Podcast appearances and mentions of Hank Snow

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Hank Snow

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Best podcasts about Hank Snow

Latest podcast episodes about Hank Snow

Country Special
Lustvoller Streifzug durch die 200 besten Countrysongs (Pt. 5)

Country Special

Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2025 110:40


Aus der «Rolling Stone»-Liste mit den angeblich 200 schönsten und wichtigsten Countryhits hören wir diesmal Perlen wie «I'm moving on» von Hank Snow oder «The House that built me» von Miranda Lambert. Ebenfalls dabei: Ray Charles mit «You don't know me».

El sótano
El sótano - Canciones para el camino - 16/04/25

El sótano

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2025 60:15


Una sesión de viaje, cocinada con cariño y sin ataduras, pensando en melodías y ritmos que hagan más agradable el trayecto.Playlist;(sintonía) THE WAILERS “Roadrunner”CANNED HEAT “Going up the country”KITTY DAISY and LEWIS “Buggin’ blues”HANK SNOW “I’m moving on”THE ROLLING STONES “You gotta move”STEALERS WHEEL “Stuck in the middle with you”THE GOLLIWOGS “Call it pretending”CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL “Croos-tie walker”LOU REED “I’m so free”CREAM “I feel free”THE MORELLS “Nadine”BEN VAUGHN “The man who has everything”NRBQ “The same old thing”NICK LOWE “Love so fine”TRAFFIC “Feelin’ alright”KEVIN AYERS “Shouting in a bucket blues”RONNIE LANE “One for the road”Escuchar audio

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky | WFMU
Sick Junkery from Jan 8, 2025

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky | WFMU

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2025


Webb Pierce - "There Stands the Glass" [0:00:00] Hank Snow, the Singing Ranger & His Rainbow Ranch Boys - "I Went To Your Wedding" [0:08:22] Jimmie Skinner - "100 Proof Heartaches" [0:12:09] Eddie Jackson and his Swingsters featuring Jimmy Franklin - "You Are the One" [0:13:44] Mickey Starr - "Travel On" [0:16:34] Music behind DJ: The Gee Cees - "Buzz Saw" [0:19:46] Mickey Gilley - "(I'm Gonna Put My) Love In The Want Ads" [0:23:09] Vernon Stewart - "I'm Tired Of Making Believe" [0:25:25] Ronnie Summers - "Freeze" [0:27:34] The Johnny Burnette Trio (Johnny, Dorsey and Paul) - "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" [0:29:19] Jimmy Gene Smith - "Bottle of Gin" [0:31:37] Music behind DJ: The Gee Cees - "Annie Had A Party" [0:33:27] Merle Haggard and the Strangers - "Branded Man" [0:37:09] Johnny Cash - "You Win Again" [0:39:51] Sanford Clark - "Usta Be My Baby" [0:42:13] Mike Clark - "Green, Green Grass of Home" [0:44:15] Carl Butler and Pearl - "We'll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning" [0:49:19] Music behind DJ: The Gee Cees - "Buzz Saw" [0:50:21] Charlie Rich - "She Called Me Baby" [0:53:02] Gene Marshall - "Jimmy Carter Says "Yes"" [0:55:33] https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/147935

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky | WFMU
Sick Junkery from Jan 8, 2025

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky | WFMU

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2025


Webb Pierce - "There Stands the Glass" [0:00:00] Hank Snow, the Singing Ranger & His Rainbow Ranch Boys - "I Went To Your Wedding" [0:08:22] Jimmie Skinner - "100 Proof Heartaches" [0:12:09] Eddie Jackson and his Swingsters featuring Jimmy Franklin - "You Are the One" [0:13:44] Mickey Starr - "Travel On" [0:16:34] Music behind DJ: The Gee Cees - "Buzz Saw" [0:19:46] Mickey Gilley - "(I'm Gonna Put My) Love In The Want Ads" [0:23:09] Vernon Stewart - "I'm Tired Of Making Believe" [0:25:25] Ronnie Summers - "Freeze" [0:27:34] The Johnny Burnette Trio (Johnny, Dorsey and Paul) - "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" [0:29:19] Jimmy Gene Smith - "Bottle of Gin" [0:31:37] Music behind DJ: The Gee Cees - "Annie Had A Party" [0:33:27] Merle Haggard and the Strangers - "Branded Man" [0:37:09] Johnny Cash - "You Win Again" [0:39:51] Sanford Clark - "Usta Be My Baby" [0:42:13] Mike Clark - "Green, Green Grass of Home" [0:44:15] Carl Butler and Pearl - "We'll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning" [0:49:19] Music behind DJ: The Gee Cees - "Buzz Saw" [0:50:21] Charlie Rich - "She Called Me Baby" [0:53:02] Gene Marshall - "Jimmy Carter Says "Yes"" [0:55:33] https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/147935

The Face Radio
The Bridge - Steve Roylance // 16-12-24

The Face Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2024 59:45


A Mostly Jazzy Holiday on The Bridge. We get in the holiday swing with the likes of Peggy Lee, Veronica Swift, Hank Snow, and More! For more info and tracklisting, visit: https://thefaceradio.com/the-bridge/Tune into new broadcasts of The Bridge, Every Monday from 10 PM - 11 PM EST / 3 - 4 AM GMT. (Tuesday)//Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
TCBCast 340: Elvis Things We're Thankful For

TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2024 118:22


To celebrate the American Thanksgiving holiday, Gurdip and Justin got together to reflect on the things they're most thankful for about or within the Elvis world, from songs and movies to releases and the fandom, it's a contemplative discussion on this week's show! For Song of the Week, Gurdip selects the rarely-heard "Britches," which was cut from the 1960 film "Flaming Star," and Justin digs deep on Elvis's 1969 cover of Hank Snow's signature song, "I'm Movin' On." To those of our listeners in the United States - Happy Thanksgiving! If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

My Good Ole Country
COUNTRY TRAVELLIN ??????

My Good Ole Country

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2024 58:06


Send us a textWAYLON JENNINGS, HANK SNOW, LORETTA, DEL REEVES all in some way relate to traveling in their country hits. It might be a bit of a stretch but TEX RITTER and  DON GIBSON relate to times and places you travel to. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to interview one of our Wounded Warriors , Clarence Grear ,who traveled to Saskatchewan to attend Wounded Warriors Weekend. It was a life changing experience for him which inspired him to start a company he calls "Lures For Vets" which produces fishing lures with the purpose of raising money to support our various veterans projects nation wide. LEFTY FRIZZELL , PATSY CLINE and TOM T.HALL and even ME are all here for your enjoyment. I've even added an episode of "Take Charge". Please share with someone ya love.

Six String Hayride
Six String Hayride Podcast Episode 47. The Other Ones: Helen, Anita, Carlene and Rosanne

Six String Hayride

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2024 66:22


Six String Hayride Podcast Episode 47. The Other Ones: Helen, Anita, Carlene Carter, and Rosanne Cash. The Hayride has spent a lot of time on Johnny, June, and Mother Maybelle. Time for the Other Sisters and Daughters to get an episode. June Carter is middle Sister to Helen and Anita, two powerhouse musicians and singers who often get overlooked in the Carter / Cash Legacy. Helen was considered the best all around musician in the group and often handled all the vocal and harmony arrangements for her mom and sisters. Anita was often considered to be the best pure singer of the three sisters and had hit duets with Hank Snow and Waylon Jennings. Carlene Carter, June's daughter, had a great run through the 80's and 90's with her own records and a fine duet with Dave Edmunds. Rosanne Cash has had a four decades long career that puts her among the finest songwriters and singers of her generation. The extended Carter / Cash family just might be the finest gene pool in music over the last hundred years. All the usual Hayride Fun and The Rosanne Cash Potato Salad Recipe just in time for football season. All this and more on The Six String Hayride Podcast. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=81625843https://www.facebook.com/groups/523422553475291

La Story
Trump, un enfant dans un corps d'adulte (rediffusion) 1/5

La Story

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2024 19:02


Donald Trump est de nouveau candidat à la Présidentielle américaine après avoir perdu face à Joe Biden en 2020 et malgré ses procédures judiciaires en cours. Dans « La Story », le podcast d'actualité des « Echos », nous rediffusons un épisode de septembre 2020 retournant aux origines de la personnalité et de l'ambition de Trump.Retrouver l'essentiel de l'actualité économique grâce à notre offre d'abonnement Access : abonnement.lesechos.fr/lastoryLa Story est un podcast des « Echos » présenté par Pierrick Fay. Cet épisode a été enregistré en septembre 2020. Rédaction en chef : Clémence Lemaistre. Invitée : Véronique Le Billon (correspondante des « Echos » à New York). Réalisation : Willy Ganne. Musique : Théo Boulenger. Identité graphique : Upian. Photo : AFP. Sons : Fox News, Realtor.com, France 24, AP, Hank Snow, Kings Row. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Real Punk Radio Podcast Network
The Big Takeover Show – Number 498 – August 5, 2024

Real Punk Radio Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2024


This week's show, after a 1987 Chills chillwave: brand new Effigies, Chime School, X, Tombstones in Their Eyes, Trans-Canada Highwaymen, Meatbodies, and Blushing, plus The Herd, Beach Boys, Hank Snow, Lloyd Charmers, Ennio Morricone, Replacements, and ...

The Moonlight Ramble
Episode 11: Rob McNurlin

The Moonlight Ramble

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2024 84:25


Rob McNurlin, an east Kentucky native is the Last Beatnik Cowboy, he's a walking Ken Burns series. Rob and I talk about influences, Hank Snow's toupée, death, and religion.

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky | WFMU
That Good Ole Mountain Dew from Jun 26, 2024

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky | WFMU

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2024


Music behind DJ: Jimmy Bryant - "Model 400 Buckboard" [0:00:00] Hank Snow, The Singing Ranger And The Rainbow Ranch Boys - "The Boogie Woogie Flying Cloud" [0:03:20] Red Foley and Kitty Wells - "As Long As I Live" [0:06:17] Ernest Tubb - "Saturday Satan Sunday Saint" [0:08:32] Carl Story - "Get Religion" [0:11:41] The Dixielanders - "Uncle John's Bongos" [0:14:04] Music behind DJ: Duane Eddy - "Lonesome Road" [0:16:31] Werly Fairburn - "Telephone Baby" [0:19:25] Tillman Franks and His Rainbow Boys - "Hot Rod-Shotgun Boogie" [0:21:34] Ray Stanley - "Market Place" [0:24:21] Mack Fields - "Bowling Ball Blues" [0:28:01] Bobby Dean - "Dime Store Pony Tail" [0:28:24] Music behind DJ: The Shrimpers - "Shrimpsey" [0:30:50] Dick Curless - "Juke Box Man" [0:33:06] Dave Dudley - "My Kind Of Love" [0:35:39] Tommy Thompson - "Face in the Mirror" [0:38:08] Dale Davis & Tom Cats - "Gotta Rock" [0:39:58] Bob Taylor & the Mystics - "Love That Woman" [0:42:10] Music behind DJ: Jimmy Bryant - "Model 400 Buckboard" [0:45:12] Elvis Presley - "Rubberneckin'" [0:47:48] Townes Van Zandt - "Poncho & Lefty" [0:49:59] Roger Sovine - "Home Town Blues" [0:53:40] https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/141408

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky | WFMU
That Good Ole Mountain Dew from Jun 26, 2024

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky | WFMU

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2024


Music behind DJ: Jimmy Bryant - "Model 400 Buckboard" [0:00:00] Hank Snow, The Singing Ranger And The Rainbow Ranch Boys - "The Boogie Woogie Flying Cloud" [0:03:20] Red Foley and Kitty Wells - "As Long As I Live" [0:06:17] Ernest Tubb - "Saturday Satan Sunday Saint" [0:08:32] Carl Story - "Get Religion" [0:11:41] The Dixielanders - "Uncle John's Bongos" [0:14:04] Music behind DJ: Duane Eddy - "Lonesome Road" [0:16:31] Werly Fairburn - "Telephone Baby" [0:19:25] Tillman Franks and His Rainbow Boys - "Hot Rod-Shotgun Boogie" [0:21:34] Ray Stanley - "Market Place" [0:24:21] Mack Fields - "Bowling Ball Blues" [0:28:01] Bobby Dean - "Dime Store Pony Tail" [0:28:24] Music behind DJ: The Shrimpers - "Shrimpsey" [0:30:50] Dick Curless - "Juke Box Man" [0:33:06] Dave Dudley - "My Kind Of Love" [0:35:39] Tommy Thompson - "Face in the Mirror" [0:38:08] Dale Davis & Tom Cats - "Gotta Rock" [0:39:58] Bob Taylor & the Mystics - "Love That Woman" [0:42:10] Music behind DJ: Jimmy Bryant - "Model 400 Buckboard" [0:45:12] Elvis Presley - "Rubberneckin'" [0:47:48] Townes Van Zandt - "Poncho & Lefty" [0:49:59] Roger Sovine - "Home Town Blues" [0:53:40] https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/141408

SOUNDS LIKE RADIO
Vol 173 Great Gildersleeve-Moving Day & End of 4th Season for Sounds Like Radio!

SOUNDS LIKE RADIO

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2024 65:27


It's Moving Day finally for Marjorie & Bronco on today's Great Gildersleeve on Sounds Like Radio Volume 173. And it's the end of Season 4 of our Gildy & Music shows & we are celebrating with some great guests and a truly funny stand-up comedienne. To help out Marjorie & Bronco & to celebrate the end of our 4th season here we have: Patsy Cline, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Hank Snow, Dinah Washington, and Moms Mabley to have us all laughing. But not to worry, Your Humble Host will be bringing you new Library of Sound shows all thru the summer! Our Gildersleeve & Fab music shows will return in the fall!

My Good Ole Country
COUNTRY RAMBLIN

My Good Ole Country

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2024 59:58


Start Ramblin with WAYLON and then LEFTY FRIZZELL  will take you to Saginaw Michigan. HANK SNOW names all the places he's been . DEL REEVES and LORETTA join in as well as PATSY CLINE , TEX RITTER AND TOM T.  THERE'S LOTS MORE INCLUDING MY EPISODE OF "TAKE CHARGE" and a real story about fishing lures for Veterans. FARON YOUNG and DON GIBSON are with us today too. ENJOY .

Old Time Radio Westerns
Hank Snow and Billy Grammer | Grand Ole Opry (06-19-59)

Old Time Radio Westerns

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2024 33:09


Original Air Date: June 19, 1959Host: Andrew RhynesShow: Grand Ole OpryPhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Exit music from: Roundup on the Prairie by Aaron Kenny https://bit.ly/3kTj0kK

Old Time Radio Westerns
Panamama (Hank Snow) | Grand Ole Opry (02-20-54)

Old Time Radio Westerns

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2024 34:23


Original Air Date: February 20, 1954Host: Andrew RhynesShow: Grand Ole OpryPhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Exit music from: Roundup on the Prairie by Aaron Kenny https://bit.ly/3kTj0kK

Deep Tracks
Ep. 3.5: "The Turning Point"

Deep Tracks

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2024 19:44


Col. Parker had his sights set on country artists as his ticket to big money. After somewhat reluctantly allowing a young punk kid named Elvis Presley to tag along on his most recent Hank Snow tour, Parker soon came to realize that this kid was the "white whale" he'd been searching for all along. Everything would change in a concert in Jacksonville, Florida, after Elvis announced to the women in the audience, "Girls, I'll see you all backstage."

My Good Ole Country
Country Influence

My Good Ole Country

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 11, 2024 60:55


HANK SNOW, MERLE HAGGARD, ERNEST TUBB, TOM T HALL, JACK GREENE,LEFTY FRIZZEL CAL SMITH and many more were influenced by one man and his music. Listen in and you'll hear them all and know who he was.

Classic 45's Jukebox
I'm Movin' On by John Kay

Classic 45's Jukebox

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2024


Label: Dunhill/ABC 4309Year: 1972Condition: M-Price: $12.00Kay was the leader of Steppenwolf. This is a terrific and surprising cover of the Hank Snow classic. It's wholly original, bearing no resemblance to either the original nor to Ray Charles' iconic version. Note: This copy comes in a vintage ABC/Dunhill Records factory sleeve.

Real Punk Radio Podcast Network
The Big Takeover Show – Number 459 – November 6, 2023

Real Punk Radio Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2023


This week's show, after a 1967 Hollies hearken: brand new The Beatles, New Model Army, Madness, Cloud Nothings, Semisonic, Guest Directors, and Green Palm Radiation, plus John Lennon, 13th Floor Elevators, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Snow, David Bowie, The E...

