Twang Nation – Holidays at the Ranch Mix -2011

Here’s a little something to stuff your sock,  warm your chestnuts and spike your nog. There’s some traditional (Gene Autry – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer) and the less-so (Drive-By Truckers – Mrs. Claus’ Kimono.) But, I’m sure there’s something here for everyone, except your Uncle Jack, that ass hates everything. Enjoy and Happy Holidays, y’all!

Twang Nation – Holidays at the Ranch Mix -2011

Gene Autry – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Willie Nelson – Pretty Paper
John Prine – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Emmylou Harris – O Little Town of Bethlehem
Drive-By Truckers – Mrs. Claus’ Kimono
Steve Earle – Nothing But A Child
Johnny Cash – Silent Night
Commander Cody – Daddy’s Drinking Up Our Christmas
George Jones – Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus
Dolly Parton – Hard Candy Christmas
Michael Martin Murphey – Two-Step ‘Round The Christmas Tree/Two-Step Medley
Waylon Jennings – Away In A Manger
Dwight Yoakam – Run Run Rudolph
Merle Haggard – If We Make It Through December
The Mavericks – Santa Claus Is Back In Town
Alan Jackson with Alison Krauss – The Angels Cried
Clay Walker – Blue Christmas
Chris LeDoux – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Suzy Bogguss – Two-Step ‘Round The Christmas Tree
Deana Carter – Carol Of The Bells
George Strait – White Christmas
Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys – Christmas Time’s A-Coming
Dwight Yoakam – Here Comes Santa Claus
Neko Case – Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis
Asylum Street Spankers – Zat You, Santa Claus?
Jim Lauderdale – Holly & Her Mistletoe
Otis Gibbs – Jesus On The Couch
Robert Earl Keen – Merry Christmas From The Family
Lyle Lovett – Christmas Morning
James McMurtry – Holiday

 

Twang Nation Halloween Mix 2011

Ah October. When the freshly fallen snow and turned leaves fall to cover your tracks by the river bottom where you lured your dear heart with the promise of warm cider and sweet kisses. I guess she didn’t realize you knew she could not be true. This list of contemporaneity and classic murder ballads and general Southern-Gothic debauchery and misery is just the thing for carving pumpkins and ex-lovers. You can hear this at Twang Nation Halloween Mix 2011 mix on Spotify.

Got a favorite grim ditty? Post it below.

     

    1. Tenderloud – Shadow Red Hand
    2. Those Poor Bastards – Nightmare World
    3. The Handsome Family – The Lost Soul
    4. Reverend Glasseye – Blood O’ Lambs
    5. Nina Nastasia/Jim White – The Day I Would Bury You
    6. Jay Munly – Old Service Road
    7. Strawfoot – The Lord’s Wrath
    8. Neko Case – Things That Scare Me
    9. Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers – Blood on the Bluegrass
    10. The Pine Box Boys – Arkansas Killing Time
    11. Sons of Perdition – Blood In The Valley
    12. Rachel Brooke – This Painful Summer
    13. Willie Nelson – I Just Can’t Let You Say Good-Bye
    14. The Walkabouts – Lover’s Crime
    15. Those Poor Bastards – Family Graveyard
    16. Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – Cranston
    17. Trailer Bride – Graveyard
    18. Midnight Choir – Poisoned Veins
    19. C. Gibbs – Devil’s Water
    20. Christian Williams – You Ain’t Exempt
    21. Slackeye Slim – Judgment Day
    22. Muleskinner Jones – Come Inside, Stranger
    23. O’Death – Ghost Head
    24. Steve Von Till – A Grave Is A Grim Horse

    News Round-Up: Hayes Carll and Ryan Bingham Leave Lost Highway

    • The latest news from the wasted trailer-park that is music industry; Hayes Carll and Ryan Bingham have parted ways with their label the Universal Americana imprint Lost Highway. Mike Crowley, Carll’s manager, said in response to Carlls’ departure “Being part of Universal Music, we’ve watched as the corporation has tightened the reins on Lost Highway…The requirements that Universal imposes just make less and less sense for artists like Hayes and Ryan, who are never going to be something that can be marketed like Lady Gaga.”
    • Johnnie Wright, Country Singer, Bandleader, manager and husband of Kitty Wells, had died at the age of 97. (New York Times)
    • The current King of Country, George Strait, has been added to an already stellar lineup for the Fire Relief:
      The Concert for Central Texas event, which already booked Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, the Dixie Chicks and
      Asleep at the Wheel, Eric Johnson, Steve Miller, Joe Satriani, Shawn Colvin, the Texas Tornados and the Court Yard Hounds will make guest appearances, and Turk Pipkin and ‘Friday Night Lights’ star Kyle Chandler will host the event.. The benefit show, which is slated for October 17 at the Frank Erwin Center in the capitol city of Austin, Texas, will raise money to help replace the estimated $250 million loss in damages.   Tickets range from $25-$250, with the higher end being VIP tickets that allow concert-goers close access to the stage as well as an exclusive lounge area.
    • Looking forward to seeing Merle Haggard today ay Hardly Strictly Bluegrass with that youngster Kris Kristofferson. Here is the The Hag discussing his recent bout with cancer and his take on the current political climate. Here’s a hint, he recently penned a anti-government cut entitled “Shut It Down.” Take that Steve Earle.

