Shane MacGowan... unconsciously brilliant. You
can intelligently debate any topic from
theology, history, literature and philosphy...
though only while you're out of your skull on
booze.


Which fucked-up genius composer are you?
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RIP, John Peel

play me a truck drivin' man


Music is at the bottom of the post.

Damn, I'm a slacker. I'm gonna blame it on the Baseball playoffs. From rooting for the downfall of the Evil Empire (mission accomplished) to trying to figger out whether I wanted the Astros (Texas=bad) or the Cardinals (Cubs arch-nemesis, beside themselves) to lose to the Sox in the Series, I've been spending way too much time in front of the television. No game today. Did anyone notice that when Curt Schilling was interviewed last nite after the game, he was wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers (my number one all time favorite team) hat? Since the hometown Patriots are playing the Steelers next Sunday, I'm wondering what kind of statement Mr. Schilling was making, and whether he's taken any kind of shit for it today.

Well, most of you aren't here for sports.

Found a fascinating website for these trying and, frankly, increasingly annoying election times. If you go here you'll get a complete rundown of all candidates running for president. It ranges from the Big Two Idiots to a whole slew of 3rd party candidates. The third party section is fascinating, running the gamut from the ridiculous and downright scary (look for Jack Grimes of the United Facist Union and Earl Dodge of the Prohibition Party, neither of which deserve a link) to individuals who are running merely to get their ideas across. I think my favorite find is that Leonard Peltier is running on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. So many choices, so little time. Smirkers will be happy to know that, apparently, I may not be able to exercise my right to fill in a write-in candidate here in Illinois. If this is indeed an actuality, well....let's just say I'm gonna go vote, but I'm not voting for Bush or Kerry. Draw your own conclusions. (Feel free to express how stupid I am in the comments field. I can take it. Be warned though, you probably won't offer any new argument I haven't heard. Peace loving Kerry voters can get pretty violent when folks don't goosestep to their desires. There is no such thing as a "lesser evil." )

Today, since I'm a mothertrucker, I'm going to take John from TofuHut's advice/request and put a smidgen of my rather ridiculously large truck song collection up for your listening enjoyment.

I'm not sure what it is about trucking music that inspires me so. Perhaps "inspires" isn't quite the right word, as I have no desire to actully be a trucker. It's a strange world the poets of the 18 wheelers sing about, all coffee, white lines, cb's, diners, pills, and an occasional six pack to go. Dave Dudley, the King, never rode a truck professionally, nor did most of his compatriots. But there it is, the myth of the open road laid bare (Bobby?), the boom chicka boom and chug guitar, the voice of the last bandits of the 60's and 70's. There's a ton of compilations out there, but for those who like their alt-country a little more polished, I'd recommend Diesel Only's Rig Rock Deluxe collection, which features updated covers by the likes of Steve Earle, Son Volt, BR549, Jon Langford, Junior Brown, and a host of yr favorite modern twangers. If you like what you hear, there's fine albums to be found in Salvation Army's across this great land of ours. I've got a ton more of these, so this might be a weekly/biweekly thing if interest exists. Let me know. Please visit the links at the bottom of the page for more info.

MP3's:

Del Reeves: Lookin' at the World Through a Windshield (mp3)

Red Sovine: Truck Drivin' Son of a Gun (mp3)

Dave Dudley: I've Been Everywhere (mp3)

Dave Dudley: Girl on the Billboard (mp3)

CW McCall: Old Home Filler Up Keep On Truckin' Cafe (mp3)

(Click on song...Drive over to the Briefcase...Fill up from there)

More Info:

Visit and learn more about Del Reeves

Visit and learn more about Red Simpson

Visit and learn more about Dave Dudley

Visit and learn more about the "mysterious" CW McCall

Visit The Virtual Truck Route

old home fill 'er up keep on truckin'

bottle up and go

I just spent 2 hours on a post....and Blogspot lost it...Internal error, they said. Swell. I'm not remotely pissed off.

So, I'll keep this brief.

Two site of interest to all you Shane Macgowan fans (and who isn't, really?). Go HERE for a ton of Nips (Shane's first band) songs. And go HERE for a Shane and the Popes live bootleg. Bit rate's are low...sound's muddy...and all is good in the world.