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs
Episode 167: “The Weight” by The Band

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2023


Episode one hundred and sixty-seven of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “The Weight" by the Band, the Basement Tapes, and the continuing controversy over Dylan going electric. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a half-hour bonus episode available, on "S.F. Sorrow is Born" by the Pretty Things. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Also, a one-time request here -- Shawn Taylor, who runs the Facebook group for the podcast and is an old and dear friend of mine, has stage-three lung cancer. I will be hugely grateful to anyone who donates to the GoFundMe for her treatment. Errata At one point I say "when Robertson and Helm travelled to the Brill Building". I meant "when Hawkins and Helm". This is fixed in the transcript but not the recording. Resources There are three Mixcloud mixes this time. As there are so many songs by Bob Dylan and the Band excerpted, and Mixcloud won't allow more than four songs by the same artist in any mix, I've had to post the songs not in quite the same order in which they appear in the podcast. But the mixes are here — one, two, three. I've used these books for all the episodes involving Dylan: Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties by Elijah Wald, which is recommended, as all Wald's books are. Bob Dylan: All The Songs by Phillipe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon is a song-by-song look at every song Dylan ever wrote, as is Revolution in the Air, by Clinton Heylin. Heylin also wrote the most comprehensive and accurate biography of Dylan, Behind the Shades. I've also used Robert Shelton's No Direction Home, which is less accurate, but which is written by someone who knew Dylan. Chronicles Volume 1 by Bob Dylan is a partial, highly inaccurate, but thoroughly readable autobiography. Information on Tiny Tim comes from Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life of Tiny Tim by Justin Martell. Information on John Cage comes from The Roaring Silence by David Revill Information on Woodstock comes from Small Town Talk by Barney Hoskyns. For material on the Basement Tapes, I've used Million Dollar Bash by Sid Griffin. And for the Band, I've used This Wheel's on Fire by Levon Helm with Stephen Davis, Testimony by Robbie Robertson, The Band by Craig Harris and Levon by Sandra B Tooze. I've also referred to the documentaries No Direction Home and Once Were Brothers. The complete Basement Tapes can be found on this multi-disc box set, while this double-CD version has the best material from the sessions. All the surviving live recordings by Dylan and the Hawks from 1966 are on this box set. There are various deluxe versions of Music From Big Pink, but still the best way to get the original album is in this twofer CD with the Band's second album. Transcript Just a brief note before I start – literally while I was in the middle of recording this episode, it was announced that Robbie Robertson had died today, aged eighty. Obviously I've not had time to alter the rest of the episode – half of which had already been edited – with that in mind, though I don't believe I say anything disrespectful to his memory. My condolences to those who loved him – he was a huge talent and will be missed. There are people in the world who question the function of criticism. Those people argue that criticism is in many ways parasitic. If critics knew what they were talking about, so the argument goes, they would create themselves, rather than talk about other people's creation. It's a variant of the "those who can't, teach" cliche. And to an extent it's true. Certainly in the world of rock music, which we're talking about in this podcast, most critics are quite staggeringly ignorant of the things they're talking about. Most criticism is ephemeral, published in newspapers, magazines, blogs and podcasts, and forgotten as soon as it has been consumed -- and consumed is the word . But sometimes, just sometimes, a critic will have an effect on the world that is at least as important as that of any of the artists they criticise. One such critic was John Ruskin. Ruskin was one of the preeminent critics of visual art in the Victorian era, particularly specialising in painting and architecture, and he passionately advocated for a form of art that would be truthful, plain, and honest. To Ruskin's mind, many artists of the past, and of his time, drew and painted, not what they saw with their own eyes, but what other people expected them to paint. They replaced true observation of nature with the regurgitation of ever-more-mannered and formalised cliches. His attacks on many great artists were, in essence, the same critiques that are currently brought against AI art apps -- they're just recycling and plagiarising what other people had already done, not seeing with their own eyes and creating from their own vision. Ruskin was an artist himself, but never received much acclaim for his own work. Rather, he advocated for the works of others, like Turner and the pre-Raphaelite school -- the latter of whom were influenced by Ruskin, even as he admired them for seeing with their own vision rather than just repeating influences from others. But those weren't the only people Ruskin influenced. Because any critical project, properly understood, becomes about more than just the art -- as if art is just anything. Ruskin, for example, studied geology, because if you're going to talk about how people should paint landscapes and what those landscapes look like, you need to understand what landscapes really do look like, which means understanding their formation. He understood that art of the kind he wanted could only be produced by certain types of people, and so society had to be organised in a way to produce such people. Some types of societal organisation lead to some kinds of thinking and creation, and to properly, honestly, understand one branch of human thought means at least to attempt to understand all of them. Opinions about art have moral consequences, and morality has political and economic consequences. The inevitable endpoint of any theory of art is, ultimately, a theory of society. And Ruskin had a theory of society, and social organisation. Ruskin's views are too complex to summarise here, but they were a kind of anarcho-primitivist collectivism. He believed that wealth was evil, and that the classical liberal economics of people like Mill was fundamentally anti-human, that the division of labour alienated people from their work. In Ruskin's ideal world, people would gather in communities no bigger than villages, and work as craftspeople, working with nature rather than trying to bend nature to their will. They would be collectives, with none richer or poorer than any other, and working the land without modern technology. in the first half of the twentieth century, in particular, Ruskin's influence was *everywhere*. His writings on art inspired the Impressionist movement, but his political and economic ideas were the most influential, right across the political spectrum. Ruskin's ideas were closest to Christian socialism, and he did indeed inspire many socialist parties -- most of the founders of Britain's Labour Party were admirers of Ruskin and influenced by his ideas, particularly his opposition to the free market. But he inspired many other people -- Gandhi talked about the profound influence that Ruskin had on him, saying in his autobiography that he got three lessons from Ruskin's Unto This Last: "That 1) the good of the individual is contained in the good of all. 2) a lawyer's work has the same value as the barber's in as much as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work. 3) a life of labour, i.e., the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman is the life worth living. The first of these I knew. The second I had dimly realized. The third had never occurred to me. Unto This Last made it clear as daylight for me that the second and third were contained in the first. I arose with the dawn, ready to reduce these principles to practice" Gandhi translated and paraphrased Unto this Last into Gujurati and called the resulting book Sarvodaya (meaning "uplifting all" or "the welfare of all") which he later took as the name of his own political philosophy. But Ruskin also had a more pernicious influence -- it was said in 1930s Germany that he and his friend Thomas Carlyle were "the first National Socialists" -- there's no evidence I know of that Hitler ever read Ruskin, but a *lot* of Nazi rhetoric is implicit in Ruskin's writing, particularly in his opposition to progress (he even opposed the bicycle as being too much inhuman interference with nature), just as much as more admirable philosophies, and he was so widely read in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that there's barely a political movement anywhere that didn't bear his fingerprints. But of course, our focus here is on music. And Ruskin had an influence on that, too. We've talked in several episodes, most recently the one on the Velvet Underground, about John Cage's piece 4'33. What I didn't mention in any of the discussions of that piece -- because I was saving it for here -- is that that piece was premiered at a small concert hall in upstate New York. The hall, the Maverick Concert Hall, was owned and run by the Maverick arts and crafts collective -- a collective that were so called because they were the *second* Ruskinite arts colony in the area, having split off from the Byrdcliffe colony after a dispute between its three founders, all of whom were disciples of Ruskin, and all of whom disagreed violently about how to implement Ruskin's ideas of pacifist all-for-one and one-for-all community. These arts colonies, and others that grew up around them like the Arts Students League were the thriving centre of a Bohemian community -- close enough to New York that you could get there if you needed to, far enough away that you could live out your pastoral fantasies, and artists of all types flocked there -- Pete Seeger met his wife there, and his father-in-law had been one of the stonemasons who helped build the Maverick concert hall. Dozens of artists in all sorts of areas, from Aaron Copland to Edward G Robinson, spent time in these communities, as did Cage. Of course, while these arts and crafts communities had a reputation for Bohemianism and artistic extremism, even radical utopian artists have their limits, and legend has it that the premiere of 4'33 was met with horror and derision, and eventually led to one artist in the audience standing up and calling on the residents of the town around which these artistic colonies had agglomerated: “Good people of Woodstock, let's drive these people out of town.” [Excerpt: The Band, "The Weight"] Ronnie Hawkins was almost born to make music. We heard back in the episode on "Suzie Q" in 2019 about his family and their ties to music. Ronnie's uncle Del was, according to most of the sources on the family, a member of the Sons of the Pioneers -- though as I point out in that episode, his name isn't on any of the official lists of group members, but he might well have performed with them at some point in the early years of the group. And he was definitely a country music bass player, even if he *wasn't* in the most popular country and western group of the thirties and forties. And Del had had two sons, Jerry, who made some minor rockabilly records: [Excerpt: Jerry Hawkins, "Swing, Daddy, Swing"] And Del junior, who as we heard in the "Susie Q" episode became known as Dale Hawkins and made one of the most important rock records of the fifties: [Excerpt: Dale Hawkins, "Susie Q"] Ronnie Hawkins was around the same age as his cousins, and was in awe of his country-music star uncle. Hawkins later remembered that after his uncle moved to Califormia to become a star “He'd come home for a week or two, driving a brand new Cadillac and wearing brand new clothes and I knew that's what I wanted to be." Though he also remembered “He spent every penny he made on whiskey, and he was divorced because he was running around with all sorts of women. His wife left Arkansas and went to Louisiana.” Hawkins knew that he wanted to be a music star like his uncle, and he started performing at local fairs and other events from the age of eleven, including one performance where he substituted for Hank Williams -- Williams was so drunk that day he couldn't perform, and so his backing band asked volunteers from the audience to get up and sing with them, and Hawkins sang Burl Ives and minstrel-show songs with the band. He said later “Even back then I knew that every important white cat—Al Jolson, Stephen Foster—they all did it by copying blacks. Even Hank Williams learned all the stuff he had from those black cats in Alabama. Elvis Presley copied black music; that's all that Elvis did.” As well as being a performer from an early age, though, Hawkins was also an entrepreneur with an eye for how to make money. From the age of fourteen he started running liquor -- not moonshine, he would always point out, but something far safer. He lived only a few miles from the border between Missouri and Arkansas, and alcohol and tobacco were about half the price in Missouri that they were in Arkansas, so he'd drive across the border, load up on whisky and cigarettes, and drive back and sell them at a profit, which he then used to buy shares in several nightclubs, which he and his bands would perform in in later years. Like every man of his generation, Hawkins had to do six months in the Army, and it was there that he joined his first ever full-time band, the Blackhawks -- so called because his name was Hawkins, and the rest of the group were Black, though Hawkins was white. They got together when the other four members were performing at a club in the area where Hawkins was stationed, and he was so impressed with their music that he jumped on stage and started singing with them. He said later “It sounded like something between the blues and rockabilly. It sort of leaned in both directions at the same time, me being a hayseed and those guys playing a lot funkier." As he put it "I wanted to sound like Bobby ‘Blue' Bland but it came out sounding like Ernest Tubb.” Word got around about the Blackhawks, both that they were a great-sounding rock and roll band and that they were an integrated band at a time when that was extremely unpopular in the southern states, and when Hawkins was discharged from the Army he got a call from Sam Phillips at Sun Records. According to Hawkins a group of the regular Sun session musicians were planning on forming a band, and he was asked to front the band for a hundred dollars a week, but by the time he got there the band had fallen apart. This doesn't precisely line up with anything else I know about Sun, though it perhaps makes sense if Hawkins was being asked to front the band who had variously backed Billy Lee Riley and Jerry Lee Lewis after one of Riley's occasional threats to leave the label. More likely though, he told everyone he knew that he had a deal with Sun but Phillips was unimpressed with the demos he cut there, and Hawkins made up the story to stop himself losing face. One of the session players for Sun, though, Luke Paulman, who played in Conway Twitty's band among others, *was* impressed with Hawkins though, and suggested that they form a band together with Paulman's bass player brother George and piano-playing cousin Pop Jones. The Paulman brothers and Jones also came from Arkansas, but they specifically came from Helena, Arkansas, the town from which King Biscuit Time was broadcast. King Biscuit Time was the most important blues radio show in the US at that time -- a short lunchtime programme which featured live performances from a house band which varied over the years, but which in the 1940s had been led by Sonny Boy Williamson II, and featured Robert Jr. Lockwood, Robert Johnson's stepson, on guiitar: [Excerpt: Sonny Boy Williamson II "Eyesight to the Blind (King Biscuit Time)"] The band also included a drummer, "Peck" Curtis, and that drummer was the biggest inspiration for a young white man from the town named Levon Helm. Helm had first been inspired to make music after seeing Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys play live when Helm was eight, and he had soon taken up first the harmonica, then the guitar, then the drums, becoming excellent at all of them. Even as a child he knew that he didn't want to be a farmer like his family, and that music was, as he put it, "the only way to get off that stinking tractor  and out of that one hundred and five degree heat.” Sonny Boy Williamson and the King Biscuit Boys would perform in the open air in Marvell, Arkansas, where Helm was growing up, on Saturdays, and Helm watched them regularly as a small child, and became particularly interested in the drumming. “As good as the band sounded,” he said later “it seemed that [Peck] was definitely having the most fun. I locked into the drums at that point. Later, I heard Jack Nance, Conway Twitty's drummer, and all the great drummers in Memphis—Jimmy Van Eaton, Al Jackson, and Willie Hall—the Chicago boys (Fred Belew and Clifton James) and the people at Sun Records and Vee-Jay, but most of my style was based on Peck and Sonny Boy—the Delta blues style with the shuffle. Through the years, I've quickened the pace to a more rock-and-roll meter and time frame, but it still bases itself back to Peck, Sonny Boy Williamson, and the King Biscuit Boys.” Helm had played with another band that George Paulman had played in, and he was invited to join the fledgling band Hawkins was putting together, called for the moment the Sun Records Quartet. The group played some of the clubs Hawkins had business connections in, but they had other plans -- Conway Twitty had recently played Toronto, and had told Luke Paulman about how desperate the Canadians were for American rock and roll music. Twitty's agent Harold Kudlets booked the group in to a Toronto club, Le Coq D'Or, and soon the group were alternating between residencies in clubs in the Deep South, where they were just another rockabilly band, albeit one of the better ones, and in Canada, where they became the most popular band in Ontario, and became the nucleus of an entire musical scene -- the same scene from which, a few years later, people like Neil Young would emerge. George Paulman didn't remain long in the group -- he was apparently getting drunk, and also he was a double-bass player, at a time when the electric bass was becoming the in thing. And this is the best place to mention this, but there are several discrepancies in the various accounts of which band members were in Hawkins' band at which times, and who played on what session. They all *broadly* follow the same lines, but none of them are fully reconcilable with each other, and nobody was paying enough attention to lineup shifts in a bar band between 1957 and 1964 to be absolutely certain who was right. I've tried to reconcile the various accounts as far as possible and make a coherent narrative, but some of the details of what follows may be wrong, though the broad strokes are correct. For much of their first period in Ontario, the group had no bass player at all, relying on Jones' piano to fill in the bass parts, and on their first recording, a version of "Bo Diddley", they actually got the club's manager to play bass with them: [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins, "Hey Bo Diddley"] That is claimed to be the first rock and roll record made in Canada, though as everyone who has listened to this podcast knows, there's no first anything. It wasn't released as by the Sun Records Quartet though -- the band had presumably realised that that name would make them much less attractive to other labels, and so by this point the Sun Records Quartet had become Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. "Hey Bo Diddley" was released on a small Canadian label and didn't have any success, but the group carried on performing live, travelling back down to Arkansas for a while and getting a new bass player, Lefty Evans, who had been playing in the same pool of musicians as them, having been another Sun session player who had been in Conway Twitty's band, and had written Twitty's "Why Can't I Get Through to You": [Excerpt: Conway Twitty, "Why Can't I Get Through to You"] The band were now popular enough in Canada that they were starting to get heard of in America, and through Kudlets they got a contract with Joe Glaser, a Mafia-connected booking agent who booked them into gigs on the Jersey Shore. As Helm said “Ronnie Hawkins had molded us into the wildest, fiercest, speed-driven bar band in America," and the group were apparently getting larger audiences in New Jersey than Sammy Davis Jr was, even though they hadn't released any records in the US. Or at least, they hadn't released any records in their own name in the US. There's a record on End Records by Rockin' Ronald and the Rebels which is very strongly rumoured to have been the Hawks under another name, though Hawkins always denied that. Have a listen for yourself and see what you think: [Excerpt: Rockin' Ronald and the Rebels, "Kansas City"] End Records, the label that was on, was one of the many record labels set up by George Goldner and distributed by Morris Levy, and when the group did release a record in their home country under their own name, it was on Levy's Roulette Records. An audition for Levy had been set up by Glaser's booking company, and Levy decided that given that Elvis was in the Army, there was a