    :happy trails

    Music Review: Wagons – Rumble Shake & Tumble

    When I first saw The Proposition, the 2005 Australia-based Western about an outlaw (Guy Pearce) forced to kill his older brother, I was taken by what Vincent Vega (to mix movie metaphors) is the “little differences.” The narrative was familiar and there were cultural parallels (at least cinematic)  between late nineteenth century Australia and the American West and Southwest.

    This is the feeling I get when listening to the Australian roots-rock band Wagons recent fourth release Rumble, Shake & Tumble. There are elements of the familiar that are then twisted and elevated to strange and inspired places. the album kicks off with Downlow,a tale of clandestine romance done in as a jangly Tom Petty-style number complete with scorching lead and 80’s-era humming synths. I Blew It is thumping rockabilly tune that has Henry Wagons careening his baritone growling a lost-love lament. Moon Into The Sun is a front-porch ditty that shimmers with pedal-steel and hillbilly Buddhist pronouncements like  “Everybody’s as happy as they want to be.”

    Willie Nelson is a slinky-stomp ode to the Texas Yoda, well to the idea of him anyway since there’s really no details in the song relating the the legendary icon. It’s more testament to great music and a reason to jam. Love Is Burning channels fellow Aussie (and script writer for the aforementioned movie, The Proposition.) Nick Cave and is smoldering with lust and menace like a ,well, a Nick Cave song.  My Daydream is a spacey country-tinged number that sound like a collaboration of Gram Parsons and David Bowie ( Singer Henry Wagons’ voice even sound eerily like the Thin White Duke at times.) Save Me is a Civil War-style and honky-tonk mash-up telling a tale of dispare and redemption

    Henry Wagons  drummers/bassists Mark Dawson and Si Francis, guitarists Chad Mason and Richard Blaze, and keyboardist Matthew Hassett made a big noise at the 2011 SXSW a nd it’s easy to hear why. Rumble, Shake and Tumble  is a study in American music from an Australian bands perspective. the album will have you coming back again and again to peel back layer after layer of influence and nuance served with an edgy modern twist.

    Official Site | Buy

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQN3-Ik7znM[/youtube]

    News Round-Up: Merle Haggard and Scott H. Biram Prepare Fall Releases

    There are a coupe of new releases upcoming that I am really anticipating…

    Legendary country stalwart Merle Haggard will release ‘Working in Tennessee,’ on October 4,  his second on the Vanguard Records label.

    The Hag penned nine of the 11 tracks on the on the album and jsut as on 2010’s I Am What I Am he invites his wife Theresa to provide vocals on the Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash classic hit, Jackson. Merle’s son Ben Haggard also joins his father by providing his adroit tele work and Willie Nelson joins on an updated version of Merle’s ‘Workin’ Man Blues.’
    Despite his 2008 lung cancer diagnosis, with part of his lung being removed, the 74-year-old hasn’t lost his voice. “I’m swinging back in full throttle right now,” he insists. “Music keeps me alive. It makes me breathe better … It’s funny, but I feel better when I come off a tour than when I start out.”

    Merle has been confirmed to perform at the legendary Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park on October 1st. Check Merle’s other tour dates:

    ‘Working in Tennessee’ Track Listing:

    1. ‘Working in Tennessee’ (Merle Haggard)
    2. ‘Down on the Houseboat’ (Merle Haggard, Theresa Haggard, Doug Colosio)
    3. ‘Cocaine Blues’ (TJ Arnall)
    4. ‘What I Hate’ (Merle Haggard)
    5. ‘Sometimes I Dream’ (Merle Haggard, Jenessa Haggard)
    6. ‘Under the Bridge’ (Merle Haggard, Theresa Haggard)
    7. ‘Too Much Boogie Woogie’ (Merle Haggard)
    8. ‘Truck Driver’s Blues’ (Merle Haggard, Tim Howard)
    9. ‘Laugh It Off’ (Merle Haggard, Theresa Haggard, Doug Colosio)
    10. ‘Working Man Blues’ (Merle Haggard)
    11. ‘Jackson’ (Billy Edd Wheeler, Gaby Rodgers)

