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August Video Challenge, Tanya Tucker, Delta Dawn

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Speaking of me and country radio, I can remember exactly where I was when I heard Delta Dawn the first time: just past the lake and headed down the narrow road through the trees that would eventually take me up to the main road and the 7-11. It was a journey I took frequently, so I was practically on auto-pilot.

And then Tanya Tucker‘s voice and the eerie slow drone under it hit me like a cold bucket of water to the face. I think I turned it up mainly to make sure I was hearing correctly, because it didn’t sound like anything I had ever heard before. I don’t remember when this happened, but I’m guessing it was somewhere around 1992, when Two Sparrows in a Hurricane came out. The DJ probably even played them back to back.

I’m not sure I ever heard Delta Dawn on the radio again after that, or at least not for a while, but it stuck with me just the same.

Here she is singing it on Hee-Haw; she was 14 when this performance was recorded.

 

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Now Read This: Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen, by Jimmy McDonough

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When I found this book in the music section of a used book store in Boston, I added it to my pile immediately.

Not because I’m a dedicated fan of Tammy Wynette – my favorite version of Stand By Your Man is the Lyle Lovett cover that was included in the Crying Game – but because she is such an iconic figure in country music, and I felt I should get to know her better.

Plus I’ve been reading a lot of auto/biographies of male rock stars lately, and I felt like I should branch out a little bit.

I may have picked it up out of a sense of duty, but what I got was the best kind of surprise. I loved this book. I honestly did not want to put it down, even though it was largely responsible for having Stand By Your Man stuck in my head on infinite repeat for the better part of a week.

Wynette’s story is a real rollercoaster ride of triumphant commercial success highs (all those #1 songs!) and tragic personal lows (her fifth marriage; being addicted to painkillers for most of her adult life due to extensive physical problems), but what really makes this book great is how much Jimmy McDonough loves her. His enduring affection for his subject melded with stubborn journalistic devotion to the truth – even if it is an ugly truth – is on every page.

I also learned a lot about Nashville, and the way country music used to be made, which, then as now, is very, very different from how rock music is made. McDonough also provides what has to be one of the finer, snarkier descriptions of Nashville ever committed to paper, which is Imagine that you’re at the dry cleaners, they’ve lost your pants, and you’re expecting them to be found. Then imagine you’ve been standing there waiting for forty-seven years.

And yet, as McDonough amply demonstrates, the place is home to so many vibrant characters. For example, George “The Possum” Jones, the country superstar who was the third of Wynette’s five husbands and by all accounts of the love of her life. Theirs was a stormy, dramatic union; they were married in 1969, divorced by 1975, and yet still continued to make beautiful music together for many years afterwards.

On a related note, this book is also a pretty good introduction to George Jones. I learned a lot about The Possum, not least being that his hell-raising days were the factual base One More Last Chance which was a hit for Vince Gill long after Jones had (more or less) settled down.

The one minor warning I would leave for the adventurous and ignorant coming after me is that McDonough presupposes a certain familiarity with the major events of Wynette’s personal and professional life. While it’s possible to enjoy this book without doing any previous reading – I know I did – I have a feeling the overall experience would be enriched by having at least a skeletal understanding of her story.

In summary: A++, add this to your end of summer reading list right away.

And now, some videos, so you can see The First Lady of Country Music in action.

Up first is D-I-V-O-R-C-E, her fourth #1 hit:
 

 
You know what’s next, right? Warning: may get stuck in your head for days at a time. It was so firmly lodged in mine that I fell into a Stand By Your Man-shaped YouTube hole while trying to exorcise it. My conclusion: I have mixed feelings about the various non-Lyle Lovett modern renditions, but I did enjoy Sara Evans’ version. I also came to the conclusion that this is not a song for the faint of heart or those possessed of a nervous disposition. You have to stare it down and then get up there and belt it out.
 