vacancy to be filled and Ronnie Hawkins might just fit the bill. Hawkins signed a contract with Levy, and it doesn't sound like he had much choice in the matter. Helm asked him “How long did you have to sign for?” and Hawkins replied "Life with an option" That said, unlike almost every other artist who interacted with Levy, Hawkins never had a bad word to say about him, at least in public, saying later “I don't care what Morris was supposed to have done, he looked after me and he believed in me. I even lived with him in his million-dollar apartment on the Upper East Side." The first single the group recorded for Roulette, a remake of Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" retitled "Forty Days", didn't chart, but the follow-up, a version of Young Jessie's "Mary Lou", made number twenty-six on the charts: [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, "Mary Lou"] While that was a cover of a Young Jessie record, the songwriting credits read Hawkins and Magill -- Magill was a pseudonym used by Morris Levy. Levy hoped to make Ronnie Hawkins into a really big star, but hit a snag. This was just the point where the payola scandal had hit and record companies were under criminal investigation for bribing DJs to play their records. This was the main method of promotion that Levy used, and this was so well known that Levy was, for a time, under more scrutiny than anyone. He couldn't risk paying anyone off, and so Hawkins' records didn't get the expected airplay. The group went through some lineup changes, too, bringing in guitarist Fred Carter (with Luke Paulman moving to rhythm and soon leaving altogether)  from Hawkins' cousin Dale's band, and bass player Jimmy Evans. Some sources say that Jones quit around this time, too, though others say he was in the band for  a while longer, and they had two keyboards (the other keyboard being supplied by Stan Szelest. As well as recording Ronnie Hawkins singles, the new lineup of the group also recorded one single with Carter on lead vocals, "My Heart Cries": [Excerpt: Fred Carter, "My Heart Cries"] While the group were now playing more shows in the USA, they were still playing regularly in Canada, and they had developed a huge fanbase there. One of these was a teenage guitarist called Robbie Robertson, who had become fascinated with the band after playing a support slot for them, and had started hanging round, trying to ingratiate himself with the band in the hope of being allowed to join. As he was a teenager, Hawkins thought he might have his finger on the pulse of the youth market, and when Hawkins and Helm travelled to the Brill Building to hear new songs for consideration for their next album, they brought Robertson along to listen to them and give his opinion. Robertson himself ended up contributing two songs to the album, titled Mr. Dynamo. According to Hawkins "we had a little time after the session, so I thought, Well, I'm just gonna put 'em down and see what happens. And they were released. Robbie was the songwriter for words, and Levon was good for arranging, making things fit in and all that stuff. He knew what to do, but he didn't write anything." The two songs in question were "Someone Like You" and "Hey Boba Lou": [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, "Hey Boba Lou"] While Robertson was the sole writer of the songs, they were credited to Robertson, Hawkins, and Magill -- Morris Levy. As Robertson told the story later, “It's funny, when those songs came out and I got a copy of the album, it had another name on there besides my name for some writer like Morris Levy. So, I said to Ronnie, “There was nobody there writing these songs when I wrote these songs. Who is Morris Levy?” Ronnie just kinda tapped me on the head and said, “There are certain things about this business that you just let go and you don't question.” That was one of my early music industry lessons right there" Robertson desperately wanted to join the Hawks, but initially it was Robertson's bandmate Scott Cushnie who became the first Canadian to join the Hawks. But then when they were in Arkansas, Jimmy Evans decided he wasn't going to go back to Canada. So Hawkins called Robbie Robertson up and made him an offer. Robertson had to come down to Arkansas and get a couple of quick bass lessons from Helm (who could play pretty much every instrument to an acceptable standard, and so was by this point acting as the group's musical director, working out arrangements and leading them in rehearsals). Then Hawkins and Helm had to be elsewhere for a few weeks. If, when they got back, Robertson was good enough on bass, he had the job. If not, he didn't. Robertson accepted, but he nearly didn't get the gig after all. The place Hawkins and Helm had to be was Britain, where they were going to be promoting their latest single on Boy Meets Girls, the Jack Good TV series with Marty Wilde, which featured guitarist Joe Brown in the backing band: [Excerpt: Joe Brown, “Savage”] This was the same series that Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent were regularly appearing on, and while they didn't appear on the episodes that Hawkins and Helm appeared on, they did appear on the episodes immediately before Hawkins and Helm's two appearances, and again a couple of weeks after, and were friendly with the musicians who did play with Hawkins and Helm, and apparently they all jammed together a few times. Hawkins was impressed enough with Joe Brown -- who at the time was considered the best guitarist on the British scene -- that he invited Brown to become a Hawk. Presumably if Brown had taken him up on the offer, he would have taken the spot that ended up being Robertson's, but Brown turned him down -- a decision he apparently later regretted. Robbie Robertson was now a Hawk, and he and Helm formed an immediate bond. As Helm much later put it, "It was me and Robbie against the world. Our mission, as we saw it, was to put together the best band in history". As rockabilly was by this point passe, Levy tried converting Hawkins into a folk artist, to see if he could get some of the Kingston Trio's audience. He recorded a protest song, "The Ballad of Caryl Chessman", protesting the then-forthcoming execution of Chessman (one of only a handful of people to be executed in the US in recent decades for non-lethal offences), and he made an album of folk tunes, The Folk Ballads of Ronnie Hawkins, which largely consisted of solo acoustic recordings, plus a handful of left-over Hawks recordings from a year or so earlier. That wasn't a success, but they also tried a follow-up, having Hawkins go country and do an album of Hank Williams songs, recorded in Nashville at Owen Bradley's Quonset hut. While many of the musicians on the album were Nashville A-Team players, Hawkins also insisted on having his own band members perform, much to the disgust of the producer, and so it's likely (not certain, because there seem to be various disagreements about what was recorded when) that that album features the first studio recordings with Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson playing together: [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, "Your Cheatin' Heart"] Other sources claim that the only Hawk allowed to play on the album sessions was Helm, and that the rest of the musicians on the album were Harold Bradley and Hank Garland on guitar, Owen Bradley and Floyd Cramer on piano, Bob Moore on bass, and the Anita Kerr singers. I tend to trust Helm's recollection that the Hawks played at least some of the instruments though, because the source claiming that also seems to confuse the Hank Williams and Folk Ballads albums, and because I don't hear two pianos on the album. On the other hand, that *does* sound like Floyd Cramer on piano, and the tik-tok bass sound you'd get from having Harold Bradley play a baritone guitar while Bob Moore played a bass. So my best guess is that these sessions were like the Elvis sessions around the same time and with several of the same musicians, where Elvis' own backing musicians played rhythm parts but left the prominent instruments to the A-team players. Helm was singularly unimpressed with the experience of recording in Nashville. His strongest memory of the sessions was of another session going on in the same studio complex at the time -- Bobby "Blue" Bland was recording his classic single "Turn On Your Love Light", with the great drummer Jabo Starks on drums, and Helm was more interested in listening to that than he was in the music they were playing: [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Turn On Your Love Light"] Incidentally, Helm talks about that recording being made "downstairs" from where the Hawks were recording, but also says that they were recording in Bradley's Quonset hut.  Now, my understanding here *could* be very wrong -- I've been unable to find a plan or schematic anywhere -- but my understanding is that the Quonset hut was a single-level structure, not a multi-level structure. BUT the original recording facilities run by the Bradley brothers were in Owen Bradley's basement, before they moved into the larger Quonset hut facility in the back, so it's possible that Bland was recording that in the old basement studio. If so, that won't be the last recording made in a basement we hear this episode... Fred Carter decided during the Nashville sessions that he was going to leave the Hawks. As his son told the story: "Dad had discovered the session musicians there. He had no idea that you could play and make a living playing in studios and sleep in your own bed every night. By that point in his life, he'd already been gone from home and constantly on the road and in the service playing music for ten years so that appealed to him greatly. And Levon asked him, he said, “If you're gonna leave, Fred, I'd like you to get young Robbie over here up to speed on guitar”…[Robbie] got kind of aggravated with him—and Dad didn't say this with any malice—but by the end of that week, or whatever it was, Robbie made some kind of comment about “One day I'm gonna cut you.” And Dad said, “Well, if that's how you think about it, the lessons are over.” " (For those who don't know, a musician "cutting" another one is playing better than them, so much better that the worse musician has to concede defeat. For the remainder of Carter's notice in the Hawks, he played with his back to Robertson, refusing to look at him. Carter leaving the group caused some more shuffling of roles. For a while, Levon Helm -- who Hawkins always said was the best lead guitar player he ever worked with as well as the best drummer -- tried playing lead guitar while Robertson played rhythm and another member, Rebel Payne, played bass, but they couldn't find a drummer to replace Helm, who moved back onto the drums. Then they brought in Roy Buchanan, another guitarist who had been playing with Dale Hawkins, having started out playing with Johnny Otis' band. But Buchanan didn't fit with Hawkins' personality, and he quit after a few months, going off to record his own first solo record: [Excerpt: Roy Buchanan, "Mule Train Stomp"] Eventually they solved the lineup problem by having Robertson -- by this point an accomplished lead player --- move to lead guitar and bringing in a new rhythm player, another Canadian teenager named Rick Danko, who had originally been a lead player (and who also played mandolin and fiddle). Danko wasn't expected to stay on rhythm long though -- Rebel Payne was drinking a lot and missing being at home when he was out on the road, so Danko was brought in on the understanding that he was to learn Payne's bass parts and switch to bass when Payne quit. Helm and Robertson were unsure about Danko, and Robertson expressed that doubt, saying "He only knows four chords," to which Hawkins replied, "That's all right son. You can teach him four more the way we had to teach you." He proved himself by sheer hard work. As Hawkins put it “He practiced so much that his arms swoll up. He was hurting.” By the time Danko switched to bass, the group also had a baritone sax player, Jerry Penfound, which allowed the group to play more of the soul and R&B material that Helm and Robertson favoured, though Hawkins wasn't keen. This new lineup of the group (which also had Stan Szelest on piano) recorded Hawkins' next album. This one was produced by Henry Glover, the great record producer, songwriter, and trumpet player who had played with Lucky Millinder, produced Wynonie Harris, Hank Ballard, and Moon Mullican, and wrote "Drowning in My Own Tears", "The Peppermint Twist", and "California Sun". Glover was massively impressed with the band, especially Helm (with whom he would remain friends for the rest of his life) and set aside some studio time for them to cut some tracks without Hawkins, to be used as album filler, including a version of the Bobby "Blue" Bland song "Farther On Up the Road" with Helm on lead vocals: [Excerpt: Levon Helm and the Hawks, "Farther On Up the Road"] There were more changes on the way though. Stan Szelest was about to leave the band, and Jones had already left, so the group had no keyboard player. Hawkins had just the replacement for Szelest -- yet another Canadian teenager. This one was Richard Manuel, who played piano and sang in a band called The Rockin' Revols. Manuel was not the greatest piano player around -- he was an adequate player for simple rockabilly and R&B stuff, but hardly a virtuoso -- but he was an incredible singer, able to do a version of "Georgia on My Mind" which rivalled Ray Charles, and Hawkins had booked the Revols into his own small circuit of clubs around Arkanasas after being impressed with them on the same bill as the Hawks a couple of times. Hawkins wanted someone with a good voice because he was increasingly taking a back seat in performances. Hawkins was the bandleader and frontman, but he'd often given Helm a song or two to sing in the show, and as they were often playing for several hours a night, the more singers the band had the better. Soon, with Helm, Danko, and Manuel all in the group and able to take lead vocals, Hawkins would start missing entire shows, though he still got more money than any of his backing group. Hawkins was also a hard taskmaster, and wanted to have the best band around. He already had great musicians, but he wanted them to be *the best*. And all the musicians in his band were now much younger than him, with tons of natural talent, but untrained. What he needed was someone with proper training, someone who knew theory and technique. He'd been trying for a long time to get someone like that, but Garth Hudson had kept turning him down. Hudson was older than any of the Hawks, though younger than Hawkins, and he was a multi-instrumentalist who was far better than any other musician on the circuit, having trained in a conservatory and learned how to play Bach and Chopin before switching to rock and roll. He thought the Hawks were too loud sounding and played too hard for him, but Helm kept on at Hawkins to meet any demands Hudson had, and Hawkins eventually agreed to give Hudson a higher wage than any of the other band members, buy him a new Lowry organ, and give him an extra ten dollars a week to give the rest of the band music lessons. Hudson agreed, and the Hawks now had a lineup of Helm on drums, Robertson on guitar, Manuel on piano, Danko on bass, Hudson on organ and alto sax, and Penfound on baritone sax. But these new young musicians were beginning to wonder why they actually needed a frontman who didn't turn up to many of the gigs, kept most of the money, and fined them whenever they broke one of his increasingly stringent set of rules. Indeed, they wondered why they needed a frontman at all. They already had three singers -- and sometimes a fourth, a singer called Bruce Bruno who would sometimes sit in with them when Penfound was unable to make a gig. They went to see Harold Kudlets, who Hawkins had recently sacked as his manager, and asked him if he could get them gigs for the same amount of money as they'd been getting with Hawkins. Kudlets was astonished to find how little Hawkins had been paying them, and told them that would be no problem at all. They had no frontman any more -- and made it a rule in all their contracts that the word "sideman" would never be used -- but Helm had been the leader for contractual purposes, as the musical director and longest-serving member (Hawkins, as a non-playing singer, had never joined the Musicians' Union so couldn't be the leader on contracts). So the band that had been Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks became the Levon Helm Sextet briefly -- but Penfound soon quit, and they became Levon and the Hawks. The Hawks really started to find their identity as their own band in 1964. They were already far more interested in playing soul than Hawkins had been, but they were also starting to get into playing soul *jazz*, especially after seeing the Cannonball Adderley Sextet play live: [Excerpt: Cannonball Adderley, "This Here"] What the group admired about the Adderley group more than anything else was a sense of restraint. Helm was particularly impressed with their drummer, Louie Hayes, and said of him "I got to see some great musicians over the years, and you see somebody like that play and you can tell, y' know, that the thing not to do is to just get it down on the floor and stomp the hell out of it!" The other influence they had, and one which would shape their sound even more, was a negative one. The two biggest bands on the charts at the time were the Beatles and the Beach Boys, and as Helm described it in his autobiography, the Hawks thought both bands' harmonies were "a blend of pale, homogenised, voices". He said "We felt we were better than the Beatles and the Beach Boys. We considered them our rivals, even though they'd never heard of us", and they decided to make their own harmonies sound as different as possible as a result. Where those groups emphasised a vocal blend, the Hawks were going to emphasise the *difference* in their voices in their own harmonies. The group were playing prestigious venues like the Peppermint Lounge, and while playing there they met up with John Hammond Jr, who they'd met previously in Canada. As you might remember from the first episode on Bob Dylan, Hammond Jr was the son of the John Hammond who we've talked about in many episodes, and was a blues musician in his own right. He invited Helm, Robertson, and Hudson to join the musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, who were playing on his new album, So Many Roads: [Excerpt: John P. Hammond, "Who Do You Love?"] That album was one of the inspirations that led Bob Dylan to start making electric rock music and to hire Bloomfield as his guitarist, decisions that would have profound implications for the Hawks. The first single the Hawks recorded for themselves after leaving Hawkins was produced by Henry Glover, and both sides were written by Robbie Robertson. "uh Uh Uh" shows the influence of the R&B bands they were listening to. What it reminds me most of is the material Ike and Tina Turner were playing at the time, but at points I think I can also hear the influence of Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper, who were rapidly becoming Robertson's favourite songwriters: [Excerpt: The Canadian Squires, "Uh Uh Uh"] None of the band were happy with that record, though. They'd played in the studio the same way they played live, trying to get a strong bass presence, but it just sounded bottom-heavy to them when they heard the record on a jukebox. That record was released as by The Canadian Squires -- according to Robertson, that was a name that the label imposed on them for the record, while according to Helm it was an alternative name they used so they could get bookings in places they'd only recently played, which didn't want the same band to play too often. One wonders if there was any confusion with the band Neil Young played in a year or so before that single... Around this time, the group also met up with Helm's old musical inspiration Sonny Boy Williamson II, who was impressed enough with them that there was some talk of them being his backing band (and it was in this meeting that Williamson apparently told Robertson "those English boys want to play the blues so bad, and they play the blues *so bad*", speaking of the bands who'd backed him in the UK, like the Yardbirds and the Animals). But sadly, Williamson died in May 1965 before any of these plans had time to come to fruition. Every opportunity for the group seemed to be closing up, even as they knew they were as good as any band around them. They had an offer from Aaron Schroeder, who ran Musicor Records but was more importantly a songwriter and publisher who  had written for Elvis Presley and published Gene Pitney. Schroeder wanted to sign the Hawks as a band and Robertson as a songwriter, but Henry Glover looked over the contracts for them, and told them "If you sign this you'd better be able to pay each other, because nobody else is going to be paying you". What happened next is the subject of some controversy, because as these things tend to go, several people became aware of the Hawks at the same time, but it's generally considered that nothing would have happened the same way were it not for Mary Martin. Martin is a pivotal figure in music business history -- among other things she discovered Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot, managed Van Morrison, and signed Emmylou Harris to Warner Brothers records -- but a somewhat unknown one who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. Martin was from Toronto, but had moved to New York, where she was working in Albert