Hardscrabble Lonesome

I spend way too much time bitching about the current state of Country Music. And I spend too much time bitching about the fact that I'm bitching about the current state of Country music. Might be a good idea for me to just sit back and enjoy the good shit that's out there. And there are some mighty tasty platters spinning on the modern hi-fi.

Willie Heath Neal often gets compared to Hank Williams III, having more to do with their relative youthfulness and a tendency towards, ahem, wayward rebelliousness, than in actual style. On earlier albums, Neal did display the tendency towards the sort of self-referential shit-kicker vibe that Williams has perfected, for better or worse, but one always got the sense that Neal traded more in respect for the form than in lineage.

With his latest album, Lonesome, on Chicken Ranch Records, Neal drops any alt/cowpunk leanings and delivers a hell of a set of barroom ballads. Yeah, I said ballads...wait, come back...it's not what you think. We aint talkin' no pansy-ass metal balladry or vile Michael Bolton shite. Great Country has always been about the slow burning examination of where did I go wrong, how did I fuck up so badly, and what can I drink to make it better? It's the bread and butter of the genre. It's also a focus on great songwriting, and Neal steps to the plate, compiling a string of lost love and missed opportunity under the strobe of blinking neon lights. He shows himself as a songwriter, and a damn good one. I'd recommend checking out Neal's other albums. They're teetering, whiskey-fuelled honky stompers, and a hell of a lot of fun. But it's Lonesome that shows Neal growing up, and finding a voice that pushes him toward greatness. 'Least so far as we're concerned. But what the hell do I know?

I've rambled on about James Hand at length, and, frankly, it probably hasn't been enough. Leastways, not 'til I see him on the cover of every damn magazine on the planet. With Willie Heath Neal, we've got a younger version. Neal's not at Hand's level yet, but he's on his way, and I'd give a lung to see the two tour together.

Willie Heath Neal: Broken Hearted Beauty Queen (mp3)

Willie Heath Neal: She's Gone (mp3)

Keep sending those drinking songs!

Support your local House of Imbibing!

All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers

Good lord a-mighty! I think I've got the best readers in the world! I asked for help and all y'all came through. Keep the suggestions coming, as I'm adding every one to a big-ass old list, from which to whittle down. And it's official, the final list is going to be The 100 Greatest Drinking Songs. 50 was just too small a number. If you don't know what I'm talking about, scroll down to the previous post.

Thank you, each and every inebriated one of you, from the bottom of my pickled liver.

If you've sent me an email, please be patient, as I plan to respond to each one of you. And to those who sent me tunes, I bow in humble appreciation.

And in case you're wondering, it appears as if George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Wynonie Harris are topping the percentage of suggestions. Probably not a big surprise there. I'm also pleased with the folk who threw up (heh) some Rap and Metal/Hard Rock (whatever that is) suggestions. I had egregiously forgotten about Gin and Juice (both the Snoop and dead-on Gourds versions), for example.

One final request, and then I'll leave you alone. I'm looking for a panel of judges. I've got a couple of folks lined up already, but I'd like to have 2-3 more. It won't take too much of your time. I just want to ensure that this list is not simply a reflection of what I like, but a true(ish) consensus of what constitutes a great drinking song. If you're up for a little arguing, discussing, dissing, and a smidge of critical hoo haw, then email me why you should be on the panel. You'll get full credit as a judge, and a special gift from the Mountain for your effort. My email is jukejoint@gmail.com. Let's show those hoity toity magazines with their big important lists what us real folks can do (Sorry, I just watched an episode of My Name Is Earl). To add more fuel to your fire, I've already decided what Number 1 is going to be. Wanna prove me wrong?

Next week I'm gonna return to normal, posting about artists I think are really keen, with a post about a feller who might give my boy James Hand a run for his money.

But for now, here's a couple more tunes to whet your appetite, and help you through the long weekend.

Papa Lightfoot: Wine, Women, and Whiskey (mp3)

Laverne Ray: Drunk, That's All (mp3)

Keep those suggestions coming.

Booze Party!

Ok.