     

    And that Dirty Ol’ One Man Band from Texas, Scott H. Biram, will release his fourth full-length for Bloodshot Records, Bad Ingredients on October 11th on CD, vinyl LP, and digital download. Bad Ingredients was recorded at Biram’s home studio in Austin, Texas and mastered by Jerry Tubb of Terra Nova Mastering (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam), Bad Ingredients delivers SHB’s classic throat-stomping style (“Dontcha Lie To Me Baby” and “Victory Song”), but showcases a more mature songwriter-both lyrically and musically. It’s Biram at his quietest, but don’t worry, Hiram Biram still raises plenty a ruckus on his ’59 hollowbody Gibson and stomp board. But the best way to experience Biram is live, go check his schedule and see him if you can.

    Concert Review: Gurf Morlix Pays Tribute to Blaze Foley

    Gurf Morlix and the traveling Blaze Foley road-show rolled through San Francisco last night in the Amnesia. The Mission district bar was packed and it house showed a strong interest local interest in the current Austin-based Americana legend and David Fuller aka Blaze Foley, an until recently forgotten homeless, drunken singer/songwriting that could pen transcendentally lovely and aching songs that was tragically killed at 39 while protecting an elderly friend.

    The event opened with Kevin Triplett, the producer and director of the documentary Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah,  setting up a projector and handling the remote control, all in the true DIY spirit in which he took the 12 years that it took to make the film. Family, friends, fellow songwriters -  including Mr. Morlix – and a past love, Sybil Rosen, who was on hand to read from her biography with her life with Foley  Living in the Woods in a Tree, , make appearances in this edited version of the doc to tell the extraordinary tale of a peculiar man who moved in the 70s and 80s Austin singer/songwriting circles along with Morlix as well as Lucinda Williams and Townes Van Zandt who were all friends with Foley and posthumously wrote songs about him.

    Morlix then took the stage to sing songs from Foley that appear on his latest and great release Blaze Foley’s 113th Wet Dream. The room remained mostly silent as Morlix with a single parlor guitar performed song after song with palatable reverence – If I Could Only Fly, Cold Cold World, Clay Pigeons…each one making you wonder how Foley couldn’t see fame and fortune in his lifetime even with high profile artists like John Prine, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covering his songs (the latter taking the time to praise Foley in the film.) But as the documentary made clear as Foley followed his muse, and rejected material comforts in that pursuit, oftentimes caused him to alienate people and undermine his own career.

    Gurf Morlix Official Site | Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah official site

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSxUDRB5jRU&feature=player_embedded#at=132[/youtube]

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

    Happy Birthday Willie Nelson

    78 years ago on this day in Abbott, Texas the world of country music, scratch that – American music was altered forever and we’re all better for it. Happy birthday to the Texas Yoda, St Willie.

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7vaYOIKWYY[/youtube]

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkNyQiD5T0Y&feature=related[/youtube]

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru40GiejGDg&feature=related[/youtube]

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H6me1FSPb8[/youtube]

     

    Abbott, Texas

    Townes Van Zandt – Play Away the Pain [VIDEO]

    ”Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” – Steve Earle

    Though less influential than Hank Sr.,  Townes Van Zandt was no less innovative in his songs and Country/folk/Americana sound and destructive in his lifestyle. As one reader commented on my tweet for my Hank Sr. post “New Year’s is tough on song writers. The best ones anyway.” Indeed.

    In the same vein of tribute I will post some of the best Townes Van Zandt covers I can find.

    The Be Good Tanyas – Waiting Around to Die

    Tindersticks – Kathleen

    The Pyles – If I Needed You
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF6h0u5i0Rc

    Alison Krauss and Robert Plant – Nothin’
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GitZD89Xrs

    Tom Russell – Snowin’ on Ration
    http://www.youtube.com/watchv=NuCArD7Gej8&playnext=1&list=PL197C3908C5753F12&index=58

    Jimmie Dale Gilmore – Buckskin Stallion Blues

    Guy Clark – To Live Is To Fly

    Steve Earle – Colorado Girl
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPWSoSgEZM4

    Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard – Pancho and Lefty. Certainly not the best version, but the most recognizable and profitable version. Look for a cameo by Townes in the bar scene.

    Emmylou Harris – Pancho and Lefty
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRx5r32hsF4