Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
recorded 19 February, 1924
I first heard this song by the Any Old Time String Band, who probably learned it from Al Jolson's 1924 recording. Many of us have a "Pasadena" tucked away in our memories: a bygone place where all is right with the world. This instrumental version by Paul Whiteman whisks me back to mine every time the needle drops.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
This Ole House
Zoomer Roberts: vocal
Buddy Winston: guitar
We often include this Stuart Hamblen classic in Gospel programs. Singing it is a challenge (because there are few opportunities to breathe, swallow, snort or cough) but I managed to get through this 2007 KTEP performance without incident. The words hold a different meaning for me now than they did when I first heard it back in the 1950s.
Buddy Winston: guitar
We often include this Stuart Hamblen classic in Gospel programs. Singing it is a challenge (because there are few opportunities to breathe, swallow, snort or cough) but I managed to get through this 2007 KTEP performance without incident. The words hold a different meaning for me now than they did when I first heard it back in the 1950s.
Hardin Wouldn't Run
Zoomer Roberts: vocal & harmonica
Buddy Winston: guitar
John Wesley Hardin is buried here in El Paso at Concordia Cemetery. We have played there several times as part of the annual Walk Through History, which raises money for the upkeep of the grounds. We always include this song from Johnny Cash's ambitious mid-'60s album, "Ballads of the True West." We changed a couple of chords, but not Cash's lyrics, which paint a vivid picture of Wes Hardin in old El Paso. This performance is from the 2007 KTEP pledge drive.
Buddy Winston: guitar
John Wesley Hardin is buried here in El Paso at Concordia Cemetery. We have played there several times as part of the annual Walk Through History, which raises money for the upkeep of the grounds. We always include this song from Johnny Cash's ambitious mid-'60s album, "Ballads of the True West." We changed a couple of chords, but not Cash's lyrics, which paint a vivid picture of Wes Hardin in old El Paso. This performance is from the 2007 KTEP pledge drive.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The One Rose (That's Left In My Heart)
Zoomer Roberts:
guitars & standup bass
I recorded this song and the five that follow in the spring of 1984 at the home of local bluegrass musician Charles Harding. He had a four-track cassette machine with sound-on-sound capabilities, and invited me to lay down some tracks using his Martin dreadnought guitar and Kay acoustic bass. In 1988, I gave a dub of the instrumentals to Hank Snow at the Grand Ole Opry. He expressed approval of my handling of this old Lani McIntyre number because I had included the introductory verse, which only appears on Jimmie Rodgers' 1930 recording. Mr. Snow and I stayed in touch until his passing in 1999.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Brown Eyes
Zoomer Roberts: vocal, guitars, standup bass
I wrote this song about someone I used to know, recorded it, and never sang it again. The combination of standup bass and "sock rhythm" guitar has always appealed to me, although it fell out of common use decades ago. The electric guitar is a Gibson ES-335 that Buddy Winston loaned me for the occasion. The spoken comment, "Aw, Zoomer Roberts now," is a nod to Ernest Tubb. The performance is drenched in beer. Why not?
I wrote this song about someone I used to know, recorded it, and never sang it again. The combination of standup bass and "sock rhythm" guitar has always appealed to me, although it fell out of common use decades ago. The electric guitar is a Gibson ES-335 that Buddy Winston loaned me for the occasion. The spoken comment, "Aw, Zoomer Roberts now," is a nod to Ernest Tubb. The performance is drenched in beer. Why not?
Diamonds In the Rough
Zoomer Roberts: Vocals & Guitars
This old Carter Family favorite has received better treatment than it gets here, but as Mark Twain said of Wagner's music, it's "not as bad as it sounds."
This old Carter Family favorite has received better treatment than it gets here, but as Mark Twain said of Wagner's music, it's "not as bad as it sounds."
Roadside Rag
Zoomer Roberts:guitars & standup bass
I picked this up from local steel guitarist Scotty Hootman (pictured at right). The first section is in E and the bridge is in C, which makes it almost impossible for most bands to play without rehearsing it first. Hence its relative obscurity.
Milwaukee Rag
Zoomer Roberts: guitars, standup bass
Doc Watson recorded this with Flatt & Scruggs as "Nothin' To It." Somewhere along the line somebody told me the original title was "Milwaukee Rag." I learned most of this version from a flatpicking instruction book by Dan Crary.
Doc Watson recorded this with Flatt & Scruggs as "Nothin' To It." Somewhere along the line somebody told me the original title was "Milwaukee Rag." I learned most of this version from a flatpicking instruction book by Dan Crary.