Here's the deal. The Mountain is about to start a project, and we need your help. Yes, you, there in the corner with the half-empty can of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. We're making a list of the Greatest Drinking Songs Of All Time. Not sure yet if it's going to be numbered at 50 or 100, and here's where you come in. I want your suggestions. Any list of drinking songs is going to be heavy on Country and Blues, which I've got a decent grip on, but there's a good chance I'll forget a few if left to my own inebriated devices, and, of course, great drinking songs are not limited the above genres, The Replacements, The Pogues, and Tom Waits.


So help me out here. What are your favorite drinking songs? What tunes help you raise that last glass at the end of the night, or the first crack of dawn? What songs can you sing at the top of your voice, never missing a lyric, while sloshed out of your mother-lovin' brains? What puts a tear in your beer?


Here's some suggestions:


-The songs should be something that more than two people know. Your buddy's garage band demo does not qualify.
-The songs shouldn't be merely songs that make you want to drink, such as anything by Jessica Simpson or her stupid sister. Drinking should be an integral part of the song.
-Give me something that I might not think of, something that may be outside of the Mountain's range. Perfect example is "Margaritaville". Not a big Jimmy Buffet fan, but there's no way "Margaritaville" doesn't finish in the top 20. It's a classic, whether I like it or not, and too many people have stopped a bar dead in it's tracks, glasses raised or head lowered to the bar, by slapping it on the jukebox.


I know you're out there, I've seen the stat counter. So help me out. I'm aiming towards getting the list together by, oh, I dunno, how about the middle of March? Maybe, and I'm just picking a random date, March 17th seems like a good day. I haven't decided if I'll offer up a zip file of the whole thing, or randomly selected songs. Maybe I'll make a special offer to folks who contributed, whether their song made it or not. We'll see. You can give your opinion on that matter also. If you don't contribute, you can't bitch about the final list.


You can leave a comment below, or send me an email at jukejoint@gmail.com.


To get you in the mood, here's a couple of tunes that may or may not be eligible for the list.


Corky Jones is, well, let's be honest here.....Corky Jones is Buck Owens. Playing a little boozey rockabilly under an assumed name.


Corky Jones: Rhythm and Booze (mp3)


Three Aces and a Joker: Booze Party (mp3)


Thanks for stopping by. Support your local Tavern.

Six String Drag And A Wheezing Megaphone

And, finally, the top 3 albums on the Big Rock Candy Mountain Most Essential, You're a Loser If You Don't Own These Albums List Of 2006.

That was a mouthful. Especially with the tongue planted firmly...well you get it, we're self-referentially ironic. Yawn. Let's git er done. Sorry, couldn't resist


Recap:


10. Cast King: Saw Mill Man
9. Gob Iron: Death Songs For the Living
8. Richard Buckner: Meadow
7. Jolie Holland: Springtime Can Kill You
6. Lambchop: Damaged
5. South Filthy: Crackin' Up
4. Cat Power:: The Greatest


On with the show.

3. Tom Waits: Orphans

This should really come as no surprise, except for the expectation that we might have placed old Tom a couple of slots higher at number 1. What that should tell you is how keen I am on the the top finishers.

In my experience, there is little middle ground so far as Tom Waits appreciation goes. Folks either love him or hate him. His is not the persona or Howlin' Wolf fucking Beefheart voice that invites apathy. Which is fair enough. And this three disc set of odds, sods and whatnot, frankly, is probably not the best starting point for the novice.

This set is essentially a love letter to his fans, a group he's been reluctant to admit to, though in a recent interview on the Daily Show Waits came as close as I can remember to acknowledging the beast that is the Tom Waits collective.

I am not unbiased when it comes to Waits, I couldn't pretend to be, so I can't offer a critical remove when including this set. I also had a hell of a time selecting one track as a sampler, so I'm offering up one from each album. If I did this tomorrow, I'd probably select three different songs.

"Bottom of The World", is Waits at his hobo best, containing one of my favorite lines "Well God's green hair is where I slept last/He balanced a diamond on a blade of grass". "Take Care Of All My Children" is a track from the film Streetwise, and on of my favorite missing Waits songs, previously sitting dusty in my rows of Waits bootlegs. It's Waits channelling his inner Salvation Army band. And "Home I'll Never Be" is a Kerouac piece. I'm not a Kerouac fan, but filtered through Wait's grizzled growl and pathos, the song takes life of it's own, borrowing but not indebted to the Beats.

