Tag Archives: Buck-Owens

Buck Owens’ A Merry ‘Hee Haw’ To Be Released

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Buck Owens’ A Merry ‘Hee Haw’IT’S A BAKERSFIELD KIND OF CHRISTMAS AT OMNIVORE
Buck Owens’ A Merry ‘Hee Haw’ Christmas due in stores November 13.

Many of us are flat-out done with 2020 and are ready to turn the page on the hole damn year. Now there’s a something to make the upcoming holidays a little bit more wonderful.

The fine folks Omnivore Recordings will release Buck Owens’ A Merry ‘Hee Haw’ Christmas (out on November 13, 2020). The original title, released in 1970, combined Owens’ two Christmas albums for Capitol (Christmas With Buck Owens and His Buckaroos and Christmas Shopping) as one package. Now, in its CD and digital debut, A Merry ‘Hee Haw’ Christmas is augmented by four bonus tracks: “All I Want for Christmas Is My Daddy,” “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy (Daddy Looked a Lot Like Him),” and two Toys for Tots public service announcements originally issued on a 1972 Capitol promotional single.

Buck Owens was born Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. in in Sherman, Texas on August 12, 1929. He was one of the pioneers of the Bakersfield country sound, along with Merle Haggard, Susan Raye and Jean Shepard, and arguably its most consistent hit-maker. Owens co-hosted the prime-time comedy variety show Hee Haw with Roy Clark. The inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame operated Bakersfield’s Crystal Palace music venue, which continues to present live country music long after his passing on March 25, 2006.

Buck Owens and His Buckaroos popularity in 1960s made them a natural for the lucrative Christmas music market. Buck and his band recorded two classic Christmas albums for Capitol: First Christmas With Buck Owens and His Buckaroos in 1965, and Christmas Shopping in 1968. Not only did both albums make the Billboard Christmas Album Chart (Christmas With charted multiple times — #12 in 1965, and #23 in both 1966 and 1967, and #31 for Christmas Shopping), but they both threw off charting singles as well. “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy (Daddy Looked a Lot Like Him),” drawn from Christmas With, proved to be so popular a holiday favorite it charted twice, hitting #2 in 1965 and two years later, in December ’67, revisiting the charts and making it to #18. In 1968, it was the title track of the second classic Christmas offering, Christmas Shopping, which made it to #5.

Going back to the holiday well in 1970, Capitol cashed in again with a double LP distillation of the two albums called A Merry ‘Hee Haw’ Christmas, which would chart at #34. For that compilation, two songs were omitted, one from each original album, and they’ve been reinstated for Omnivore’s reissue. “All I Want For Christmas Is My Daddy” was left off the Christmas Shopping disc, while “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy (Daddy Looked a Lot Like Him)” was lost from the Christmas With album — a curious omission since it was the most successful Christmas single ever offered by Buck.

Grammy®-Nominated- and Award-winning producers Patrick Milligan and Cheryl Pawelski produced the CD with Estate approval. Newly remastered from the original analog master tapes by Grammy®Award-winning engineer Michael Graves, these holiday favorites sparkle and shine like never before.

When a pre-release source becomes available we’ll update this post with a link.

A Merry ‘Hee Haw’ Christmas track listing
1. Christmas Shopping
2. Christmas Time Is Near
3. The Jolly Christmas Polka
4. All I Want For Christmas Is My Daddy
5. Merry Christmas From Our House To Yours
6. Good Old Fashioned Country Christmas
7. One Of Everything You Got
8. Home On Christmas Day
9. Christmas Schottische
10. A Very Merry Christmas
11. It’s Not What You Give
12. Tomorrow Is Christmas Day
13. Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy (Daddy Looked A Lot Like Him)
14. Blue Christmas Lights
15. Christmas Ain’t Christmas
16. Jingle Bells
17. All I Want For Christmas Dear Is You
18. Santa’s Gonna Come In A Stagecoach
19. Christmas Time’s A Comin’
20. Blue Christmas Tree
21. Here Comes Santa Claus Again
22. Christmas Morning
23. It’s Christmas Time For Everyone But Me
24. Because It’s Christmas Time
25. Toys For Tots (Version 1) [Bonus Track]
26. Toys For (Version 2) [Bonus Track]

Wanted! – Notable Americana and Roots Music Releases for 2020

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2019 turned out to be another excellent year for Americana and roots music. Releases from John Paul White, Buddy and Julie Miller, Chuck Mead, Tanya Tucker, and many others were cause for celebration for the music we love. Roots radio continues to gain listeners and mainstream country radio continues to, occasionally, remember its roots and reflect the shift in tastes of a growing fan base.

But radio is just part of the story. We listened to this timeless music through the format du jour, streaming services. Spotify has several internally curated playlists for Americana and roots music ( The Pulse of Americana, Roots Rising,
Fresh Folk ) as well as my own semi-weekly playlist ‘Twang Nation Friday New Tunes Hayride Then there’s the vinyl boom which roots music artists and fans played a significant part.