I'm not sure how other bloggers manage to decide who or what they post when they approach the often daunting task of a new entry. Me, it's a bit of a struggle, perhaps because I can't seem to manage a daily post. I've been thinking of converting this site to an all "old-timey" format. But, then, I want to do a Flying Nun post (perfect Autumn music...The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines, the Bats...something very good in the water there in New Zealand). And I want to talk about the mighty Joel RL Phelps, Billy Childish (and all things Thee), Howlin' Wolf, Merle Haggard, Robert Cage, the Holmes Brothers, drinkin' tunes, truckin' tunes, train tunes...well, you get the idea. It's a hard life i live, apparently. Note the tear in my beer.

So, Johnny Bond:

"Laconic, humorous, and self-deprecating, Johnny Bond was one of the true gentlemen of western music as well as an important songwriter and musician. Reared in south-central Oklahoma, Cyrus Whitfield Bond moved in 1937 to Oklahoma City, where he formed a trio with Jimmy Wakely and Scotty Harrell, known as the Bell Boys after their sponsor, the Bell Clothing Company. Regional success followed, and a move to Hollywood came in 1939, where they appeared in a Roy Rogers film, Saga of Death Valley. They landed a spot on Gene Autry’s CBS Melody Ranch radio show in 1940 and stayed together until Wakely’s solo career took off. Meanwhile, they pulled a clever musical scam: they recorded for Decca as the Jimmy Wakely Trio and for Columbia as Johnny Bond & the Cimarron Boys.
Although he composed hundreds of songs (“I Wonder Where You Are Tonight,” “Love Gone Cold,” “Your Old Love Letters,” “Tomorrow Never Comes,” “Those Gone and Left Me Blues,” and many others, mostly in the country idiom), Bond is best remembered for his western classic “Cimarron,” which he wrote in Oklahoma City as a theme song for the Bell Boys. As a recording artist, he enjoyed moderate success from his earliest recordings in 1941 through the 1950s, and even placed a few hits high on the charts during the late 1940s. In 1965, Bond’s recording career briefly revived with Starday and the novelty drinking song “10 Little Bottles,” which he had first recorded for Columbia in 1951.
Whereas Wakely’s career was meteoric, Bond’s was steadier: He remained a mainstay of the Melody Ranch cast until the show’s end in 1956, and his distinctive acoustic guitar runs became an Autry trademark on radio and record. He had small parts in many films, recorded frequently, began a music publishing business with Tex Ritter, spent nearly a decade as host and writer on the television show Town Hall Party, and in his later years became an author as well, writing a brief autobiography and a biography of Tex Ritter."

Me, I'm a big ole fan of Mr. Bond. Particularly his drinkin' songs...of which he has a ton. There aren't many of his albums currently available. Bloodshot has a great compilation, and the songs below are from "I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size" on Jasmine Records. As a matter of fact, to be a bit of a panhandler, but I'm looking for a bunch of his albums on vinyl. Particularly these (and even more particularly, the "drinkin' albums). So if, as yr rootin' through the record selection at yr local Salvation Army, you happen to run across any Bond albums, I'd be more than happy to reimburse, pay for shipping, and offer a generous finder's fee for said albums.

Without further ado (and for fear Blogspot's gonna lose my post again), I offer the hot western swing sounds, in hi-fi, of Mr. Johnny Bond:

Johnny Bond: I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size (mp3)

Johnny Bond: Set 'Em Up Joe (mp3)

Johnny Bond: Bartender's Blues (mp3)

(Click on song...go to Briefcase...download soberly from there)

if i had a nickel....

This post was constructed under the influence of Old Style Premium Beer (Full Aged and Naturally Carbonated), and the hi fi stylings of Tom Waits (Real Gone) and Richard Buckner (Dents and Shells).


The songs from the Big Rock Candy Mountain post are now down. If'n yr innerested...let me know, we'll work something out.

I'm a pretty irritable little cuss sometimes. I'm really sick of this idea that musicians don't have a right to comment on politics. (scroll down the linked page a bit to get reader's "comments"). Besides the fact that music has always been a tool for protest, people seem to think that the First Amendment only applies to themselves or Bill "liar" O'Reilly. Stupid. I really don't give a rat's ass what Toby Keith or little Mikey Stipe have to say about politics, but why the hell shouldn't they be allowed to express their opinions like everyone else? Has music really become so homogenized that we can only handle the most cursory of "messages"? I dunno, I could be wrong...I just didn't realize free speech was limited.

