLL recorded three albums on the venerated Norton Records (four if you include
I was afraid that leaving Norton might detract from Daddy Long Legs’ magic.
Naw. They sound as strong as ever.
Like the best lowdown blues, nothing on this album will make you feel low down. Just about every track here is a delight. I never thought I’d hear a blues tune called “Pink Lemonade,” but there’s one on Lowdown Blues, made especially memorable by Murat Aktürk’s tremolo-heavy guitar licks. Other favorites include “Glad Rag Ball” (in which Hurd invites someone “to meet me in the bathroom stall”); and “Célaphine,” in which Hurd’s harmonica sounds like a zydeco accordion.
* Night Beats Play The Sonics’ ‘Boom’by Night Beats (Heavenly): I was happy to see this new album by this garage/psychedelic band from Seattle — mainly because they released an album earlier this year called Myth of a Man that was disappointing. It probably was Dan Auerbach’s pop-heavy production, or maybe it was the fact that two of the three members of the band had quit, leaving singer Danny Lee Blackwell alone with a bunch of studio musicians.
So this tribute to the fabled Washington State band from the ’60s was a nice step back to the Night Beats’ roots.
Blackwell succeeded in taking the older group’s sound and giving it his own twist. This especially is obvious on “Don’t You Just Know It.” This is a funky old New Orleans R&B classic originally recorded by Huey “Piano” Smith & The Clowns in 1958. Night Beats mutates it into a mysterioso, minor-key slow-burner.
I’m not claiming this record puts Night Beats in the same stratosphere as The Sonics — who played what I consider to be the greatest rock ‘n’ roll show I’ve ever seen at the Ponderosa Stomp a few years ago. But I have to admire Blackwell for even attempting this.
Howdy, friends and neighbors, I come to bring peace to the barnyard with another fine Big Enchilada hillbilly episode including some fire-blazin'. footstompin', goodtime country, bluegrass, western swing, rockabilly and cowpunk sounds. We've fixed the barn up all fancy because the cows are coming home and the chickens are coming to roost.
And remember, The Big Enchilada is officially listed in the iTunes store. So go subscribe, if you haven't already (and gimme a good rating and review if you're so inclined.) Thanks.
Sunday, August 25, 2019 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
Good Time Bad Girl by Jack Oblivian & The Dream Killers
Cinderella by Night Beats
Chippewa by Benjamin Booker
Monkey David Wine by Scott H. Biram & Jesse Dayton
Human Lawn Dart by James Leg
I'll Get Lucky by The Plimsouls
V's Cocktail by Fire Bad!
Good Family by REQ'D
It Was I by Skip & Flip
It Ain't the Meat by The Swallows
Hurt Me by Thee Headcoatees
You Can't Buy a Gun by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Thanks to You by Margaret Burke
Bless You by Devil Dogs
You Got the Goods on You by Bobby Rush
Come and Have a Go If You Think You're Hard Enough by The Mekons
I Put a Spell on You by Creedence Clearwater Revival LOUISIANA SET
Rosa, Tomorrow is Sunday by Dennis McGee
In the Summertime by Buckwheat Zydeco
Slow Horses and Fast Women by Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas
You'd Be Thinking of Me by Lee & Shirley
Bottom of the Boot by Horace Trehan
All These Things by Art Neville
Judy in Disguise with Glasses by Jello Biafra & The Raunch 'n' Soul Allstars
Eyeball in the Bottom of the Well by Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys
Don't You Just Know It by Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns
You're Gonna Look Just Like a Monkey by Boozoo Chavis
Call the Police by The Oblivians
Annie Mae's Cafe by Stephanie McDee
Cajun Stripper by Doug Kershaw
Goin' Back to New Orleans by Dr. John with The Neville Brothers, Al Hirt, Pete Fountain and more
Lucky Day by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
The Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is one of my favorite movies of all time and contains one of my favorite soundtracks of all times. And one of the most moving songs in that incredible soundtrack is Allison Krauss' version of "Down to the River to Pray," an a capella hymn on which she was backed by the First Baptist Church Choir of Whitehouse, Tennessee and several other singers who were involved in the film.