2020 starts off right with releases from Gill Landry, Terry Allen, Maria McKee, Della Mae and Pinegrove with releases from John Moreland, The Lone Bellow, The Cadillac Three, and Aubrie Sellers releasing in February. Then there are yet-to-be-announced release dates for James McMurtry and others. Bookmark and check back to this list as we will update those dates and add other releases as we learn more.

Also if you know of a release not on the list feel free to add it below.

Thanks for keeping up with Twang Nation and happy 2020!

January
Jan. 10: Paul Kelly – Songs From the South 1985-2019
Jan. 10: Aerialists – “Dear Sienna”
Jan. 13: Maria McKee – ‘La Vita Nuova’
Jan. 13: Left Arm Tan – self-titled
Jan. 15: David Dondero – ‘The Filter Bubble Blues’
Jan. 17: Eleven Hundred Springs – ‘Here ‘Tis’
Jan. 17: Marcus King – ‘El Dorado’
Jan. 17: Marshall Crenshaw – ‘Miracle of Science’
Jan. 17: Pinegrove – ‘Marigold’
Jan. 17: The Innocence Mission – ‘see you tomorrow’
Jan. 17: Della Mae – ‘Headlight’
Jan. 17: Torgeir Waldemar – ‘Love’
Jan. 17: Fruition – ‘Broken at the Break of Day’
Jan. 17: Bill Fay – “Countless Branches”
Jan. 17: Dwight Yoakam – Blame The Vain (Vinyl Reissue)
Jan. 17: Buck Owens – ‘The Capitol Singles & Albums 1957-62’
Jan. 17: Buck Owens & Susan Raye / Very Best Of (Vinyl)
Jan.22: Vance Gilbert – ‘Good Good Man’
Jan.22: Gill Landry – ‘Love Rides A Dark Horse’
Jan 24: Terry Allen and the Panhandle Mystery Band – ‘Just Like Moby Dick’
Jan 24: Bonny Light Horseman – self-titled debut
Jan 24: Kailey Nicole – self-titled EP
Jan 24: Mrs. Henry Presents: ‘Live at the Casbah’
Jan 24: The Wood Brothers – ‘Kingdom in My Mind’
Jan 24: Bart Bugwig – ;Another Burn on the Astroturf’
Jan 24: The Haden Triplets – ‘The Family Songbook’
Jan 24: The Lil Smokies – ‘Tornillo’
Jan 24: Joy Mills Band – ‘Echolocator’
Jan 24: Kailey Nicole – self-titled
Jan 24: Steve Scott – ‘No Love For The Common Man’
Jan 24: Caitlin Sherman – ‘Death To The Damsel’
Jan 31: Dustbowl Revival – ‘Is It You, Is It Me’
Jan 31: Brian Johannesen – “Holster Your Silver”
Jan 31: Possessed By Paul James – ‘As We Go Wandering’
Jan 31: Tre Burt – ‘Caught It from the Rye’
Jan 31: Drive-by Truckers – ‘The Unraveling’
Jan 31: Cave Flowers – self-titled
Jan 31: Blackie & the Rodeo Kings – ‘King of This Town’
Jan 31: Sophie & The Broken Things – self-titled
Jan 31: Glenn Jones – ‘Ready For The Good Times’
Jan 31: Eric Brace & Last Train Home – ‘Daytime Highs and Overnight Lows’
Jan 31: RB Morris – ‘Going Back To The Sky’
Jan 31: Tomar & the FCs – ‘Rise Above’

February
Feb. 1: Glenn Jones Are You Ready For The Good Times
Feb. 7: Hank Williams – ‘Pictures From Life’s Other Side’
Feb. 7: John Moreland – “LP5”
Feb. 7: The Lone Bellow – “Half Moon Light”
Feb. 7: The Cadillac Three – “Country Fuzz”
Feb. 7: Aubrie Sellers – “Far From Home”
Feb. 7: Dom Flemons – ‘Prospect Hill: The American Songster Omnibus’
Feb. 7: Miss Tess – ‘The Moon Is an Ashtray’
Feb. 7: Darling West – ‘We’ll Never Know Unless We Try’
Feb. 7: Elkhorn – ‘The Storm Sessions’
Feb. 7: The Steeldrivers – “Bad For You’
Feb. 7: Frazey Ford – ‘U kin B the Sun’
Feb. 7: Corinne Sharlet – ‘Deceiver’ EP
Feb. 7: Chicago Farmer – ‘Flyover Country’
Feb. 7: David Allen – ‘Regrets and Retribution’
Feb. 7: Flyin’ A’s – ‘No Holds Barred’
Feb. 7: Supersuckers – ‘Play That Rock n’ Roll’
Feb. 7: William Prince – ‘Reliever’
Feb. 7: Frank & Allie Lee – ‘Treat A Stranger Right’
Feb. 7: Lynne Hanson – ‘Just Words’
Feb: 14: Phil Madeira – “Open Heart”
Feb. 14: Tami Neilson – CHICKABOOM!
Feb. 14: Robert Vincent – ‘In This Town You’re Owned’
Feb. 14: Jeremiah Johnson – ‘Heavens to Betsy’
Feb. 14: Little Misty – ‘Old Ghosts’
Feb. 14: The Third Mind – self-titled debut
Feb. 21: Nora Jane Struthers – “Bright Lights, Long Drives, First Words”
Feb. 21: Arik Dov – ‘The Man’ ep
Feb 28: The Secret Sisters – “Saturn Return”
Feb 28: Sierra Hull – ’25 Trips’
Feb 28: Pam Tillis – new album
Feb 28: Waco Brothers – ‘RESIST!’
Feb 28: Chelsea Lovitt – ‘You Had Your Cake, So Lie in It’
Feb 28: Avi Kaplan – ‘ I’ll Get By’