On a related, and kinda scary, note....There really are people out there that believe the "American Way of Life" (read: economic wellbeing, suv's, oiloiloil...) is more important than thousands of dead "innocent" Iraqis (the person i spoke with reasoned that no one is "innocent", including 4 year old children...who would probably become terrorists, anyway. Her words.). It was a very enlightening conversation. Ayn "Anus" Rand is alive and well, apparently. The conversation spiraled even further downward from that starting point. This is our world, I guess. Glad to be here.

It's a beautiful Autumn day outside. Leaves are slowly changing, the sky is bluer, a nip in the air...time to pull out my "Autumn Sweater"s (thanks Yo La Tengo). Reminds me it can still be a beautiful world sometimes.

Townes Van Zandt was one of the greatest, and most tragic, songwriters we've ever seen. As Steve Earle once famously noted: "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." His songs have been covered by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, the Cowboy Junkies, Merle Haggard...well, the list is endless. Bob Dylan, too. Most people have heard at least one version of his most famous tune, "Pancho and Lefty". His frail voice alternately belies the power of, and intensifies the deep sadness of, his lyrics. Townes died too early, but, according to popular lore, he died when he predicted he would. His body of work is rife with the forecast of early death. Read more about Townes here and here.

My personal favorite Townes song is Rex's Blues. And, not to overly morbid, it will be played at my cremation. So, today, you get the original version, plus three covers. Perfect Autumn afternoon listening.

Ride the blue wind high and free
she'll lead you down through misery
leave you low, come time to go
alone and low as low can be

If I had a nickel I'd find a game
If I won a dollar I'd make it rain
If it rained an ocean I'd drink it dry
and lay me down dissatisfied

Legs to walk and thoughts to fly
eyes to laugh and lips to cry
a restless tongue to classify
all born to grow and grown to die

So tell my baby I said so long
tell my mother I did no wrong
tell my brother to watch his own
and tell my friends to mourn me none

I'm chained upon the face of time
feelin' full of foolish rhyme
there ain't no dark till something shines
I'm bound to leave this dark behind

Ride the blue wind high and free
he'll lead you down through misery
leave you low, come time to go
alone and low as low can be

Townes Van Zandt: Rex's Blues (mp3)

Jay Farrar/Kelly Willis: Rex's Blues (mp3) (Jay is the guy from Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo. Kelly is the guy from Kelly Willis)

Entrance: Rex's Blues (mp3) (Entrance is a new guy on Fat Possum. I don't know anything else about him)

James McMurtry: Rex's Blues (mp3) (James has a famous father. James should be more famous. He's the guy from James McMurtry).

(As ever, left-click on song....go to briefcase and sadly download from there)

Just a quickie before rambling off to work. (no music, no pictures...). Found the link to Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Own Me". It can be found on one of my daily reads, Spoilt Victorian Child. A very fine site, named after a song by The (always god-like ) Fall. All apologies.

Also, for the new folks who have questions about my site name, here is my post about the origin of Big Rock Candy Mountain. The MP3's are still available, for a limited time only...enjoy.

Ta.

We need some revival

Thanks to all the visitors for taking the time to look in on this small little ole corner of the blogworld. As a reward (or to expose just how few people are reading me), I'll give away a Free Gmail Account to the first 5 people who leave me a comment below. (no, not begging one little bit)

I'd like to say thanks and draw y'alls' attention to two really great blogs I've been visiting obsessively over the past few weeks. They both feature tunes and writin's that I think you'll really like...'specially if you like the tunes here. Check 'em out:

Lonesome Music is run by the same gentleman (and his sister) who puts up The Last Sound of Summer site. Last Sound...features a pretty eclectic mix of tunes from electronic to rock to pop. I first stumbled onto it doing a search for American Music Club. I believe I left a pretty obsessive comment about Mark Eitzel, or sumsuch. Lonesome Music is more "an Americana/folk site", according to Howard, the author of the site (with his sister). He's got some great links up at the moment, including a song(demo) of his very own making. Good stuff, folks.

