Rolling Country 2009 Thread

Jake Owens "Don't Think I Can't Love You," in the country top ten; in which it is asserted that even poor people can have the s3Xor. Song is kind of boring, unfortunately. (So, perhaps, is the sex.)

Taylor much more in tune this year than last year at the ACMs, and did "You're Not Sorry," the best song on Fearless. Wrote about it on my my lj:

Somewhat strange "You're Not Sorry" from Taylor Swift at the ACMs: she clips off each word, making the song sound really angry - which it is, of course, but on the studio version she kept the voice sad and let the words carry the anger, which is more effective. But this is effective in its own right, or tense, anyway, almost hard to watch.

She seemed totally immersed in the sadness and upset, as if the audience weren't there (though of course that might have been exactly how she intended to come across). Speculation in the YouTube comments that she was ill while performing. Also, this, which made me go "Huh?":

ricefarmer (10 hours ago)
fuck ugly muslims

NECOLE21 (9 hours ago)
ricefarmer...fuck u'r mama!by the way taylor is not muslim!usucked ur bitch even im not muslim u should not do that to them...coz they are not bad as u know

Here's more info. However, this says it was WXYZ, not WJR:

This is from: http://www.hillbilly-music.com/programs/story/index.php?prog=400

On Saturday nights in the mid-1950s, folks turned to radio station WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan for the "The Lazy Ranch Boys Barn Dance" show at 9:00pm every Saturday night. The show had a cast of 14 regulars and special guests as they appeared. They had such infamous guest stars as Moon Mullican, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Jimmy Dean, Ken Marvin, Tommy Sosebee, Ernie Lee, Neal Burris, Jonnie and Jack, Kitty Wells, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Smiling Max Henderson, The York Brothers and more! So this show looks like a stop on the touring of some of the more famous hillbilly acts back then.

The hosts or headliners of the show were the big little band called the Lazy Ranch Boys. They consisted of Casey Clark, fiddler who also doubled up as the shows emcee, Herb Williams, guitar and vocals, Barefoot Brownie Reynolds, for comedy relief.

Barefoot Brownie played the harmonica and bass and was said to be quite funny. He had worked with folks such as Red Foley on the Grand Ole Opry, at the Renfro Valley Barn Dance up in Rock Castle County Kentucky and other Saturday Night Jamborees. His career was said to have started on the Pa and Ma McCormick show that aired over WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Herb Williams palyed the rhythm guitar and did most of the vocals for the Lazy Ranch Boys group. He did a lot of ballads or folk songs and they said his recitations and poems were always near the top of the request list. He wrote many of those compositions. He was a rather down to earth fellow and that earned him the nickname of "The Country Gentleman". He was the smallest of the group, but ate the most and said he stayed thin because he "carried it around".

One of the popular acts on the show was the duo of the West Virginia Sweethearts, Charlie and Honey. Honey was quite the yodeler then. They got their start in radio on WCHS in Charleston, SC on the "Old Farm Hour" show. Then they moved on to WSM in Nashville and also the Renfro Valley Barn Dance.

Another attraction was a 12-year old singer by the name of Little Evelyn who also appeared with the Lazy Ranch Boys at personal appearances. Then there was Mary Ann Johnson, a songwriter of some fame, who had her tunes of "Honey Baby Blues" and "You're Stepping Out" recorded by Neal Burris on Columbia Records. Mary Lynn, was the show stopping fiddle players on the show. The Kentucky Boys were noted for their "hillbilly comedy".

Some of the regulars on the show at that time were:

* The Lazy Ranch Boys, Casey Clark, Herb Williams and "Barefoot" Brownie Reynolds
* Chuck Carroll
* Herb Williams
* Little Evelyn, 12-year old singer
* Mary Ann Johnson
* Mary Lynn
* West Virginia Sweethearts (Charlie and Honey)
* "Barefoot" Brownie Reynolds
* The Kentucky Boys, Nat and Bill

Yeah, without doing web research to confirm this, I'm pretty sure I thought of WXYZ and WJR (both on AM) as "parents' radio stations" or "grandparents' radio stations" when I was a kid -- get the idea that, by the late '60s, WJR and possibly both featured a lot of news-talk. Teens and pre-teens into cool Top 40 tunes gravitated toward Windsor's legendary CKLW -- before eventually switching to FM: Which meant WDRQ first (Top 40 unto disco), then WABX, WRIF, WWWW, and eventually WLLZ (All rock/AOR. But what comes around goes around: One of those AORs at least temporarily later switched to a country format, I believe, probably after I'd moved away.)