Grossman's office, but she still had many connections to Canadian musicians and kept an eye out for them. The group had sent demo tapes to Grossman's offices, and Grossman had had no interest in them, but Martin was a fan and kept pushing the group on Grossman and his associates. One of those associates, of course, was Grossman's client Bob Dylan. As we heard in the episode on "Like a Rolling Stone", Dylan had started making records with electric backing, with musicians who included Mike Bloomfield, who had played with several of the Hawks on the Hammond album, and Al Kooper, who was a friend of the band. Martin gave Richard Manuel a copy of Dylan's new electric album Highway 61 Revisited, and he enjoyed it, though the rest of the group were less impressed: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Highway 61 Revisited"] Dylan had played the Newport Folk Festival with some of the same musicians as played on his records, but Bloomfield in particular was more interested in continuing to play with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band than continuing with Dylan long-term. Mary Martin kept telling Dylan about this Canadian band she knew who would be perfect for him, and various people associated with the Grossman organisation, including Hammond, have claimed to have been sent down to New Jersey where the Hawks were playing to check them out in their live setting. The group have also mentioned that someone who looked a lot like Dylan was seen at some of their shows. Eventually, Dylan phoned Helm up and made an offer. He didn't need a full band at the moment -- he had Harvey Brooks on bass and Al Kooper on keyboards -- but he did need a lead guitar player and drummer for a couple of gigs he'd already booked, one in Forest Hills, New York, and a bigger gig at the Hollywood Bowl. Helm, unfamiliar with Dylan's work, actually asked Howard Kudlets if Dylan was capable of filling the Hollywood Bowl. The musicians rehearsed together and got a set together for the shows. Robertson and Helm thought the band sounded terrible, but Dylan liked the sound they were getting a lot. The audience in Forest Hills agreed with the Hawks, rather than Dylan, or so it would appear. As we heard in the "Like a Rolling Stone" episode, Dylan's turn towards rock music was *hated* by the folk purists who saw him as some sort of traitor to the movement, a movement whose figurehead he had become without wanting to. There were fifteen thousand people in the audience, and they listened politely enough to the first set, which Dylan played acoustically, But before the second set -- his first ever full electric set, rather than the very abridged one at Newport -- he told the musicians “I don't know what it will be like out there It's going to be some kind of  carnival and I want you to all know that up front. So go out there and keep playing no matter how weird it gets!” There's a terrible-quality audience recording of that show in circulation, and you can hear the crowd's reaction to the band and to the new material: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Ballad of a Thin Man" (live Forest Hills 1965, audience noise only)] The audience also threw things  at the musicians, knocking Al Kooper off his organ stool at one point. While Robertson remembered the Hollywood Bowl show as being an equally bad reaction, Helm remembered the audience there as being much more friendly, and the better-quality recording of that show seems to side with Helm: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Maggie's Farm (live at the Hollywood Bowl 1965)"] After those two shows, Helm and Robertson went back to their regular gig. and in September they made another record. This one, again produced by Glover, was for Atlantic's Atco subsidiary, and was released as by Levon and the Hawks. Manuel took lead, and again both songs were written by Robertson: [Excerpt: Levon and the Hawks, "He Don't Love You (And He'll Break Your Heart)"] But again that record did nothing. Dylan was about to start his first full electric tour, and while Helm and Robertson had not thought the shows they'd played sounded particularly good, Dylan had, and he wanted the two of them to continue with him. But Robertson and, especially, Helm, were not interested in being someone's sidemen. They explained to Dylan that they already had a band -- Levon and the Hawks -- and he would take all of them or he would take none of them. Helm in particular had not been impressed with Dylan's music -- Helm was fundamentally an R&B fan, while Dylan's music was rooted in genres he had little time for -- but he was OK with doing it, so long as the entire band got to. As Mary Martin put it “I think that the wonderful and the splendid heart of the band, if you will, was Levon, and I think he really sort of said, ‘If it's just myself as drummer and Robbie…we're out. We don't want that. It's either us, the band, or nothing.' And you know what? Good for him.” Rather amazingly, Dylan agreed. When the band's residency in New Jersey finished, they headed back to Toronto to play some shows there, and Dylan flew up and rehearsed with them after each show. When the tour started, the billing was "Bob Dylan with Levon and the Hawks". That billing wasn't to last long. Dylan had been booked in for nine months of touring, and was also starting work on what would become widely considered the first double album in rock music history, Blonde on Blonde, and the original plan was that Levon and the Hawks would play with him throughout that time.  The initial recording sessions for the album produced nothing suitable for release -- the closest was "I Wanna Be Your Lover", a semi-parody of the Beatles' "I Want to be Your Man": [Excerpt: Bob Dylan with Levon and the Hawks, "I Wanna Be Your Lover"] But shortly into the tour, Helm quit. The booing had continued, and had even got worse, and Helm simply wasn't in the business to be booed at every night. Also, his whole conception of music was that you dance to it, and nobody was dancing to any of this. Helm quit the band, only telling Robertson of his plans, and first went off to LA, where he met up with some musicians from Oklahoma who had enjoyed seeing the Hawks when they'd played that state and had since moved out West -- people like Leon Russell, J.J. Cale (not John Cale of the Velvet Underground, but the one who wrote "Cocaine" which Eric Clapton later had a hit with), and John Ware (who would later go on to join the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band). They started loosely jamming with each other, sometimes also involving a young singer named Linda Ronstadt, but Helm eventually decided to give up music and go and work on an oil rig in New Orleans. Levon and the Hawks were now just the Hawks. The rest of the group soldiered on, replacing Helm with session drummer Bobby Gregg (who had played on Dylan's previous couple of albums, and had previously played with Sun Ra), and played on the initial sessions for Blonde on Blonde. But of those sessions, Dylan said a few weeks later "Oh, I was really down. I mean, in ten recording sessions, man, we didn't get one song ... It was the band. But you see, I didn't know that. I didn't want to think that" One track from the sessions did get released -- the non-album single "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"] There's some debate as to exactly who's playing drums on that -- Helm says in his autobiography that it's him, while the credits in the official CD releases tend to say it's Gregg. Either way, the track was an unexpected flop, not making the top forty in the US, though it made the top twenty in the UK. But the rest of the recordings with the now Helmless Hawks were less successful. Dylan was trying to get his new songs across, but this was a band who were used to playing raucous music for dancing, and so the attempts at more subtle songs didn't come off the way he wanted: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan and the Hawks, "Visions of Johanna (take 5, 11-30-1965)"] Only one track from those initial New York sessions made the album -- "One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" -- but even that only featured Robertson and Danko of the Hawks, with the rest of the instruments being played by session players: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan (One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)"] The Hawks were a great live band, but great live bands are not necessarily the same thing as a great studio band. And that's especially the case with someone like Dylan. Dylan was someone who was used to recording entirely on his own, and to making records *quickly*. In total, for his fifteen studio albums up to 1974's Blood on the Tracks, Dylan spent a total of eighty-six days in the studio -- by comparison, the Beatles spent over a hundred days in the studio just on the Sgt Pepper album. It's not that the Hawks weren't a good band -- very far from it -- but that studio recording requires a different type of discipline, and that's doubly the case when you're playing with an idiosyncratic player like Dylan. The Hawks would remain Dylan's live backing band, but he wouldn't put out a studio recording with them backing him until 1974. Instead, Bob Johnston, the producer Dylan was working with, suggested a different plan. On his previous album, the Nashville session player Charlie McCoy had guested on "Desolation Row" and Dylan had found him easy to work with. Johnston lived in Nashville, and suggested that they could get the album completed more quickly and to Dylan's liking by using Nashville A-Team musicians. Dylan agreed to try it, and for the rest of the album he had Robertson on lead guitar and Al Kooper on keyboards, but every other musician was a Nashville session player, and they managed to get Dylan's songs recorded quickly and the way he heard them in his head: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine"] Though Dylan being Dylan he did try to introduce an element of randomness to the recordings by having the Nashville musicians swap their instruments around and play each other's parts on "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", though the Nashville players were still competent enough that they managed to get a usable, if shambolic, track recorded that way in a single take: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35"] Dylan said later of the album "The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind was on individual bands in the Blonde on Blonde album. It's that thin, that wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up." The album was released in late June 1966, a week before Freak Out! by the Mothers of Invention, another double album, produced by Dylan's old producer Tom Wilson, and a few weeks after Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Dylan was at the forefront of a new progressive movement in rock music, a movement that was tying thoughtful, intelligent lyrics to studio experimentation and yet somehow managing to have commercial success. And a month after Blonde on Blonde came out, he stepped away from that position, and would never fully return to it. The first half of 1966 was taken up with near-constant touring, with Dylan backed by the Hawks and a succession of fill-in drummers -- first Bobby Gregg, then Sandy Konikoff, then Mickey Jones. This tour started in the US and Canada, with breaks for recording the album, and then moved on to Australia and Europe. The shows always followed the same pattern. First Dylan would perform an acoustic set, solo, with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica, which would generally go down well with the audience -- though sometimes they would get restless, prompting a certain amount of resistance from the performer: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Just Like a Woman (live Paris 1966)"] But the second half of each show was electric, and that was where the problems would arise. The Hawks were playing at the top of their game -- some truly stunning performances: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan and the Hawks, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (live in Liverpool 1966)"] But while the majority of the audience was happy to hear the music, there was a vocal portion that were utterly furious at the change in Dylan's musical style. Most notoriously, there was the performance at Manchester Free Trade Hall where this happened: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone (live Manchester 1966)"] That kind of aggression from the audience had the effect of pushing the band on to greater heights a lot of the time -- and a bootleg of that show, mislabelled as the Royal Albert Hall, became one of the most legendary bootlegs in rock music history. Jimmy Page would apparently buy a copy of the bootleg every time he saw one, thinking it was the best album ever made. But while Dylan and the Hawks played defiantly, that kind of audience reaction gets wearing. As Dylan later said, “Judas, the most hated name in human history, and for what—for playing an electric guitar. As if that is in some kind of way equitable to betraying our Lord, and delivering him up to be crucified; all those evil mothers can rot in hell.” And this wasn't the only stress Dylan, in particular, was under. D.A. Pennebaker was making a documentary of the tour -- a follow-up to his documentary of the 1965 tour, which had not yet come out. Dylan talked about the 1965 documentary, Don't Look Back, as being Pennebaker's film of Dylan, but this was going to be Dylan's film, with him directing the director. That footage shows Dylan as nervy and anxious, and covering for the anxiety with a veneer of flippancy. Some of Dylan's behaviour on both tours is unpleasant in ways that can't easily be justified (and which he has later publicly regretted), but there's also a seeming cruelty to some of his interactions with the press and public that actually reads more as frustration. Over and over again he's asked questions -- about being the voice of a generation or the leader of a protest movement -- which are simply based on incorrect premises. When someone asks you a question like this, there are only a few options you can take, none of them good. You can dissect the question, revealing the incorrect premises, and then answer a different question that isn't what they asked, which isn't really an option at all given the kind of rapid-fire situation Dylan was in. You can answer the question as asked, which ends up being dishonest. Or you can be flip and dismissive, which is the tactic Dylan chose. Dylan wasn't the only one -- this is basically what the Beatles did at press conferences. But where the Beatles were a gang and so came off as being fun, Dylan doing the same thing came off as arrogant and aggressive. One of the most famous artifacts of the whole tour is a long piece of footage recorded for the documentary, with Dylan and John Lennon riding in the back of a taxi, both clearly deeply uncomfortable, trying to be funny and impress the other, but neither actually wanting to be there: [Excerpt Dylan and Lennon conversation] 33) Part of the reason Dylan wanted to go home was that he had a whole new lifestyle. Up until 1964 he had been very much a city person, but as he had grown more famous, he'd found New York stifling. Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary had a cabin in Woodstock, where he'd grown up, and after Dylan had spent a month there in summer 1964, he'd fallen in love with the area. Albert Grossman had also bought a home there, on Yarrow's advice, and had given Dylan free run of the place, and Dylan had decided he wanted to move there permanently and bought his own home there. He had also married, to Sara Lowndes (whose name is, as far as I can tell, pronounced "Sarah" even though it's spelled "Sara"), and she had given birth to his first child (and he had adopted her child from her previous marriage). Very little is actually known about Sara, who unlike many other partners of rock stars at this point seemed positively to detest the limelight, and whose privacy Dylan has continued to respect even after the end of their marriage in the late seventies, but it's apparent that the two were very much in love, and that Dylan wanted to be back with his wife and kids, in the country, not going from one strange city to another being asked insipid questions and having abuse screamed at him. He was also tired of the pressure to produce work constantly. He'd signed a contract for a novel, called Tarantula, which he'd written a draft of but was unhappy with, and he'd put out two single albums and a double-album in a little over a year -- all of them considered among the greatest albums ever made. He could only keep up this rate of production and performance with a large intake of speed, and he was sometimes staying up for four days straight to do so. After the European leg of the tour, Dylan was meant to take some time to finish overdubs on Blonde on Blonde, edit the film of the tour for a TV special, with his friend Howard Alk, and proof the galleys for Tarantula, before going on a second world tour in the autumn. That world tour never happened. Dylan was in a motorcycle accident near his home, and had to take time out to recover. There has been a lot of discussion as to how serious the accident actually was, because Dylan's manager Albert Grossman was known to threaten to break contracts by claiming his performers were sick, and because Dylan essentially disappeared from public view for the next eighteen months. Every possible interpretation of the events has been put about by someone, from Dylan having been close to death, to the entire story being put up as a fake. As Dylan is someone who is far more protective of his privacy than most rock stars, it's doubtful we'll ever know the precise truth, but putting together the various accounts Dylan's injuries were bad but not life-threatening, but they acted as a wake-up call -- if he carried on living like he had been, how much longer could he continue? in his sort-of autobiography, Chronicles, Dylan described this period, saying "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race. Having children changed my life and segregated me from just about everybody and everything that was going on. Outside of my family, nothing held any real interest for me and I was seeing everything through different glasses." All his forthcoming studio and tour dates were cancelled, and Dylan took the time out to recover, and to work on his film, Eat the Document. But it's clear that nobody was sure at first exactly how long Dylan's hiatus from touring was going to last. As it turned out, he wouldn't do another tour until the mid-seventies, and would barely even play any one-off gigs in the intervening time. But nobody knew that at the time, and so to be on the safe side the Hawks were being kept on a retainer. They'd always intended to work on their own music anyway -- they didn't just want to be anyone's backing band -- so they took this time to kick a few ideas around, but they were hamstrung by the fact that it was difficult to find rehearsal space in New York City, and they didn't have any gigs. Their main musical work in the few months between summer 1966 and spring 1967 was some recordings for the soundtrack of a film Peter Yarrow was making. You Are What You Eat is a bizarre hippie collage of a film, documenting the counterculture between 1966 when Yarrow started making it and 1968 when it came out. Carl Franzoni, one of the leaders of the LA freak movement that we've talked about in episodes on the Byrds, Love, and the Mothers of Invention, said of the film “If you ever see this movie you'll understand what ‘freaks' are. It'll let you see the L.A. freaks, the San Francisco freaks, and the New York freaks. It was like a documentary and it was about the makings of what freaks were about. And it had a philosophy, a very definite philosophy: that you are free-spirited, artistic." It's now most known for introducing the song "My Name is Jack" by John Simon, the film's music supervisor: [Excerpt: John Simon, "My Name is Jack"] That song would go on to be a top ten hit in the UK for Manfred Mann: [Excerpt: Manfred Mann, "My Name is Jack"] The Hawks contributed backing music for several songs for the film, in which they acted as backing band for another old Greenwich Village folkie who had been friends with Yarrow and Dylan but who was not yet the star he would soon become, Tiny Tim: [Excerpt: Tiny Tim, "Sonny Boy"] This was their first time playing together properly since the end of the European tour, and Sid Griffin has noted that these Tiny Tim sessions are the first time you can really hear the sound that the group would develop over the next year, and which would characterise them for their whole career. Robertson, Danko, and Manuel also did a session, not for the film with another of Grossman's discoveries, Carly Simon, playing a version of "Baby Let Me Follow You Down", a song they'd played a lot with Dylan on the tour that spring. That recording has never been released, and I've only managed to track down a brief clip of it from a BBC documentary, with Simon and an interviewer talking over most of the clip (so this won't be in the Mixcloud I put together of songs): [Excerpt: Carly Simon, "Baby Let Me Follow You Down"] That recording is notable though because as well as Robertson, Danko, and Manuel, and Dylan's regular studio keyboard players Al Kooper and Paul Griffin, it also features Levon Helm on drums, even though Helm had still not rejoined the band and was at the time mostly working in New Orleans. But his name's on the session log, so he must have m

