Check out the latest episode (#13) of Blackout Benny's classic country show Tie One On Tonight below. Swank art by Olaf Jens.
Here's the scoop...
Happy New Year! Welcome to Tie One On Tonight - country music record party #13. This episode brings songs songs about the end result of living too hard, what to do with the blues, one of the best bar brawler 45s I got, a tune about Patty Hearst and much much more. My newer artist this go around is the fantastic Croy and They Boys from Austin TX. and they have a public service announcement I 100% can get behind. Cheers, Benny
Listen to Blackout Benny's Tie One On Tonight #13 via Mixcloud right here. Fans of late 50s and early 60s country gems by Skeets McDonald, Wanda Jackson, Slim Whitman, Sonny Curtis, Kirk Hansard and others will be delighted.
Now 85, rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson has decided to stop performing. We wish her all the best on her new adventures.
Here's the scoop from Wanda's FB page...
"After over 60 years of touring, Wanda Jackson wishes to announce her retirement from performing. This retirement is solely based on health and safety. It has been a wild ride. Thank you all for all the years of continued fandom and support. This is not the end, just the beginning of a new chapter. Join us as we congratulate the Queen of Rockabilly on over six decades of rip roaring live performances, priceless stories and countless shimmies."
Watch the hour-long documentary, The Life and Times of Billy Gray and grab his album Nowhere To Go (But Out of My Mind).
Here's the scoop...
Billy Gray and Wanda Jackson
Previously unavailable on vinyl for more than 50 years, Billy Gray's Nowhere To Go (But Out Of My Mind) – get it directly from Sundazed Records right here – is a rare collection of tracks presents a wealth of hits that helped define country music in the ‘60s and beyond!
If you don’t remember Western Swing in its heyday, or the first generation of Texas Honky Tonk, you may not know Billy Gray. Aside from a select group of music aficionados and musicologists, Billy Gray’s name and significant contributions to country music and western swing have simply gone unrecognized for far too long.
Musically, there were many shades of Billy Gray. Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Performer, Arranger, Bandleader. Whether on stage or in the studio, Billy Gray personified what this music was – and still is – all about.
Billy played behind some of Country Music’s biggest names – Hank Thompson, Ray Price and Willie Nelson – served as Thompson’s and Price’s bandleader – and built quite a following in his own right with his own bands, The Western Okies, The Nuggets and The Cowtowners.
Billy Gray, together with the legendary Hank Thompson created a wealth of hits that helped to define the country music of an era, and beyond, helped launch the career of future rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson, and greatly influenced the future sound of country music. – Joe Hopkins
Here's the entertaining new video for Wanda Jackson's cover of Freddie King's Tore Down directed by Seth Graves and featuring The Ettes' bad girls Lindsay "Coco" Hames and Maria "Poni" Silver along with a cameo by a hungry Ron Jeremy.
Wanda's version of Tore Down is taken from her new album Unfinished Business which was produced by Justin Townes Earle and includes the rockabilly queen's interpretations of Bobby Womack's It's All Over Now and Wilco's revision of Woody Guthrie's California Stars. Sugar Hill is putting it out October 9, just in time for her 75th birthday on October 20. Check out the preview clip below:
Whoa, what a disappointment. Considering the exemplary job Jack White did producing Loretta Lynn's Grammy-grabbing comeback album Van Lear Rose (Interscope) back in 2004, it seemed like his pairing with the still wiry septuagenarian rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson was a can't-miss proposition but The Party Ain't Over (Third Man/Nonesuch) is a complete mess.
The big difference between the projects is that Jackson is an interpretive stylist rather than a singer-songwriter like her country counterpart, and also, Jackson was never anywhere near as hands-on in the studio as Loretta Lynn. Consequently White had to do more than simply assemble the band and serve as a quality control expert, he also had to choose the appropriate repertoire for Jackson and come up with suitable arrangements. Evidently White wasn't up to the task as his head-scratching song choices and the oddball arrangements ultimately set Jackson up for failure. It's now painfully apparent that he was unsure of whether to aim for the retro rock 'n' roll crowd, the old-school country holdouts or forget the nostalgia factor entirely and try reaching a new audience by remaking some contemporary tunes in a Wanda Jackson style. So instead of choosing a concept and seeing it through, White takes a scattershot approach, turning each song into a unique experiment in hopes that something might connect. Unfortunately nothing here really works.