Richard Thompson's soon-to-hit-shelves four-volume Walking On A Wire: 1968-2009 deserves a mention on this thread because, obviously, British folk music is just country music by British people. Anyway, Discs 1 and 2 are definitive (at least to somebody like me who owns no previous Richard Thompson box sets), and Discs 3 and 4 are basically unlistenable (even though I kind of liked his Sweet Warrior album two years ago.) Fortunately, I was sent the box as two separate two-disc sets! Which means one stays on my shelf; the other doesn't.

And the Yeah Yeahs deserve a mention here too because the instrumental-seeming (though not technically instrumental) fourth track of their new album, "Skeletons," has some penny-whistly British folk music wafting through it. And the album has several better if less country tracks too, most notably the one that goes "off with their heads/dance til you're dead." And they seem to be incorpoprating dance-music-type space and beauty into their sound, which seems an improvement over the last time I paid much attention to them. (Which has been a while -- never got why folks liked "Maps" so much, and to be honest I kind of lost track not long after their debut EP all those years ago.) That said, though, a lot of the album still hits me as too vague and shapeless -- maybe partly because Karen O's voice (which I find kind of grating in the first place, though not nearly as grating as say Bjork's or whoever) seems to fade into the mix too much. And she doesn't exactly kill me even when she doesn't fade into the mix. But Frank says the album is likely to end up among his top five for the year. So perhaps further listens will change my mind.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, obv.

In far more relevant news, here is my long-awaited (by me anyway) "Battle Of The Country Hunks" roundup of new albums by Pat Green, Rodney Atkins, Eric Church, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, and Jason Aldean (which I like in more or less that order):

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-04-08/music/battle-of-the-country-hunks/

And to be fair to Aldean, it should be noted that Sasha Frere-Jones is currently listing his "This I Gotta See" as his ninth-favorite song of the year on his website. (His #5 is "I Forget The Name" by Holly Williams. No idea if that's the song's actual title.)

Jason Aldean in Manhattan, eh? I'll bet that'll be one of his least fun nights on record. Now there's a guy who could use a short form vinyl LP live album, one with everything non-electric guitar left off. Why he's playing NYC is the 50 buck question.

BB Kings seems like only a 25 buck answer.

I must admit that I find it personally hilarious the New Yorker would rate his music highly, let alone deploy the disciminatory power necessary to place it at #9, as opposed to #6 or perhaps #11.

Maybe it is time for Mama Tried to Walk the Line: The 500 Greatest Country Albums starring Richard Thompson, Kelly Clarkson, and Son House.

xp, to xhuxk I'm here in Houston, and our country music, like the rest of our radio is in sad shape, but what you were describing on the radio sounded like it could be Austin. I may search the AM dial and see if there are any classic country stations at the moment.

Billy Bob momentarily dissed by blogger at National Post

Billy Bob Thornton gets two to three grafs in the shorts from the National Post for being uncooperative on the CBC when the host wanted to talk about his acting rather than the Boxmasters. Pretty standard reaction, interviewer's not interested in the second career, which is why the interview was set up. Collision ensues.

Someone please send me the pr contact for Thornton's rekkid on Vanguard. I would very much like to request a copy, seeing as how I liked the first one muchly.

First impressions on Boxmasters' ModBilly:

http://dickdestiny.com/billybobgirl.jpg
They dint grow 'em like that in 1963

Much more chime and Merseybeat ("Turn It Over" and the Stones' "As Tears Go By," the latter which sounds more Beatles than Keef, Brian and Mick)in this than on the debut. Somewhat less lap and pedal steel, too, which makes it less cornpone-sounding by a few degrees.

"Heartbreakin' Wreck" and "That's Why Tammy Has My Car" remind me of Hee-haw and Roy Clark although TV would've never allowed the chorus "I'm a moron/He's a dumbass" and the lines about assholes going to far and throwing the finger.

