Thee Atomic Jesus

Oh my!

We said we'd have a legend coming up, and sure enough, we do.

Thee Legendary Asthmatic Avenger is, well, a little special. Is he Country? Is he Trash? Is he a genius? Is he mildly...differently-abled? We think he's all of the above. With an emphasis on "Country genius". For context, we feel compelled to quote a bit from his bio on his website (sic, of course):

"Among the big upholders of the law of this world, one finds Superman, the Pope, Batman, or still Wonder Woman to quote only those there. Lowering batard of this family of more or less masked avengers, the MYSTERIOUS ASTHMATIC AVENGER has for mission to save the world of the moral order, the Cartesianism and the precarious and mental balance which characterizes the human race.
Endowed well on great unlimited powers, it is with the devilish precision, that he massacres and simplifies for you the big classical authors of Rock n Roll, making them so accessible to all. Masked, wearing an antigravity cap, armed with his marvelous Haze, the enchanted guitar, Mysterious asthmatic avenger composes also makes the crowds jodel ! His idols are Hasil Adkins, Jack Starr, and Franzel Lang.
So the avenging minstrell goes away on roads and meets on a night of thunderstorm ZARGHLA, the god made from French stinking cheese. It is only while Mysterious becomes the first apostle of the Big Milky, and will go to preach the good, serving disorder causes him of this new religion: the ZARGHLISME. Primitive rites used in the celebration of this cult associate among others trow of sausages Knacky (or of Strasbourg and possibly Frankfort), Tyrolean yodel, and cheese immolation.
When Mysterious Asthmatic Avenger sings Zarghla's praises, accompanied by him every only one in the guitar, the cymbal and the rhythmic suitcase, the country-folk-psychiatric music flies away in the limits of the hard-gore accoustic musical experiments, for the biggest happiness of the heavenly Camembert which looks at him of height..."

What more do you need to know? Who is this mysterious Masked Man? Is he really the god-like Reverend/Lightning Beat-Man? Is he someone else entirely, a man on a trailer trash mission from the yee-haw Country gods of scunge mountain garbage? From another continent? Maybe. Does he meet every requirement we, the Immortal Mountain, ask of the rock and the roll?

Perhaps this record was recorded in a bucket, with a hole in it. Perhaps in some junkyard with the ghosts of Hasil Adkins, Jimmie Skinner, and Jimmie Rodgers (it's the yodel, kids) banging on pots and pans and nodding vocal approval over the proceedings. A mountain heart with a garbage collector's soul.

The following atomic powered songs of Jesus and the end of the world are taken from the essential record "My Mother Killed Rock and Roll (in 1979)", committed to acetate with the help of Voodoo Rhythm Records very own Thee Watzloves and special guest Hortense "Pneumonia" Blutchinson.

This may be the most essential thing you'll hear all year! Hyperbole intact!

A stompin', hillbilly, revival meetin' good time! Ripped from glorious 10" Vinyl!!


Thee Mysterious Asthmatic Avenger: Atomic Power (mp3)

Thee Mysterious Asthmatic Avenger: Rock and Roll Killed My Mother (mp3)

Thee Mysterious Asthmatic Avenger: My Name Is Jesus (mp3)

Thee Mysterious Asthmatic Avenger: Jesus Walking (mp3)

Please support your local, independent masked marvels.

Country Sunshine

Stay tuned for a very important poll and announcement. Really. No kidding. You know, when I get around to it. In glacial Big Rock Candy Mountain Time.

Now.

Dottie West is one of those strange Country conundrums. Most of her work was, frankly, comprised of, and compromised by, bad Countrypolitan production, a victim of the times (Her heyday was the late 60's through the 70's) more than her talent. She possessed a sultry, almost smoky, honky tonk voice, rough around the edges with a knowing nod, and posterity can only dream of what it would sound like backed by a proper mountain music, hardwood scootin' yeehaw band. As it is, though, one can find some fantastic nuggets in her catalog.

West's career began with plenty of promise. With close friendships with the likes of Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and, especially, Patsy Cline, West was certainly exposed to the cream of the crop in Country vocalists and composers. You can hear their influence on her even through the syrupy instrumentation of her later years. Hooking up with Chet Atkins at the boards, West released a slew of classic-sounding records focusing on more traditional, but ballad-heavy, fare including the hits "Paper Mansions" and "Would You Hold It Against Me". Those records dipped into the cheese, as it were, but still retained a traditional feel. She was eventually welcomed into to the Grand Ol' Opry's family of performers.

