THROWBACK THURSDAY: Belated Birthday Tribute to Sir Doug

Doug Sahm with Freddy Fender during a Texas Tornados set during the 1997
South by Southwest at Austin's Hole in the Wall.

Three days ago, November 6, would have been Doug Sahm's 82nd birthday. And later this month, Nov. 18, will be the 24th anniversary of Doug's death.

Congress should just go ahead and declare November to be Doug Sahm month!

Son Volt sings songs of Sahm in Ft. Collins

Earlier this week, I posted on Facebook about Doug's birthday, mentioning the fact that I recently saw Son Volt up in Colorado. That band's most recent album, Day of The Doug, is a Sahm tribute album, and  their show kicked off with a lengthy set of some of those songs as well as a take on "Give Back the Keys to My Heart," a Sahm song on Uncle Tupelo's final album. which featured a guest appearance by Doug himself. (For those not familiar, Uncle Tupelo was the previous band of Son Volt leader Jay Farrar.)

This morning, two of my friends, Rick and Walt, reminded me that there were previous Sahm tribute albums. So on this Throwback Thursday, let's look at all these albums.

Way back in 2002, The Bottle Rockets did an album called Songs of Sahm honoring Sir Doug. Here's a tune from that album:

Skip ahead to 2009 and we'll find a various-artists compilation called Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm, with contributions from the likes of Dave Alvin, Alejandro Escovedo, Delbert McClinton, Little Willie G of Thee Midnighters and Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs. Santa Fe's own Terry Allen did one of the best tracks on this tribute, "I'm Not That Kat Anymore":

But my favorite song on Keep Your Soul was the extremely soulful "Be Real," performed by Freda & The Firedogs, vocals by long, tall Marcia Ball:

Here's a track, from the latest Son Volt album, Day of The Doug, which happens to be the title track of the previous tribute:

And though it's not from a tribute album, one of my favorite Sahm coverd through the years is this one by Alvin Youngblood Hart:

So happy Doug Sahm Month to all who celebrate. Keep groovin'!

Footnote: I was the reporter who broke the news that Sahm had died in Taos in 1999. As I was about to go home from a long day of work at the Santa Fe New Mexican, an editor got a tip that he'd died in a Taos hotel room. Sadly, it turned out to be true.

For my coverage of Sir Doug's death in 1999 -- the initial scoop, plus a second-day story, in which I interviewed a local woman who'd spent time with Doug in Santa Fe before he died -- check this old blog post: CLICK HERE

Yes, Sir Doug was there at that Son Volt show!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

 

Sunday, November 5 , 2023
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Caca de Vaca by Joe "King" Carrasco & The Crowns

Seven Wonders by Holly Golightly

Talking In Your Sleep Again by Divine Horsemen

Broken Windscreen by The Hormonauts

The Cost Of Living by Downliners Sect

1234 Ever by Jon Langford & Skull Orchard

Charlie, Keith, and Ringo by The Tearaways

Cadillac Hips by Soledad Brothers

Old Car by Doo Rag

Super Charger Heaven by White Zombie 

The Worst Facts by Jon Spencer & The HITmakers

The World Turns All Around Her by The Byrds

Wonderful 99 by Peter Case 

Highway Cafe by Kinky Friedman

The Beat Goes On by Giant Sand

Marie by The Alarm Clocks

I Feel Pretty by Little Richard 

Mr. Dynamite by Killer Kin

I'm In Your Mind by King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard

Tough to Handle by Cesar Rosas 

Gente Normal by Mutagénicos

Gett Off by Prince

I'm Young by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages 

Waiting for the World by City of My Death 

23rd and Stout by Chuck E. Weiss

Wog by Cornershop

I'm Your Man by Nick Cave

Noble Experiment by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 

Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

WACKY WEDNESDAY: It's Kinky's Birthday Again

It was 79 years ago today, Nov. 1, 1944, that singer, songwriter, humorist, novelist, failed political candidate and cigar aficionado Richard Samet Friedman was born in Chicago. A few years later the Friedman family moved to Texas and a little later still, young Richard became Kinky Friedman, king of the wild frontier.

I've previously, in Wacky Wednesday, celebrated Kinky's birthday, back in November 2016, where I explained how God led me to Kinky back in 1973 and how a couple of decades later, I got to open for him a couple of times at Albuquerque shows.

