Jerry Reed 1937-2008
While I fully realize that my attachment to Jerry Reed was primarily due to his participation in Smokey & The Bandit and Scooby-Doo, I found out later in life that he was a hell of a songwriter and a amazing guitarist. Jerry passed away today at the age of 71, our hearts go out to family, friends and fans.
10-4 Good Buddy, over and out…
Townes Van Zandt in Heartworn Highways
I just watched Heartworn Highways last night. It’s a great music film, a snapshot of the mid-70’s Nashville and Austin outlaw music scene. It features Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, David Allan Coe, Steve Young, a very young Steve Earle, and Townes Van Zandt (among a lot of others). In this clip, Townes has just got done listening to Seymour Washington talk about his life. Seymour is an old timer, 79 years old at the time this was filmed in 1975. He talks about his life on the farm, of shoeing horses, of the importance of good whiskey.
This clip picks up right before Townes plays “Waiting Around to Die”. You’ll see Seymour in the background – an emotional moment, as you’ll see…
Steve Earle’s Valentine’s Day
I’m glad to say that I’ve never been in the position to identify with Steve Earle in his song “Valentine’s Day”. But if you’re one of the unlucky ones who wakes up Thursday morning cardless and giftless, simply drop to your knees and sing this song.
This is one of the sweetest, most emotional tunes that Steve has ever written. It showed up on his amazing 1996 album I Feel Alright. Providing the perfect background vox are gospel legends the Fairfield Four. If you don’t have the album, I strongly recommend you remedy that right here, right now.
Up On Cripple Creek
The closest I ever came to going through a country music phase was during the summer of 1992. I had just graduated from college, and my plan was to jump into a career in law enforcement. Ever since an 11th grade internship with my local police department, I had my sights set on being a police officer. Well, it didn’t exactly turn out that way in the end. A change of heart ensued after a few interviews.
My Dwight Masterpiece: If There Was a Way
Tonight I’m reaching back to the archives for my favorite Dwight Yoakam album, 1990’s If There Was a Way. It’s a great record start to finish, and my cassette – yes cassette – got many listens in its day. Dwight has always remained a steadfastly old-school country-boogie-swingin’ honky-tonk man.
My two favorites off the album are the title track, and “Turn it On, Turn it Up, Turn Me Loose”. The latter track I’ve been looking for on YouTube for a while, and I finally found it. Who uploaded it to YouTube? Why, Warner Brothers Records, believe it or not! A step in the right direction, as the labels are figuring out how important this medium is to the future (and past) of music.
Dwight does himself a little acting in this video for “Turn it On…” As you may know, Dwight’s also established himself as a formidable actor in Hollywood. You all remember him as that prick Doyle in Sling Blade, right? This video precedes his first movie role, 1992’s Red Rock West, by two years.
So, in the annals of songs I’ll always love, I give you the video, courtesy of Warner Brothers, for “Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose.”
“If a tear should fall
If I should whisper her name
To some stranger I’m holdin’
While we’re dancin to an old Buck Owens soooong”So naturally, your next inclination is to buy the album: If There Was a Way
New Johnny Cash Releases and a Giveaway too
On October 31st, Mercury/UM released Johnny Cash in Ireland, an hour long concert DVD of a 1993 performance at the Olympia Theater in Dublin. He is joined by his wife June, the Carter Family,and Kris Kristofferson. If you’re a Cash fan, then you probably want to have this.
the approximately one-hour-long concert showcases Cash singing many of his greatest hits–“I Walk The Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Get Rhythm,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “(Ghost) Riders In The Sky,” “Daddy Sang Bass” and “Ring Of Fire” plus “I Still Miss Someone.”
He also sings with wife June Carter Cash (their classic duet “Jackson”), son John Carter Cash (“No Use In Treatin’ Me This Way”), Kris Kristofferson (“Big River” and “Long Black Veil”), and The Carter Family, who perform their own gems too–“Keep On The Sunny Side,” “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” and “Wabash Cannonball.” In addition, John Carter Cash solos Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and Irish popster Sandy Kelly joins Cash, Kristofferson and The Carter Family on “Forty Shades Of Green,” the Johnny Cash-penned tribute to Ireland.
So who wants this DVD as an early Christmas present? Look at me, December 11th, I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping, and here I am giving away a DVD on my site. Ah priorities…
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment below. I’ll randomly choose a winner in a few days, and get the DVD shipped off to the winner before Christmas.
UPDATE: We gotta winner! See here.
Another cool recent release is Johnny Cash – At San Quentin: Legacy Edition. It contains the full show from San Quentin Prison and a 1969 documentary of the event.
Here’s a promo for the boxed set….
Johnny Cash: I Walk the Line (Audio stream: WMP, Quicktime, Real) – live in San Quentin (“man you in the wrong place to bend over, don’t you know it? Get up from there with that camera!”)
Buy Johnny Cash In Ireland – 1993
Buy Johnny Cash – At San Quentin: Legacy EditionDwight’s Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.