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Sing Out! Radio Magazine
Episode 2284: 23-31 Honky Tonkin' Pt.1

Sing Out! Radio Magazine

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 2, 2023 58:30


The audience for country music in the years following World War II was predominently male and many of the records were aimed at the juke boxes that thrived in the bars and watering holes where this working class audience gathered. This week on the program we'll sample some classic honky tonk music from the late 30's until today. We'll hear Kitty Wells, Hank Snow, Buck Owens, Webb Pierce and, of course, Hank Williams. We'll also hear more contemporary tunes from The Byrds, Emmylou Harris and Asleep at the Wheel. “There Stands the Glass” and some honky tonk angels … this week on the Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways Don Rich / “Buckeroo” / Country Pickin': The Don Rich Anthology / SundazedThe Byrds / “You're Still on My Mind” / Sweetheart of the Rodeo / ColumbiaHank Williams / “Honky Tonk Blues” / 40 Greatest Hits / PolydorJean Shepard /with Ferlon Husky / “A Dear John Letter” / Super Hits / GustoEmmylou Harris & the Nash Ramblers / “Two More Bottles of Wine” / Ramble in Music City / NonesuchBuddy Holly / “Midnight Shift” / The Definitive Collection / DeccaAsleep at the Wheel / “The Letter that Johnny Walker Read” / Half a Hundred Years / BismeauxVal Mindel & Emily Miller / “Lonely Street” / Close to Home / Yodel-Ay-HeeKitty Wells / “It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” / Essential Honky Tonk / Not NowRoger Miller / “Kansas City Star” / All Time Greatest Hits / MercuryDon Rich / “Chicken Pickin'” / Country Pickin': The Don Rich Anthology / SundazedVernon Solomon / “Beaumont Rag” / Texas Hoedown Revisited / CountyJess Willard / “Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor” / Hillbilly Boogie and Jive / AtomicatHank Snow / “I'm Moving On” / The Very Best of Hank Snow / BMGPatsy Montana / “Montana Plains” / Ragged But Right: Great Country String Bands of the 1930's / RCAMerle Haggard / “Mama Tried” / Live at Billy Bob's Texas / Smith Music GroupWebb Pierce / “There Stands the Glass” / King of the Honky Tonk / MCABuck Owens / “Under Your Spell Again” / Right After the Dance / AtomicatWillie Nelson / “Heartaches by the Number” / A Tribute to Ray Price / LegacyBill Doggett / “Honky Tonk pt.2” / Honky Tonk / Ace Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways

Old Time Radio Westerns
Red Foley and Hank Snow | Grand Ole Opry (01-21-50)

Old Time Radio Westerns

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2023


Original Air Date: January 21, 1950Host: Andrew RhynesShow: Grand Ole OpryPhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Exit music from: Roundup on the Prairie by Aaron Kenny https://bit.ly/3kTj0kK

Sing Out! Radio Magazine
Episode 2276: 23-23 Folk and Country Rock, Pt.1

Sing Out! Radio Magazine

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2023 58:30


This week and next on the Magazine we focus our attention on folk and country rock music. This week in Part 1 we'll hear classics from The Delmore Brothers, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Buddy Holly. Buck Owens, The Everly Brothers, The Beatles and the Byrds. Next week we'll hear from the Byrds and other more recent performers. Seems like the beginning of summer is the right time to listen to some country and folk rock classics … this week on the Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian FolkwaysThe Texas Troubadours / “E. T. Blues” / The Instrumentals / Bear FamilyThe Delmore Brothers / “Blues You Never Lose” / Freight Train Boogie / AceHank Williams / “Move it On Over” / 40 Greatest Hits / PolydorHank Snow / “The Golden Rocket” / I'm Movin' On (And other Great Country Hits) / RCAElvis Presley / “When My Blue Moon turns to Gold Again” / Elvis Presley (Legacy Edition) / RCABuddy Holly / “Maybe Baby” / The Definitive Collection / DeccaThe Everly Brothers / “Bye Bye Love” / The Outtakes / Bear FamilyJohnny Horton / “Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor” / Rockabilly Stars Vol.1 / CBSJohnny Cash / “Ring of Fire” / 16 Biggest Hits / Columbia LegacyBuck Owens / “Act Naturally” / 21 #1 Hits / RhinoThe Beatles / “I'm Looking Through You” / Rubber Soul / Apple-ParlophoneThe Texas Troubadours / “Leon's Guitar Boogie” / The Instrumentals / Bear FamilyRicky Nelson / “Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)” / The Legendary Ricky Nelson / CemaThe Searchers / “Needles And Pins” / Needles & Pins / CastleBob Dylan / “Mr. Tambourine Man” / The Witmark Demos / ColumbiaMimi & Richard Farina / “Reno Nevada” / The Vanguard Folk Rock Album / VanguardDonovan / “Catch the Wind” / Gathered from Coincidence / GrapefruitThe Silkie / “You've Got to Hide Your Love Away” / Gathered from Coincidence / GrapefruitThe Byrds / “Turn! Turn! Turn!” / Original Singles 1965-1967 / ColumbiaPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways

Sing Out! Radio Magazine
Episode 2272: 23-19 On the Road Again

Sing Out! Radio Magazine

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2023 58:30


On The Road Again is the theme for the week, as the traditional summer travel season is just ahead. We'll hear music from David Francey, Rita Hosking, Dave Fry, Chris Smither, Hank Snow and lots more. Set out on a musical journey with us … this week on the Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian FolkwaysDarol Anger / “Lee Highway Blues” / Diary of a Fiddler / CompassThe Lovin' Spoonful / “On the Road Again” / Do You Believe in Magic / Kama SutraDavid Francey / “Lonely Road” / The Broken Heart of Everything / Laker MusicRita Hosking / “Sierra Bound” / Little Boat / Self-producedGuy Clark / “L.A. Freeway” / Keepers / Sugar HillCliff Carlisle / “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” / The Roots of Grateful Dead / SnapperDave Fry / “Rosie is a Friend of Mine” / Troubadour / Self-producedSaro Lynch-Thomason & Sam Gleaves / “Truck Driving Woman” / I Have Known Women / Strictly CountryThe New Grass Revival / “Lee Highway Blues” / Barren County / Flying FishMark Germino / “Traveling Man (Season 1 Episode 10)” / Midnight Carnival . Red ParlorJudy Collins / “Someday Soon” / Who Knows Where the Time Goes / ElektraChris Smither / “Maybelline” / Call Me Lucky / Signature SoundsHank Snow / “I've Been Everywhere” / The Very Best of Hank Snow / BMGJohn McCutcheon / “This Road” / Ghost Light / AppalsongsTina Adair / “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” / Tina Adair / EMGPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways

History & Factoids about today
May 9th-Sleep Over, Hank Snow, Candice Bergen, Billy Joel, John Corbett, Depeche Mode, Lisa Simpson

History & Factoids about today

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2023 12:05


National sleep over day. Pop culture from 1983. Englands Crown Jewels stolen, 1st auto show, Canberra new capital of Austrailia. Todays birthdays - Howard Carter, William Marston, Hank Snow, Albert Finney, Canice Bergen, Billy Joel, Devin Peter Hall, John Corbett, Dave Gahan, Lisa Simpson. Little Richard died.

Deeper Roots Radio Podcast
Episode 17: Covers Time

Deeper Roots Radio Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2023 115:41


Another morning of covers, from country to soul and a little bit of rhythm and roll in store. This week's show celebrates the songwriters and performers who found themselves honored with tributes and covers that honor the sense of a piece. We'll hear covers of Tom T. Hall, Arthur Alexander, Robert Hunter, Derek Martin, Hank Snow and JJ Cale in the show today. The idea is to find a cover worth noting and put it up alongside the original. Just over a dozen songs to pick from in our two hours this morning featuring covers by Shannon McNally, Charley Crockett, Amy Black and Teddy Thompson. Join Dave Stroud for another episode from those dusty digital bins and turn up the volume for straight interpretations and a few wild takes in another covers show on a Friday morning from the KOWS studio in downtown Santa Rosa, California. 

RFS: Clint Mephisto's Road Show
Clint Mephisto's Road Show Episode 275

RFS: Clint Mephisto's Road Show

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2023 60:28


Clint Mephisto's Shit Kickin’ Road Show Episode 275, week of April 12th. Sit a spell with your ol’ drankin’ buddy as we go on an hour long bender of vintage classics and modern barn burners from Mojo Nixon, Cherry Casino And The Gamblers, Hank Snow, Calabrese, Howlin’ Wolf, and more!

Sing Out! Radio Magazine
Episode 2262: 23-09 Folk & Country Rock, Pt.1

Sing Out! Radio Magazine

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2023 58:29


For the next shows we'll turn our attention to folk and country rock music. This week in Part 1 we'll hear classics from The Delmore Brothers, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Buddy Holly. Buck Owens, The Everly Brothers, The Beatles and the Byrds, classics that inspired the genre. Coming next time, more from the Byrds and some other more recent performers. Now's the right time to listen to some country and folk-rock classics … this week on the Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian FolkwaysThe Texas Troubadours / “E. T. Blues” / The Instrumentals / Bear FamilyThe Delmore Brothers / “Blues You Never Lose” / Freight Train Boogie / AceHank Williams / “Move it On Over” / 40 Greatest Hits / PolydorHank Snow / “The Golden Rocket” / I'm Movin' On (And other Great Country Hits) / RCAElvis Presley / “When My Blue Moon turns to Gold Again” / Elvis Presley (Legacy Edition) / RCABuddy Holly / “Maybe Baby” / The Definitive Collection / DeccaThe Everly Brothers / “Bye Bye Love” / The Outtakes / Bear FamilyJohnny Horton / “Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor” / Rockabilly Stars Vol.1 / CBSJohnny Cash / “Ring of Fire” / 16 Biggest Hits / Columbia LegacyBuck Owens / “Act Naturally” / 21 #1 Hits / RhinoThe Beatles / “I'm Looking Through You” / Rubber Soul / Apple-ParlophoneThe Texas Troubadours / “Leon's Guitar Boogie” / The Instrumentals / Bear FamilyRicky Nelson / “Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)” / The Legendary Ricky Nelson / CemaThe Searchers / “Needles And Pins” / Needles & Pins / CastleBob Dylan / “Mr. Tambourine Man” / The Witmark Demos / ColumbiaMimi & Richard Farina / “Reno Nevada” / The Vanguard Folk Rock Album / VanguardDonovan / “Catch the Wind” / Gathered from Coincidence / GrapefruitThe Silkie / “You've Got to Hide Your Love Away” / Gathered from Coincidence / GrapefruitThe Byrds / “Turn! Turn! Turn!” / Original Singles 1965-1967 / ColumbiaPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways

My Good Ole Country
JIMMY ROGERS,THE SINGING BRAKEMAN, HIS FOREVER INFLUENCE

My Good Ole Country

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2022 62:31


For all our true dyed in the wool country fans , I truly believe you're gonna love this one as much as I enjoyed putting it together. The more I researched, the more I came to believe that this artist, Jimmy Rogers, was the most influential in the early times and  even to this day, the most influential in making country music what it is today. HANK SNOW, ERNEST TUBB, TOM T HALL, JACK GREENE, LEFTY FRIZZELL , MERLE HAGGARD and CAL SMITH  are all in todays show attesting to the fact . Of course I've got JIMMY ROGER'S originals here too. Take a walk way down memory lane my friends. I think you'll hear what I mean. Life is good.

Sing Out! Radio Magazine
Episode 2246: 22-45 Honky Tonkin' Pt. 1

Sing Out! Radio Magazine

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2022 58:30


The audience for country music in the years following the World War II was predominently male and many of the records were destined for the juke boxes that thrived in the bars and watering holes where this working class audience gathered. This week on the program we'll sample some classic honky tonk music from the late 1930s until today. We'll hear Kitty Wells, Hank Snow, Buck Owens, Webb Pierce and of course, Hank Williams. We'll also hear more contemporary tunes from The Byrds, Emmylou Harris and Asleep at the Wheel. Let's go Honky Tonkin' … this week on The Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways Don Rich / “Buckeroo” / Country Pickin': The Don Rich Anthology / SundazedThe Byrds / “You're Still on My Mind” / Sweetheart of the Rodeo / ColumbiaHank Williams / “Honky Tonk Blues” / 40 Greatest Hits / PolydorJean Shepard /w Ferlon Husky / “A Dear John Letter” / Super Hits / GustoEmmylou Harris & the Nash Ramblers / “Two More Bottles of Wine” / Ramble in Music City / NonesuchBuddy Holly / “Midnight Shift” / The Definitive Collection / DeccaAsleep at the Wheel / “The Letter that Johnny Walker Read” / Half a Hundred Years / BismeauxVal Mindel & Emily Miller / “Lonely Street” / Close to Home / Yodel-Ay-HeeKitty Wells / “It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” / Essential Honky Tonk / Not NowRoger Miller / “Kansas City Star” / All Time Greatest Hits / MercuryDon Rich / “Chicken Pickin'” / Country Pickin': The Don Rich Anthology / SundazedVernon Solomon / “Beaumont Rag” / Texas Hoedown Revisited / CountyJess Willard / “Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor” / Hillbilly Boogie and Jive / AtomicatHank Snow / “I'm Moving On” / The Very Best of Hank Snow / BMGPatsy Montana / “Montana Plains” / Ragged But Right: Great Country String Bands of the 1930's / RCAMerle Haggard / “Mama Tried” / Live at Billy Bob's Texas / Smith Music GroupWebb Pierce / “There Stands the Glass” / King of the Honky Tonk / MCABuck Owens / “Under Your Spell Again” / Right After the Dance / AtomicatWillie Nelson / “Heartaches by the Number” / A Tribute to Ray Price / LegacyBill Doggett / “Honky Tonk pt.2” / Honky Tonk / Ace Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways

Real Punk Radio Podcast Network
The Big Takeover Show – Number 405 – October 24, 2022 [Half Usual/Half a Special Lookback Show!]

Real Punk Radio Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2022


This week's show, after a 1982 Descendents refrain: brand new Beatles, Sloan, I Was a King, Wet Leg, Black Nite Crash, Robert Forster, and Sadies; plus Pete Ham, Little Willie John, Hank Snow, Fats Domino, Electric Light Orchestra, Guy Lombardo & His R...

My Good Ole Country
TRAVELING WITH THE STARS

My Good Ole Country

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2022 62:08


WILLY NELSON kicks our show off with "ON THE ROAD AGAIN"which sets the theme of traveling songs. JOHN DENVER gives us "COUNTRY ROADS" . JERRY REID IS "EAST BOUND AND DOWN" and ROGER MILLER is "KING OF THE ROAD". Lots more from DAVE DUDLEY, HANK SNOW, LORETTA LYNN, GEORGE STRAIT AND JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ.  Hope you enjoy traveling my friends. 

Hidden Track
Crystal Shawanda | A Hopeful Song

Hidden Track

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2022 47:43


Crystal Shawanda is a gifted, inspiring artist who's been singing her heart out her whole life. She got her start in music as a kid growing up in the Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, and as a teenager, she followed her dreams all the way to Music City: Nashville, Tennessee. She quickly scored a house gig at one of Nashville's most storied honky-tonks, really paid her dues, and wound up signing with RCA Records, the legendary label which has been home to musical giants from Hank Snow to Elvis Presley. With her RCA debut, Crystal became the first Indigenous artist ever to enter the top 20 on Billboard's Country Albums Chart; she had truly arrived as a hitmaking major-label country music recording artist. But that's when she felt her artistic voice pulling her down another path. About a decade ago, she branched off to form her own label, and pursued a new journey as an original blues artist. Since that time, she's become a multiple Juno Award winner, a global force on the blues scene, and a role model for Indigenous artists everywhere. In this episode, we caught up with the incomparable Crystal Shawanda in the midst of a months-long tour, in a rare moment that found her briefly back in her old stomping grounds on Manitoulin Island. She opens up about her heartfelt new album Midnight Blues, out on True North Records September 30th, 2022; influences from Hank Williams to Howlin' Wolf, from Buffy Sainte-Marie to Celine Dion; how despite despair, intergenerational trauma, and loss, music has the power to bring freedom, connection and hope; and how her path, which has taken her from the First Nation where she grew up, to Nashville, and now to the global blues stage, has brought her closer to her roots and her home community than ever.

My Good Ole Country
COUNTRY THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

My Good Ole Country

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2022 61:36


Lefty Frizzell, Hank Snow, Patsy Cline, Don Gibson, Tom T hall, Loretta Lynn, and Del Reeves , all have a different perspective on life and it shows up in their music which I'm real happy to present to you on this episode of My Good Ole Country. I think you'll enjoy a great interview with Clarence Grear as we talk about "Lures For Vets". Tex Ritter joins us for one of his incredible recitations . Give a listen on how to "Take Charge " of your life. Enjoy my friends and please click on share. Life is good.

Real Punk Radio Podcast Network
The Big Takeover Show – Number 391 – July 18, 2022

Real Punk Radio Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2022


This week: brand new Sloan, House of Love, Newtown Neurotics, Beths, Breathless, Fernweh, and Martin Courtney, plus The Kinks, Hank Snow, Byrds, Cryan Shames, Prince Buster, Peter & Gordon, and Asleep at the Wheel; and Elvis Presley songs tribute!