"River to Pray" was used in the funny, yet moving, baptism scene in O Brother in which Delamar (Tim Blake Nelson) finds redemption "The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo."
So where did this song come from?
The first evidence of the hymn is in a book, published in 1867 called Slave Songs Of The United States, in which it's included under the title "The Good Old Way,"
One little problem: Though it was recorded many times in the 20th Century, I can't find any version before O Brother -- including the lyrics in the 1867 book -- that mentions "the river." It seems that before Alison Krauss, everyone was going down to the VALLEY to pray.
The first known recording of the song was in 1927 by the Price Family Sacred Singers on Okeh Records. I couldn't find a version of that on YouTube or anywhere else.
However, I did find "Moaner Let's Go Down in the Valley" by The Delta Big Four, a gospel group that included Mississippi blues pioneer Charlie Patton, recorded in 1929.
Eleven years later, Lead Belly got his hands on it.
Here's live version of Doc Watson's version from the 1960s
Arlo Guthrie did a goopy folk-rock version in the mid 1970s
But it was Alison Krauss who took us to the river in O Brother Where Art Thou.
Sunday, August 18, 2019 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
Commotion by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Plastic Hamburgers by Fantastic Negrito
Crane's Cafe by TAD
I Never Told You by Reverend Beat-Man & Izobel Garcia
I'm Bigger Than You by The Mummies
Dumb All Over by Frank Zappa
I Think of Demons by Roky Erickson & The Aliens
Leviation by Sleeve Cannon
Spin Like a Record by The Scaners
Morning Sun by The Molting Vultures
I Smashed a Mirror by Salty Pajamas
Big Booty Judy by Horace Trahan
When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death
Axeman of New Orleans by The Tombstones
Ground Control by Boss Hog
Nothing Like a Busch by Polkaholics
Don't You Just Know It by The Sonics
Skinny Minnie by Night Beats
Lone Ranger of Love by Jack Oblivian & The Dream Killers
Shake Some Action by The Flamin' Groovies
The Arms by Ty Segall
Bad Dance by Sleater-Kinney
Enter the Void by Alien Space Kitchen
Public Image by Kazik & Zdunek Ensemble
The Bitch Done Quit Me by King Ivory
Miles to Go by Eilen Jewell
Surrealistic Feast by Weird Omen
Celaphine by Daddy Long Legs
Teen Angel by Sha Na Na
Singing in the Rain by Petty Booka
Love Letters by Dex Romweber Duo with Cat Power CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Aug 16, 2019
I’d been aware of Eilen Jewell for a few years before I realized I actually liked her. She’d struck me as a decent, sweet-voiced songbird. You know the type: a waifish coffeehouse queen. I didn’t mind what I’d heard from her, but I didn’t pay her much mind.
But then I heard her version of “Shakin’ All Over” from her 2009 album Sea of Tears. Yes, that “Shakin’ All Over”! This cute little singer-songwriter from Idaho was setting herself up for brutal comparisons with OG rockabillies Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, not to mention The Who.
And she pulled it off in her own earthy, understated way. It didn’t have the bombast of The Who, but it was obvious the lady had rock ’n’ roll down in her soul. It was then when I started listening seriously to her material, especially her original songs on that album and others, and found it alluring. And I began looking forward to Jewell’s new releases.
And this was before I even realized that she’s a former St. John’s College student who used to busk for tips at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market.
Jewell’s impressive previous album, Down Hearted Blues, which consisted of old blues and hillbilly covers, made my 2017 Top 10 list. But her just-released, Gypsy (Signature Sounds) is even better.
The record starts out with a swampy rocker called “Crawl,” that surely makes the ghost of Tony Joe White smile. That’s followed by “Miles to Go,” one of the prettiest songs Jewell has ever done (which is saying a lot). The lilting intro to “Miles to Go” might remind you of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.” It’s a sweet, yearning song of surviving life’s blows, even borrowing a line from Jesse Fuller’s “San Francisco Bay Blues”: “Ain’t got a nickel, ain’t got a lousy dime ...”
This theme is explored further in a subsequent harsher, bluesier song, “Hard Times” (“Hard times come no more/Hard times get away from my door/Don’t want to be mad no more/Don’t want to be scared no more … Don’t want to be disgusted no more.”)