Tom Waits: Bottom Of The World (mp3)

Tom Waits: Take Care Of All My Childrent (mp3)

Tom Waits: Home I'll Never Be (mp3)

2. Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams: Midnight Rodeo

This is another album I can't lay a claim to having a critical remove from. Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams are my favorite band. Doesn't matter, though, because they've earned their spot on this list. They're the best band in America you've never heard. Actually, they're better than most bands you have heard. The Hi-Beams are a honky tonk band, pure and simple. No posturing or hip and ironic Western shirts from the Gap. No insurgent stance or loudfast Hank Williams as punk icon nonsense. A band in their element in sweaty, Lone Star beer-soaked venues ripping shit-hot steel guitar lines perfectly twanged to a snap snare, stand up bass and the sweet Texas yodel of Halden himself. To rein in the perfection of their live presence, which I've covered briefly elsewhere, and commit it to aluminum, is a daunting task, one which they achieve brilliantly on their second album, Midnight Rodeo. If the current state of Country and Western, and Western is certainly a part of the Hi-Beams canon, leaves you cold and wistful, this is your salvation. For all those in favor of honky tonk bands out there slogging the spirit of Country in the face of Nashville and commercial packaging indifference, this band's for you. Catch 'em live if you can. The album contains several rave-ups, and runs the gamut of great Country styling, but I'm picking a slightly slower number to feature, one which is a live favorite of mine, and one you can dance with your lady or fella to. I'm going to do a longer post later, featuring, fingers crossed, an interview, so you'll get your swinging bopper later. Stay tuned.

Halden Wofford And The Hi-Beams: Blues Fallin' Down (mp3)

1. James Hand: The Truth Will Set You Free

Shocker. If you've read my posts here or here, you could have easily guessed where this would end up. It's not only the best album I've hear this year, it's the best album I've heard in many years. Chasing his own ghostriders in the Country constellation, Hand forges something that is uniquely his own, yet rooted strongly in a tradition as old as the first plucked string. In a time in which Bob Dylan can record the same album for the third time in a row, and receive rave reviews, it's artists like Hand who should be getting the attention.

A horse trainer and beer joint troubadour, Hand plays a continually rarefied form of hard Country, one passed through mountain water and Texas dust, a twangy and hiccupping yodel traveling the darker roads where lonesome has lost the ability to cry. Hand can sound as old as the hills, filtering a strain of deep Southern Gothic, but the songs he writes are timeless, both in subject and the ability speak across years.

More hyped bands and artists will always sell more records and fill larger venues, but that's the problem with hype, in that it allows for passing fad to overshadow the great artist hiding in corners. James Hand has made a stunning album, one I think folks will be talking about years from now when the dust settles and perspective weighs in. If you have any love for Country, this album is the one for you this year. And next year. And the year after....

James Hand: In The Corner At The Table By The Jukebox (mp3)

Please support you local, independent Honky Tonker, jukejoint, and record store.

Devil's In The House of the Rising Sun

Yep.

It's been an interesting year, this 2006. I want to thank all those who stopped by. We'll try to keep things interesting 'round these parts in the year to come.

Part 3 today of the fantastalistic BRCM Top Ten Albums of the Year. We aint necessarily calling these the best albums, they're just our favorites. We'll have the final installment next Tuesday.


First, here's some fine albums that didn't make the cut, but are worthy of y'all hunting down some mp3's to see what you think. The list is in no particular order:


Califone: Roots and Crowns

The Be Good Tanya's: Hello Love

Handsome Family:Last Days Of Wonder

The Buffets: Saucy Jack

Bob Dylan: Modern Times

The King Kkan and BBQ Show: What's For Dinner

Jack O and the Tennessee Tearjerkers: The Flip Side Kid

Yo La Tengo: I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass (best title for an album ever)

Bonnie Prince Billy: The Letting Go

Scott Biram: Graveyard Shift

Jim Lauderdale: Country Super Hits,Vol. 1


The Legendary Shack Shakers: Pandelirium



Now, on with the exciting part of the show. Ladies and gentlemen, Part 3:


5. South Filthy: Crackin' Up


Bring the boogie. One of the most aptly named groups around, the moniker tells you all you really need to know about this nasty little supergroup featuring Jeffrey Evans, Jack Yarber (Oblivian), Walter Daniels, Eugene Chadbourne, and a host of other trash merchants. I wrote more extensively on this band and this album in an earlier post. Here's part of what I said:

"Oddly enough , it's not quite the scunge-trash fest one might expect, being more akin to your favorite bar band playing a trailer park barbecue fest. And that's a compliment. Sure, it's a shambolic, booze-ridden mess of an album, sloppy and missing anything remotely suggesting production values, with obvious nods to Exile-era Stones, Faces (small and large), Allmans and Van Zandts(both kinds). It's a very Southern affair, sweatily drawled and scrawled from Memphis to Austin, underpinned with a sense of longing and regret, of all things. A little
bit rawk, and a whole lotta country. Pop a top on your favorite beverage, settle into your lawn chair and enjoy the mad dog stylings of South Filthy."

That seems about right.

South Filthy: (So You Think) You Got Trouble (mp3)

4. Cat Power: The Greatest


Chan Marshall has apparently been to hell and back, ripe for a VH1 special. I'm not a subscriber to the pop psychology notion that pain makes for great art. Marshall almost changed my mind. Almost. The problem with crediting pain or personal disorder to the creating process is that it takes for granted, or even negates, a little thing called talent. All the Artist's Way books in the world aren't going to make a piss poor writer, painter, or musician any better. Marshall's got talent in spades, and, outside of humane reasons for me wishing her well, I could really give a rat's ass about her demons. Show me what you got on the finished product, give me a song that lasts. And, whoah nelly, Cat Power dropped a bombshell. I found it hard to believe that Marshall could ever top her album "Moon Pix", and her last album, "You Are Free", sort of confirmed to me that she had long ago reached her peak. "You Are Free" was, frankly, a rather bad album. So it was with trepidation that I approached her latest, "The Greatest". I'm glad I did. Gathering some of the finest legendary Memphis studio musicians, Marshall is transformed. Long known for her lustily lazy, almost sleepy, vocal style, Marshall practically swings and swaggers through a good amount of these tunes, while the crack band honking and fiddling behind her. Even when things slow to normal Cat Power crawl and meditation it's with a sultrier, more confident sexiness than we're used to. It's a very Southern album, the kudzu lit hazily by the mid-afternoon sun. An album where the belle wanders off from the ball, barefoot, dancing with the ghosts of her dreams.

Cat Power: Lived In Bars (mp3)

Have a good New Year's weekend. Stop back Tuesday for numbers 1-3 on the big list. Wonder what they'll be? Bet y'all can make some accurate guesses.

Run Boys, Run

Howdy. Welcome back. Part 2 of the Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 Most Favorite Albums All Time of the Year Until I Change My Mind list.

Before reading on, head over to Hickory Wind for my preview of a band that's going to be showing up on this list later on this week. It's the post entitled "In Praise of the Bar Band".

Now that you're back from that, let's get started.

8. Richard Buckner: Meadow

Buckner goes rock. I've discussed elsewhere that I don't believe that the Country tag fits Richard Buckner any longer, if it ever really fit in the first place (maybe "Bloom" qualifies). Maybe nobody considers him Country, even "alt-country". What Buckner makes is burnt desert music, seared and charred meditations on minutiae, rendered inscrutable by dense and imagistic lyrics. A word rarely used when mentioning Buckner albums is fun. And while this album may not push that word up the list of descriptives, it certainly sheds the doom and gloom tag, at least musically. Lyrically, he's still plumbing the depths. But the addition on instrumentation of former Guided By Voicers, and a Superchunker gives Buckner a new sonic palette to ply his obsessions. His voice is still formed by the cracked clay of the earth, but the jagged bursts of guitar skronk and amped tempo provides a different context with which Buckner can play. The album is brief, 10 short songs, but Buckner takes the quick in and out all the way to the pharmacy. It's his best, most cohesive album since "Devotion + Doubt". Just don't expect a rehash of that classic album. It's a different beast entirely, and I can hear the purists moaning. Which should just add to why this album is so swell.