Honestly, once past the nods to the British Invasion much of this sounds like The Outlaws' first record, less the two Les Pauls and one Strat going full throat which, tonally, changes things quite a bit, but not the tenor. Songs in question: "New Mexico," "You Crossed the Line," "Santa Rosa" -- which is to say some of it also sounds New Riders of the Purple Sage-ish. Makes some sense because Boxmasters and Outlaws both covered "Knoxville Girl."

And the vintage tones are all carved and in place, a good deal of the point. Came with drink coasters with Tiger Beat-like profiles on the backs. "Fav Chicks:" Ann Margaret, Suzanne Pleshette, etc. Must be single-handedly adding some asterisks and change to Mike Nesmith's royalty statements. If there is a thing like a Mike Nesmith tribute band, Boxmasters is it.

No doubt about it, more than half of the appeal on these records is Billy Bob's knack for wry avuncularity ("Tammy's Car," "Two Weeks Notice,", etc). He delivers the chorus, something
characteristically droll and chuckling, followed by sly Tele and drum fills in the turnarounds.

I watched the clip of that CBC interview with Billy Bob-- the interviewer was not asking about his film career, just about music. Billy Bob was pissed that in the introduction the interviewer mentioned that Thornton was an Oscar winning blah blah blah. Seems like he has credibility issues.

He kept saying, "Would you ask Tom Petty a question like that?" If Tom Petty decided to start a second career as an indie film actor, I doubt he'd be a dick to an interviewer who merely brought up the fact that he was also a famous fucking rock star.

Probably not. But I still like the two Boxmasters (missed the Xmas one) packs. Billy Bob's
stuff cracks me up.

Hurdy Gurdy Man" was, indeed, Page on guitar and probably the rest of Led Zep (sans Plant) backing

http://www.coda-uk.co.uk/clem_cattini.htm

If Tom Petty decided to start a second career as an indie film actor

http://img.actressarchives.com/features/E498_the-postman.jpg

the only thing that impressed me about the billy bob interview was the interviewer. i don't listen to cbc so i don't know that guy, but he held his own.

I overheard Mrs. Redd listening to some bizarre thing on youtube which was apparently that interview. Will have to investigate. Is that from The Postman, Jesse?

yes, tom petty being actorly.

Listeners who've never heard of or don't care for the Boxmasters thought CBC host was a stalwart shockah.

I don't think knowing or caring about the Boxmasters would change much. The other members of the Boxmasters came across as okay types, the CBC host committed zero sins. The only complete asshole in the situation was the guy who used to sleep with Angelina Jolie.

Black. No, white. Red. No, it's green.

i can't identify with being one of the boxmasters,however awesome they may be, but i can totally identify with being dude whose job it is to interview problem celebrity. so, yeah. (the boxmasters may be awesome, i have no idea.)

It's challenging to deal with someone being a douchebag for an entertainment industry
interview? Actually, I can't much identify with Billy Bob Thornton or the guy he was being
cranky with.

But I do like Modbilly and "Reasons for Livin'," a song where Billy Bob sings about a chancre on his lip and how it's contributed to said 'reasons' running out, apparently. The pictures are neat and the whole pretense of being a groovy Sixties mod band, half of the idea which seems to be stolen from "That Thing You Do."

Speaking of Ann Arbor's country connection, there's good backstory about that in Geoffrey Stokes' Star-Making Machinery, which is mostly about Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen trying to make a hit album for a perhaps unusually warped label, but iall also describes their first decade or so in Ann Arbor. Cody was this painter of giant superrealist canvasses mostly I think (murals would have been too easy), and lived in a treehouse in the backyard of the wildest frat house (that was as close as they'd let him get). He of course found kindred souls and started what soon became the wildest honk tonk fratbilly band, and they did that til 1969, with many members going in and out of undergrad and grad school, and in and out of Ann Arbor, 'til finally they all got all the degrees they could get grants for (I'm guessing, based on experience), and moved to Berkeley and plugged right into that scene without chhanging anythang and were soon opening for the Dead ( they *weren't* a jam band, that was prob what made a good funky appetizer/ cleanser of the palate) The country background also figures in the attempted hitmaking: for inst, vocalist Billy C. was from this Alabama bluecollar family, migrants to Michigan I think, and the producer John Boylin knew to talk to him not like he did to some of the others, like they were all hip faculty colleagues, but more of a straightforward authority figure (it worked) Anyway, great book about a lost world (penniless rock reviewers bribed with monster, endless press junkets!) Required reading in several departments of monster Comm School (second in size only to xhuxx's alma mater), when I was at the University of Alabama (though not the Comm School)in late 70s.