My appreciation for country music has always lied squarely outside of the Nashville mainstream country machine. I’ll take the old school country any day of the week: the Willies, Waylons, and Johnny Cashes. But the manufactured new school of country will never interest me. Not to knock ’em, but I don’t see myself ever getting into Toby Keith, Rascall Flatts, Brad Paisley, or for crikey’s sake, Carrie Underwood (TM). Now I see another American Idol princess of the ditzballs, Kelly Pickler (TM), has a debut album. And what is a Dierks Bentley?? (To be fair, if anyone wants to recommend the best of the New Nashville in the comments, feel free). It’s just that anything that makes me think of George W. Bush and red staters just makes me, well, not listen (and I live smack dab in the middle of a red state – egads, they’re everywhere!).
One of the artists I’ve always admired, and who has always stuck to his independent, honky tonkin’ ways is Dwight Yoakam. In my late teen years, between 1986 and 1990, he released these great four albums: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc., Hillbilly Deluxe, Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room, and my favorite, If There Was a Way (mostly due to the title track and “Turn it On, Turn it Up, Turn Me Loose”). All fantastic albums, all dabbling in traditional country, western swing, and good ol’ hillbilly honky-tonk music.
Well now Rhino, yes Rhino again, has released a special 20th Anniversary deluxe edition of Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc. 2 discs of music containing early demos from 1981, a remastered album, and an entire live 1986 show from the Roxy in Hollywood. Yep, Dwight is so far outside the Nashville mainstream that he’s called Los Angeles home since 1977 (he turned 50 on Oct. 23rd).
I listened to the live show tonight. Dwight Yoakam live and loose on the Sunset Strip, playing to the likes of John Fogerty and Emmylou Harris. Belting out his early hits (“Guitars, Cadillacs”, “I’ll Be Gone”) as well as some classics (Bill Monroe’s “Rocky Road Blues”, “Mystery Train”, Hank Williams’ “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It”).
So definitely folks, the Ickmusic Seal of Approval is dipped into a tub of moonshine and *dinggg* firmly adhered to this CD (and all D.Y. albums for that matter).
Dwight Yoakam: This Drinkin’ Will Kill Me (mp3 – the 1981 demo version)Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc. eCard | The Rhino Listening Party.
Dwight’s Official Site.
Buy the Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc. Deluxe Edition.
GUITARS, CADILLACS, ETC., ETC.
Track ListingDisc 1
The 1981 Demos
1. “This Drinkin’ Will Kill Me”
2. “It Won’t Hurt”
3. “I’ll Be Gone”
4. “Floyd County”
5. “You’re The One”
6. “Twenty Years”
7. “Please Daddy”
8. “Miner’s Prayer”
9. “I Sang Dixie”
10. “Bury Me”Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.
11. “Honky Tonk Man”
12. “It Won’t Hurt”
13. “I’ll Be Gone”
14. “South Of Cincinnati”
15. “Bury Me” – Duet with Maria McKee
16. “Guitars, Cadillacs”
17. “Twenty Years
18. “Ring Of Fire”
19. “Miner’s Prayer”
20. “Heartaches By The Number”Disc 2
Live at The Roxy 1986
1. “Hear Me Calling”
2. “Honky Tonk Man”*
3. “Guitars, Cadillacs”*
4. “Rocky Road Blues”*
5. “Heartaches By The Number”
6. “I’ll Be Gone”*
7. “It Won’t Hurt”*
8. “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It”
9. “South Of Cincinnati”*
10. “Mystery Train”*
11. “Ring Of Fire”*
12. “Since I Started Drinking Again”**Previously Unissued
Lovin Him Was Easier – Rosanne sings Kris
‘Tis a good thing to hear a well written, beautifully sung song. The words of Kris Kristofferson and the voice of Rosanne Cash come together quite nicely in “Lovin’ Him Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)”. The song (“Lovin’ HER” was the original) first appeared on Kristofferson’s 1971 album The Silver Tongued Devil & I, and has since been covered by the likes of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Bobby Bare, and even Tina Turner.
Just a nice song that’s prompted me to pick up this tribute to Kristofferson.
Rosanne Cash: Lovin’ Him Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again) [mp3]
Buy The Pilgrim: A Celebration of Kris Kristofferson
Buy Rosanne Cash’s new album:
London to Lubbock: Joe Ely meets the Clash
Here’s a cool tidbit of Clash trivia. You know that part in “Should I Stay or Should I Go” where you hear Mick Jones yell “Split!”? It was actually an impromptu moment when Joe Strummer and Joe Ely snuck up behind Jones during the recording session, and basically scared the piss out of him. The moment made it on to the final recording.
Their relationship began in 1978, when Joe Ely was playing the Venue Club in London. The Clash were admirers of Ely’s most recent release, 1978’s ‘Honky Tonk Masquerade.’ Ely – a native of Lubbock, Texas – and the Clash met backstage and ended up spending the rest of the three night stand hanging around eachother, crawling the pubs, and gaining quite a mutual respect and admiration for eachother.