So today I'll just say "Happy birthday, Kinky!" and post a few songs that I hadn't previously, 

To start off, here's a tune that didn't make Kinky popular in the hospitality industry. Oh, waitret ... :

With the current rise in anti-Semitism, this Kinky Klassic might be even more relevant than before: 

This one explains an alternative use for religious pamphlets left in restroom stalls:

And, from the same concert as the video above, is another Kinky waitress song. But, though obviously satirical, it's full of pathos and full of heart. (But one thing I've always wanted to know: how many American truckdrivers actually order corn and how many truckstops actually offer beef on rye?):

Happy birthday, Kinky!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 29, 2023
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

It's Money That Matters by Randy Newman

Money by Wolfman Jack & The Wolfpack

Cape May Diamond by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages

Night of the Monsters by Robbie Quine

Greenback Dollar Bill by Louis Prima & Sam Butera

Graveyard by Dead Moon

Do the Pig by Rodd Keith

Blue Moon Baby by Dave 'Diddle' Day 

$ Bill the Cowboy by Waco Brothers

Brother Can You Spare a Dime by Rudy Vallee

The Vampire Dog Of Jesus Christ by Gregg Turner Group 

House Rent Jump by Peter Case 

Ten Dollars More by The Fleshtones

Halloween (She Get So Mean) by Rob Zombie & The Ghastly Ones

Am I Blue? by The Voluptuous Horror Of Karen Black 

Money Be No Sand by Charles Iwegbue & His Archibogs 

Janie Made A Monster by Fab 5

Rock Billy Boogie by Johnny Burnette

Lady Creature by Baronen & Satan 

The Monster That Challenged The World by Jad Fair & Samuel Locke Ward 

Calling All Demons by Mekons 

Corn Money by The Defibulators 

Jacinto by Mutagénicos

Sonic Bloom by Night Beats

Graveyard Chicks Are Easy by The Dead Beat Jacks 

Ookami Otoko by Horror Deluxe 

Cold Dark Taverns by Jim Terr

Money Don't Matter 2 Night by Prince

Black and Shiny Crow by Johnny Dowd

Port of Amsterdam by Dave Van Ronk 

Center Of Gravity by Yo La Tengo

Witches Hat by Incredible String Band 

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THROWBACK THURSDAY: In Praise of Faux-Folk

Old Hickory leads The Wonderful 99 at the Battle of The Alamo

In the late 1950s and early '60s there was a fun little trend in country music. With songs like Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans," "El Paso" by Marty Robbins, and Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John" suddenly there were all these story songs on country radio -- with many of them crossing over to Top 40 stations.

With many such hits concerning historical events and characters, this phenomenon sometimes is referred to as "faux folk." Some say faux folk was a response -- basically a chance to cash in -- on the rising popularity of actual "folk" music, such as the surprising success in 1958 of The Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley."

Also, I suspect that at some of these were reactions to current events of the day. More on that later.

"The Battle of New Orleans" probably is the best known of the faux folk songs. But Johnny Horton sang others as well, including "Sink the Bismark," a historical song about more recent history, the 1941 sinking of a German battleship during WWII:

In addition to "El Paso," (Fun fact: El Paso is the only city in New Mexico that is not a city in New Mexico) Marty Robbins also sang of a bigger violent skirmish in the great state of Texas. Robbins' "The Ballad of The Alamo" was a tie-in with the 1960 John Wayne movie The Alamo. The melody, which can be heard in the movie, was composed by Ukrainian-born Hollywood soundtrack genius Dimitri Tiomkin (whose other "hits" include "Do Not Forsake Me" from the Gary Cooper classic High Noon). The lyrics were by Paul Francis Webster, who also wrote the words for "Black Coffee," The Twelfth of Never" and the Spiderman theme (!). 

There's no known recording of Marty Robbins singing "Spiderman."

Speaking of New Mexico, here's some faux folk from Johnny Cash:

Also from that era came "The Ballad of Davy Crocket," which tied in with the huge Disney-inspired Crocket craze of the mid '50s. (Here's a good recent podcast about that phenomenon.) This version below appeared on a Doug Sahm album, with some help from The Gourds:

I wrote about Claude King's "The Burning of Atlanta" in an old Tune-up column a few years ago. So being the pompous cheeseball that I am, allow me to quote myself:

This 1962 single was the follow-up to Claude King’s biggest hit, the country classic “Wolverton Mountain.” In many ways, the song — which concerns Gen. William Sherman’s torching of the Georgia city in Nov. 1864 — fits in the “faux folk song” phenomenon of that era ... But “Atlanta” has an edge to it, especially considering what was going on with the civil rights movement in the South in 1962. King singing, “We don’t care what the Yankees say, the South’s gonna rise again,” was more than a little charged in this context.

Like all trends in popular music, the faux-folk era ended quietly and faded into the mist of our memories. Many of the songs live on, "El Paso" being the best example. (The blast couple of times I've seen Marty Stuart, he's sung the song by that other Marty.)

But a few decades later, John Prine and Peter Case (who's appearing in Santa Fe on Nov. 12) co-wrote a little tune called "Wonderful 99," which satirized the faux-folk era. It appeared on Case's 1992 album Six-Pack of Love.

The first verse goes:

You've heard about the dirty dozen and the tales of the green beret

The men that sank the Bismarck and the fighting C.I. A. 

But if you're talkin' danger then one name comes to mind 

Make an unwise decision call the wonderful 99

I can see Johnny Horton smiling from beyond