I interviewed Commander Cody many years ago and he made a point of starting in Ann Arbor with a big gang of characters, including women with names like Pat the Amazing Hippie Strippie. He said they would drive to gigs just about anywhere in the US, even if it took 24 hour around the clock all night bare-knucklers. He insisted they went coast to coast from Michigan, could be in California or New Jersey.

Oh yeah, he should def do his own book about those years. Surely it's been suggested. Him and Billy C. and several others are still on the road, prob crossing the same intersection rat now

My fix-up review of the Boxmasters <A HREF="http://www.dickdestiny.com/blog/2009/04/sunday-afternoon-jukebox-cue-list.html";>here</A>. Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation reissues, too. Was going to include Chicken Shack's entire catalog but decided to save for a future date.

Ah, here.

in a bar yesterday i heard a country version of "i used to love her (but it's all over now" sung by a woman, with the pronouns flipped. it was great, any idea who it was?

Well, Molly Hatchet does a pretty good version. But despite being named Molly, Molly is not a woman. Or one person, even. Or country, exactly. (John Anderson, who also does a good version, is country but also not female. Nor are Bobby Womack, who wrote it and first performed it with the Valentinos, or the Rolling Stones, whose version a month later in the summer of 1964 was a much bigger hit.)

So I'm stumped. Searched "All Over Now" with and without the "It's" on Rhapsody, and got way too many possibilities, none of the female in a promisingly country way (at least among names I recognized.)

But Frank says the album is likely to end up among his top five for the year

Er, I think I said it was likely to end up Pazz & Jop top five, and Xhuxk must have assumed that meant my Pazz & Jop, but actually I meant Pazz & Jop as will be voted by the collected critics who submit ballots.

As of right now I've heard no 2009 albums that'd I'd want on my ballot, but that's owing to my not having listened to a lot of albums, I hope. And if I had to vote now I probably would list the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (and The-Dream, the Federation/TNT mixtape, and maybe Lily Allen), but none of those would have made my ballot last year. My favorite songs from the YYY alb are "Heads Will Roll" (the "off with their heads/dance 'til you're dead" one), "Dull Life," and "Runaway," none of which are as good as Love And Theft's "Runaway" (or Del Shannon's "Runaway," but they're better than Nelly Furtado's "Runaway," which isn't bad).

Karen O. can sometimes sound like PJ Harvey having a cow, for better or worse. (And since PJ sounds like Chrissie Hynde having a cow, that's a whole lot of cow.)

(Also, cows = country, obviously, so it totally makes sense to discuss the album here.)

(I also like Bon Jovi's "Runaway," not to mention various versions by DJ Goldfinger.)

Jukebox pissed me off with these blurbs on the Brooks And Dunn Plus Reba "Cowgirls Don't Cry," and didn't piss me off (but didn't inspire me, either) with these on the Carrie/Randy "I Told You So" duet.

And I gave the Jason Aldean single this totally uninspired writeup on my lj.

(I actually do like M.H. Lo giving a rationale for how the lyrics to "I Told You So" could make sense as a duet.)

(And I was a bit jarred the first time I heard Reba come in with the father's words at the end of "Cowgirls Don't Cry" on that duet, but I could make sense of it as the cowgirl now passing along her father's wisdom - which wisdom the song is clearly ambivalent about, despite the insistence of the Jukebox writers that they know better than the song does, and know better than the father.)

damn, i knew i should have asked what was playing in the bar. maybe it's on the jukebox.

Xhuxk, is Eric Church really considered a hunk? Looks to me like the only current country star who wouldn't appear out of place in Slade.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2870/ericchurch.jpg

Yeah, I may have been stretching the definition in Eric's case. (Actually, though, when I ran photos by an expert I'm married to, she rated him higher than Keith Urban. Though then again, she also married me.)