Songs:Illinois comes from here in my very own (new) home of Chicago, Illinois (hence the title...with perhaps a sly wink to a certain Secretly Canadian Band?). Not sure how many Chicago bloggers there are out there...but they'd be hard-pressed to top this site. I'm biased, perhaps, cuz he's got songs up by Jim White, Johnny Cash, Loudon Wainwright, American Music Club(great songs, all), and Lyle Lovett up at the moment. Go, Go Go.

Before I get to today's music, there's one more place I'd highly recommend checking out, and it serves as a bit of an intro to the tunes. It Came From Memphis is a site tracing "...how a cult music book became a cult music documentary, and it only took ten years." The site, which is a blog, has been chronicalling Paul Duane's quest to make a documentary of the the book, It Came From Memphis, and the soundrack of the same name. I would highly recommend both items as great snapshots of a Memphis that's not often discussed, but still extremely relevant. The blog is also a fascinating look at the difficulties of getting a documentary made. It's become one of my top reads of the day. Also, anyone who gets to hang out with Jim Dickinson and Greg Oblivian has to be something right.

So that leads, sorta (you'll see), to our tunes for the day. Somebody somewhere posted (and damn if i can remember...let me know if'n you know, and i'll link it) Dusty Springfield's version of "You Don't Own Me". Which got me to thinkin':

Quintron: You Don't Own Me (mp3): Straight from the 9th Ward comes Mr. Quintron, celebrated Organist and Inventor of the Drum Buddy. Along with his wife, Miss Pussycat (who does puppet shows), Quintron tours this great land of ours playing some of the sleaziest sex'n'roll out there. He's a one man band, he strips to his Underoos, and he has the biggest Organ in the country. So There.

which leads us to:

Oblivians(feat. Mr. Quintron): Live the Life (mp3): Here Quintron teams up with Memphis' very own Oblivians. one of my favorite bands. It's all garage and tent revivals, with Quintron playing the role of the drunken church organist, the Oblivians the trinity of pastors out to steal yr souls. mmmmhmmm....

and so:

Speedball Baby: Blackish Man (mp3): More preaching from NYC scuzzballs that have featured Jon Spencer and James Chance, amongst other greasy notables. It's all conspiracy theory and Mekong Sue. Indeed.

finishing with:

Little Axe: It's Tight Like That (mp3): Little Axe is Adrian Sherwood (legendary dub guy) and Skip McDonald gettin' all Fat Possumy on our asses....Mississippi preachers shoveling the deepest brimstone and trancin' like speakin' in tongues, all the way to yr first orgasm. The spirit move within us.

(Click on Song...briefcase...download from there. and let me hear an amen)

children go where i send thee


I'm exhausted tonite...(and i start my new job tomorrow. Finally breaking free from the corporate world and returning to the indie world, as it were.). But wanted to get a post out before stumbling off to Little Nemo-land. It's a short one...look for the typos.

I'm preparing for Tom Waits Tuesday. In honor of the big day, I'm going to put up some tunes in which he's a collaborator. Most Waits freaks already have these I'm sure, but what the hell...
These are tunes that feature what I like to call his "Rev. Tom" phase....the man loves his gospel, dontcha know.

John Hammond/Tom Waits: I Know I've Been Changed (mp3): This is a tune from Hammond's album, Wicked Grin. The album is all Tom songs, was produced by Tom, and features Tom singing and playing along. Hammond's a great roots/bluesman of no small repute, and he does Tom justice.

Chuck E. Weiss/Tom Waits: Do You Know What I Idi Amin (mp3): Another example of Tom producin' and participatin'. Y'all know Chuck E. from the Ricki Lee Jones song. He and Tom have been...errr...running buddies for awhile. This cut's got a raging drum beat and Chuck and Tom "ranting" over top of it. Guess which is which.

Replacements/Tom Waits: Date to Church (mp3): Well, gee...what can I say about this...It's Tom on organ and backing vocals (I believe he was credited on the single as "Rev. Backwash"), playing with the Replacements. They're singing about taking a girl to church. Does it get any better than this in life? Really?

Blind Boys of Alabama/Tom Waits: Go Tell It On the Mountain (mp3): If you haven't heard the Blind Boys of Alabama, you need to run down to the record store right now. It's soul, it's gospel, its beautiful. 'Sfar as the tune goes...well, you know the song...you know who's singing....I think you can figger it out from there.

(Click on Song...Git on over to the Briefcase...Wait for it...Download from there)

We'll Try to do Better.