Category: Reverend Horton Heat

Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Bad Boys and Transference Mix

Well… Couch by Couchwest 2015 kicked off yesterday…  So far, I have seen videos from Science! who has been featured recently on E2TG, plus my friend Drew Kohl of Young America (who coincidently are releasing a 3 song EP today), The Foresters, Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, and I have a bunch I need to catch up on eventually.  Keep on couchin’!  And if you haven’t submitted a video, there is still time!

“She’s My Lowcountry” by The Lucky Jukebox Brigade

This is the last song we have to feature on Familiar Fevers, but who knows, I might reload and start over… I can do that… it’s my blog!  Anyway, I love this song.  In honor of CXCW, I picked 2013 submission from The Lucky Jukebox Brigade to lead off today’s video playlist.

“Bad Boys and Painkillers” by James Dean Bradfield

 From the 2009 album, The Great Western… James Dean Bradfield is the lead singer and lead guitarist of Manic Street Preachers.  I really love this song – it rings very true and sounds pretty darn fresh.

“It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way” by The Tourists

From Should Have Been Greatest Hits… originally the lead track for Reality Effect (1979).  Even if the production does sound dated, the song is top notch…

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Some psychological music from Matt Phillips and his band The Philharmonic…

“On the Riverside” by Boy Named Banjo

My first listen to Nashville Americana band, Boy Named Banjo.  I like it a bunch, and look forward to featuring some more from them soon.  Thanks to my friend Boyd for pointing this out to me. From the album, Long Story Short.

“Spooky Boots” by Reverend Horton Heat

From the album REV!  It’s the Rev, doing what they do best… psychobilly at it’s finest.

“(Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria” by Townes Van Zandt

From the live recording, I got hold of on TVZ’s birthday. Further evidence (as if it was needed) that Townes Van Zandt was and is a giant among songwriters. This song was originally on his 1968 debut album, For the Sake of the Song.

“UP” by The Renaldo The Ensemble

I am so glad to have The Renaldo The Ensemble back in the shuffle.  They are delightfully offbeat and impossible to classify, and who wants to waste time classifying anyway?  Just sit back an enjoy the show..

“The Unanswered Question?” by Syd Straw     window.amznpubstudioTag = “eartothegro00-20”;     

Even since I first heard this record way back in the day, I’ve always felt there was an other worldly quality to this music.  Like hazy fever dream of a great pop song…. From Surprise. For a treat, since I couldn’t find a video of this song, I picked a video from the very first episode of MTV Unplugged (according to the Youtube description) with Jules Shear, Chris Difford and Gleen Tilbrook (Squeeze), Elliot Easton (The Cars) and Syd Straw doing “I’m A Believer” (the Monkee’s hit song, written by Neil Diamond)…http://ps-us.amazon-adsystem.com/domains/eartothegro00-20_3dcd3a52-1a1a-4afe-a2fd-aaba8e251afc.js
VIDEO PLAYLIST

Dale Watson and the Lonestars with Rosie Flores – Exit/In Nashville 1/9/2015

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It’s been a particularly interesting week to live in Nashville and be someone who writes about music.  This week, a mashup of six top Country songs went viral.  The songs were virtually identical besides not being very good. It was concrete proof of what many of us know already that mainstream (so called) Country music is in a pitiful state. So, maybe it is fitting that I ended my week at the legendary Exit/In for the opening night of the Baddest of the Bad Tour which included the return of Dale Watson to the same Music City that over 20 years ago told him he was “Too Country for Country.”



Different people do different things when confronted by such a ridiculous pronouncement. (As Dale pointed out from the stage of the Exit/In, no rock music act has ever been told by a Rock and Roll label that they are too Rock for Rock music.)  Some people, conform to the demands of the powers that be, some people give up in frustration, and some people, like Dale Watson go out and create their own genre.  Ameripolitan Music which encompasses Honky Tonk, Western Swing, Outlaw Country, and Rockabilly music is a refuge for those who love the roots of true Country music.
It had not been an easy path, but last night Dale Watson and his superb band The Lonestars stood tall and proud for a very appreciative Nashville audience that included designer to the stars, Manuel, and the daughter of songwriting legend Harlan Howard.  And, they delivered the goods with a set which was at least partially decided by requests from the audience.  When Watson asked for suggestions for his mandatory Merle Haggard cover, one exuberant member of the crowd loudly and repeatedly requested, “Mama Tried” or as he said it, “Mama F–king Tried”. Dale relented and said there was an alternate universe where Merle Haggard was born in New Jersey and wrote a song called, “Mama F–king Tried”.  He even added a chorus with that adaptation.