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs
Pledge Week: “Rescue Me” by Fontella Bass

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2022


This episode is part of Pledge Week 2022. Every day this week, I'll be posting old Patreon bonus episodes of the podcast which will have this short intro. These are short, ten- to twenty-minute bonus podcasts which get posted to Patreon for my paying backers every time I post a new main episode -- there are well over a hundred of these in the archive now. If you like the sound of these episodes, then go to patreon.com/andrewhickey and subscribe for as little as a dollar a month or ten dollars a year to get access to all those bonus episodes, plus new ones as they appear. Click below for the transcript Transcript Today we're going to look at a record which I actually originally intended to do a full episode on, but by an artist about whom there simply isn't enough information out there to pull together a full episode -- though some of this information will show up in other contexts in future episodes. So we're going to have a Patreon bonus episode on one of the great soul-pop records of the mid 1960s -- "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass: [Excerpt: Fontella Bass, "Rescue Me"] Fontella Bass was actually a second-generation singer. Her mother, Martha Bass, was a great gospel singer, who had been trained by Willie Mae Ford Smith, who was often considered the greatest female gospel singer of the twentieth century but who chose only to perform live and on the radio rather than make records. Martha Bass had sung for a short time with the Clara Ward Singers, one of the most important and influential of gospel groups: [Excerpt: The Clara Ward Singers, "Wasn't It A Pity How They Punished My Lord?"] Fontella had been trained by her mother, but she got her start in secular music rather than the gospel music her mother stuck to. She spent much of the early sixties working as a piano player and singer in the band of Little Milton, the blues singer. I don't know exactly which records of his she's on, but she was likely on his top twenty R&B hit "So Mean to Me": [Excerpt: Little Milton, "So Mean to Me"] One night, Little Milton didn't turn up for a show, and so Bass was asked to take the lead vocals until he arrived. Milton's bandleader Oliver Sain was impressed with her voice, and when he quit working with Milton the next year, he took Bass with him, starting up a new act, "The Oliver Sain Soul Revue featuring Fontella and Bobby McClure". She signed to Bobbin Records, where she cut "I Don't Hurt Any More", a cover of an old Hank Snow country song, in 1962: [Excerpt: Fontella Bass, "I Don't Hurt Any More"] After a couple of records with Bobbin, she signed up with Ike Turner, who by this point was running a couple of record labels. She released a single backed by the Ikettes, "My Good Loving": [Excerpt: Fontella Bass, "My Good Loving"] And a duet with Tina Turner, "Poor Little Fool": [Excerpt: Fontella Bass and Tina Turner, "Poor Little Fool"] At the same time she was still working with Sain and McClure, and Sain's soul revue got signed to Checker records, the Chess subsidiary, which was now starting to make soul records, usually produced by Roquel Davis, Berry Gordy's former collaborator, and written or co-written by Carl Smith. These people were also working with Jackie Wilson at Brunswick, and were part of the same scene as Carl Davis, the producer who had worked with Curtis Mayfield, Major Lance, Gene Chandler and the rest. So this was a thriving scene -- not as big as the scenes in Memphis or Detroit, but definitely a group of people who were capable of making big soul hits.  Bass and McClure recorded a couple of duo singles with Checker, starting with "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing": [Excerpt: Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure, "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing"] That made the top forty on the pop charts, and number five on the R&B charts. But the follow-up only made the R&B top forty and didn't make the pop charts at all. But Bass would soon release a solo recording, though one with prominent backing vocals by Minnie Ripperton, that would become one of the all-time soul classics -- a Motown soundalike that was very obviously patterned after the songs that Holland, Dozier, and Holland were writing, and which captured their style perfectly: [Excerpt: Fontella Bass, "Rescue Me"] There's some dispute as to who actually wrote "Rescue Me". The credited songwriters are Carl Smith and Raynard Miner, but Bass has repeatedly claimed that she wrote most of the song herself, and that Roquel Davis had assured her that she would be fairly compensated, but she never was. According to Bass, when she finally got her first royalty cheque from Chess, she was so disgusted at the pitiful amount of money she was getting that she tore the cheque up and threw it back across the desk. Her follow-up to "Rescue Me", "Recovery", didn't do so well, making the lower reaches of the pop top forty: [Excerpt: Fontella Bass, "Recovery"] Several more singles were released off Bass' only album on Chess, but she very quickly became disgusted with the whole mainstream music industry. By this point she'd married the avant-garde jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie, and she started performing with his group, the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The music she recorded with the group is excellent, but if anyone bought The Art Ensemble of Chicago With Fontella Bass, the first of the two albums she recorded with the group, expecting something like "Rescue Me", they were probably at the very least bemused by what they got -- two twenty-minute-long tracks that sound like this: [Excerpt: The Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass: "How Strange/Ole Jed"] In between the two albums she recorded with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bass also recorded a second solo album, but after it had little success she largely retired from music to raise her four children, though she would make the odd guest appearance on her husband's records. In the 1990s she made a few gospel records with her mother and her younger brother, the R&B singer David Peaston, and toured a little both on the nostalgia circuit and performing gospel, but she never returned to being a full-time musician. Both she and her brother died in 2012, Peaston from complications of diabetes, Bass from a heart attack after a series of illnesses. "Rescue Me" was her only big hit, and she retired at a point when she was still capable of making plenty of interesting music, but Fontella Bass still had a far more interesting, and fulfilling, career than many other artists who continue trying to chase the ghost of their one hit. She made music on her own terms, and nobody else's, right up until the end.

Analog Smile
Analog Smile - Cody Brooks

Analog Smile

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2022 37:22


On this episode of Analog Smile, Sherry speaks with Cody Brooks. Cody Brooks plays it all, whipping up a raw, rootsy racket with help from a 1929 B&J Victoria parlor guitar and a voice that's as wild and rough-hewn as the Tennessee backwoods. The music all started 20 minutes outside of Nashville, where Brooks' childhood home was filled with the sounds of the nearby Marrowbone Creek and his parents' 78 rpm record collection. He listened to it all: Tommy Dorsey, Robert Johnson, Hank Snow, Son House, Jimi Hendrix. Brooks picked up the guitar as a teenager and began traveling, too, spending time in Oregon and the southwest before Nashville's music scene lured him back home. There, before he could legally drink, he started playing gigs at the blues bars downtown, tossing in his own songs between covers by R&B singers and Delta legends. Brooks' songs spin stories of revenge, anger, dirty love, clean breaks and the infamous time that a baby copperhead snake bit him on the arm, resulting in a three-day fever dream (and inspired songwriting session) while he lay in bed and sweated out the poison. Although in the 2020's, Brooks has lived the sort of life that's more typical of someone from the previous centuries — a life of restlessness, of travel, of baths in creek water and makeshift beds in barns — embracing that old-world vibe and constantly updating his sound with the sneer of punk rock and the swagger of hip-hop. It's music for Saturday night sinners, delivered with the sort of fire-and-brimstone fury that'll attract a few Sunday morning holy rollers, too. Sherry and Cody chat about his new album ‘First World Problems', rebellion, and much more! Check out codybrooks.rocks for more information.

Sing Out! Radio Magazine
Episode 2226: 22-25 On the Road Again

Sing Out! Radio Magazine

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2022 58:30


Despite the increase in gas prices, many folks have decided to take a road trip once again. On The Road Again is the theme for the program this week. We'll hear music from David Francey, Rita Hosking, Dave Fry, Chris Smither, Hank Snow and others. On the road again … this week on the Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian FolkwaysDarol Anger / “Lee Highway Blues” / Diary of a Fiddler / CompassThe Lovin' Spoonful / “On the Road Again” / Do You Believe in Magic / Kama SutraDavid Francey / “Lonely Road” / The Broken Heart of Everything / Laker MusicRita Hosking / “Sierra Bound” / Little Boat / Self-producedGuy Clark / “L.A. Freeway” / Keepers / Sugar HillCliff Carlisle / “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” / The Roots of Grateful Dead / SnapperDave Fry / “Rosie is a Friend of Mine” / Troubadour / Self-producedSaro Lynch-Thomason & Sam Gleaves / “Truck Driving Woman” / I Have Known Women / Strictly CountryThe New Grass Revival / “Lee Highway Blues” / Barren County / Flying FishMark Germino / “Traveling Man (Season 1 Episode 10)” / Midnight Carnival . Red ParlorJudy Collins / “Someday Soon” / Who Knows Where the Time Goes / ElektraChris Smither / “Maybelline” / Call Me Lucky / Signature SoundsHank Snow / “I've Been Everywhere” / The Very Best of Hank Snow / BMGJohn McCutcheon / “This Road” / Ghost Light / AppalsongsTina Adair / “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” / Tina Adair / EMGPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways

Melodías pizarras
Melodías Pizarras - Melodías take away - 14/05/22

Melodías pizarras

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2022 58:32


Con nuestros asombrosos podcasts eléctricos para llevar, hasta en las quimbambas podrán ustedes disfrutar de sus Melodías Pizarras a troche y noche. En la entrega de esta noche: Bob Skyles and His Skyrockers, Diosa Costello, Mississippi Sheiks, J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, Hank Snow, Gene Kardos Orchestra, Fats Domino... A partir de las 23.00 horas en la sintonía de Radio 3. Escuchar audio

TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
TCBCast 216: Polū Hawai'i, Part One (feat. Bec Wyles)

TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2022 96:20


Gurdip is out this week to handle some necessary family concerns, so Justin is joined by Bec once again to talk about the film he once called "the most important movie Elvis ever made": 1961's "Blue Hawaii"! Bec has plenty to say on the love rectangle protagonist Chad Gates finds himself in one corner of, while Justin digs into the film's cinematic legacy, going back to a Bing Crosby movie from the 30s. But first - hear Bec react in real time to seeing the new "Hayride" preview from Baz Luhrmann's Elvis! (Note - I mention not being able to identify the character next to Jimmie Rodgers Snow; I was referring to the leaked clip which was highly compressed, blurry and watermarked. It's clear in the official WB release that it's David Wenham as Jimmie's father Hank Snow.) Next week, we'll pick up with Part Two, covering the second portion of the film and our Songs of the Week! If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music history and movie enthusiast. Timestamps: 0:00 Start/News 14:30 "Elvis" Hayride Clip Reactions 22:50 Listener Feedback 35:40 Main Topic, Part 1

Icons and Outlaws
Buddy Holly

Icons and Outlaws

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2022 93:35


Born in Lubbock, Texas, on September 7, 1936, Charles Hardin  Holley (he later dropped the "e"), after both grandfathers    the fourth child of Lawrence Odell "L.O." Holley and Ella Pauline Drake.    older siblings were Larry, Travis, and Patricia Lou.    nicknamed Buddy from a young age, and it stuck with him throughout his life.    Oddly enough, the newspaper announcement claimed that Buddy was actually a little girl. “A daughter weighing 8.5 lbs”, the Lubbock evening journal wrote. He was also only 6.5 pounds. And a boy. Buddy's family was mainly of English and Welsh descent and had some native American ancestry. During the Great Depression, the Holleys frequently moved residences within Lubbock; 17 in all.    His father changed jobs several times.    The Holley family were a musical household.  Except for Buddy's father, all family members could play an instrument or sing. His older brothers frequently entered local talent shows, and one time, his brothers signed up and Buddy wanted to play violin with them. However, Buddy couldn't play the violin.  Not wanting to break little Buddy's heart, his older brothers greased up the strings so it wouldn't make a sound. Buddy started singing his heart out and the three ended up winning the contest!  When WWII started, the U.S. government called his brothers into service. His brother Larry brought back a guitar he bought from a shipmate, and that guitar set Buddy's off. At 11 years old, Buddy started taking piano lessons.  Nine months later, he quit piano lessons and switched to guitar after seeing a classmate playing and singing on the school bus.    His parents initially bought him a steel guitar, but Buddy insisted he wanted a guitar like his brothers. They bought him a guitar, a gold top Gibson acoustic, from a pawn shop, and his brother Travis taught him to play it.  By 15, Buddy was proficient on guitar, banjo, and mandolin. During his early childhood, Holley was influenced by Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Snow, Bob Wills, and the Carter Family.  He started writing songs and working with his childhood friend Bob Montgomery. The two jammed together, practicing songs by the Louvin Brothers and Johnnie & Jack. They frequently listened to Grand Ole Opry's radio programs on WSM, Louisiana Hayride on KWKH (which they once drove 600 miles to okay just to be turned away), and Big D Jamboree.  If you're not familiar with the Grand Ol Opry, it's a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on Clearchannel's WSM, which first hit the airwaves on October 5, 1925. Its the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history.    At the same time he was practicing with Bob, Holley played with other musicians he met in high school, including Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison.    In 1952 Holley and Jack Neal participated as a duo billed as "Buddy and Jack" in a talent contest on a local television show.    After Neal left, he was replaced by his buddy Bob, and they were billed as "Buddy and Bob." By the mid-'50s, Buddy & Bob played their style of music called "western and bop ."    Holley was influenced by late-night radio stations that played the blues and rhythm and blues. Holley would sit in his car with Sonny Curtis and tune to distant “black” radio stations that could only be received at night when bigger stations turned off local transmissions.    Holley then changed his music by blending his earlier country and western influence with Rhythm and Blues. After seeing the legendary Elvis perform, Holly decided to pursue his career in music full-time once he graduated high school. By mid-1955, Buddy & Bob, who already worked with an upright bass player (played by Larry Welborn), added drummer Jerry Allison to their lineup. After seeing Elvis Presley performing live in Lubbock, who Pappy Dave Stone of KDAV booked, Buddy really wanted to get after it. In February, he opened for Elvis at the Fair Park Coliseum, in April at the Cotton Club, then again in June at the Coliseum. Elvis significantly influenced the group to turn more towards Rock n Roll. Buddy and the king became friends, with Buddy even driving Elvis around when he was in town. Eventually, Bob Montgomery, who leaned toward a traditional country sound, left the group, though they continued writing and composing songs together. Holly kept pushing his music toward a straight-ahead rock & roll sound, working with Allison, Welborn, and other local musicians, including his pal and guitarist Sonny Curtis and bassist Don Guess. In October, Holly was booked as the opener for Bill Haley & His Comets (Rock Around the Clock), to be seen by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall. Obviously impressed, Eddie Crandall talked Grand Ole Opry manager Jim Denny into finding a recording contract for Holley. Pappy Stone sent Denny a demo tape, which Denny forwarded to Paul Cohen. Cohen signed the band to Decca Records in February 1956.    In the contract, Decca accidentally misspelled Holley's surname as "Holly," From that point forward, he was known as "Buddy Holly." On January 26, 1956, Holly went to his first professional recording session with producer Owen Bradley. He was a part of two more sessions in Nashville.    the producer selected the session musicians and arrangements, Holly became frustrated by his lack of creative control. In April 1956, Decca released "Blue Days, Black Nights" as a single and "Love Me" on the B-side.    "B-sides" were secondary songs that were sent out with single records. They were usually just added to have something on the flip side. Later they became songs that bands would either not release or wait to release.  Jim Denny added Holly on tour as the opening act for Faron Young. While on this tour, they were promoted as "Buddy Holly and the Two Tones." Decca then called them "Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes." The label released Holly's second single, "Modern Don Juan," along with "You Are My One Desire."    Unfortunately, neither one of these singles tickled anyone's fancy. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Holly that they wouldn't re-sign him and insisted he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years. The same shit happened to Universal and me. A couple of classics, like "Midnight Shift" and "Rock Around with Ollie Vee," did come out of those Decca sessions, but nothing issued at the time went anywhere. It looked as though Holly had missed his shot at stardom.  Holly was disappointed with his time with Decca. inspired by Buddy Knox's "Party Doll" and Jimmy Bowen's "I'm Stickin' with You" he decided to visit Norman Petty, who produced and promoted both of those successful records.    Buddy, Jerry Allison, bassist Joe B. Mauldin, and rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan pulled together and headed to Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. The group recorded a demo of the now-classic, "That'll Be the Day," which they had previously recorded in Nashville. Now rockin' that lead guitar, Holly finally achieved the sound he wanted. They got the song nailed down and recorded. Along with Petty's help, the group got it picked up by Murray Deutsch, a publishing associate of Petty's, and Murray got it to Bob Thiele, an executive at Coral Records. Thiele loved it. Ironically, Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca, the company Holly had signed with before. On a side note, a subsidiary is a smaller label under the major label's umbrella. For instance, Universal signed my band to Republic, a subsidiary of Universal Music that dealt primarily with rock genres, like Godsmack. Norman Petty saw the potential in Buddy and became his manager. He sent the record to Brunswick Records in New York City. Thiele saw the record as a potential hit, but there were some significant hurdles to overcome before it could be released.  According to author Philip Norman, in his book Rave On, Thiele would only get the most reluctant support from his record company. Decca had lucked out in 1954 when they'd signed Bill Haley & His Comets and saw their "Rock Around the Clock" top the charts. Still, very few of those in charge at Decca had a natural feel or appreciation for Rock & Roll, let alone any idea of where it might be heading or whether the label could (or should) follow it down that road. Also, remember that although Buddy had been dropped by Decca the year before, the contract that Holly signed explicitly forbade him from re-recording anything he had recorded for them, released or not, for five years. However, Coral was a subsidiary of Decca, and Decca's Nashville office could hold up the release and possibly even haul Holly into court.  "That'll Be the Day" was issued in May of 1957 mainly as an indulgence to Thiele, to "humor" him. The record was put out on the Brunswick label, more of jazz and R&B label, and credited to the Crickets. The group chose this name to prevent the suits at Decca -- and more importantly, Decca's Nashville office -- from finding out that this new release was from the guy they had just dropped. The name “The Crickets” was inspired by a band that Buddy and his group followed, called “the Spiders” and they initially thought about calling themselves “The Beetles”, with two E's, but Buddy said he was afraid people would want to “squash them.” So, they picked “The Crickets.” Petty also became the group's manager and producer, signing the Crickets, identified as Allison, Sullivan, and Mauldin, to a contract. Unfortunately, Holly wasn't listed as a member in the original document to keep his involvement with "That'll Be the Day" a secret. This ruse would later become the source of severe legal and financial problems for Buddy.    The song shot to #1 on the national charts that summer. But, of course, Decca knew Holly was in the band by then. So, with Thiele's persuasion and realizing they had a hit on their hands, the company agreed to release Holly from the five-year restriction on his old contract. This release left him free to sign any recording contract he wanted. While sorting out the ins and outs of Holly's legal situation, Thiele knew that Buddy was far more than a one-hit-wonder and that he could potentially write more and different types of hits. So, Holly found himself with two recording contracts, one with Brunswick as a member of the Crickets and the other with Coral Records as Buddy Holly, all thanks to Thiele's ingenious strategy to get the most out of Buddy and his abilities. By releasing two separate bodies of work, the Crickets could keep rockin' while allowing its apparent leader and "star" to break out on his own.    Petty, whose name seems fitting as we go through this, acted as their manager and producer. He handed out writing credits at random, gifting Niki Sullivan and Joe B. Mauldin (and himself) the co-authorship of the song, "I'm Gonna Love You Too," while leaving Holly's name off of "Peggy Sue." at first. The song title, “Peggy Sue” was named after Buddy's biggest fan. Petty usually added his own name to the credit line, something the managers and producers who wanted a more significant piece of the pie did back in the '50s. To be somewhat fair, Petty made some suggestions, which were vital in shaping certain Holly songs. However, he didn't contribute as much as all of his credits allow us to believe. Some confusion over songwriting was exacerbated by problems stemming from Holly's contracts in 1956. Petty had his own publishing company, Nor Va Jak Music, and Buddy signed a contract to publish his new songs. However, Holly had signed an exclusive agreement with another company the year before. To reduce his profile as a songwriter until a settlement could be made with Petty and convince the other publisher that they weren't losing too much in any compensation, buddy copyrighted many of his new songs under the pseudonym "Charles Hardin." So many names!   The dual recording contracts allowed Holly to record a crazy amount of songs during his short-lived 18 months of fame. Meanwhile, his band -- billed as Buddy Holly & the Crickets -- became one of the top attractions of the time. Holly was the frontman, singing lead and playing lead guitar, which was unusual for the era, and writing or co-writing many of their songs. But the Crickets were also a great band, creating a big and exciting sound (which is lost to history, aside from some live recordings from their 1958 British tour). Allison was a drummer ahead of his time and contributed to the songwriting more often than his colleagues, and Joe B. Mauldin and Niki Sullivan provided a solid rhythm section.   The group relied on originals for their singles, making them unique and years ahead of their time. In 1957-1958, songwriting wasn't considered a skill essential to a career in rock & Roll; the music business was still limping along the lines it had followed since the '20s. Songwriting was a specialized profession set on the publishing side of the industry and not connected to performing and recording. A performer might write a song or, even more rarely, like Duke Ellington (It Don't Mean A Thing), count composition among his key talents; however, this was generally left to the experts. Any rock & roller wanting to write songs would also have to get past the image of Elvis. He was set to become a millionaire at the young age of 22. He never wrote his songs, and the few songwriting credits he had resulted from business arrangements rather than writing anything.   Buddy Holly & the Crickets changed that seriously by hitting number one with a song they'd written and then reaching the Top Ten with originals like "Oh, Boy" and "Peggy Sue," They were regularly charging up the charts based on their songwriting. This ability wasn't appreciated by the public at the time and wouldn't be noticed widely until the '70s. Still, thousands of aspiring musicians, including John Lennon and Paul McCartney, from some unknown band called "The Beatles," took note of their success, and some of them decided to try and tried to be like Buddy. Also unknown at the time, Holly and his crew changed the primary industry method of recording, which was to bring the artist into the label's studio, working on their timetable. If an artist were highly successful, they got a blank check in the studio, and any union rules were thrown out, but that was rare and only happened to the highest bar of musicians. Buddy Holly & the Crickets, however, did their thing, starting with "That'll Be the Day," in Clovis, New Mexico, at Petty's studio. They took their time and experimented until they got the sound they were looking for. No union told them when to stop or start their work, and they delivered terrific records; not to mention, they were albums that sounded different than anything out there. The results changed the history of rock music. The group worked out a new sound that gave shape to the next wave of rock & Roll. Most definitely influenced was British rock & Roll and the British Invasion beat, with the lead and rhythm guitars working together to create a fuller, more complex sound. On songs such as "Not Fade Away," "Everyday," "Listen to Me," "Oh Boy!," "Peggy Sue," "Maybe Baby," "Rave On," "Heartbeat," and "It's So Easy," Holly took rock & roll's range and sophistication and pushed it without abandoning its excitement and, most importantly, it's fun. Holly and the band weren't afraid to push the envelope and try new things, even on their singles. "Peggy Sue" used changes in volume and timbre on the guitar that was usually only used in instrumental albums. "Words of Love" was one of the earliest examples of double-tracked vocals in rock & Roll, and the Beatles would jump on that train the following decade. Buddy Holly & the Crickets were extremely popular in America. Still, in England, they were even more significant; their impact was compared to Elvis and, in some ways, was even bigger. This success was because they toured England; Elvis didn't. They spent a month there in 1958, playing a list of shows that were still talked about 30 years later. It also had to do with their sound and Holly's persona on stage. The group's heavy use of rhythm guitar fit right in with the sound of skiffle music, a mix of blues, folk, country, and jazz elements that most of the younger British were introduced to playing music and their first taste of rock & Roll. Also, Holly looked a lot less likely a rock & roll star than Elvis. He was tall, skinny, and wore glasses; he looked like an ordinary dude who was good at music. Part of Buddy's appeal as a rock star was how he didn't look like one. He inspired tens of thousands of British teenagers who couldn't compare themselves to Elvis or Gene Vincent. (Be Bop A Lula) In the '50s, British guitarist Hank Marvin of the Shadows owed his look and that he wore his glasses proudly on-stage to Holly, and it was brought into the '70s by Elvis Costello.  Buddy may have played several different kinds of guitars but, he was specifically responsible for popularizing the Fender Stratocaster, especially in England. For many wannabe rock & rollers in the UK, Holly's 1958 tour was the first chance they'd had to see or hear this iconic guitar in action, and it quickly became the guitar of choice for anyone wanting to be a guitarist in England. In fact, Marvin is said to have had the first Stratocaster ever brought into England.   The Crickets became a trio with Sullivan dipping out in late 1957, right after the group's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, but a lot more would transpire over the next year or so. The group consolidated its success with the release of two L.P.s, The Chirping Crickets, and Buddy Holly. They had two successful international tours and performed more in the United States. Holly had also started to have different ideas and aspirations than Allison and Mauldin. They never thought of leaving Texas as their home, and they continued to base their lives there, while Buddy wanted to be in New York, not just to do business but to live. His marriage to Maria Elena Santiago, a receptionist in Murray Deutsch's office, made the decision to move to New York that much easier. By this time, Holly's music had become more sophisticated and complex, and he passed off the lead guitar duties in the studio to session player Tommy Alsup. He had done several recordings in New York using session musicians such as King Curtis. It was around this time that the band started to see a slight decline in sales. Singles such as "Heartbeat" didn't sell nearly as well as the 45s of 1957 that had rolled out of stores. It's said that Buddy might even have advanced further than most of the band's audience was willing to accept in late 1958. Critics believe that the song "Well...All Right" was years ahead of its time.   Buddy split with the group -- and Petty -- in 1958. This departure left him free to chase some of those newer sounds, which also left him low on funds. In the course of the split, it became clear to Holly and everyone else that Petty had been fudging the numbers and probably taken a lot of the group's income for himself. Unfortunately, there was almost no way of proving his theft because he never seemed to finish his "accounting" of the money owed to anyone. His books were ultimately found to be so screwed up that when he came up with various low five-figure settlements to the folks he robbed, they took it.   Holly vacationed with his wife in Lubbock, TX, and hung out in Waylin Jennings's radio station in December 1958. With no money coming in from Petty, Holly decided to earn some quick cash by signing to play the Midwest's Winter Dance Party package tour. For the start of the Winter Dance Party tour, he assembled a band consisting of Waylon Jennings (on bass), Tommy Allsup (on guitar), and Carl Bunch (on drums). Holly and Jennings left for New York City, arriving on January 15, 1959. Jennings stayed at Holly's apartment by Washington Square Park on the days before a meeting scheduled at the headquarters of the General Artists Corporation, the folks who organized the tour. They then traveled by train to Chicago to meet up with the rest of the band. The Winter Dance Party tour began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 23, 1959. The amount of travel involved created problems because whoever booked the tour dates didn't consider the distance between venues. On top of the scheduling conflicts, the unheated tour buses broke down twice in the freezing weather. In addition, Holly's drummer Carl Bunch was hospitalized for frostbite to his toes while aboard the bus, so Buddy looked for different transportation.  Buddy actually sat in on drums for the local bands while Richie Valenz played drums for Buddy.    On February 2, before their appearance in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza airplane for Jennings, Allsup, and himself, from Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa, for $108.  Holly wanted to leave after the performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake and fly to their next venue, in Moorhead, Minnesota, through Fargo, North Dakota. This plan would allow them time to rest, wash their clothes and avoid being on that crappy bus. The Clear Lake Show ended just before midnight, and Allsup agreed to flip a coin for the seat with Richie Valens. Valens called heads, and when he won, he reportedly said, "That's the first time I've ever won anything in my life" On a side note, Allsup later opened a restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas called Heads Up, in memory of this statement. Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat to J. P. Richardson (the Big Bopper), who had the flu and complained that the tour bus was too cold and uncomfortable for a man of his stature. When Buddy heard Waylon wouldn't be flying with him, he jokingly said, “I hope your old bus freezes up!” Then Waylon responded, “well, I hope your old plane crashes!” The last thing he would ever say to his friend. Roger Peterson, the pilot and only 21, took off in pretty nasty weather, although he wasn't certified to fly by instruments alone, failing an instrument test the year before. He was a big fan of Buddy's and didn't want to disappoint, so he called a more seasoned pilot to fly the trio to their destination. “I'm more of a Lawrence Welk fan.”  Sadly, shortly after 12:55 am on February 3, 1959, Holly, Valens, Richardson, and Peterson were killed instantly when the plane crashed into a frozen cornfield five miles northwest of Mason City, Iowa, airport shortly after takeoff. Buddy was in the front, next to the pilot. He loved flying and had been taking flying lessons. The three musicians were ejected from the plane upon impact, suffering severe head and chest injuries. Holly was 22 years old.   Holly's funeral was held on February 7, 1959, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock, TX. It was officiated by Ben D. Johnson, who married the Hollys' just months earlier. Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, and Sonny Curtis were pallbearers. Some sources say that Phil Everly, the one half of The Everly Brothers, was also the pallbearer, but he said at one time that he attended the funeral but was not a pallbearer. In addition, Waylon Jennings was unable to participate because of his commitment to the still-touring Winter Dance Party. Holly's body was buried in the City of Lubbock Cemetery, in the city's eastern part. His headstone has the correct spelling of his last name (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar. His wife, María Elena, had to see the first reports of her husband's death on T.V. She claimed she suffered a miscarriage the following day. Holly's mother, who heard the news on the radio in Lubbock, Texas, screamed and collapsed. Because of Elena's miscarriage, the authorities implemented a policy against announcing victims' names until the families were informed. As a result, Mary did not attend the funeral and has never visited the gravesite. She later told the Avalanche-Journal, "In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn't with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane."    The accident wasn't considered a significant piece of news at the time, although sad. Most news outlets were run by out-of-touch older men and didn't think rock & Roll was anything more than to be exploited to sell newspapers or grab viewing audiences. However, Holly was clean-cut and scandal-free, and with the news of his recent marriage, the story contained more misery than other music stars of the period. For the teens of the time, it was their first glimpse of a public tragedy like this, and the news was heartbreaking. Radio station D.J.s were also traumatized. The accident and sudden way it happened, along with Holly and Valens being just 22 and 17, made it even worse. Hank Williams Sr had died at 29, but he was a drug user and heavy drinker, causing some to believe his young death was inevitable. The blues guitarist Johnny Ace had passed in 1954 while backstage at a show. However, that tragedy came at his hand in a game of Russian roulette. Holly's death was different, almost more personal to the public.     Buddy left behind dozens of unfinished recordings — solo transcriptions of his new compositions, informal jam sessions with bandmates, and tapes with songs intended for other musicians. Buddy recorded his last six original songs in his apartment in late 1958 and were his most recent recordings. In June 1959, Coral Records overdubbed two of the songs with backing vocals by the Ray Charles Singers and hired guns to emulate the Crickets sound. Since his death, the finished tracks became the first singles, "Peggy Sue Got Married"/"Crying, Waiting, Hoping." The new release was a success, and the fans and industry wanted more. As a result, all six songs were included in The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2 in 1960 using the other Holly demos and the same studio personnel. The demand for Holly records was so great, and Holly had recorded so many tracks that his record label could release new Holly albums and singles for the next ten years. Norman Petty, the alleged swindler, produced most of these new songs, using unreleased studio masters, alternative takes, audition tapes, and even amateur recordings (a few from 1954 with recorded with low-quality vocals). The final Buddy Holly album, "Giant," was released in 1969 with the single, "Love Is Strange," taking the lead.   These posthumous records did well in the U.S. but actually charted in England. New recordings of his music, like the Rolling Stones' rendition of "Not Fade Away" and the Beatles' rendition of "Words of Love," kept Buddy's name and music in the hearts and ears of a new generation of listeners. In the States, the struggle was a little more challenging. The rock & roll wave was constantly morphing, with new sounds, bands, and listeners continuously emerging, and the general public gradually forgot about Buddy and his short-lived legacy. Holly was a largely forgotten figure in his own country by the end of the '60s, except among older fans (then in their twenties) and hardcore oldies listeners. Things began to shift toward the end of the '60s with the start of the oldies boom. Holly's music was, of course, a part of this movement. But, as people listened, they also learned about the man behind the music. Even the highly respected rock zine Rolling Stone went out of its way to remind people who Buddy was. His posing images from 1957 and 1958, wearing his glasses, a jacket, and smiling, looked like a figure from another age. The way he died also set him apart from some of the deaths of rockers like Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison, musicians who, at the time, overindulged in the rock in roll lifestyle. Holly was different. He was eternally innocent in all aspects of his life. Don McLean, a relatively unknown singer/songwriter, who proudly considered himself a Buddy Holly fan, wrote and released a song called "American Pie," in 1971, catapulting him into the musical ethos. Although listeners assumed McLean wrote the song about President Kennedy, he let it be known publicly that he meant February 3, 1959, the day Holly died. Maclean was a holly fan and his death devastated him when he was only 11. The song's popularity led to Holly suddenly getting more press exposure than he'd ever had the chance to enjoy in his lifetime.     The tragic plane accident launched a few careers in the years after. Bobby Vee became a star when his band took over Holly's spot on the Winter Dance Party tour.  Holly's final single, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," hit the British charts in the wake of his death and rose to number one. Two years after the event, producer Joe Meek and singer Mike Berry got together to make "Tribute to Buddy Holly," a memorial single. But, unfortunately, rumor has it that Meek never entirely got over Holly's death, and he killed himself on the anniversary of the plane accident.   The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included Holly among its first class in 1986. Upon his induction, the Hall of Fame basked about the large quantity of material he produced during his short musical career. Saying, "He made a major and lasting impact on popular music ." Calling him an "innovator" for writing his own material, experimenting with double-tracking, and using orchestration. He was also revered for having "pioneered and popularized" the use of two guitars, bass, and drums by rock bands. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986, saying his contributions "changed the face of Rock' n' Roll." Along with Petty, Holly developed techniques like overdubbing and reverb and other innovative instrumentation. As a result, according to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Holly became "one of the most influential pioneers of rock and roll" who had a "lasting influence" on genre performers of the 1960s.   Paul McCartney bought the rights to Buddy Holly's entire song catalog on July 1, 1976.   Lubbock TX's Walk of Fame has a statue honoring Buddy of him rocking his Fender, which Grant Speed sculpted in 1980. There are other memorials to Buddy Holly, including a street named in his honor and the Buddy Holly Center, which contains a museum of memorabilia and fine arts gallery. The Center is located on Crickets Avenue, one street east of Buddy Holly Avenue.  There was a musical about Buddy. Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, a “pioneering jukebox musical which worked his familiar hits into a narrative,” debuted in the West End in 1989. It ran until 2008, where it also appeared on Broadway, as well as in Australia and Germany, not to mention touring companies in the U.K. and U.S.   In 1994 "Buddy Holly" became a massive hit from the band Weezer, paying homage to the fallen rocker and is still played on the radio and whenever MTV decides to play videos on one of their side stations. Again, in ‘94, Holly's style also showed up in Quentin Tarantino's abstract and groundbreaking film Pulp Fiction, which featured Steve Buscemi playing a waiter impersonating Buddy.   In 1997, Buddy received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was inducted into the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, as well. In 2010, Grant Speed's statue of Buddy and his guitar was taken down for repairs, and construction of a new Walk of Fame began. On May 9, 2011, the City of Lubbock held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza, the new home of the statue and the Walk of Fame. The same year, on why would be Buddy's 75th birthday, a star with his name was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.   There were two tribute albums released in 2011: Verve Forecast's Listen to Me: Buddy Holly,  featuring Stevie Nicks, Brian Wilson, and Ringo Starr plus 13 other artists, and Fantasy/Concord's Rave on Buddy Holly, which had tracks from Paul McCartney, Patti Smith, the Black Keys, and Nick Lowe, among others.  Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens released his own Holly tribute album in 2009. Universal released True Love Ways, an album where original Holly recordings were overdubbed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2018, just in time for Christmas. That album debuted at number 10 on the U.K. charts. Groundbreaking was held on April 20, 2017, to construct a new performing arts center in Lubbock, TX, dubbed the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences, a $153 million project in downtown Lubbock completed in 2020 located at 1300 Mac Davis Lane.   Recently, on May 5, 2019, an article on gearnews.com had a pretty cool story, if it's true.   The famous Fender Stratocaster played and owned by Buddy Holly that disappeared after his death in 1959 has been found, according to a new video documentary called "The '54".   Gill Matthews is an Australian drummer, producer, and collector of old Fender guitars. According to the documentary, he may have stumbled upon Buddy Holly's legendary guitar. The film is The '54 and tells the history of one particular 1954 Fender Stratocaster Gil purchased two decades after the plane crash that claimed Buddy's life. Experts cited in the film say there is a good chance that the guitar in Matthews' possession is indeed Buddy Holly's actual original '54 Fender Stratocaster. If this is true, it is possibly one of the most significant finds in guitar history. You can watch the video at gearnews.com and see all the evidence presented during the film.     Sources: A biography on allmusic.com written by Bruce Eder was the main source of information here with other info coming from the following Rave on: The Biography of Buddy Holly written by Phillip Norman   Buddy Holly : Rest In Peace by Don Mclean "Why Buddy Holly will never fade away" an article on The Telegraph website written by Phillip Norman   Various other articles were used and tidbits taken from wikipedia.   And Adam Moody   Consider becoming a producer of the show. www.accidentaldads.com www.iconsandoutlaws.com       