March
March 6: The Panhandlers – Josh Abbott, John Baumann, Cleto Cordero and William Clark Green – self-titled
March 6: The Mastersons- ‘No Time for Love Songs’
March 6: Brandy Clark – ‘Your Life is a Record’
March 6: Jim Lauderdale – ‘When Carolina Comes Home Again’
March 6: Will Sexton – ‘Don’t Walk the Darkness’
March 6: Green Leaf Rustlers – ‘Within Marin’
March 6: Aoife O’Donovan – ‘The Bull Frogs Croon (and Other Songs)’ EP
March 13: Dave Simonett (from Tramped By Turtles) – “Red Tail”
March 13: Sam Doores (of The Deslondes and formerly Hurray for the Riff Raff) – self-titled
March 13: Anna Lynch – ‘Apples in Fall’ EP
March 13: Outlaw Billy Don Burns -‘The Country Blues’
March 15: Sons of the Pioneers – ‘The Lost Masters’
March 20: Delta Rae – ‘The Light’
March 20: Carla Olson – ‘Have Harmony Will Travel 2’
March 27: Lilly Hiatt – ‘Walking Proof’
March 27: Marie Miller – ‘Little Dreams’
March 27: Kim Richey – ‘A Long Way Back: the Songs of Glimmer’
March 27: Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real – ‘Naked Garden’

April
April 3: Caleb Caudle – ‘Better Hurry Up’
April 3: The Nine Seas – ‘Dream of Me’
April 3: Ruthie Collins – ‘Cold Comfort’
April 3: Lisa Lambe – ‘Juniper’
April 3: Matthew McNeal – ‘Good Grief’
April 3: Christy Lynn Band – ‘Sweetheart of the Radio’
April 10: John Anderson – ‘Years’
April 10: Eliza Gilkyson – ‘2020’
April 10: Watkins Family Hour – ‘ brother sister’
April 17: Shelby Lynne – self-titled
April 17: The Reverend Shawn Amos – ‘Blue Sky’
April 17: Girl Skin – ‘Shade is on the other side’
April 17: The White Buffalo – ‘On The Widow’s Walk’
April 17: Joe Ely – ‘Love in the Midst of Mayhem’
April 20: Nicholas Jamerson – ‘The Wild Frontier’
April 24: Teddy Thompson – ‘Heartbreaker’
April 24: Sailing Stones – ‘Polymnia’
April 24: Lucinda Williams – “Good Souls Better Angels”
April 24: Whitney Rose – ‘We Still Go to Rodeos’
April 24: Corb Lund – ‘Agricultural Tragic’
April 24: Willie Nelson – ‘First Rose Of Spring’
April 24: The Lowest Pair – ‘The Perfect Plan’
April 24: Pam Tillis – ‘Looking for a Feeling’
April 24: Kyle LaLone – ‘Somewhere In Between’
April 26: Randy Rogers Band – ‘Hellbent’
April ?: Van Darien – ‘Levee’

May
May 1: Elijah Ocean – ‘Blue Jeans & Barstools’
May 1: Cayley Thomas – ‘How Else Can I Tell You?’
May 1: American Aquarium – ‘Lamentations’
May 8: Andrew Hibbard – self-titled
May 8: Liv Greene – ‘Every Bright Penny’
May 8: Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen – Hold My Beer Vol. 2
May 15: Chatham County Line – ‘Strange Fascination’
May 15: Chuck Prophet – ‘The Land That Time Forgot’
May 15: Jason Isbell – ‘Reunions’
May 15: Lesley Barth – “Big Time Baby”
May 22: Reckless Kelly – ‘American Girls’ & ‘American Jackpot’
May 22: Steve Earle & The Dukes – ‘Ghosts of West Virginia’
May 22: Jarrod Dickenson -“Ready The Horses”
May 29: Jake Blount – ‘Spider Tales’
May 29: Jaime Wyatt – ‘Neon Cross’