Near the end of the set, which ended too soon for me, Dale Watson articulated what I had been thinking the whole time he had been on stage. Introducing his two anti-Nashville establishment songs, “Nashville Rash” and “Country My Ass” Watson told the story of his Nashville rejection and pointed out how much worse things have gotten in the twenty plus years since.  “Back then, the worse things about Country were Shania Twain and Garth Brooks, nowadays, Shania and Garth seem like Conway and Loretta.”

The songs in the set ranged from Dale’s signature trucker songs and Outlaw to Western Swing.  Later when Dale joined Reverend Horton Heat to perform a Johnny Cash song, he stated the music you have been hearing is not Country music expounding on the Ameripolitan sound that he created. It may not be Country, but it was a powerful lesson in what Country should and could be.

It was oddly appropriate that the amazing Rosie Flores who opened the evening backed by the Lonestars included The Sex Pistols “Pretty Vacant” in her short but rousing set. Punk, like Ameripolitan, emerged as a reaction to the bland inanity of the dominant music of the time, and although the two genres of music may seem miles apart, there is a common element of rebellion inherent in both styles.  Flores followed The Sex Pistols with “Long White Cadillac” a song written by Dave Alvin and originally performed by his band, The Blasters – one of the bands that helped to bridge the gap between Punk and Roots music back in the early 80s.

As previously mentioned, Reverend Horton Heat closed the evening with raucous set that ended with good old fashioned mosh pit the likes which Hank and Lefty could never have imagined.  But that is a story for another time.

Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Gonna Use My Fingers Mix

I am late and I don’t have much time, so I will just leave you with a long mix of music and very little in the way of narration,,,,  enjoy

“Van Helsing Boom Box” (Man Man Cover) by The Blind Owl Band

Friends from Upstate New York covering the amazing Man Man from Philly.

“Where I Belong” by Ben Arthur (Ft. Bobby St. Ours)

I am amazed by the range of music on this album.  A previous track we played featured Aesop Rock. This one has Bobby St. Ours with an Appalachian sound. 

“The Night Comes” by Joe Nolan

Another cool song from my friend Joe.  Catch him January 25 at Bobby’s Idle Hour for the next East Side Invasion.

“Tattooed Love Boys” by The Pretenders

Chrissy!

“Leave It Til Tomorrow” by The Plastic Pals

The Plastic Pals from Sweden make great Rock and Roll.

“Unclothed” by The Danbury Lie

A new release from The Danbury Lie is always a cause for celebration.  If he was from the south, this song would be called “Nekkid” 🙂

“Under the Influence of Meat Puppets” by fIREHOSE

I’ve spend many ours under the influence of Meat Puppets…

“Real Cool Time” by The Stooges

Iggy!

“Precious” by The Pretenders

You are so Precious…

“Raindrops” by IAMEVE

Cool Indie/SythPop from… well the bio says they are from The Fifth Dimension. I dig it.

“Feeling the Elephant” by Bill Lloyd

The title track from the classic Bill Lloyd solo record.  Nashville rock par excellence.

“Honky Tonk Women” by The Rolling Stones

For all the gin soaked bar room queens in Memphis…

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“Careless” by The Replacements

I could Care less…

“No Joke” by Boxed In

Electronic music from London.  

“It’s Hard to Make Love to an American” by Ike Reilly

This song was (apparently) featured on Sons of Anarchy.  It’s a good one.

“Brass in Pocket” by The Pretenders

A classic from my MTV influenced youth.  Music Television that is…

“Don’t Turn Me Away” by Young America

My friends in Young America have a new single and new album coming soon.  This is an older song I grabbed when I first met them.  Get on board now with this awesome band.

“Blunderbuss” (Jack White cover) by Rosie Flores

I was fortunate enough to see Rosie Flores last Friday.  She is a legend.  No video for this one, so I found another cover which she played last week.

“Scenery Going By” by Reverend Horton Heat

I also so the Rev on the same bill…  Wild show and great music… Pow!

VIDEO PLAYLIST