Ely opened for the Clash on the 1979 Texas leg of their Pearl Harbor tour. He also headed over to London in 1980 to open for the Clash on their UK London Calling tour, and opened a couple of nights during the Clash’s residency at Bond’s in NYC in 1981.
Well, fast forward to 1983. It’s a week before the US Festival in San Bernardino, CA, and the Clash are in San Antonio to play a warm-up gig before the 150,000 person event. Joe Ely is in the house that night, and joins the band for a version of “Fingernails” (from ‘Honky Tonk Masquerade”). Here’s the last three from that San Antonio night. The US Festival gig a week later would be Mick Jones’ final performance as a member of the Clash. The festival also included a backstage shouting match between Strummer and Van Halen’s David Lee Roth. Strummer was pissed about Van Halen demanding (and receiving) a cool million for the gig. Oh how I would have loved to be a fly on the wall that day.
The Clash, Live at the Majestic Theater, San Antonio, TX
May 22, 1983Fingernails (with Joe Ely) [mp3]
Should I Stay or Should I Go [mp3]
I Fought the Law [mp3]Here’s a cool collaboration that never was to be:
For years, Ely, a hard-charging alt-country Texan who emerged during Jimmy Carter’s reign, and Strummer, founder and lead singer of the politically astute Clash, the greatest punk band that Margaret Thatcher’s Britain ever produced, had promised each other that some day they’d head to Mexico and record an album just for the hell of it…But Ely, who turns 59 today, never got to Mexico with Strummer.
“I went to the funeral and got together with the guys and stayed up all night playing guitar,” he said. “I never believed someone with the vital energy he had would die. That’s a lesson that if you say you’re going to do something, you just do it.”
How cool would that have been? A Strummer/Ely Tex-Mex-World-Punk record? Like an idiot, I just missed Joe Ely at the very intimate Rhythm Room in Phoenix. Next time I’ll go, buy him a beer, and talk about Joe Strummer.
Here’s a couple from Joe Ely’s great live LP, ‘Live at Antone’s‘….
The Road Goes on Forever[mp3]All Just to Get to You[mp3]- Buy Joe Ely music.
- Buy Clash / Joe Strummer music.
- Check out Mick Jones’ latest project, Carbon/Silicon.
- Some information for this post came from these two articles: Lubbock Calling: Joe Ely Remembers the Clash and The regret of Joe Ely
Allison Moorer meets Mr. Earle
I have two words for Steve Earle: You dog!! He must have the charms of Casanova, because he continues to seduce the ladies into taking his hand in marriage. His latest – sixth, seventh, eighth? – bride is none other than the lovely and very talented Allison Moorer. I’m not privy to the story behind their courtship, but they spent Steve’s last tour together with Allison in the opening slot. Steve also produced Allison’s latest release, ‘Getting Somewhere’, which was released last Tuesday (June 13) on Sugar Hill Records.
From the the three tracks I’ve heard, it certainly has that Earle / Twangtrust vibe to it, and – well, I eat that stuff right up like a pint of Cherry Garcia. You certainly hear it on “Fairweather”, which was co-written by Earle. Driving pounding drums, those crunchy guitar riffs…
Allison made quite a splash in 1998, when her song “A Soft Place to Fall” was included on the soundtrack to ‘The Horse Whisperer’ (one of the best soundtracks I own). That same year, her debut, ‘Alabama Song’ was released on MCA Records.
Allison and her older sister, Shelby Lynne (also a country-esque singer/songwriter) overcame quite a tragic event in their childhood to find success in the Nashville music scene. When they were both teenagers, their alcoholic father shot and killed their mother in the driveway of their Alabama home, and then turned the gun on himself – all while Shelby and Allison looked on. Shelby, who was 17 at the time, raised Allison for the remaining years of her adolescence. Sickening and tragic to even comprehend, but Shelby and Allison have persevered.
What I like about Allison (and her sister) are their refusal to bow down to the Nashville Country Machine, which churns out the cookie cutter singers as products, ruled by the almighty dollar (which country radio eats right up). I like the Nashville rebels, and Allison’s link-up with Steve Earle (in the musical and poetic sense) confirms what I knew I liked about her: artistic integrity and a perpetual middle finger to the “system” (even though Steve Earle sold “The Revolution Starts Now” to a Chevy commercial, but I choose to overlook that).
So take a listen to some Allison Moorer music. Here’s the song from the ‘Horse Whisperer’…
Allison Moorer:
A Soft Place to Fall(mp3) – from The Soundtrack to the Horse Whisperer.And here’s some RealPlayer goodness from her latest album, ‘Getting Somewhere’, her second release on Sugar Hill Records.
Allison Moorer: Fairweather (rm) | New Year’s Day (rm) | How She Does It (rm) – RealPlayer is required for these three
- Buy ‘Getting Somewhere’ from Sugar Hill Records or Amazon.
- Check out Allison’s Official Site.
- Check out the must for artists these days, her MySpace page – home to teeniebobbers and musicians!