Richard Buckner: Mile (mp3)

7. Jolie Holland: Springtime Can Kill You

On here previous two albums, "Catalpa" and "Escondida", Holland mined the creaky, rocking chair, sepia-tinted tones of old weird America. They were spare affairs, the focus on her vintage Sara Carter-esque voice. With her latest album, Holland picks up stake, loads the mule, and heads east, slightly, picking up a band on the way. Jazz informs this album, particularly the ghost of Billie Holiday, who's slurred and lustily lazy vocal style is suggested, but never imitated, here by Holland. The themes of loss and memory permeate this album, the flourishes of melancholy. Music for attics and speakeasy's after hours, when the dancing is done, and the last dregs drained, the couples stumbled out the door, and only the lonely remain, one for my baby, and one more for the road. That road being a dusty lane from the city to a mythic, Gothic South. In a time of spineless Southern-inspired jazz-lite wallpaper by the likes of Norah Jones and Diana (makes my skin)Krall, this is the real deal. The following is not the one you think it is. It even includes a nice reference to Freakwater.

Jolie Holland: Moonshiner (mp3)

6. Lambchop: Damaged

Lambchop's main man Kurt Wagner has played with us. What began as a quirky take on oddball Country has morphed from Hank to Curtis Mayfield-influenced blue-eyed Nashville soul, to this, his most intimate album yet. It's a record that requires time spent. A dusk album, all crickets and fading lights, the gloaming. In the quick fix, ipod nation, I'm not sure how this album fits. Songs that meander, hushed and murmuring vocals, lyrics of the smallest movements. The slowest thing, the glass of whiskey, the rustle of leaves. Beauty in the heart of sadness.

Lambchop: The Decline Of Country And Western Civilization (mp3)

Part 3 tomorrow, numbers 3-5.

Insert clever comment here.

Fire On The Mountain

Hope all y'all had a nice holiday.

'Spect it's time for the Big Rock Candy Mountain best of list for 2006. I guess best of isn't necessarily the right word for it. As I've read through the various publications who do the whole "best of" thing, I find the majority of what is deemed important or best holds little appeal to me. I'm probably not alone in that. Things have become so niche-oriented that it's difficult to fully take in the broad spectrum of music that's out there. Look at all the music blogs that specialize, this one included. We've been so overwhelmed by genre that a common, shared voice is difficult to pinpoint. I'm not sure we could produce another Elvis, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Nirvana, or Eminem again. Artists who, for one reason or another, transcend their genre, who reach across imaginary market share lines. I could be wrong.

This is the year that one of the most perfect songs ever written, "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, has been co-opted to hawk a business that I will not patronize. Parliament is hawking some kind of SUV thingy.

I've purchased somewhere around 100-150 albums this year. The majority of them were not released in 2006. That probably makes me sound a bit the fogey. I'm too young to start sounding like my parents, right? There's great music being made every year, and I'm not keen on sacred cows or status quo's. I see no reason Yo La Tengo, f'rinstance, shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as the Beatles. Music didn't begin and end with John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I find myself more and more drawn to strange little compilations from no-name or overseas labels featuring a bunch of never-remembered hillbilly honky-tonkers, blues jumpers, trashcan bangers, and whatnot. There's gold in them there hills. Important? Maybe not. There's a reason some folks never made it down the mountain, tablet in hands. But, you know, it's what I like.

Which is why this is not a Best Of list. There's no context to judge Best. No remove. Get back to me in 10 years when we see if we're still listening, when we see if there's influence.

So this is part 1 my list of favorite albums of the year, plus some other odds and ends sprinkled in over the next four days. They're albums I listened to the most, or think I'll appreciate for years to come. Maybe you will too. Or not.

Favorite Box Sets

1. Rockin' Bones : 50's Punk and Rockabilly (Rhino): The motherlode of trash. Sure, there's a couple thousand songs left off, but it's tough to argue with the songs included. Great as a primer, or as a nifty little all-in-one package for those of us who have these songs spread out over 101 other compilation cd's or records. This is the kind of music the Mountain's all about.

2: Waylon Jennings: Nashville Rebel (Sony/BMG): Good gravy! We got your Outlaw Country right here. Ol' Waylon had some schmatlz in 'im, and some of that is included on this career-spanning set. But all the classic honky-tonk goodness is here, from the personification of the Outlaw movement. I'm pretty sure Hank would have done it this way.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 Albums, Part 1

10. Cast King: Saw Mill Man

I'm cheating already. This album was released in 2005. But I didn't get it 'til this year. Seems likely this would have finished higher on last year's list, but I figger it's not fair to the albums that came out this year. Or something. Cast King, 79 and recording his first proper album, makes mountain music, lonely and faded, burnt and dirty, creaking and caked by mud. For a more in depth look into how great I think this record and Cast King are, you can check out what I wrote 11 months ago. It's a perfect record, the way god intended: A man, a guitar, a back porch, a mountain.

