• Country,  New Orleans

    Buck + Dwight = Hank

    June 8, 2005 /

    The last week has featured some Cajun sounds, a little 80’s Minneapolis funk, and some old school country. Now to marry it all up, it’s Buckwheat Zydeco’s collaboration with Dwight Yoakam. They got together in 1990 to lay down their take on Hank Williams’ “Hey Good Lookin'”, and I love the result.
    Dural’s accordion shares the spotlight, as he and Yoakam trade verses and put their mark on this classic tune.

    Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural was born in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1947. His mentor was the late Clifton Chenier, the “King of Zydeco”. It’s obvious that I need to visit New Orleans as fast as humanly possible. I just might never come back.

    Buckwheat Zydeco (w/ Dwight Yoakam): Hey Good Lookin’ (mp3)

  • Country

    Big Ball’s in Cowtown

    June 6, 2005 /

    From Jesse Johnson to Don Walser. What a transition! My point? Never limit yourself with music.

    Another fine soundtrack is featured tonight. I bought the ‘Horse Whisperer’ soundtrack solely for the Steve Earle contribution “Me & the Eagle” (I still haven’t seen the movie). Lucky for me, the CD is full of great country tunes. All twelve of ’em. It offers great tracks from the likes of Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams, the Mavericks, Iris Dement, and tonight’s performer, Don Walser.

    Don’s a 68 yr old singer and guitarist from West Texas, a torch bearer of traditional Western Swing. The man can yodel with the best of ’em too (I’ll have to dig up a sample). He now resides in Austin. This tune puts a smile on my face and pep in my step every time. Makes you want to grab a gal and some whiskey, dance around a barn for a while, and top off the evening up in the hay loft.

    Enjoy the fiddles, the piano, the great pedal steel guitar, and the joyous rhythm. Let’s enjoy these living legends while they’re still around.

    Don Walser: Big Ball’s in Cowtown (mp3)

  • Funk

    Jesse Johnson: Fast & Free

    June 4, 2005 /

    I’ve posted ol’ Jesse Johnson before, but it’s my blog and I’ll cry post if I want to. Jesse was guitarist for The Time until 1985, when he spun out into the world alone with his debut album, ‘Jesse Johnson’s Revue’. Like Prince, his 12″ maxi singles included previously unreleased B-sides. Two of them are featured here. Both encapsulate the Minneapolis sound of that era, spawned by Prince and The Time. Synths, drum machines, irresistible pop-funk.

    • Free World (mp3) is Jesse’s statement of emancipation from the tall short shadow of Prince.
    • Fast Girls (mp3) was Jesse’s contribution to Janet Jackson’s 1984 album ‘Dream Street’, which he wrote and produced (The Time’s production gurus Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis would produce Janet’s next album, ‘Control’). But Jesse also released his own version a year later on the B side of his single “I Want My Girl”.

  • New Orleans

    Transmission from the Big Easy

    June 1, 2005 /

    Listening to Beausoleil last week got me in that good ol’ Cajun mood. I can’t think of another type of music that elicits so much good nature and positivity. Of course, a lot of it is sung in French, which I don’t understand, so they could be singing about armaggedon and I wouldn’t be the wiser. My real introduction to the Cajun / Zydeco sound came by way of the soundtrack to ‘The Big Easy’, a 1987 movie starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin (what happened to her?). For the 18 years (wow) that I’ve been listening to this CD, it’s never lost its luster. It’s an amazing showcase from start to finish. Tonight I sample 2 songs from the soundtrack, one from boogie woogie piano man Professor Longhair, the other from the film’s star, Dennis Quaid. Don’t make the wrong assumptions on Quaid’s swampy ballad. It’s a great love song. And Fess’ tune? Well, you’ll see… it’s the song that inspired the name for the New Orleans club Tipitina’s, which was pretty much created to provide a place for Fess to lay down his rhumba, R&B, boogie woogie piano rhythms.

    Enjoy.

    Professor Longhair: Tipitina (mp3)

    Dennis Quaid: Closer to You (mp3)