christmas united states america love american new york texas new york city chicago australia english uk rock england british germany walk australian radio russian minnesota tennessee nashville hall of fame wisconsin fame iowa blues broadway states tx tribute beatles universal giant midwest boy shadows new mexico rolling stones mtv elvis milwaukee republic rock and roll quentin tarantino rhythm vol buddy clock sciences critics peterson richardson welsh john lennon north dakota hoping top ten paul mccartney singles matthews elvis presley biography great depression meek spiders petty fort worth texas ironically fargo rave performing arts songwriting jimi hendrix west end pulp fiction heartbeat jennings national academy telegraph rock and roll hall of fame mclean groundbreaking weezer lifetime achievement award american pie ringo starr crickets stevie nicks janis joplin jim morrison lubbock elvis costello patti smith heads up brunswick maclean coliseum steve buscemi brian wilson buddy holly black keys hollywood walk grand ole opry fender universal music holley british invasion beetles hank williams brian jones rock roll it doesn waylon jennings don mclean moorhead ed sullivan show all right everly brothers godsmack thiele cotton club nick lowe decca smithereens clear channel clear lake washington square park mauldin big bopper songwriters hall of fame stratocaster royal philharmonic orchestra so easy tabernacle baptist church mason city carter family recording arts peggy sue wsm fender stratocaster bob wills decca records valens lawrence welk jimmie rodgers johnny ace bobby vee rock around gene vincent mike berry stickin king curtis welborn not fade away maybe baby richie valens mean a thing joe meek louvin brothers hank snow paul cohen hank williams sr hollys faron young love is strange rave on philip norman hank marvin allsup phil everly midnight shift louisiana hayride grand ol opry owen bradley winter dance party roger peterson beechcraft bonanza sonny curtis blue days jerry allison bob montgomery iowa rock buddy the buddy holly story george d hay
My Backstage Pass
Greg Garing - The man Johnny Cash called "The best country singer I heard in 30 years"

My Backstage Pass

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2022 38:37


Recorded Live at The Station - Greg Garing has gained notoriety for his mastery of every stringed instrument, and for having a stage presence second to none. The Man in Black himself, Johnny Cash, called Greg "The best country singer I heard in 30 years." A Nashville music critic described Greg as "a veritable hurricane on stage" with his natural ability to play and sing anything. His performance raises goosebumps and inspires gasps of wonder when he channels the Great American Music Muse — mixing up classic country, blues, bluegrass, jazz and more according to his personal recipe. He truly is a living legend and is considered one of the most prolific entertainers of our time. By the young age of 20, Greg was playing with every country and bluegrass superstar on the Nashville scene, including Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, Jimmy Martin, and many other legends who were 3 or 4 times his age. In 1997 his first solo album "Alone" was named #6 best album of the year by The New York Times. Host Lee Zimmerman is a freelance music writer whose articles have appeared in several leading music industry publications. A former promotions representative for ABC and Capital Records and director of communications for various CBS - affiliated television stations. Lee, who currently lives in East Tennessee, recently authored "Americana Music - Voices, Visionaries & Pioneers of an Honest Sound" which is now available on Amazon and other outlets. You can contact Lee at lezim@bellsouth.netCohost/Producer Billy Hubbard is a Tennessee based Americana Singer/Songwriter and former Regional Director of A&R for a Grammy winning company, as well as a music and podcast producer. Billy is also the venue developer and booking manager of The Station in East TN. As an artist Billy is endorsed by Godin's Simon & Patrick Guitars and has a new album being released fall of 2022. You can find Billy Hubbard online at http://www.BillyHubbard.com  

Melodías pizarras
Melodías Pizarras - Hank Snow, The Carter Family y Smokey Wood - 02/04/22

Melodías pizarras

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2022 58:47


Además del bizarro Yodeling Ranger, la primera familia de América y el hipster de Houston, también tendremos esta noche la acostumbrada delicia hawaiana, swing, mambo, conga, rumba, gospel calypso, hillbilly boogie, rhythm and blues, western swing, fox y rock and roll... A partir de las 23.00 horas en la sintonía de Radio 3. Escuchar audio

My Good Ole Country
Country Cities, Towns, and States

My Good Ole Country

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2022 63:06


During my recovery period I had lots of time to think of everything I could think about country music, its stars and what who was singing about. And then,,,,,,, SHAZAM,,,,, it hit me. So many of our songs are about particular locations where the actual song took place.  And so my friends, take a listen to Bobby Bare to start out with. I couldn't actually put all the songs Bobby did about particular cities because I get the feeling he had the most. I picked one of his and then Glen Cambell , and then Hank Snow and the Marty Robbins and then another and another and another. ALL GOOD. To my way of thinking, the best of them all is about a place called ARLINGTON, presented by Trace Adkins. When you listen to the words, I think you'll understand why I respectfully dedicate this whole show to our Wounded  Warriors. Hope you enjoy hearing about your particular favorite. Please share with someone you love and drop us a note at winradionetwork.com.

Carolina Calling: A Music & History Podcast
Shelby: Local Legends Breathe New Life into Small Town

Carolina Calling: A Music & History Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2022 33:08


The image of bluegrass is mountain music played and heard at high altitudes and towns like Deep Gap and remote mountain hollers across the Appalachians. But the earliest form of the music originated at lower elevations, in textile towns across the North Carolina Piedmont. As far back as the 1920s, old-time string bands like Charlie Poole's North Carolina Ramblers were playing an early form of the music in textile towns, like Gastonia, Spray, and Shelby - in Cleveland County west of Charlotte.In this second episode of Carolina Calling, we visit the small town of Shelby: a seemingly quiet place, like most small Southern towns one might pass by in their travels. Until you see the signs for the likes of the Don Gibson Theatre and the Earl Scruggs Center, you wouldn't guess that it was the town that raised two of the most influential musicians and songwriters in bluegrass and country music: Earl Scruggs, one of the most important musicians in the birth of bluegrass, whose banjo playing was so innovative that it still bears his name, “Scruggs style,” and Don Gibson, one of the greatest songwriters in the pop & country pantheon, who wrote “I Can't Stop Loving You,” “Sweet Dreams,” and other songs you know by heart. For both Don Gibson and Earl Scruggs, Shelby is where it all began.Subscribe to Carolina Calling to follow along as we journey across the Old North State, visiting towns like Greensboro, Durham, Wilmington, Asheville, and more.Brought to you by The Bluegrass Situation and Come Hear NCMusic featured in this episode:Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers - "Take a Drink On Me"Flatt & Scruggs - "Ground Speed"Don Gibson - "I Can't Stop Loving You"Andrew Marlin - "Erie Fiddler" (Carolina Calling Theme)Hedy West - "Cotton Mill Girl"Blind Boy Fuller - "Rag Mama, Rag"Don Gibson - "Sea Of Heartbreak"Patsy Cline - "Sweet Dreams "Ray Charles - "I Can't Stop Loving You"Ronnie Milsap - "(I'd Be) A Legend In My Time"Elvis Presley - "Crying In The Chapel"Hank Snow - "Oh Lonesome Me"Don Gibson - "Sweet Dreams"Don Gibson - "Oh Lonesome Me"Chet Atkins - "Oh Lonesome Me"Johnny Cash - "Oh, Lonesome Me"The Everly Brothers - "Oh Lonesome Me"Neil Young - "Oh Lonesome Me"Flatt & Scruggs - "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"Bill Preston - "Holy, Holy, Holy"Flat & Scruggs - "We'll Meet Again Sweetheart"Snuffy Jenkins - "Careless Love"Bill Monroe - "Uncle Pen"Bill Monroe - "It's Mighty Dark to Travel"The Earl Scruggs Revue - "I Shall Be Released"The Band - "I Shall Be Released"Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - "Will The Circle Be Unbroken"The Country Gentlemen - "Fox on the Run"Sonny Terry - "Whoopin' The Blues"Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee - "Born With The Blues (Live)"Nina Simone - "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free"Cover image courtesy of the Don Gibson TheatreAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Rock N Roll Pantheon
Let It Roll: Solving the Mysteries Behind Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel"

Rock N Roll Pantheon

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2021 55:35


Nate and Tony talk Col. Tom Parker, Hank Snow, the songwriting team behind Elvis' first #1 and the murder mystery behind the song.Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts.Have a question or a suggestion for a topic or person for Nate to interview? Email letitrollpodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Twitter.Follow us on Facebook.

Let It Roll
Solving the Mysteries Behind Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel"

Let It Roll

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 4, 2021 55:35


Nate and Tony talk Col. Tom Parker, Hank Snow, the songwriting team behind Elvis' first #1 and the murder mystery behind the song.Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts.Have a question or a suggestion for a topic or person for Nate to interview? Email letitrollpodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Twitter.Follow us on Facebook.

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs
PLEDGE WEEK: “Muleskinner Blues” by the Fendermen

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2021


This is a bonus episode, part of Pledge Week 2021. Patreon backers get one of these with every episode of the main podcast. If you want to get those, and to support the podcast, please visit patreon.com/andrewhickey to sign up for a dollar a month or more. Click below for the transcript. Today we're going to look at one of the great one-hit wonders of all time -- a duo who made one fascinating single, made the top five with it, and then never managed to repeat their success. Today we're looking at "Mule Skinner Blues" by the Fendermen: [Excerpt: The Fendermen, "Mule Skinner Blues", guitar solo] The Fendermen were originally from Wisconsin though both of them later moved to Minnesota, and were both born on the same date, November the 26th 1937. Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey started out in their own bands, but after meeting up at university decided to perform together without any other musicians, both playing Fender guitars through the same amp, with Humphrey singing and Sundquist playing lead guitar. They both liked Jimmie Rodgers, and in particular they enjoyed his song "Muleskinner Blues", also known as "Blue Yodel #8": [Excerpt: Jimmie Rodgers, "Muleskinner Blues (Blue Yodel #8)"] They recorded their own version of the song, and took it to a tiny label called Cuca Records, who put out a pressing of three hundred copies: [Excerpt: The Fendermen, "Muleskinner Blues", Cuca version] That started to get some airplay, and people started wanting to buy the record, but Cuca Records weren't able to get any more copies pressed up for several weeks. So another label stepped in. Soma Records at first offered to lease the recording from Cuca, but when the two labels were unable to come to an agreement, Soma got the Fendermen in to rerecord their song, this time at a professional studio -- the same one that would later be used by the Trashmen to record "Surfin' Bird": [Excerpt: The Fendermen, "Muleskinner Blues"] Soma released that with a different B-side from the one Cuca had used, an instrumental called "Torture", so that Soma could collect the publishing money: [Excerpt: The Fendermen, "Torture"] Astonishingly, "Muleskinner Blues", a cover of an old country song, with falsetto leaps and only guitars for a backing, made number five on the pop charts, aided by an appearance on American Bandstand. They got a full backing band together, and started touring nationally. But then Cuca sued Soma. Eventually the two labels reached an out-of-court settlement, but the vast majority of the money from the hit ended up going to Cuca, rather than Soma. The next single featured the full band, rather than just the two guitarists, and was a cover version of Huey "Piano" Smith's "Don't You Just Know It": [Excerpt: The Fendermen, "Don't You Just Know It"] That didn't make the Hot One Hundred, and after one more single, and an album featuring all their recordings, the band broke up. Sundquist went back to Cuca Records, where as "Jimmy Sun and the Radiants" he put out a version of "Cocaine Blues", an old Western Swing song that had recently been revived by Johnny Cash as "Transfusion Blues": [Excerpt: Johnny Cash, "Transfusion Blues"] Sundquist's version restored the original lyrics, but was otherwise modelled on Cash's version: [Excerpt: Jimmy Sun and the Radiants, "Cocaine Blues"] The Radiants also backed a singer called Dick Hiorns, on another record in the style of "Muleskinner Blues", a surfed-up version of the old Hank Snow country song "I'm Movin' On": [Excerpt: Dick Hiorns, "I'm Movin' On"] Despite that being a surprisingly good record, it was out of step with musical trends by 1961, and was unsuccessful. The Radiants then renamed themselves The Muleskinners, and released a novelty record in the "Monster Mash" style, called "The Wolfman": [Excerpt: The Muleskinners, "The Wolfman"] Phil Humphrey, meanwhile, remained on Soma Records, as Phil Humphrey and the Fendermen, and released another version of "Don't You Just Know It", coupled with his own novelty record, "Popeye": [Excerpt: Phil Humphrey and the Fendermen, "Popeye"] Both men eventually ended up running their own versions of the Fendermen, touring into the 2000s. Sundquist's version put out a handful of recordings, and he also guested with the Minnesotan rockabilly revival band The Vibro Champs on their remake of a Fendermen B-side, "Beach Party", in 2000: [Excerpt: The Vibro Champs, "Beach Party"] Sundquist also had a side career making gospel music, in a duo with his wife Sharrie, but I've been unable to find any recordings of them, though apparently they wrote over a hundred Christian songs together. The Fendermen did reunite, briefly, in 2005 for two shows backed by the Vibro Champs, and had something of a cult following after the Cramps recorded their own version of "Muleskinner Blues", based on the Fendermen's version: [Excerpt: The Cramps, "Muleskinner Blues"] They never had another hit, and left behind a tiny number of recordings, but the Fendermen are now regarded as one of the most important precursors to the surf and garage rock sounds of the sixties, and their few recordings are regularly repackaged. Sundquist died in 2013, and Humphrey in 2016.