Cast King: Wino (mp3)

9. Gob Iron: Death Songs For The Living

I was fully prepared to dislike this album. Gob Iron is Jay Farrar of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt and Anders Parker of Varnaline. Ostensibly a collection of Farrar and Parker's take on traditional folk songs with musical interludes, it could easily have been a tossed-off, ego-driven affair, on it's way to the bargain bin of history. What it turned out to be, though, was a bit of a revelation. Farrar has the kind of voice made for the dusty corners of America, and he puts it to good use, with Parker's cracked voice serving as counterpoint. With respect to the originals, the two men forge a new modern traditionalism. The spirit of the old with a new weariness of time infused. A creaking, desperate affair.

Gob Iron: Death's Black Train Is Coming (mp3)

Stop back tomorrow for Part 2, and a list of runners-up. Thanks.

The Godfather

Damn.

James Brown 1933-2006.

There are no words. Just music.

James Brown: Super Bad Parts 1 & 2 (mp3)

I Built My Dreams Around You

Well.

Here we are on the final day of the Holiday extravaganza. Thanks for stopping by. Regular posts will resume shortly. Hope you can make it back for those. My Best Of lists start next Tuesday.

On to the tunes, and no surprises today. It's the same damn song every year.

My favorite Christmas song, and I'd argue one of the best ever written, is "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues . On it, Shane MacGowan has his finest moment, both as a writer sweet and sour, and as a singer, slurring and blurring the lines between the drunken joy and sunken despair of the Season. The gutter angel voice of Kirsty MacColl, accusing and cajoling, gives Shane the perfect foil. It's an immigrant song, filled with the broken dreams of brave new worlds and the willful, joyful abandon that desperation brings. And in the end, it's a song about hope.

Shane MacGowan turns 49 this Christmas day.

As a bonus we've got our good pal Tom Waits giving his take on a Christmas chestnut. It's....strange. Even by his standards. Back up singers?

Enjoy. Have a good Holiday. Or at least a good day off, if you get one. See you next week.

The Pogues: Fairytale of New York (mp3)

Tom Waits: Silent Night (mp3)

You've spent enough money this year.

Santa's Got A Mixed Bag

The best radio station in the country, WFMU, has a blog. And on that blog they mentioned this here little corner of the world as a place to check out for Holiday music. I am both honored and humbled. The individual writing the entry singled out Jimmy Butler's "Trim Your Tree" as their favorite. As I had just deleted the song for exceeding the one week limit, I think it's only fair to re post the song:

Jimmy Butler: Trim Your Tree (mp3)

Now for a hodge podge of stuff I didn't mange to fit elsewhere this month. There's one more Holiday post tomorrow, but if you've visited here for any length of time, you can probably guess what tunes are going up on Friday. I've got a ton more stuff, but y'all are just going to have to wait 'til next year.

And don't forget to stop back on Tuesday for the four- part, world-famous Big Rock Candy Mountain Best of 2006 extravaganza. Yippee.

Jim Lauderdale is one of the best songwriters working in Country and Americana today. His whiskey-tinged vocals serve well in contrast to folks like Ralph Stanley, who he's recorded Bluegrass albums with, and on it's own on keenly observed slice of life songs.

Sonny Boy Williamson (II) kicked some nasty Mississippi blues harmonica, with a gritty, worn voice to match. He's a favorite here at the Mountain.

Can you surf in a garage? The Trashmen found a way to make you feel like you could, here begging Santa Claus to aid and abet in their teenage lust.

And finally, Jump Blues bandleader extraordinaire Jimmy Liggins knows what we all really want for the Holidays.

Jim Lauderdale: Holly And Her Mistletoe (mp3)

Sonny Boy Williamson: Santa Claus (mp3)

The Trashmen: Real Live Doll (Alternate Take)(mp3)

Jimmy Liggins and His Drops of Joy: I Want My Baby For Christmas (mp3)

Thanks for supporting your local, independent record stores this Holiday season.