Anyway, I realized that I have been calling Megan Munroe's One More Broken String my favorite country album of the year all year on this thread, but I haven't said hardly anything else about it. And though nobody I've pitched the album to has had any interest yet in me writing about it, now Megan's publicist (who apparently found Rolling Country via google) is asking me for a quote for her press kit. So maybe I should figure out why I like the record.

So, um. The single, and the spookiest and probably best song, is "Moonshine," seemingly about riding shotgun and getting high on moonshine in a pickup on a Friday night when not much else is going on while the moon shines down on Megan. She's with a guy, and other stuff is going down too. Possibly even the guy.

Like the other tracks I like the most (which are mostly front-loaded), "Moonshine" is basically a blues-rock stomp in pop-country form (not far from, say, Carter's Chord last year, or Leann Rimes. Though critics, if they heard Megan, might be likely to compare her to Gretchen or Miranda instead.)

Opener "Angel On My Shoulder (Devil On My Back)" is another hard blues stomp, turning gospel at the end. "Leavin' Memphis" is a slower crawl, with what sounds like more slide toughening it up -- a cad steals his wife's new Chevy before church, leaving her with "two kids, a mortgage, a busted fridge he'll never fix," so she hits the road to hunt him down. Drawl suggests Dolly; revenge motive reminds me of "Before He Cheats." And "Muddy Water" later in the album sounds basically how you'd expect a muddy-water song would sound -- slow baptismal-boggy flow.

"Pennies In The Ocean" has hints of modern adult contemporary r&b, maybe even a little light early-Mariah melisma, especially as it climbs toward its climax. "Good Fight" feels closer to '90s quasi-alt-rock Europop, like Roxette (or maybe Colorhaus or One 2 One, who nobody remembers but me), with rock guitars. "Shameless Fool" is another power ballad, as much pop as country. Other songs lean toward pop bluegrass ("Angel Of Fire") quiet storm pop with quasi-classical violin stabs at the start ("Perfect Storm") and "sexy librarian folk" for coffee houses, as Rob Harvilla calls such stuff, a la Colbie Caillat or Sara Bareilles ("Speechless.") So Megan covers plenty of ground, without making a big deal out of it. And has a voice voluptuous and melodies hooky enough that I play the whole album, a lot, and the sound carries the thing even when the writing gets less specific through most of the second half.

None of which probably explains sufficiently why I like the album so much, but for now it will have to do. (Either way, I'd be surprised if it doesn't make my country top 10 at the end of the year. Might have a shot at my Pazz & Jop list, but maybe a long shot.)

Here is Megan's myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/meganmunroe

Otherwise, I made it through the new Dale Watson album The Truckin' Sessions Vol. 2 once, and it sounded pretty good, though the songs that jumped out at me ("Truckin' Queen," "No Help Wanted") were already on Whiskey Or God a couple years ago.

Made it through the new Black Angel album O'SanFrancisco once, which was an accomplishment since it has 17 songs, and it sounded consistently good and country-Stonesy but then again so did O'California and O'SantaBarbara a couple years ago and their covers all look the same and I'm not sure how many albums like that I actually need. Noticing a great new song or two would help, though.

Did not make it through Pete Berwick's new Just Another Day In Hell yet. Cut him slack a couple years ago despite his voice being even more deadwood than Steve Earle's; not sure I can do that anymore.

Okay discussion of the relationship between '70s BT0/Seger blue-collar "butt rock" and '00s Nashville country-rock (and the sociological implications thereof) beginning here, if anybody's interested:

So what is this BUTT ROCK, anyway?

"Other stuff is going down too. Possibly even the guy."
--Chuck Eddy, ILX

So how come nobody has ever told me about David Lee Murphy's "Dust On The Bottle," which apparently (according to AMG) topped the country chart in 1995? "Love Potion No. 9" plot (though actually the love potion is well-aged homemade wine, which is consumed by two frisky young lovers in a vehicle a la Megan Munroe's moonshine) set to a funky "Sweet Home Alabama" riff/groove, and with an opening line about what seems to be an old black man (one Creole Williams who lives down the back road) in the great tradition of Merle's Uncle Lem or Tom T.'s Clayton Delaney. Okay, not as great as those. But still good.