June
June 5: Sarah Jarosz – ‘World On The Ground’
June 5: Turkeyfoot – “Promise of Tomorrow”
June 12: Sammy Brue – ‘Crash Test Kid’
June 12: Pert Near Sandstone – “Rising Tide”
June 19: Grayson Capps – “South Front Street”
June 19: Neil Young – “Homegrown”
June 19: Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
June 19: Blackberry Smoke – Live From Capricorn Sound Studios
June 19: Darlin’ Brando – Also, Too…
June 19: Don Bryant – You Make Me Feel
June 19: Kristen Grainger & True North – ‘Ghost Tattoo’
June 26: Corb Lund – ‘Agricultural Tragic’
June 26: Country Westerns – ‘Country Westerns’
June 26: Scroggins & Rose – ‘Curios’
June 26: Emily Duff – ‘Born On The Ground’
June 26: Will Hoge – ‘Tiny Little Movies’
June 26: Arielle Silver – ‘A Thousand Tiny Torches’

July
July 10: The Jayhawks – “XOXO”
July 10: Joshua Ray Walker – “Glad You Made It”
July 10: Margo Price – ‘That’s How Rumors Get Started’
July 10: Ray Wylie Hubbard – “Co-Starring”
July 10: The Jayhawks – ‘XOXO’
July 17: The Texas Gentlemen – “Floor It!!!”
July 24: Ted Russell Kamp – ‘Down in the Den’
July 24: Lori McKenna – “The Balladeer’
July 31: Charley Crockett – “Welcome To Hard Times”

August
August 2: The Avett Brothers – ‘The Third Gleam’
August 7: Steven Bruce – ‘Same Time, Same Place, Same Station’
August 14: Kathleen Edwards – ‘Total Freedom’
August 21: The Old 97’s -“Twelfth”
August 21: Mandy Barnett – ‘A Nashville Songbook’
August 21: Cidny Bullens – ‘Walkin’ Through This World’
August 21: Robert Gordon – ‘Rockabilly For Life’
August 28: Karen Jonas – ‘The Southwest Sky and Other Dreams’
August 28: Zephaniah OHora – Listening to the Music
August 28: Colter Wall – Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs
August 28: Justin Wells – The United State
August 28: Moe Bandy – A Love Like That
August 28: The Reeves Brothers – The Last Honky Tonk
August 28: Heidi Newfield – The Barfly Sessions
August 28: The Allman Betts Band – Bless Your Heart
August 28: The Northern Belle – We Wither, We Bloom

September
September 4: Carolina Story – “Dandelion”
September 4: India Ramey – ‘Shallow Graves’
September 11: Elizabeth Cook – “Aftermath”
September 18: Fred Eaglesmith & Tif Ginn – ‘Alive’
September 18: Otis Gibbs – ‘Hoosier National’
September 18: Brennen Leigh – ‘Prairie Love Letter’

October

Novenmber
November 6: Madison Cunningham – ‘Wednesday’
November 6: Jackslacks – ‘When Pigs Fly’
November 6: Johnnie & Jack with The Tennessee Mountain Boys – ‘Collection 1945-62’
November 6: Larry Keel – ‘American Dream’
November 13: Chris Stapleton – ‘Starting Over’

TBA
Carla Olson
Will Sexton
Cidny Bullens
Marshall Chapman
The Claudettes
James McMurtry
Amelia White – produced by Kim Richey

Buck Owens’ ‘The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970’ To Be Released

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Buck Owens and the Buckaroos

Few Musicians have helped redefine the image of country musicians from country bumpkins to savvy sonic shape-shifter and entrepreneur than Sherman Texas’ own Alvis Edgar (Buck) Owens Jr. From adapting country’s style to appeal to the growing rock and roll market with his uptempo Bakersfield sound, to his business savvy buying several radio stations in the sixties to increase his take of the pie, to becoming a household name sharing the stage with the great Roy Clark on Hee Haw from the beginning of the series in 1969 until he left the cast in 1986, few artists have had the reach and influence as Buck Owens, his guitarist Don Rich and the rest of Buckaroos.

On May 11 Omnivore records, in conjunction with the Buck Owens Estate, will release a newly remastered ‘Buck Owens and the Buckaroos’ The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970’ CD and Digital format (what? No vinyl?!)

From the presser:

According to Owens: “The reason my Capitol records sounded the way they did — real heavy on the treble — was because I knew most people were going to be listening to ’em on their AM car radios. At the time, nobody else was doing anything like that, but it just seemed like common sense to me. And it was one more reason that you knew it was a Buck Owens record as soon as it came on the radio — because it just didn’t sound like those other records.”

Annotator Bomar from the liner notes: “The latter part of the 1960s represents Buck Owens’ second act. His recordings from that era are brief snapshots of a man in transition. Buck and his Buckaroos had undeniably found a winning formula, but he was growing concerned that his signature sound was in danger of growing stale and predictable. For the rest of the decade he would boldly venture into new territory that likely stretched the boundaries of what some fans might have expected.”

Preorder here.

Track Listing:
Disc One
1. Sam’s Place
2. Don’t Ever Tell Me Goodbye
3. Your Tender Loving Care
4. What A Liar I Am
5. It Takes People Like You (To Make People Like Me)
6. You Left Her Lonely Too Long
7. How Long Will My Baby Be Gone
8. Everybody Needs Somebody
9. Sweet Rosie Jones
10. Happy Times Are Here Again
11. Let The World Keep On A Turnin’ – Buck Owens & Buddy Alan
12. I’ll Love You Forever And Ever – Buck Owens & Buddy Alan
13. I’ve Got You On My Mind Again
14. That’s All Right With Me (If It’s All Right With You)
15. Christmas Shopping
16. One Of Everything You Got
17. Things I Saw Happening At The Fountain On The Plaza When I Was Visiting Rome Or Amore
18. Turkish Holiday
Disc Two
1. Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass
2. There’s Gotta Be Some Changes Made
3. Johnny B. Goode
4. Maybe If I Close My Eyes (It’ll Go Away)
5. Tall Dark Stranger
6. Sing That Kind Of Song
7. Big In Vegas
8. White Satin Bed
9. We’re Gonna Get Together – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
10. Everybody Needs Somebody – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
11. Togetherness – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
12. Fallin’ For You – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
13. The Kansas City Song
14. I’d Love To Be Your Man
15. The Great White Horse – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
16. Your Tender Loving Care – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
17. I Wouldn’t Live In New York City (If They Gave Me The Whole Dang Town)
18. No Milk And Honey In Baltimore

Bob Dylan Slams , Praises at MusiCares Ceremony

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Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was honored by MusiCares, the charity organization that aids musicians in need, at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday night. Though Dylan himself delined to perform
(as did Neil Young when he was so honored) artists like Willie Nelson, Beck and Bruce Springsteen covered some his timeless songs

Dylan did take a rare opportunity to deliver a heartfelt and bracingly forthright 30-plus-minute acceptance speech calling out songwriters who had criticized his work while also calling out Music City and commercial country music.

Of course if anyone at the Academy was surprised by Dylan’s frankness they haven’t been paying attention to the man’s 50 + year career.

The only omission in Dylan’s speech that gave me pause was the oversight of his old backing group, The Band. Then again as scathing as he is to some of the people in his past maybe this was a good thing.

He also heaped praise on individuals on the industry that bravely too a chance on him and musicians that coverd his songs without being sked to. Covers that made the charts and brought mainstraem recognitions, and cash, to Dylasn early on.

After his introduction by former President Jimmy Carter Dylan entered to a standing ovation. He then referred to his written notes and began, “I’m going to read some of this.”

Bob Dylan’s MusiCares person of the year acceptance speech:

I’m glad for my songs to be honored like this. But you know, they didn’t get here by themselves. It’s been a long road and it’s taken a lot of doing. These songs of mine, they’re like mystery stories, the kind that Shakespeare saw when he was growing up. I think you could trace what I do back that far. They were on the fringes then, and I think they’re on the fringes now. And they sound like they’ve been on the hard ground.

I should mention a few people along the way who brought this about. I know I should mention John Hammond, great talent scout for Columbia Records. He signed me to that label when I was nobody. It took a lot of faith to do that, and he took a lot of ridicule, but he was his own man and he was courageous. And for that, I’m eternally grateful. The last person he discovered before me was Aretha Franklin, and before that Count Basie, Billie Holiday and a whole lot of other artists. All noncommercial artists.

Trends did not interest John, and I was very noncommercial but he stayed with me. He believed in my talent and that’s all that mattered. I can’t thank him enough for that. Lou Levy runs Leeds Music, and they published my earliest songs, but I didn’t stay there too long.

Levy himself, he went back a long ways. He signed me to that company and recorded my songs and I sang them into a tape recorder. He told me outright, there was no precedent for what I was doing, that I was either before my time or behind it. And if I brought him a song like “Stardust,” he’d turn it down because it would be too late.

He told me that if I was before my time — and he didn’t really know that for sure — but if it was happening and if it was true, the public would usually take three to five years to catch up — so be prepared. And that did happen. The trouble was, when the public did catch up I was already three to five years beyond that, so it kind of complicated it. But he was encouraging, and he didn’t judge me, and I’ll always remember him for that.

Artie Mogull at Witmark Music signed me next to his company, and he told me to just keep writing songs no matter what, that I might be on to something. Well, he too stood behind me, and he could never wait to see what I’d give him next. I didn’t even think of myself as a songwriter before then. I’ll always be grateful for him also for that attitude.

I also have to mention some of the early artists who recorded my songs very, very early, without having to be asked. Just something they felt about them that was right for them. I’ve got to say thank you to Peter, Paul and Mary, who I knew all separately before they ever became a group. I didn’t even think of myself as writing songs for others to sing but it was starting to happen and it couldn’t have happened to, or with, a better group.

They took a song of mine that had been recorded before that was buried on one of my records and turned it into a hit song. Not the way I would have done it — they straightened it out. But since then hundreds of people have recorded it and I don’t think that would have happened if it wasn’t for them. They definitely started something for me.

The Byrds, the Turtles, Sonny & Cher — they made some of my songs Top 10 hits but I wasn’t a pop songwriter and I really didn’t want to be that, but it was good that it happened. Their versions of songs were like commercials, but I didn’t really mind that because 50 years later my songs were being used in the commercials. So that was good too. I was glad it happened, and I was glad they’d done it.