 
And here she is with Mr. Jones, and one of their most famous duets, Golden Ring:
 

 
And finally, singing Silver Threads and Golden Needles with her contemporaries, friends and competitors Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn:
 

 

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August Video Challenge: The Tractors, Baby Likes To Rock It

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This video for Baby Likes to Rock It by The Tractors was directed by Michael Salomon and was the CMA Video of the Year in 1995. Not that I knew that at the time, because I didn’t often watch CMT; nearly 100% of my interactions with the world of country music happened via my car stereo.

This song was part of the soundtrack of many a hot afternoon spent navigating traffic jams and never, ever failed to lift my spirits.
 

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Feel Bad For You, August 2012

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It’s one of those times when the FBFY coordinators have decided to suspend the usual laissez faire operation of our monthly mix party and ask the unruly horde to attempt to coordinate around a theme, vis:

“‘Rock and roll is all about sticking it to the man!’ – Someone

The dogs days of summer are only made worse by sitting in your cubicle and slaving away for THE MAN! At least that’s how I came up with the theme for the August Feel Bad For You Mixtape. Though THE MAN could be your boss, the government, whitey, your woman, Nashville record executives, your landlord, etc. I told the contributors to be creative with this one.”

 

Sidenote: @rockstar_aimz and @Truersound took to the Twitter waves last week to live tweet their reactions to the mix, tagging their tweets with “#fbfy”. In one of those quirks of the internet age, the hash tag grew tentacles, and, for one confounding, ridiculous night, #fbfy topped the list of Twitter trending topics (predictably, about 30% of those trending tweets were along the lines of “WTF is #fbfy?”). Here’s the visual evidence.

 

 

 

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1. Title: Corporate Slave
Artist: Snog
Album (year): Remote Control (1997)
Submitted By: Bryan http://ninebullets.net/
Comments: This one was easy. Snog was bashing corporate america long before it was fashionable to do so and I knew as soon as you said the theme was “The Man” I had to include one of their songs. This song originally appeared on their 1997 album “Remote Control” but this particular version of it is from their 2006 retrospective “Sixteen Easy Tunes For The End Times.” Hope y’all like it as much as I do.

2. Title: The Ascent of Stan
Artist: Ben Folds
Album (year): Rockin’ the Suburbs (2001)
Submitted By: @philnorman
Comments: You wondered why your father was so resigned. Now you don’t wonder anymore…

3. Title: Clampdown
Artist: The Clash
Album: London Calling (1979)
Submitted By: April @ Now This Sound Is Brave
Comments: “The men at the factory are old and cunning / You don’t owe nothing, so, boy, get running / It’s the best years of your life they want to steal”

4. Title: American Man
Artist: Chuck Prophet
Album (year): ¡Let Freedom Ring! (2009)
Submitted By: hoosier buddy
Comments: Chuck Prophet is the Captain America of guitar-slinging singer-songwriters. His trademark scarf and vest let you know he’s comfortable with the way he looks. The musical influences in this one song alone are a veritable melting pot of American culture. Twang meets classic rock and celebrates the love child with shameless 80′s riffage, His shield is the honest truth about what’s wrong, what’s weird,and what’s going on: “American man, three times your size, with blood on my lips, milk in my eyes.” We all recognize this American man. Heck, some of us are him. Proud as hell, too!

5. Title: Ohio
Artist: Neil Young
Album (year): bootleg (1971)
Submitted By: tincanman
Comments: I had so many ‘Man’ punisms running through my head to impress you with I almost forgot the ultlimate ‘The Man hath run amuk’ song.

6. Title: Vigilante Man
Artist: Woody Guthrie
Album (Year): Dust Bowl Ballads (1940)
Submitted By: Gorrck

7. Title: I Am The Man, Thomas
Artist: Ralph Stanley
Album (Year): 1971-1973 (1995)
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: I AM THE MAAAAN!

8. Title: Dear Employer (The Reason I Quit)
Artist: Minus 5
Album (Year): Down With Wilco (2003)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: Oh yeah? Wow now you’re minus SIX my friend! I’m outta here.