Not sure if I've ever heard any other songs by David Lee Murphy (who apparently hasn't had a hit for a few years.) Anybody know how good is oeuvre is/was?

Read Frank's review of the Aldean single, and while I basically agree there's nothing interesting about the singing and words, I do get the idea that riffs in a few of his hits seem to be reaching a density (or whatever) that even Big N Rich's and Montgomery Gentry's guitars haven't, quite. Which isn't to say his songs are anywhere near as good as their best (though John Rich helped write "Hicktown.") "She's Country" does sound great on a car radio, though.

Anybody who hasn't read the Boxmasters writeup on George's blog, should. It's inspired. Hope Billy Bob gets to read it and takes note of the Mott stuff.

Frank mentioned The-Dream's album above, which has nothing to do with country otherwise. But so what, I tracked through it on Rhapsody the other day anyway, to try to figure out what the big deal is. I didn't figure it out, though. It's nice The-Dream has a high voice, I suppose; it'd be better if he used it to make his music as pretty as, say, Ne-Yo's (much less Debarge's, or the Stylistics', or any number of more forgetten soul hacks.) There are "interesting production touches" here and there, maybe, but none that kept me all that interested. And Bobbie Gentry did a way better song called "Fancy" (Reba McEntire, too), and the Angry Samoans did a way better song called "Right Side Of My Brain." (They said "Mind" instead of "Brain," but why split hairs?) So: shrug.

And the Police did a better song called "Walking On The Moon," duh. Pretty sure some soulish reggae woman did a good cover of that in the '80s, too -- Sheila Hynton, maybe? Was that her name? -- but Google is no help. Did learn that Janie Fricke, another '80s/'90s country singer I know nothing about, had a song with that title, though. Can't vouch for whether it was better than The-Dream's.

Ah...found it. Right artist (Sheila Hynton), wrong Police cover ("Bed's Too Big Without You.") Still stand by the rest, though.

For current momentary but timely musical entertainment, The Internal Revenue Boogie, done a couple years ago, but undated.

Thanks, think I'll pass on that one (just like a kidney stone) Megan sounds like my kinda gal (musically too). As uaual a lot of my list frontrunners so far are reissues, but not of anything that was really all that prev issued: Death's ..For The Whole World To See; The Tiffany Transcriptions (first time all ten volumes/150 songs have all been in one set, rat? May not have all been on CDs before-- great remastering, anyway); Chris Darrow's twofer, s/t with Under My Own Disguise. from the early 70s, post- or late-psychedelic folk/country rock I'd say: he reaps the whirlwind, under inpenterable cloud cover, but re-orientation is no prob: dense but clear, as xgau said of Meltzer's best writing, And no up-in-lights oh wow factor, cause no lights. Lots of stuff going on, but mainly what gets me is voice-keyboards-bass-drums in the pocket, like on Fotheringay 2, Jessi Colter's Out Of The Ashes, Tell Tale Signs (and some other Dylan tracks, much older than Tell Tale Signs' outtakes, like "Ballad of a Thin Man"/"Dear Landlord"/"Down Along The Cove"/"If Dogs Run Free"/"Dirge") Vocally, a bit like Michael Nesmith, but this guy can hold a note as long as he wants to, and flex it too (might be some of that Middle Eastern in his alma mater, Kaleidoscope, but he always sounds like a cowboy, incl in UK with maybe some of the same people on Fotheringay 2, come to think of it-- although some of the "UK" vibe turns out to be from the L.A. sessions,a nd vice versa)

So does Cal Smith (or Hank Thompson, or Bill Anderson, or all of the above since they all apparently sang it) have many other songs as great as "The Lord Knows I'm Drinkin'," which the Boxmasters cover on their new album? If so, I have clearly been neglectful in not teaching myself about said fellows, since it is my new favorite song that's been around forever without me hearing it:

Hello Mrs Johnson you self righteous woman
Sunday School teacher what brings you out slummin'
Do you reckon the preacher would approve where you are
Standing here visitin' with a back slidin' Christian in a neighborhood bar

Well yes that's my bottle and yes that's my glass
And I see you're eye ballin' this pretty young lass
It ain't none of your business but yes she's with me
And we don't need no sermon you self righteous woman just let us be

Goodbye Mrs. Johnson you self righteous biddy
I don't need your preachin' and I don't need your pity
So go back to whatever you hypocrites do

Also curious whether it's Mel McDaniel's or Amazing Rhythm Aces' arrangement of "Big Ole Brew" that Billy Bob and his bros are interpreting. (Any recommendations on any of these artists are welcome.)