Purvis Staples and the Staple Singers — long before they were on Stax they were on Epic and they were one of my favorite groups of all time. I met them all in ’62 or ’63. They heard my songs live and Purvis wanted to record three or four of them and he did with the Staples Singers. They were the type of artists that I wanted recording my songs.

Nina Simone. I used to cross paths with her in New York City in the Village Gate nightclub. These were the artists I looked up to. She recorded some of my songs that she [inaudible] to me. She was an overwhelming artist, piano player and singer. Very strong woman, very outspoken. That she was recording my songs validated everything that I was about.

Oh, and can’t forget Jimi Hendrix. I actually saw Jimi Hendrix perform when he was in a band called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames — something like that. And Jimi didn’t even sing. He was just the guitar player. He took some small songs of mine that nobody paid any attention to and pumped them up into the outer limits of the stratosphere and turned them all into classics. I have to thank Jimi, too. I wish he was here.

5 Americana & Country Music Christmas Albums – The Nice List

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Not too be cynical, but Christmas albums are often little more than a money grab from big artists.They makes perfect business sense but rarely results in laying out hard-earned dollars to add to your collection. Here are 5 that break the opportunistic mold/ The artists here are either so singularly excellent as to transcend the material or they exhibit such sincerity and love for the material that it just moves you.

americanachristmas-cover-300dpi

An Americana Christmas
is a rootsy 16 song mix of classic Christmas songs and brand new holiday recordings from country and Americana legends, like John Prine, Johnny Cash and Dwight Yoakam, and some new guns Ronnie Fauss and Nikki Lane. This is a nicely balanced CD to sip your nog to.

 

 

 

Christmas With Buck Owens And His Buckaroos – Buck recorded two Christmas albums back in the sixties – Christmas Shopping and  Christmas with Buck Owens. This is the better of the two because the King of the Bakersfield Sound avoids the usual Christmas chestnuts and lends his signature style to a collection consisting  almost all original songs. The songs run from barroom weepers Blue Christmas Tree and It’s Christmas Time For Everyone But Me and the swinging Santa’s Gonna Come in a Stage Coach and Because It’s Christmas Time. This is a great stocking-stuffer for the country traditionalist in your life.

 

 

 

A Christmas Present – How many Christmas albums can you name that resulted in a #1 song? Not many, but this is one of them. Haggard’s  A Christmas Present, released in 1973,  contains the single If We Make It Through December which spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart that December through  January 1974. That song and others like melancholy “Daddy Won’t Be Home for Christmas settles you in for a lonesome Christmas, but Hag does take a light-hearted break with Santa Claus and Popcorn and Bobby Wants a Puppy Dog for Christmas.

 

 

 

 

A John Prine Christmas – The legendary John Prine puts away the satircal knives (mostly) on this excellent, though brief, holiday release. Classics like I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and  Silver Bells are done straight-up and  mixed with wry originals resulting in a tasty spiked Christmas nog. Broken relationships in songs like  Everything Is Cool and All the Best are recalled less bitterness then bemused fatalism.

 

 

 

 

 

To: Kate a Benefit for Kate’s Sake – A collection of Americana and alt.country legends came together on this 2005 release partake in one of the greatest of Christmas endeavors; charity.
Jim Lauderdale, Steve Earle, Joe Ely, Buddy & Julie Miller and others to put together To: Kate a Benefit for Kate’s Sake to benefit a three-year-old  Nashville girl suffering from a rare genetic disease. Chuck Mead and BR549 do a great Western Swing version of The Christmas Song and Jim Lauderdale tears through a spirited Holly & Her Mistletoe. Buddy and Julie Miller strike the perfect tone for the spiritual Away In A Manger and Joe Ely’s Tejano-tinged Winterlude is as spicy and pleasing as Mexican hot chocolate on a winter night.

 

 

 

Hillbilly Holiday– Unfortunately now out of print, Hillbilly Holiday is an excellent 18-track compilation of classic country Christmas songs. Pioneers like Bill Monroe, Tex Ritter and Ernst Tubb sit beside relative newcomers Willie Nelson. Buck Owens and Loretta Lynn on this often whimsical compilation. If you can find this release is  just the remedy for the pop-country fan in your life.

Record Store Day 2012 – Americana Music Picks

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If you do live in a place with at least one independent record store, and love music, then you need to know about the upcoming Record Store Day. This internationally celebrated day is observed on the the third Saturday in April of each year. The event was originally conceived by Chris Brown, VP of  Portsmouth, NH’s Bull Moose music store, and founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. Exclusive and limited vinyl and CD releases made just for the day by hundreds of artists in hundreds of US and international stores to draw attention the the disappearing mom and pop music stores being affected by a tough economic climate the dwindling customer base that are flocking to buy music online.

This is the fifth year for the event and will offer special releases from Ryan Adams,The Civil Wars, Townes Van Zandt, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Patterson Hood and many more. There many great one offs and creative packaging (where else are you going to find a Buck Owens Coloring Book with a flexi disc?!)

I put together a quick list below of Americana and country artists participating in the event. There’s a good chance that I overlooked something so check the official list of goodies and also check the official participating stores list to make sure yours is on the list. And remember to call ahead for items as not all store will be carrying all releases.

The Black Twig Pickers – Yellow Cat
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Blitzen Trapper – Hey Joe b/w Skirts on Fire
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Sub Pop

Bonnie Prince Billy- Hummingbird
Format: 10″ LP
Label: Spiritual Pajamas

Buck Owens Coloring Book w/flexi disc w/ download card 
DETAILS
Format: Book
Label: Omnivore

Richard Buckner – “Willow” “Candy-O.”w/ download card.
Format: 7″

Caitlin Rose – ‘Love Is a Laserquest’ & ‘Piledriver Waltz’ (Arctic Monkeys covers)
Format:  7″
Label: Domino Records

Our friends at Domino Records commissioned Caitlin to cover two songs by the Arctic Monkeys as a very limited edition 7 inch release for Record Store Day this Saturday, April 21st.

 

Carolina Chocolate Drops/Run DMC
You Be Illin
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Warner Bros.

Freakwater – Feels Like The Third Time (reissue)
Format: LP
Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames – New Multitudes
Format: 10″ LP
Label: Rounder

Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Bloodshot

Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes, & Backsides (1968-71)
Format: LP
Label: Light In The Attic

Patterson Hood & the Downtown 13 (featuring Mike Mills) After It’s Gone
Format: 7″ 45
Label: ATO

Richard Thomspon – Haul Me Up
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Beeswing Records

Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill

Ryan Adams – Heartbreak A Stranger / Black Sheets Of Rain (Bob Mould cover)
Format: 7″ 45  colored vinyl
Label: PAXAM

Sara Watkins featuring Fiona Apple/The Everly Brothers – You’re The One I Love
Format: 7″ olive green and black splatter
Label: Warner Bros

The Civil Wars – Billie Jean (Live)” Micheal Jackson / Sour Times (Live)” Portishead
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Columbia Records U.K.

The Civil Wars – Live at Amoeba
Format: CD
Label: Sensibility Music LLC

Lydia Loveless – Bad Way To Go / Alison (Elvis Costello cover)
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Bloodshot

Ralph Stanley – Single Girl / Little Birdie
Format: LP
Label: Tompkins Square

Townes Van Zandt – At My Window
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill

Uncle Tupelo – The Seven Inch Singles
Format: 7″ Vinyl Box Set
Label: Sony
More Info:
3×7″ box set

RIP Ralph Mooney – influential steel guitarist for Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard

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Ralph Mooney influential steel guitarist played with Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard and one of the architects of country musics answer to rock onslaught, the 50’s ‘Bakersfield sound’  He also co-wrote, with Charles Seals, the honky-tonk standard ‘Crazy Arms,’ which became a No. 1 hit in 1956 for Ray Price. It was Price’s first number one hit. Mooney said he got the idea for the song after his wife left him because of his drinking problem

Mooney died Sunday at his home in Kennedale, Texas, of complications from cancer, said his wife, Wanda.

Mooney had slowed down in playing recent years, but he still played and recorded periodically until near the end of his life. He played on four tracks on Marty Stuart’s 2010 Grammy-winning album “Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLdUeQ9yFW0&feature=related[/youtube]

My Jukebox – Amanda Shires

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My Jukebox is a new Twang Nation feature where I ask musicians and other folks about their recent  listening choices.

photo Credit: Joshua Black Wilkins

For Americana chanteuse Amanda Shires music is ubiquitous. “I listen to music when the alarm goes off, when I ride or drive, when I can’t sleep, in the airport, when I shop, in a box with a fox…,” Shires says showing her inner Seuss.

‘Like a lot of musicians I listen to everything. I love great songs.  I don’t think I have a wide strike zone–I just think that if the song is there, then that’s why I like something. So, it could be anything from Nicki Minaj to Bob Wills…Bush to Beethoven..and a ton of songwriters.”

“I used to work at Ralph’s Records in Lubbock, TX so I was exposed to all sorts of things.  I got to hear a lot of music I wouldn’t have heard if I hadn’t worked there. That said,  I know what I can’t stand.”

Her current playlist reflects her current “winter moods.” and spans from the Gypsy-folk of DeVotchKa, to blues-garage duo The Black Keys and, showing her Texas roots, Waylon Jennings and Buck Owens .

1.  Out With The Tide – A.A. Bondy
2.  The Corner – Cory Branan
3.  100 Other Lovers – DeVotchKa
4.  Sweet Boy –  Dolorean (this whole album The Unfazed is amazing)
5.  Waitin In Your Welfare Line – Buck Owens
6.  Howlin’ for you – Black Keys
7.  You Can’t Talk To Me Like That Anymore – Rod Picott
8.  Wrecking Ball –  Gillian Welch
9.  Hank Williams Jr. Drunk as Hell Live!
10. Another Place Another Time – Jerry Lee Lewis
11. The Curse – Josh Ritter
12. Sixes and Sevens – Lucero
13. Black Rose-Waylon Jennings( all of Honky Tonk Heroes really)
14. Jewelbomb – Richard Buckner
15. My Narrow Mind-16 Horsepower

Amanda Shires’ new release,  Carrying Lightning comes out May 3/11. She will be be touring behind it soon after.