Then came a popular soft drink company, which signed West on as a jingle writer, of all things, for it's commercials, based largely on the success of her song "Country Girl". This contract led eventually to the smash single (and arguably one of West's best songs, believe it or not) "Country Sunshine". What followed was a strange career path, low-lighted by financial and marital troubles, a session with Oui Magazine, and declining musical credibility as a solo artist (though not according to the charts...Country was moving into it's "bad" period).

Oddly, during this time, West shined as a duet partner, recording some killer singles with the likes of Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, and, yes, Kenny Rogers. The mid-to-late 80's were not particularly kind to West.

West died in a car accident in 1991.

Perhaps one of the most important aspect of West's career was her ability early on in her career, in an era dominated by men, where female Country artists were compelled to follow male dictates and "opinionated" women were looked down upon, to do things the way she wanted. Like Dolly Parton, she took no shit, made the records she wanted, and resolutely rejected, until her unfortunate turn in the 80's towards men's magazine photo shoots, the generic over-sexualization of her image. (To be fair, Parton was sexualized, but it was her own choice, and demands an extended look that we're not prepared, at this point, to go into). The later disappointments in her music choices suggest that she may have been more willing toward compromise.

And her voice...good gravy, a hell of voice. Did we mention that already?


"Country Sunshine", despite having it's origins as a commercial, is one of our favorite songs. Remove the aspect of selling product, and you get a sweet, sweet evocation of a lost era where Country music could convey a lifestyle less redneck and more innocent. "Delta Dawn", with it's heavenly Country Gospel chorus does Bobbie Gentry one better in Southern circumstance. "Reno", could easily be viewed as a woman's response to Mary Robbin's burnt desert classic "El Paso". I challenge anyone, and I mean anyone, who can't can't resist the urge to grab that special someone and dance along to "Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight", Kenny Rogers be damned. "Last Time I Saw Him" (with killer, last-road-trip banjo and fiddle) has one of West's best vocals. With "I'm Your Country Girl" you can fall in love with girl in the gingham dress. And, finally, who can't help but raise a toast to West's take on Mountain fave rave "Night Life".



Dottie West: Country Sunshine (mp3)

Dottie West: Delta Dawn (Ripped from vinyl)(mp3)

Dottie West: Reno (mp3)

Dottie West w/Kenny Rogers(!): Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight (mp3)

Dottie West: Last Time I Saw Him (mp3)

Dottie West: I'm Your Country Girl(Ripped from Vinyl)(mp3)

Dottie West: Night Life (mp3)

Please consider your local, independent record store for all your cosmopolitan recordings.

Good Gravy!!!!

Oh my golly gee, where have we been the last month? Oh, hell. How reliable are we, anyway? We've been busy with seeing Tom Waits (godhead, of course) and attending the Pitchfork Festival (Where King Khan owned the world, and Times New Viking kicked said world's ass in less than a half an hour). We'll visit those folks later.

But.

So, for your weekend enjoyment, and not a holding pattern whatsoever,really, we present....The Greatest Song Ever Written (in 7 Parts).



Little Feat: Willin' (mp3)

or

Alison Krauss and Union Station: Everytime You Say Goodbye (mp3)

or

Legendary Stardust Cowboy: Paralyzed (mp3)

or

Louis Armstrong: Skokiaan (mp3)

or

Replacements: Can't Hardly Wait (mp3)

or

Wreckless Eric: Whole Wide World (mp3)

or

Marty Robbins: El Paso (mp3)

Nah, who am I kidding, there's no such a thing as a greatest song ever (I mean, hell, where's "Rex's Blues", really?). I'm just pulling your leg. Shoot, we've changed out mind the minute we posted this (with the exception of "Willin'", but we've got a Little Feat post coming up where we'll defend out position). Just wanted to see if anyone was still out there. And, well, we do really, really like the above songs. And you should too.

See you soon, with an obituary, a Dottie, the son of a famous author, a Legend, variations on a theme, some mixes, and a special announcement/request. Mmmm hmmm.

Keep on rockin' in the free world, kiddies.

Callin' In Dead

Made it back, barely, from Lincoln, Nebraska. Gettin' through/around Iowa was a bit of a challenge (train back was canceled, had to rent a car eventually). But the inconvenience of going an extra 250 miles or so out of our way was minor considering all the folks who lost their homes and livelihoods. It's all about perspective.

So we survived the trip, The National Museum of Roller Skating, The 2008 Testicle Festival, and drunken karaoke with my brother-in-law. Good times.

