Buck + Dwight = Hank
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’
- Buy ‘Where there’s Smoke There’s Fire’ on Amazon (you can get it used for $1.75, so do yourself a favor).
- Buy his 2005 release, ‘Jackpot’.
Big Ball’s in Cowtown
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
- Check out the Horse Whisperer soundtrack on Amazon.
- Don Walser music on Amazon.
- Find out more about Don Walser on All Music.
Jesse Johnson: Fast & Free
I’ve posted ol’ Jesse Johnson before, but it’s my blog and I’ll
crypost 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 is Jesse’s statement of emancipation from the tall shadow of Prince.
Fast Girls 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”.
Transmission from the Big Easy
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
Dennis Quaid: Closer To You
- Buy The Big Easy soundtrack on Amazon.
- Check out Tipitina’s web site.
Chez Seychelles
So my wife and I are sitting in the Glendale Arena a few weeks ago, waiting for Bruce Springsteen to take the stage. The pre-show music that’s piping over the PA is great stuff, most of it I don’t recognize. One in particular gets my wife’s attention. She remembers hearing it as she grew up in Seychelles…. an old traditional folk tune.
So the other night, I’m checking out Bruce’s web site, and lo and behold, he mercifully has provided us with a list of the pre-show ‘walk-in’ music! It turns out the name of the tune is “Chez Seychelles”, as performed by the keepers of the Cajun sound, Beausoleil. It is indeed a traditional song, and Michael Doucet (of Beausoleil) gets writing credit on the tune (just wondering, does a person get composition credit by offering a new arrangement of a traditional song?).
Ah, the power of music. The way one song can take you back in time.. it’s an amazing thing. My wife hadn’t heard this song in years, and suddenly, waiting for a Springsteen show to start in the middle of the Arizona desert, she suddenly finds herself back in her homeland, a beautiful tropical island in the Indian Ocean.
Beausoleil: Chez Seychelles
- Beausoleil’s Web Site
- Buy Beausoleil’s Music on Amazon
- Geography Lesson: Where is Seychelles?
Todd’s Train Song
One of tunes I heard during Bruce’s pre-show music prompted me to call home from the show and leave some of the lyrics on the answering machine (yeah, I’m a geek). I didn’t figure out what it was though until I saw the list.
Todd Snider‘s the name. I’m ashamed to say I only own one of Todd’s CD’s, 1996’s ‘Step RightUp’, but that’s about to change after I’m done with this post. I wasn’t aware of Todd’s personal troubles, but he’s had one helluva fight with drug addiction which led him to a suicide attempt. Todd has been putting out his brand of Nashville country-folk-rock for over a decade now.
So here’s that mystery tune that caught my ear. Gotta love those train songs…
Todd Snider:
Play a Train Song(mp3)- Todd’s Official Site
- Buy Todd’s Music on Amazon
Country New Wave
You all have great and very safe Country New Wave weekend.
Tex Haper: – Country New Wave (Real video) – (be warned, you will be singing this to yourself and those around you all weekend)
Go-Go with Kurt and Trouble Funk
It’s 1982 in Washington D.C tonight as Trouble Funk mixes their homemade brand of go-go music with the freshest master rappin’ styles of the day courtesy of Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. Their 1982 release, ‘Drop the Bomb’ was released on Sugar Hill Records, home to some of the earliest hip hop sent out to the world.
Trouble Funk: Pump Me Up
Nice groove huh? Well, the very same beat in this tune was sampled and looped a few years later into Kurtis Blow‘s “If I Ruled the World”, which showed up in the old school classic film ‘Krush Groove’ (aka the Fat Boys acting debut).
Kurtis Blow: If I Ruled The World
I Bleepin’ Need You More Than Ever
If you need a chuckle (and we all do), check out the web site of The Dan Band. If you’ve seen ‘Old School’ or ‘Starsky & Hutch’, you’ve seen The Dan Band. My friend Charlie shot me a note recommending them. They have a great Flash site. Find your way to the Extras section and check out the Video and Audio. They have the video clips from their movie appearances. You gotta love the Old School clip, where, as the wedding band, they bust out a hilarious version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”: “every now and then I get little bit terrified, I see the f**ng look in your eyes…”
It’ll put a smile on your face.
The Dan Band Official Web Site
Cameosis
It’s late, and there was a slight internet outage in the House of Ickmusic… that, and a killer season finale of ’24’. So not a lot of commentary. Cameo was the first band I went and saw multiple times. My friend Chris and I would make the trek up to the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee to catch them in concert (dropped off by our parents, no doubt)…two of the few white boys in attendance… this one is the title track of their 1982 album, ‘Alligator Woman’. This was a few years before ‘Word Up’ exposed Cameo to the mainstream. . . their quirky, funky stylings are on display here…
Cameo:
Alligator Woman(mp3)