A couple of the finest moments on Gypsy are “You Cared Enough to Lie” (written by Idaho country singer Pinto Bennett and the only cover on the album) and her own “These Blues.” Both are credible hardcore honky-tonk shuffles, complete with fiddle by Katrina Nicolayeff and lap steel by Dave Manion, both Potato State pickers. Though Jewell’s never pretended to be an actual country singer, it’s obvious since she did a tasty Loretta Lynn tribute album, Butcher Holler, a few years ago that she truly loves the hillbilly music.
Jewell even tries her hand at protest songs with “79 Cents (The Meow Song),” a funny tune with singalong choruses that deals with sexism and economic disparity, in which she sings, “Don’t complain or they’ll call you insane/People call me left-wing swine.” And there’s a reference to the current commander-in-chief, who’s “grabbin’ us right in the meow.”
This whole album grabs me by the meow,
And I don’t even have a meow.
Also recommended:
* Xoe Live in Madrid by Joe West (Frogville Records). Come, take a seat in my time machine, and let’s travel back to the forgotten time of 2010, when a young (well, he’s younger than me) Santa Fe singer named West released a concept album or rock opera —Xoe Fitzgerald: Time-Traveling Transvestite — telling the incredible story of an androgynous alien time-traveler who claimed to be the love child of David Bowie, conceived in New Mexico during the filming of The Man Who Fell to Earth.
In the summer of 1975, a bright light was seen falling into the hills south of Santa Fe, NM. Some claim it was a meteor. Others say that later they found a strange unearthly substance that appeared to be the remains of a flying vehicle. Shortly thereafter, a child was born to a young hippie girl who made her home in the old mining town.
After this spoken-word intro, West moved beyond the country rock in which he’s always excelled to a more glam-rock sound.
But even before West released Time-Traveling Transvestite, he and his band had been telling Xoe’s story in live performances. One of those, recorded in 2007 at the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid, New Mexico, has now emerged on CD for the world to rediscover Xoe.
Except for West, the band on the live album is completely different than the one on the first Xoe album. But most of the songs are the same, including “Frank’s Time-Travel Experiment,” the rip-roaring “Xoe’s Favorite Honky Tonk,” “I Got It All” (probably the hardest rocker West has ever done), and the sweet reincarnation tale “Butterfly.”
And both the cover songs from the 2010 album are here: “Laura,” which originally was recorded by The Scissor Sisters, an early-21st-century New York glam-rock band and, best of all, Bowie’s “Heroes.”
Some of the songs, such as “I Wanna Party (Like It’s 1985)” and “The Good-Time Kids,” are missing. I’m assuming they hadn’t been written yet in 2010, although if Xoe were truly a time traveler, that wouldn’t have been a problem.
And there are some recordings on the live album that didn’t make it on the 2010 cut, the best of which is “Black Car,” a tale of paranoia. And there’s “Robots of Rayleen,” which would appear on West’s 2008 children’s album, If the World Was Upside Down.
All in all, I have to say this music is timeless. And that’s how Xoe would have wanted it.
Here are some videos:
Here's the song that made me a fan
And here's the official video of "I Got It All" by Xoe
* First Taste by Ty Segall (Drag City): It seems like only yesterday — actually it was early June — Fudge Sandwich, which consisted of wild covers of songs by the likes of John Lennon, Neil Young, Funkadelic, The Grateful Dead, War, and various obscure punk groups.
* Lowdown Ways by Daddy Long Legs (Yep Roc): Here’s a blues-stomping trio who rose from the The Vampire, the one they did with R&B maniac T. Valentine) before moving to their current label.
* Xoe Live in Madrid by Joe West (Frogville Records). Come, take a seat in my time machine, and let’s travel back to the forgotten time of 2010, when a young (well, he’s younger than me) Santa Fe singer named West released a concept album or rock opera — Xoe Fitzgerald: Time-Traveling Transvestite — telling the incredible story of an androgynous alien time-traveler who claimed to be the love child of David Bowie, conceived in New Mexico during the filming of The Man Who Fell to Earth.