Ah suspect Amazing Rhythm Ace's first LP was best (blanking on title); best I've heard, although all had some good stuff (worth digging through 99c crates) and I got a Russell Smith promo several years ago was pretty decent; he's still got that tight little--voice.

One obvious thing that nobody mentioned in our discussion above about Southerners moving to Detroit is that there have actually been songs about it -- most obviously "Detroit City" by Bobby Bare (by day he makes the cars and by night he makes the bars then dreams of the cotton fields back home), and now I've got this Isaac Payton Sweat LP called Cotton Eyed Joe And Other Bandstand Favorites and it's got a song on it called "Goodbye Motor City" where the guy says he's been installing windshields on the assembly line for 18 years but, again, misses the cotton fields, and is about to quit his job and move to Mobile. (Not sure if Sweat did it originally, or it's a cover, like most of the other tracks on the Sweat LP. Google is no help.)

Google's not much help in finding out more about Isaac Payton Sweat, either. He doesn't even have a Wiki page, and he's not mentioned in the country album guides I've got. AMG lists a couple albums, but has no writeupd. Did just find a myspace page, though, that says he died in 1990; the album I bought for $1 last week is the second one down:

http://www.myspace.com/isaacpaytonsweat

The album looks really homemade, cut-rate. Back cover is basically an ad for Lone Star beer. At the Austin Record Convention one dealer had about 40 sealed copies, which makes me theorize maybe it was sold at dancehalls here but nobody bought it. Thing is, Sweat's version of "Cotton Eye Joe" was seemingly some kind of hit, since it's one of ten country line-dance songs this K-Tel compilation CD from 1995 I've got called Country Kickers, and most of the rest are actual familiar hits. I guess the idea is that in the middle of the song everybody yells "bullshit!," and in Sweat's version, the bullshits are actually audible. Lalena says, growing up in Houston, they'd teach the song to kids in gym class (!), and even the kids used to yell it.

Looks like there's a informative Wiki entry for "Cotton Eye Joe," by the way; haven't read the whole thing, but this stuff seems pretty interesting:

The precise origins of this song are unclear, although it predates the American Civil War...Cotton-eyed Joe, on occasion referred to as "the South Texas National Anthem", was played for minstrel-type jigs, and has long been popular as a square dance hoedown and a couple dance polka. During the first half of the twentieth century the song was a widely known folk song all over English-speaking North America. One Discography lists 134 recorded versions released since 1950...A list of the possible meanings of the term "cotton eyed" that have been proposed includes: to be drunk on moonshine, or to have been blinded by drinking wood alcohol, turning the eyes milky white; a black person with very light blue eyes; someone whose eyes were milky white from bacterial infections of Trachoma or syphilis, cataracts or glaucoma; and the contrast of dark skin tone around white eyeballs in black people...A 1967 instrumental version of the song by Al Dean, who recalled the song called "The Gingerbread Man" in South Texas, inspired a new round dance polka for couples.

I swear somebody told me once that the song was actually about an abortionist, but I don't know where that information came from. Wiki is silent on the issue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton-Eyed_Joe

Otherwise, pretty hilarious exchange about the band Alabama's classic fashion sense on another thread this morning:

sort of appreciate a band that dresses as if a VFW league softball game was going to break out at any minute

― 4,000 hoes in blackburn, lancashire (M@tt He1ges0n)

yeah i think a VFW softball game is OTM. or maybe a VFW pancake breakfast.

― tylerw, Friday, 17 April 2009

whenever I drive through Muscle Shoals I'm tempted to stop at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame because they claim to have an Alabama (the band) tour bus inside, which I bet has awesome koozies and some seriously comfortable furniture inside.

― Euler, Friday, 17 April 2009

Most Horribly Rong One Star Rating from the 1982 Rolling Stone Record Guide, Part 1