9. Title: Heaven is a Half Pipe
Artist: OPM
Album (year): Menace to Sobriety (2000)
Submitted By: Ryan (Verbow @ altcountrytab.ca)
Comments: I remember this song getting a lot of play round the turn of the millenium. I don’t know if I would say its a good song but it makes me bob my head and laugh thinking, “yeah all I need is my board and my weed – the man can go eff himself!”

10. Title: Legalize It
Artist: Peter Tosh
Album (year): Legalize It (1976)
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: On the eve of Jamaican Independence 50th Celebrations http://www.jis.gov.jm/ja50/v2/ and on the day the country is poised to make it a male/female sprint double gold at London 2012, then it’s got to be Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It,” this Wailer gave the bird to The Man and if the stories are to be believed that’s what cost him his life. Beat this Snoop Dogg.

11. Title: This Is Not A Song, It’s An Outburst: Or, The Establishment
Artist: Rodriguez
Album (year): Cold Fact (1970)
Submitted By: BoogieStudio22
Comments: It’s the establishment, man.

12. Title: Jesus Christ Superstar
Artist: John Keating
Album (year): Sound Gallery Vol 1 (1972)
Submitted By: Bowood
Comments: Andrew Lloyd Webber on FBFY, it was always on the cards.

13. Title: I’m the Man (Def Uncensored Version)
Artist: Anthrax
Album (year): I’m the Man (1987)
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: Gorrck sent this CD to me in 2001 when the anthrax scare hit the east coast. We told one of our other friends that “I got Anthrax in the mail.” She said, “Are you serious!!!” Our friends are not too bright. And we are immature.

14. Title: We Love You Tipper Gore
Artist: Furnaceface
Album (Year): Just Buy It (1992)
Submitted By: Lord Summerisle
Comments: A song about “The Man” that’s about A woman.

15. Title: A New Tomorrow
Artist: Screeching Weasel
Album (year): 1993
Submitted By: annieTUFF
Comments: So, when I heard the theme for this month was “The Man,” I thought of rebelling against status quo, rejecting the norm and living your life the way you want to live it. Instantly I thought of this song, Screeching Weasel is a band I’ve loved for years. It doesn’t matter what music I’m listening to, or if I’m going thru a “only listening to Buck Owens on repeat/surf music 24-7/or whatever else constantly” phase, I’ll always be able to add a Screeching Weasel song to my mixtape (or really…we all know it’s a playlist…but mixtape just sounds better dudes, ok?). Anyway, back to this particular song, anytime I’m starting to question my life choices I can listen to this song and instantly feel better, really. Sound dumb? Who cares, it works for me.

16. Title: Cars and Guns
Artist: Roger Alan Wade
Album (year): Stoned Traveler (2009)
Submitted By: Adam Sheets

17. Title: Puttin’ People On The Moon
Artist: Drive By Truckers
Album (year): The Dirty South (2004)
Submitted By: TheOtherBrit
Comments: This was the first song that came to mind when I thought about The Man keeping ya down, especially convenient with the Mars landing just happening.

18. Track: Friday Night is for the Drinkers
Artist: Bradley Wik and the Charlatans
Album (Year): Burn What You Can, Bury the Rest…
Submitted By: Cowbelle www.morecowbelle.net

19. Track: The Man
Artists: Pete Yorn (w/Natalie Maines)
Album (Year): The Nightcrawler (2006)
Submitted By: Trailer

20. Title: Money Man
Artist: The Countdown Five
Album (1969): B-Side/ Shaka Shake Na Na/Money Man
Submitted By: @popatunes
Comments: This theme seemed a bit of a challenge finding something that wasn’t an obvious ‘The Man’ protest song, (my interpretation of the theme) so I was lead deep into the garage for an enjoyable excursion that distracted me to from my initial, but thought this little b-side gem from Texas City’s The Countdown Five was worth sharing. Y’all know by now I have soft spot for low-fi psych garage grooviness. The band had two Billboard Top 100 hits, “Uncle Kirby” and “Shaka Na Na.”