The highlight of the trip, though, was the stack of vinyl rekkids we picked up at some of Lincoln's fine record stores, particularly the treasure trove that is Recycled Sounds. If you're ever in Lincoln, we highly recommend checking it out.

One of our best finds was a nifty little 45 on Rudyland Records by "Country Music's Original Outlaw", Mazey Gardens.

I've taken the liberty of extracting some of the more salient bits of his obituary from his website:

"Mazey Gardens, whose brash songs and rebellious hair styles defined the "outlaw" movement in country music, died yesterday after a long battle with booze...He was 68. Gardens' spokeswoman, Staci Peachtree, said Gardens died "pissed off" at his home in Big Mushroom, Virginia.

Gardens, a singer, songwriter and original member of radio station WKOZ's psychedelic traveling show "The Electric Hayride," recorded over 22 albums, none of which ever entered the charts, with the exception of his ballad, "Don’t Invite Me to Your Pity Party," which was covered in the early 80s by punk band Six and a Half Seconds resulting in a stint at number 100 for a split second... With childhood pal Samuel L. Justice, Woodsy Marbles and the Mexican drumming sensation "Porkchop," Gardens formed The Brick Hit House Band and sang red-neck inspired blue-collar anthems such as "Callin’ in Dead," "Business in the Front and Party in the Back" and "Look Ma, No Class."

Gardens seemed to be always ahead of his time, however, and it was contemporaries, like Waylon Jennings, who profited most from the new brand of outlaw music, and Willie Nelson, who instead became synonymous with silly hair styles.

Gardens' distinctive, authoritative voice was also utilized by the 1980s Easy-Oven Sausage corporation (now Turkey Bacon Bakers) to narrate a series of "breakfast meat" radio spots. "I aimed the narration at people who were hung over," he revealed in a 1987 interview, "and it worked."

Gardens and his fourth wife, Crystal Lake, married in 1980. They had one son, Jigger."

The song, "Callin' In Dead", is Country the way the good lord intended. A hand-clappin' hoedown, replete with trailer park girl backing vocals, and a celebration of inebriation, and the morning after. This record should be on every honky-tonk and truck stop jukebox across this great land.

Ripped from glorious snap, crackle, and poppy 7" vinyl (so, you know, you kind of have to let the sound quality just be what it is-we couldn't be bothered to mess with the integrity of the song by "cleaning it up"), please enjoy the fine Outlaw Country spirit of Mr. Mazey Gardens and The Brick Hit House Band.


Mazey Gardens: Callin' In Dead (mp3)

Mazey Gardens: Callin' In Dead (Instrumental) (mp3)

Ermmm...Whatever you're thinking about the above post, you're probably right.

Train I Ride

Well. Got a super keen mix for all y'all today.

We're off for a swell vacation this weekend, and through next week. You won't even notice we're gone, I 'spect. Off to the great city of Lincoln, Nebraska for valuable in-law time.

And we're takin' the train to get there. The venerable and vulnerable Amtrak, no less, due to Mrs. Mountain's aversion to modes of transportation more airborne. That's ok, though, cuz we think trains are real swell.

There's a romance to trains that is disappearing from the American landscape (in Europe, we're told, the train is still a viable and useful means of transportation). In many ways, the train is our last connection to the "go west young man" mentality, the covered wagon having gone the way of, well, the covered wagon. American folklore is filled with the mythology of the train, its conductors and engineers, the hobos, and the railyard bulls who chased them. When I think of trains I think of Charlie Chaplin in The Great Train Robbery. I think of Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North By Northwest. James T. West and Artemus Gordon in The Wild Wild West. Boxcar Willie and Harry McClintock. "Midnight Special" and "Mystery Train". The whistle and distant clack, approaching then fading.

The train song holds a special place in the Big Rock Candy Mountain pantheon (just under the Truckin' Song, naturally).

Please, then, enjoy the following train mix, made especially...for you. See ya in a week or so.

As always, mp3 of the mix follows the track listing.

Choo choo ch'boogie.


Big Rock Candy Railroad Depot

1. I've Got A Thing About Trains (Johnny Cash)
2. The Golden Rocket (Hank Snow)
3. Mystery Train (Junior Parker)
4. Mean Ol' Train (Papa Lightfoot)
5. Lonesome Train (Johnny Burnette)
6. Black Diamond Express Train To Hell Part 1 (John Schooley)
7. Railroad Lady (Lefty Frizzell)
8. Waitin' For A Train (Merle Haggard)
9. Calling Trains (Clothesline Revival)
10. Roll Roll Train (Hasil Adkins)
11. This Train (Elder Samuel Patterson)
12. Rock Island Line (Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee)
13. Big Freight Train Carry Me Home (Boxcar Willie)
14. Engine Engine Number Nine (Roger Miller)
15. Train Whistle Nightmare (Joe "Cannonball" Lewis)
16. Ride That Train (Oblivians with Mr. Quintron)
17. Train Song (Split Lip Rayfield)
18. Midnight Special (Leadbelly)
19. Night Train To Memphis (Bobby Hebb)
20. High-Ballin' Daddy (Ann Jones)
21. Railroad Tracks (Juke Boy Bonner)
22. Slow Train (Staple Singers)
23. Railroad Bum (Jim Reeves)
24. Hobo Blues (Doctor Ross)
25. Daddy Was A Hobo (Skinny McGhee)
26. Special Stream Line (Bukka White)
27. Smokestack Lightning (Howlin' Wolf)
28. Night Train (James Brown)
29. Railroad (Lee Hazlewood)
30. Slow Train Through Georgia (Norman Blake)
31. Morning Train (Rev. Charlie Jackson)
32. Hallelujah I'm A Bum (Harry McClintock)

Big Rock Candy Mountain Railroad Depot (mp3)

Please support your local hobo.

Let Me Ride

Yup, we here at the Mountain will be taking a little trip to our old college stomping grounds in Columbus, Ohio at the end of June for a little concert by Mr. Tom Waits. Yup, we managed to score tickets, so no whining on this end. 'Course this'll be our third time seeing the man in the last 10 years. Is there no length we'll go to for Mr. Waits? We think not. We're a little special that way. Anybody in/going to Columbus?

Anyhow, today we're gonna take a little trip down Delta way.

Little Axe is, essentially, a feller you might have heard about what goes by the name of Skip McDonald. If that name doesn't ring any bells, McDonald has been, and in some cases continues to be, a member of Tackhead and the On U Sound collective with Adrian Sherwood. Oh, and he also figured as a house musician in the Sugar Hill Records label, playing on such platters as "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash.

A pretty heady resume, sure, but what does that have to do with this little site?

Before y'all go wanderin' elsewhere, let me say that Mr. McDonald has got quite a bit of the Mississippi Blues inside of him, and as Little Axe, he takes us straight to the jukejoints, revival meetings, back porches, bbq's, and plowed acres of the deep South.

It's hypnotic, old-as-the-Mississippi hills music, with dub rhythms slinking about like sweaty, dirt-floor dancers, samples of preachers and vagrant farmers fading in and out with a heavenly southern gospel choir. Charred t-bone bass and deep rusted guitar drone ground the proceedings in the river-washed dirt, while McDonald's voice, and those of his guest vocalists, swirl around, stained but triumphant, vice and god meeting at the crossroads.

"Let Me Ride", in particular, is a culmination of McDonald's aesthetic. A perfect 3-minute slice of glory that'll swirl through your head like a dream, pushing you to the end of days.

The following songs were taken from the albums "Stone Cold Ohio", "Hard Grind", and "Champagne and Grits".

Little Axe: Let Me Ride (mp3)

Little Axe: Pray (mp3)

Little Axe: Tight Like That (mp3)

Little Axe: All In The Same Boat (mp3)

Little Axe: All Night Party (mp3)

Please support your local, independent rekkid stores. Buy vinyl if at all possible.

American Hearts

Barstool Mountain is back up and running, with two posts already this week! Check it out, my friends.

We're a couple of hours away from Tom Waits tickets going on sale. Wish us luck. If we fail to procure our tix, you're gonna have to put with a bit of whining and begging in our next post (whenever that is).

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to tug on yr coat a bit about another new record that we think is pretty darn swell. I know it's unusual for us to cover newer records in any extended capacity, and we'll return you to yr regularly scheduled "old-timey" stuff shortly. But with the positive reaction we got from the Hayes Carll post recently, we figgered y'all might be able to tolerate another new feller we think is pretty keen.

A.A. Bondy used to be in a grungy kinda band call Verbena which, frankly I never had much use for. So, imagine my surprise when I picked up Bondy's solo record, "American Hearts" and found a classic back porch record that reminds me, eerily, of Townes Van Zandt's early records.

The first thing you notice about the record is its intimacy. The recording is barely, production-wise, a step above Palace's "Days In The Wake", and you keep expecting to hear a passing car or crickets in the background. That's a good thing. Sure, it's filled with snare, piano/organ, and pedal steel, but done in such an understated way as to render the proceedings close. You are there, sitting on the steps to the porch, lit by fireflies, watching with wonder. It's an album rooted in an older, forgotten time.