Tom Dooley
Zoomer Roberts: vocal & harmonica
Buddy Winston: guitar
Most of us know "Tom Dooley" from the Kingston Trio hit of 1958, so it was a revelation to hear this version on a Doc Watson LP. It's an ideal vehicle for finger-style guitar and cross-harp. The story itself is unchanged. This performance is from a 2007 KTEP broadcast.
Buddy Winston: guitar
Most of us know "Tom Dooley" from the Kingston Trio hit of 1958, so it was a revelation to hear this version on a Doc Watson LP. It's an ideal vehicle for finger-style guitar and cross-harp. The story itself is unchanged. This performance is from a 2007 KTEP broadcast.
Little Darlin'
Zoomer Roberts: vocals, bass, lead guitar
Buddy Winston: rhythm guitar
Cindy Bickford: drums
After seeing Sha-Na-Na perform "At the Hop" in the Woodstock movie, I began singing it myself as a solo. Then I bought one of their albums, and heard songs I had missed the first time around, including the Diamonds' "Little Darlin'." I tried doing them all as a one-man blue-eyed doo-wop group, and at one time had a fair-sized repertoire worked up (including a histrionic "Teen Angel"), but "Little Darlin' " was the one that caught on. (I found out later that Joan Baez did the same thing with the same song years before I did.)
This was recorded at the same 1982 session that produced "You're Not Mine Anymore," and again I'm presenting a dub of the track as it sounded before it was bathed in echo.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A Teardrop On A Rose
Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys
After Hank's death, his band dubbed instrumental accompaniment onto this voice and guitar demo. It was issued in 1955 as a single and on an extended-play 45. Unlike most such items, it never appeared on LP. It was overdubbed a second time a few years later, and that version was included in an album called "The Spirit of Hank Williams." The second version survived into the CD era, and the original, undubbed demo has emerged in recent years, but the version here is all but forgotten. Due to the low fidelity of the original acetate recording disc, Hank's voice seems to be coming from far away -- which, in a sense, it is.
After Hank's death, his band dubbed instrumental accompaniment onto this voice and guitar demo. It was issued in 1955 as a single and on an extended-play 45. Unlike most such items, it never appeared on LP. It was overdubbed a second time a few years later, and that version was included in an album called "The Spirit of Hank Williams." The second version survived into the CD era, and the original, undubbed demo has emerged in recent years, but the version here is all but forgotten. Due to the low fidelity of the original acetate recording disc, Hank's voice seems to be coming from far away -- which, in a sense, it is.
The Golden Horseshoe Jamboree
Hal Smith & His Country Squires
This El Paso band was formed when Johnny Cash sound-alike Hal Smith joined forces with Luther Perkins sound-alike Dave Wardlaw. Their name came from the Ford station wagon they drove to their gigs (the farthest from home they ever got was Prescott, Arizona). They recorded three singles for the Yucca label, at least one of which got a good review in Billboard magazine. Those records are now prized by collectors, and have appeared in several anthologies of West Texas rockabilly rarities.
They also broadcast "live" on KHEY radio, and this is one of those shows. It was recorded by Hal's father from an AM table radio in 1958 or 1959. Although the sound quality is negligible, it's a nostalgic treat for those of us who remember El Paso as it was in those days.
Ten years later, Hal would give me my first job, name me Zoomer, and let me copy this tape. Enjoy the warm, friendly atmosphere of the Golden Horseshoe!
This El Paso band was formed when Johnny Cash sound-alike Hal Smith joined forces with Luther Perkins sound-alike Dave Wardlaw. Their name came from the Ford station wagon they drove to their gigs (the farthest from home they ever got was Prescott, Arizona). They recorded three singles for the Yucca label, at least one of which got a good review in Billboard magazine. Those records are now prized by collectors, and have appeared in several anthologies of West Texas rockabilly rarities.
They also broadcast "live" on KHEY radio, and this is one of those shows. It was recorded by Hal's father from an AM table radio in 1958 or 1959. Although the sound quality is negligible, it's a nostalgic treat for those of us who remember El Paso as it was in those days.
Ten years later, Hal would give me my first job, name me Zoomer, and let me copy this tape. Enjoy the warm, friendly atmosphere of the Golden Horseshoe!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Hard Travelin'
Zoomer Roberts: vocal & guitar
Love him or hate him, there is no getting around the influence Woody Guthrie has had on American music. This performance comes from a tribute concert that took place at the Chamizal Theater in 1985. It was recorded on a portable tape recorder by someone in the front row of the audience.
The production was staged by Charlie McDonald, who was boyhood friends with Bill Guthrie, Woody's son by his first wife, Mary. I met Mary Guthrie several times, and she gave me some good advice: "You keep going!" Her brother, Matt Jennings, played fiddle in a band with Woody in the 1930s, and he told me stories (none of them flattering) that I've never heard elsewhere. In the late 1980s, a BBC crew traveled to Matt's home in Horizon City to interview him for a film documentary about Woody, and he invited Applejack to be there to eat, drink, and accompany him on some fiddle tunes. I appeared on screen in the finished product for about two seconds.
Love him or hate him, there is no getting around the influence Woody Guthrie has had on American music. This performance comes from a tribute concert that took place at the Chamizal Theater in 1985. It was recorded on a portable tape recorder by someone in the front row of the audience.
The production was staged by Charlie McDonald, who was boyhood friends with Bill Guthrie, Woody's son by his first wife, Mary. I met Mary Guthrie several times, and she gave me some good advice: "You keep going!" Her brother, Matt Jennings, played fiddle in a band with Woody in the 1930s, and he told me stories (none of them flattering) that I've never heard elsewhere. In the late 1980s, a BBC crew traveled to Matt's home in Horizon City to interview him for a film documentary about Woody, and he invited Applejack to be there to eat, drink, and accompany him on some fiddle tunes. I appeared on screen in the finished product for about two seconds.
Lovesick Blues
Zoomer Roberts: spoken introduction & vocal
Buddy Winston: guitar
"Lovesick Blues" is a difficult song to sing, and possibly not worth the effort. Buddy and I worked it up in 2003 for a Hank Williams tribute show on KTEP, and that is the performance heard here. It was recorded "off the air" -- hence the extraneous noise. We did the song a few more times that year, but I quickly got the desire to sing it out of my system.
Buddy Winston: guitar
"Lovesick Blues" is a difficult song to sing, and possibly not worth the effort. Buddy and I worked it up in 2003 for a Hank Williams tribute show on KTEP, and that is the performance heard here. It was recorded "off the air" -- hence the extraneous noise. We did the song a few more times that year, but I quickly got the desire to sing it out of my system.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
I Know You Rider
Zoomer Roberts: vocals, electric bass
Buddy Winston: vocals, guitar, banjo
Although variants of "Rider" had been in the collective folk consciousness for decades, I first heard it performed by the Grateful Dead on Public Television, circa 1970. In those pre-VCR days, a common method of recording the audio portion of a telecast was to place a microphone in front of the TV speaker and hope the phone didn't ring. The end result was distorted, tinny, and typically had an annoying buzz running through it. Such was the case with the tape I made of the Dead. I kept that cassette for years, and from it learned everything about this song but the words, which I finally got from an LP. Applejack played the song regularly in the late '80s, and we recorded it for a self-produced album. The concert that I taped from the TV all those years ago is now available as a download from the Grateful Dead's online store, and it sounds great.
Buddy Winston: vocals, guitar, banjo
Although variants of "Rider" had been in the collective folk consciousness for decades, I first heard it performed by the Grateful Dead on Public Television, circa 1970. In those pre-VCR days, a common method of recording the audio portion of a telecast was to place a microphone in front of the TV speaker and hope the phone didn't ring. The end result was distorted, tinny, and typically had an annoying buzz running through it. Such was the case with the tape I made of the Dead. I kept that cassette for years, and from it learned everything about this song but the words, which I finally got from an LP. Applejack played the song regularly in the late '80s, and we recorded it for a self-produced album. The concert that I taped from the TV all those years ago is now available as a download from the Grateful Dead's online store, and it sounds great.
Monday, February 11, 2008
There's No U-Turn (On the Road of Life)
Zoomer Roberts: lead guitar & vocal
Buddy Winston: rhythm guitar & vocal
Jerry Boyer: vocal
This song and the one below ("Wasted Tears") are originals that I wrote specifically for Jerry, Buddy & Zoomer. JBZ was a side group that got together every year throughout the '70s and '80s to play at the Border Folk Festival. We recorded an album in 1982 that we felt good enough about to think we could play the more prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival. However, the only way for us to make that leap was to enter the "New Folk" competition, and that required original material. We recorded these two songs in my living room on a Montgomery-Ward boom box and submitted a copy of the tape to the judges in Kerrville. To our surprise, we were accepted as contestants, and we're still talking about our experiences on the subsequent trip. We didn't win, however, and our thoughts turned to other things. In retrospect, both of the songs sound formulaic, but I'm proud of them.
Buddy Winston: rhythm guitar & vocal
Jerry Boyer: vocal
This song and the one below ("Wasted Tears") are originals that I wrote specifically for Jerry, Buddy & Zoomer. JBZ was a side group that got together every year throughout the '70s and '80s to play at the Border Folk Festival. We recorded an album in 1982 that we felt good enough about to think we could play the more prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival. However, the only way for us to make that leap was to enter the "New Folk" competition, and that required original material. We recorded these two songs in my living room on a Montgomery-Ward boom box and submitted a copy of the tape to the judges in Kerrville. To our surprise, we were accepted as contestants, and we're still talking about our experiences on the subsequent trip. We didn't win, however, and our thoughts turned to other things. In retrospect, both of the songs sound formulaic, but I'm proud of them.
American Patrol
Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
(Live 1942)
Broadcast recordings of Glenn Miller's civilian band are a large part of his legacy. Many were made at the behest of Miller himself. Others were made by unknown souls who connected home disc recorders to their radios and captured precious minutes of long-ago nights in faraway ballrooms. These broadcast recordings, or "airchecks", contain many titles the band never put on record, and different arrangements of some they did. A CD of such material, "Broadcast Versions They Never Recorded," emerged in 1994. It contained the "long" arrangement of "American Patrol," but the original recording disc ran out at 3'20" and the performance came to an abrupt, frustrating halt. I have grafted the final 1'10" of the studio recording to the end of the imcomplete "live" version. Surprisingly, they are at the same tempo, but the difference in sound quality between the two reveals the exact location of the splice.
(Live 1942)
Broadcast recordings of Glenn Miller's civilian band are a large part of his legacy. Many were made at the behest of Miller himself. Others were made by unknown souls who connected home disc recorders to their radios and captured precious minutes of long-ago nights in faraway ballrooms. These broadcast recordings, or "airchecks", contain many titles the band never put on record, and different arrangements of some they did. A CD of such material, "Broadcast Versions They Never Recorded," emerged in 1994. It contained the "long" arrangement of "American Patrol," but the original recording disc ran out at 3'20" and the performance came to an abrupt, frustrating halt. I have grafted the final 1'10" of the studio recording to the end of the imcomplete "live" version. Surprisingly, they are at the same tempo, but the difference in sound quality between the two reveals the exact location of the splice.
Yesterday
The Beatles (Live 1966)
To my knowledge, "Yesterday" was performed "live" only twice in 1965. Both performances were on television ("Blackpool Night Out" in England and the Ed Sullivan Show in the U.S.) and in both instances, John, George and Ringo left the stage and Paul sang the song to the accompaniment of his acoustic guitar and the studio orchestra. "Yesterday" was not on the Beatles' 11-song set list when they toured the world that year. But in 1966 it was, albeit without the orchestra or the exodus of 75% of the band. The Beatles performed the song as a group: Paul sang and played bass, John played the chords on the electric guitar, lead guitarist George played the 'cello licks from the record, and Ringo drummed throughout, ending with a bar-band flourish. Interestingly enough, they played it a whole tone higher on the road: the record was in F, but in concert they did it in G. The Beatles were a pretty sloppy live act by 1966, and the recording here was pieced together from two different performances, one from Munich and one from Tokyo. Nothing is real.
To my knowledge, "Yesterday" was performed "live" only twice in 1965. Both performances were on television ("Blackpool Night Out" in England and the Ed Sullivan Show in the U.S.) and in both instances, John, George and Ringo left the stage and Paul sang the song to the accompaniment of his acoustic guitar and the studio orchestra. "Yesterday" was not on the Beatles' 11-song set list when they toured the world that year. But in 1966 it was, albeit without the orchestra or the exodus of 75% of the band. The Beatles performed the song as a group: Paul sang and played bass, John played the chords on the electric guitar, lead guitarist George played the 'cello licks from the record, and Ringo drummed throughout, ending with a bar-band flourish. Interestingly enough, they played it a whole tone higher on the road: the record was in F, but in concert they did it in G. The Beatles were a pretty sloppy live act by 1966, and the recording here was pieced together from two different performances, one from Munich and one from Tokyo. Nothing is real.
Weary Blues (From Waitin')
Zoomer Roberts: vocal
Buddy Winston: guitar
"Weary Blues (From Waitin')" may not be one of Hank Williams' better-known songs, but it's one of my favorites. In the last year of Hank's life, he befriended the up-and-coming Ray Price, who recorded this song with Hank's band. After Hank's death in 1953, that same band set to work overdubbing instrumental accompaniment onto his simple voice-and-guitar demos in an attempt to create a commercially viable "product." The first of these to be issued was "Weary Blues" b/w "I Can't Escape From You."
"Folk Fury," hosted on alternate Saturdays on KTEP by Gregg Carthy and Dan Alloway, has a long-standing tradition of paying tribute to the work of deceased performers by bringing in local folk musicians to perform their songs. Buddy and I usually work up "new" material for such occasions, and this is the only instance of me performing "Weary Blues" publicly. It's from a 2003 broadcast commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hank's passing.
Buddy Winston: guitar
"Weary Blues (From Waitin')" may not be one of Hank Williams' better-known songs, but it's one of my favorites. In the last year of Hank's life, he befriended the up-and-coming Ray Price, who recorded this song with Hank's band. After Hank's death in 1953, that same band set to work overdubbing instrumental accompaniment onto his simple voice-and-guitar demos in an attempt to create a commercially viable "product." The first of these to be issued was "Weary Blues" b/w "I Can't Escape From You."
"Folk Fury," hosted on alternate Saturdays on KTEP by Gregg Carthy and Dan Alloway, has a long-standing tradition of paying tribute to the work of deceased performers by bringing in local folk musicians to perform their songs. Buddy and I usually work up "new" material for such occasions, and this is the only instance of me performing "Weary Blues" publicly. It's from a 2003 broadcast commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hank's passing.
Zoomer's Rock 'n' Roll Medley
Rock 'n' Roll medleys are nothing new. They come naturally, owing to the fact that many of the songs are constructed as 12-bar jump blues with similar progressions and tempos, and one segues into the next handily. In the C&W bars in the '70s and '80s, this sort of thing was de rigeur in order to quell the shouts of "Rock and roll, damn it!" from the crowd. This live recording was made at the Lariat Lounge circa 1983. The band is The Lariat Cowboys: Zoomer Roberts: vocal and lead guitar, Jimmy Smith: fiddle, Joe H. Leaver: rhythm guitar and harmony vocal, Tony Quero: electric bass and harmony vocal, and Mark "Hot Rod" Kayes, drums. Joe and Tony have both passed on. Much of my vocal posturing here was lifted directly from Jerry Lee Lewis.
You're Not Mine Anymore (alternate mix)
In 1982, I went into Scott Martin's studio with Buddy Winston and Cindy Bickford to make a "vanity" record of "Little Darlin' ". This Webb Pierce chestnut was the flip side. Except for Buddy's rhythm guitar and Cindy's drumming, it's all me: guitars, mandolin, non-pedal steel guitar, bass and vocal. The arrangement was carefully prepared in advance, with one miscalculation: I pitched it a whole tone too low. I had intended to belt it in the honky tonk style, but ended up crooning it instead. The record enjoyed a while of modest success, selling several hundred copies (all of them from the bandstand of the Lariat Lounge) and appearing on juke boxes up and down Dyer Street. The version heard here is from a cassette dub of the original mix. As issued, the vocal was more prominent and more echo was applied. Thanks to Ken Smith for making this session possible.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Crocodile Tears
The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle with Chet Atkins
I love this group, which was made up of Maybelle Carter (of the original Carter Family), her daughters -- Helen, June and Anita -- and an up-and-coming guitarist and fiddler named Chet Atkins. They exhibited a brash, youthful enthusiasm, and embraced the popular songs of the day, but they never abandoned the old Carter Family songs. Besides recording as a group, each of them made records as a solo artist. This hard-to-find side was issued circa 1949 under June's name, but it's a group effort. A fellow in the Midwest put this well-worn copy on tape for me several years ago, and I've used some noise reduction software to make it less harsh. When BMG/Sony reissues it, I'll buy one.
I love this group, which was made up of Maybelle Carter (of the original Carter Family), her daughters -- Helen, June and Anita -- and an up-and-coming guitarist and fiddler named Chet Atkins. They exhibited a brash, youthful enthusiasm, and embraced the popular songs of the day, but they never abandoned the old Carter Family songs. Besides recording as a group, each of them made records as a solo artist. This hard-to-find side was issued circa 1949 under June's name, but it's a group effort. A fellow in the Midwest put this well-worn copy on tape for me several years ago, and I've used some noise reduction software to make it less harsh. When BMG/Sony reissues it, I'll buy one.
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