Music Review: George Strait- Twang [MCA Nashville]

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GS_twangAnybody that’s read this blog for more than five minutes knows that the style of country music that I champion is typically not represented on the flavor of the week  “country” charts. I’m not in the business of puffing up entertainers that have more in common with REO Speedwagon than Hank Williams and my M.O., my brand if you will, has always been cream doesn’t necessarily rise to the top, sometimes it’s found around the edges.

George Strait is the type of rare bird that can sit on last week’s  #1 Billboard 200 and Country Chart spot and yet finds it’s place in my heart. It’s not that I hate popular country music per se, it’s just that most popular country music is made for, and consumed by, people that wouldn’t be caught dead with a Merle Haggard or Loretta Lynne CD in their collection and their idea of classic country is Alabama or Kenny Rogers.  George Strait is an neo-traditional alchemist that can please both the arena-filling masses and the discerning and grumpy critics like myself.

Maybe it’s his residence in Texas and his perceptible love of his (and my) home state’s regional flavor and away from the syrup factory of Music City, maybe it’s his sharp instincts for picking just the right songs to cover, whatever it is it’s been like a sound as a classic truck for over three multi-platinum decades.

Twang is Strait’s 25th studio album and his follow up to 2008’s excellent Troubadour and as subdued that earlier release was Twang is more like a celebration. The boisterous Bakersfield vibe of the Kendall Marvel, Jimmy Ritchey and Mr. Americana Jim Lauderdale penned title song comes right from the Buck Owens school of songwriting and lets it be known that Strait is not about to shy away from some hillbilly hell raising.  Where Have I Been All My Life and  Living For The Night are pure coming of age and heartache schmaltz (complete with string section), but Strait’s authentic delivery drives it right to the heart.

On Twang Strait steps up to the songwriting plate again for three songs co-written with his son, George “Bubba” Strait, Jr. The aforementioned  beer-soaked bawler Living for the Night,” the Ray Price-style crooner Out of Sight, Out of Mind and the frothy-lament He’s Got That Something Special. On his own Bubba penned the excellent Marty Robbins-style tale of the outlaw and gunfighter Dave Rudabaugh, Arkansas Dave.

Strait pays tribute to Texas’ neighbors with both the rollicking Gordon Bradberry and Tony Ramey penned Hot Grease and Zydeco and the José Alfredo Jiménez classic ranchera song El Ray that he does completely in Spanish.

Once again Strait proves that he’s the most consistent talent going and the current King of Country Music.

Official Site | MySpace | Buy

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9EJWIeNzIs[/youtube]

Music Review: Grant Langston – Stand Up Man (Self Released)

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sum_coverGrant Langston came across my path by way of a jukebox sampler sent out by Sin City a few weeks back and I made a mental note to check into him further. Well the years and beers have taken tier toll and I plumb forgot about him until the good folks over at the Gobbler’s Knob posted their own fine review (http://www.thegobblersknob.com) and brought him back to my attention. So if you don’t like this review or the artist you can blame them….Ha!

The Bakersfield is alive and well in the hands of Langston and like the the sounds forefathers – Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam – Langston’s roots are in the South. Alabama is where he took up the trombone in his grammar school band, played piano as a teen and cultivated a distaste for Nashville brand of pop-country he heard on the radio. After making the trek out to the Golden State, where in now resides, Langston discovered Haggard, Yoakam as well as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and deeper well of country music to draw from. Stand Up Man proves he’s an astute disciple of the school of honky-tonk.

Many of the elements of the lean Bakersfield sound was a result of the rise of rock and roll in the 50’s. Aside from a popping back-beat, the other most definable sound is that of red-hot telecaster licks. Lagnston is served well by Larry Marciano on guitar as well as dobro. the rest of his crack band The Supermodels is bassist Josh Fleeger and Tony Horkins on drums and percussion.

You can almost smell the stale beer and hear the boots scoot across the wooden dance floor when the cooking title cut kicks off and you just know this is going to be a concert crowd favorite for years to come. The excellently titled Burt Reynolds Movie Brawl keeps the heat on and Shiner Bock and Vicodin is a brilliant addition to the long list of heartache resulting intoxicants documented in country music.

The Texas shuffle Pretend You Love Me is bittersweet tale of communal denial and Not Another Song About California is a playful song about heading West that satisfyingly blurs the country and rock boundary.

My favorite cut is Call Your Bluff. It slinks and shuffles along telling of a man fed up and showcasing Langton using a yodel/hiccup made famous by Yoakam. There is a Swamp Version of the same song that slows things down to a hot and humid pace and features a slow cry of Cajun s fiddle. It’s almost as good as the original.

Stand Up Man is the kind of release that revives my faith that there are artists out there keeping the tradition and spirit of great country music alive and making it dance in the here and now.

Official Site | Buy

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xanz2drGDE[/youtube]

http://grantlangston.com/