The album opens with an effects-laden blast through Johnny Kid and The Pirates' Shakin' All Over and an equally over-egged version Little Richard's Rip It Up but things start to go pear-shaped with an off-kilter romp through Harlan Howard's Busted followed by a reggae-esque stab at Rum and Coca-Cola that's just plain goofy. Why anyone would think that Lord Invader's bawdy calypso about wartime prostitution in Trinidad popularized by the Andrews Sisters back in 1945 is due for an update in 2011 is beyond me (for the whole crazy story behind Rum & Coca-Cola see LINKS below). Sure Billy Childish once recorded a lame version of Rum and Coca-Cola back in 1988 but would White actually risk embarrassing Jackson by having her take a crack at the kooky novelty number in faux island patois just to one-up his former idol turned nemesis? Anything is possible I guess but whatever the reason, it's a terrible song choice for Jackson horribly realized.
Doing a song by Amy Winehouse isn't such a bad idea in itself but for 73-year old Jackson – who has been happily married to the same man for the last five decades – trying to sing convincingly about the sort of relationship detailed in You Know I'm No Good is more than a bit of a stretch. It also makes for an awkward transition into the holier than thou admonishments of Dust On The Bible. The Bailes Brothers' number made famous by Kitty Wells is one of the album's few selections the God-fearing Christian probably thought she could really get down with, at least until White decided that the country gospel classic needed to be retrofit with a booty-bumpin' funk groove. That doesn't come off any better than White's notion of revising Jimmie Rogers' classic Blue Yodel No. 6 (She Left Me This Mornin') with a clumsy gender flip or playing up the kitch value of Dinah Washington's Teach Me Tonight then tossing in an incongruously nasty guitar break as an afterthought. Why? Because he can.
Perhaps if White spent half as much time gathering appropriate material for the project as he did thinking up clever gimmicks to help sell the finished product – the limited fuscia-coloured vinyl version is being released with a special Greeting Card Gatefold™ sleeve design (see promotional clip below) – The Party Ain't Over might not have turned out to be such a laughable disaster. To find out just how awful it is, check out the fantastic 30-track Wanda Jackson compilation Queen Of Rockabilly – The Very Best Of The Rock 'n' Roll Years (Ace) which collects her most righteously raucous recordings for Capitol cut during the late 50s and early 60s. Wanda Jackson will be appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight (Thursday, January 20) and on Conan Tuesday (January 25) accompanied by Jack White and the Third Man House Band.
When you think of great country male/female duets and images of Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood or Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow come to mind, you're reading the wrong blog.
However, if instead you immediately thought of George & Tammy, Johnny & June, Porter & Dolly, Loretta & Conway or maybe even Merle & Bonnie and you haven't yet seen The Rizdales' talented husband and wife tandem of Tom and Tara Dunphy in action, then it's your lucky day.
London, Ontario's finest roots country combo are hosting a swingin' release party for their hot new recording How The Marriage Ended! tonight (Saturday, August 21) over at the Dakota Tavern with friends Luther Wright, Emily Fennell and Brian Connelly's rockin' instrumental rippers Ancient Chinese Secret ensuring a ruckus will be raised.
Even if the Music City brain trust believes the days of dual-gender duets are done, recent headlines suggest that people of every tax bracket are still prone to relationship problems so there may be interest in hearing sweetly harmonizing spouses musically navigating through their own marital minefields like they once did when hair was higher and suits were custom tailored in the colours of tropical fruits.
Unlike the vast majority of your favourite country stars past and present, the self-contained Rizdales unit compose, perform and record their own songs. So rather than simply remake the genre standards as others have done, they decided to try adding a few new pages to the break-up songbook. I'm pleased to report that they've come up with some corkers for How The Marriage Ended! like The Last Time You Put Me Down and the cleverly cutting It's Not Me, It's You (not the Lily Allen number) which have the feel of jukebox faves which Capitol's Ken Nelson might've cut in Studio B in between sessions by Buck Owens, Faron Young, Wanda Jackson, Tommy Collins and Ferlin Husky.
That's not to say that the Rizdales tunes sound dated, not at all, more like timeless classics that will be sung and spun for years to come. In fact, the video-ready My New Wife's Kids off the new album could be Brad Paisley's next chart smash while Who Knows You is a Lady Antebellum radio staple waiting to happen if only their Nashville A&R reps had ears.
If you decide to head down to the Dakota to see the Rizdales tonight, be sure to bring along a little extra scratch for a copy of their self-released How The Marriage Ended! disc and you might want to grab a copy of their equally exceptional previous album Radio Country while it's still available.