Bondy's voice has a weariness, a whiskey and nicotine timbre, that pulls you in, invites you to stay the night and dance the slow waltz of the moonlight.

"There's A Reason" is a moment of pure beauty and loss...beauty in the heart of sadness. A lament of of hope and remembrance, a sepia-toned ode to the beating of the heart, a valedictory on the space between the possible and the dreamt.

Another "must-have" album this year, so far as we at the Mountain are concerned. Have I ever led you astray?

Enjoy. Mp3 files at the bottom.

And I gave my hand to the Fates
And they took me around
They showed me the Seven Wonders
The sights and the sounds

There was a man with cinders for eyes
There was a girl with a dress made of flies
And there's a reason
There's a reason

And it's love that's tearing them down
And it's love that turns them around
Say it is so

And the barroom is filled with the joy
Of making old friends
And jukebox girls trip the light
They wiggle and they bend

Blind Joe, he's feeling no pain
Sweet Georgia, she dreams of the rain
And there's a reason
There's a reason

And it's love that's tearing them down
And it's love that will turn them around
Say it is so

When the moon follows you where you go
And you cannot hide
And when voices of doom ring your ears
And horsemen do ride

May tomorrow the land be anew
May every bird sing unto you
That's the reason
That's the reason

That the love that's tearing you down
Is the love that will turn you around
That the love that's tearing you down
Is the love that will turn you around

Say it is so

A.A. Bondy: There's A Reason (mp3)

A.A. Bondy: Vice Rag (mp3)

A.A. Bondy: Rapture (Sweet Rapture) (mp3)

Please support your local, independent record stores. Fuck the Big Box stores.

Trouble In Mind

Tom Waits is touring!!!

Actual post about one of favorite records of the year to follow the following rant.

But first, we're gonna start off today's post with a word of caution...which will lead, roundabout, into today's musical guest.

'Spect some of y'all have heard the long-simmering news that formerly interesting actress Scarlett Johansson was making an album of Tom Waits songs. Yep, hard to believe, I know. Well, the album is scheduled to drop next month. And lucky for us, they've begun streaming a few of the tunes 'round about the Internet (do a Google search, I'm not going to link it here). And the full album has leaked and fallen into the hands of this here intrepid blogger-person. We listened to it so you don't have to. Seriously.

Ms. Johansson's record, which I believe is called "Anywhere I Lay My Head", is one the vilest steaming piles of horseshit we have ever heard. Granted, covering Mr. Waits has to be a difficult chore for even the most gifted of musicians. Some have failed miserably (The Eagles, Rod Stewart, Norah Jones, and Diana Krall leap to mind immediately as artists who have stripped his music of any soul). Some have actually taken Waits' songs and made then transcendent (Springsteen can claim, fairly, "Jersey Girl" as his own and The Ramones did very well by grabbing "I Don't Want To Grow Up" and transforming it into a 3-chord punk wonder). But what Johansson does to the Waits library is beyond the pale. Imagine, if you will, the lead "singer" of The Shaggs running headlong into Nico at her most smacked-up, and then imagine something worse. Johansson has about a 1-2 note range and "sings" precisely on the beat. The musical backing is the equivalent of Yani's band meeting up with some teenage goth group. David Bowie shows up a few times on backing vocals and adds nothing but more misery to the proceedings (Tin Machine, anyone?). Pick on Waits all you want about his vocal stylings, but you'd have to admit the man adds an emotional and soulful complexity to his delivery, with an ear for sound that outstrips the casual commercial act looking to score a pop hit. Ms. Johansson and her collaborators possess none of these qualities. One would be hard-pressed to find anything remotely approaching musicianship or interpretive skill whatsoever on this forthcoming "tribute" album. The biggest sin of the record, to be honest, is that it is bland. Horribly, indescribably...bland. And considering the subject being covered, that may be the worst sin of all.


And, seriously, I don't know who the audience for this is. Even if you're not a Tom Waits fan, this is not a good record. I can't imagine the TRL crowd suddenly being converted. Can you imagine a 14-year old Justin Timberlake fan going out and picking up a Waits album based on this? The results would be hilarious to witness. And Waits fans would...well...look at my reaction. Worst album, not of the year, but of the decade. Do not buy this. You've been warned. Vile tripe.

End of Rant.

Now then, I feel bad for Hayes Carll for having to follow that rant. Cuz Carll has released one of the best albums of the year, and I'm calling it early. Oh, and he covers a Tom Waits song. Correctly.

On his record "Trouble In Mind", Carll has dropped the best modern Country album we've heard since James Hand's "The Truth Will Set You Free". Yep.

Carll's voice is the even ground between early Steve Earle nasality and James McMurtry's desert-scorched ramble, drunkenly close to alt-country affectation, but he's a Texas boy, so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. There's something in the water in Texas (oil?) that produces brilliant songwriters with a back-porch pick and an everyman drawl. Carll is the next in line.

The first thing you notice about Carll's songs on "Trouble In Mind" is their sense of place...the wide open spaces claustrophobied into those little towns you see on exit ramp signs. The places you'd never go, but someone comes from, with escape in mind. And heading for...the next exit ramp, maybe. Drunk and disorderly, with lost love in mind and fingers clutching the stick shift on a truck that aint been paid for yet. As a matter of fact, their whole lives are shot through with IOU's, desperate for the payoff at the end of the day, or the break of morning.

Carll delivers these Carver-esque slices through a Western veneer of fiddle, pedal steel, and grit, the long drive to the roadhouse carried bleary-eyed by the promise of a cold one, a hoedown, and a honky tonk woman.

The reason the Tom Waits cover ("I Don't Want To Grow Up", linked below) works so well in Carll's hands it that he transforms the song. Putting his own spin on the tune, Carll turns it into a hoedown, a defiant two-stepper, a smart spin on Waits' original rave-up, but infusing it with a lonesome defiance amidst the stomping boots. Well done, and a smart contrast to the soulless fare we've been inundated with in recent years.

"Trouble In Mind" is an early front runner in the contest for The Mountain's Best Album of the Year. It receives our highest accolades, and is highly recommended for all regular readers 'round these parts.

Hayes Carll: Beaumont (mp3)

Hayes Carll: Drunken Poet's Dream (mp3)

Hayes Carll: I Don't Want To Grow Up (mp3)

Record players are better than CD players. It's the way the good lord intended. Just sayin'.

Dick's Curlies

Just out of curiosity, do y'all prefer shorter, pithier posts that get you right to the mp3's, or does anyone out there actually read longer posts? Just tryin' to figger out if I'm wasting time agonizing over every sentence, resulting in longer spaces between posts, or if I should just throw out quickies with the resultant tunes attached, minus any real context as to why anyone should care about the featured artist. Not trying to be facile, just trying to judge the current state of Internet attention span in an increasingly attention deficit disorder accelerated culture world.

Let's try pithy(ish) today. And truck our blues away.

Man, nothing can set a Country boy's heart aflutter more than a man with an eye patch. Erm...I mean in a completely manly, pickup drivin', freight haulin' kind of way, of course. Please don't tell Mrs. Mountain.

Known variously as "The Rice Paddy Ranger", "The Baron", and "The Tumbleweed Kid", we prefer to refer to Dick Curless (he of the aforementioned eye patch) as one of the "Grand Dukes of The Truck Driving Song". Perhaps not as well known as Messrs. Dudley and Simpson, Curless cut a wide swath through the highways and byways of this great land, chronicling the lives and loves of the roadside jukebox Lothario, the long hauler, and the freight train boogie bopper.

A deep, rumbling, baritone semi-truck of a honky-tonker (hard honky tonk, that is) Curless could hold his own with any CB jockey out there, all boom chicka boom and pedal (steel) to the floor. And he could hold his own in any gul-durned tavern in town, too (see "Loser's Cocktail", which will be covered more in depth over at the Barstool Mountain at some point).

Dick Curless is Big Rock Candy Mountain Approved! One of our fave raves, no less!

Truck It!

Dick Curless: Drag 'Em Off The Interstate, Sock It To 'Em J.P. Blues (mp3)

Dick Curless: A Tombstone Every Mile (mp3)

Dick Curless: Hard Hard Traveling Man (mp3)

Dick Curless: Chick Inspector (That's Where My Money Goes) (mp3)

Dick Curless: Jukebox Man (mp3)

Dick Curless: Loser's Cocktail (mp3)

Please support your local, independent jukebox manufacturers and diesel mechanics.

Slainte

Hello.

Nothing to see here today. Just wanted to draw your attention to our sister site, Barstool Mountain, for our St. Patrick's Day Celebration. It's well worth your time. I promise.

See you in a couple of days back at this spot for a little bit of Dick's Curlies.

Now, off to the pub. Enjoy the day.