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August Video Challenge: RT N’ the 44s, Lost My Way

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If someone had played this song for me and told me it was a lost Johnny Cash track, I would totally have believed it. It’s not, though, it’s RT N’ the 44s. They’re from Los Angeles, California, and they play some sweet country blues. They have three records out, all of which you can listen to at (and more importantly, buy from) their bandcamp.

Plus they are playing a bunch of shows in Los Angeles this month. If you’re already there or passing through, check their listings and get down to see them.

And now without further chatter: Lost My Way, from March of the Fools (July 2011):

 

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August Video Challenge: Ministry, Jesus Built My Hotrod

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I was, once again, noodling around YouTube looking for something else and got distracted by something shiny. By which I mean I was watching Revolting Cocks videos – they’ve apparently renamed themselves and are now RevCo – and happened to glance to the right, saw what YouTube offered as related videos, thought oooooooh! Ministry! and now here we are.

This song is called Jesus Built My Hotrod and is from Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (1992); Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers joins them on vocals.

 

 

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August Video Challenge: Wild Yaks, River May Come

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The Wild Yaks are from Brooklyn, and they are awesome. The video below is for River May Come from 10 Ships (Don’t Die Yet) (2009). And there will be new music in the fall!

Reason I like this video: because I have lately made it my tradition to plunge myself into the ocean on New Years Day, and in doing so, found I never feel more alive than when I can’t quite feel my toes. I have to be more careful of the undertow than hidden rocks, but I feel like the spirit of the thing is the same.

 

 

Special Signal Boost: They are in need of a guitarist for September!

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August Video Challenge: Danielle Dax, Bad Miss M

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Danielle Dax was a member of Lemon Kittens from 1979 until 1982, when they went on hiatus and she started her solo career. Bad Miss M is a song about Margaret Thatcher (spoiler: Dax is not a fan) and is from her third solo record, Inky Bloaters (1987).

In addition to being a singer, Dax is also an accomplished artist, interior designer – she’s appeared on the BBC show Homefront and was named their Designer of the Year in 1997 – and garden designer.

I am particularly fond of this song because it’s the kind of thing that will get one moving on a sluggish day.

 

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August Video Challenge: Witchboy, Heartbreaker

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So here is what happened: I heard some mutterings in the ether about something called “witch house” which sounded intriguing, not least because I thought it might be related to what we elderly goths used to call “swirly girly gothy voice of doom.” It certainly seemed that way from the descriptions I was reading, and you have to admit “witch house” is a much more efficient genre term.

My starting point was Aural Sects‘ bandcamp page. They’re a label who have a lot of electronic artists on their roster, and if you’re into ambient noise, dark electronica, experimental noise, etc etc, get yourself over there and start clicking because you are bound to find something you like. They update frequently, so check back often.

The artists I chose to listen to I picked somewhat at random. Sometimes I liked their album art, other times I thought their name was promising and/or compelling. Witchboy was the latter. And, while I did like the songs – which incidentally sound nothing like “swirly girly gothy voice of doom” – and I find the cover art for Hollymode aesthetically pleasing, it was the first video that I watched, for a song called Heartbreaker, that really got my attention, in a what the blithering hell is going on here? kind of way.

I love that feeling, by the way. The sense of being dropped into the deep end of someone else’s deeply weird and sometimes unsettling artistic creation and having to get up to speed on the visual references on the fly. And, while I liked the tune, what I thought was really interesting was the medium. The video was made using either The Sims or animations made to look Sims-like, while also looking a Disney /Japanese horror movie mashup. And by that I mean I spotted references to both Ringu and The Little Mermaid; I’m sure there are more that have gone flying right over my head.

And then as I was getting ready to post the video, because this kind of thing HAS to be shared, I did some more clicking around and discovered that . . . Hollymode was a parody.

What I’ve found is the Spinal Tap of witch house. And like regular Spinal Tap, it’s awesome. So here, for your entertainment / amusement / possibly enlightenment, is the video in question: