Clinch Mountain Backstep

Buddy Winston: banjo
Zoomer Roberts: guitar
rehearsal for 1984 World Tour

This Ralph Stanley piece is just this side of being modal, which means the usual A, D and E7 chords don't work well as accompaniment. After approaching it unsatisfactorily from several different directions, we devised the arrangement heard here: using A, Em and -- in the second section -- C. The rest of the time I double the melody on the bass strings. The result is both ancient and modern.

Beat It

Jerry, Buddy & Zoomer
Jerry Boyer: lead vocal
Buddy Winston: guitar & harmony vocal
Zoomer Roberts: mandolin & harmony vocal
rehearsal for 1984 World Tour

Robin & Linda Williams did this Michael Jackson send-up on A Prairie Home Companion, and we lifted it -- when we finally stopped laughing.

This Heart of Mine

Jerry, Buddy & Zoomer
Buddy Winston: banjo & lead vocal
Zoomer Roberts: rhythm guitar & harmony vocal
Jerry Boyer: harmony vocal
rehearsal for 1984 World Tour

It was Buddy's idea to do this New Grass Revival number. He kept up with the newer acoustic groups while I plumbed the deep well of early country recordings. It was -- and is -- a good fit.

She

Jerry, Buddy & Zoomer
Jerry Boyer: lead vocal
Buddy Winston: rhythm guitar & harmony vocal
Zoomer Roberts: lead guitar & harmony vocal
recorded March 1985

Jerry Boyer was a great singer, with her own distinct sound and delivery. She also had unerring good taste in selecting material, and in this case she was ahead of the curve: Jerry was singing this Gram Parsons number twenty years before Norah Jones recorded it.

Faithless Love

Jerry Boyer: lead vocal
Tana Ladner: harmony vocal
Zoomer Roberts: guitar

I found this on a practice tape, dated 1984. Tana was a member of Applejack at the time. I don't remember why we learned it, or whether we ever performed it in public, but it's lovely. Call this a "previously unissued bonus track."

Some of Shelley's Blues

Bent Fender & the Moonglows
Zoomer Roberts: guitar & lead vocal
Tony Custer: piano & harmony vocal
Bill Owen: bass
recorded June 1973 at the King's X

We learned this from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's then-current "Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy" LP. I don't think we knew -- or cared -- that it was written by Michael Nesmith, although it seems obvious now. These songs were recorded on Bill's Hitachi portable stereo cassette machine. What they lack in sound quality is made up for in crowd noise.

I Fought the Law

Bent Fender & the Moonglows
Zoomer Roberts: guitar & vocal
Tony Custer: piano & vocal
Bill Owen: bass
recorded June 1973 at the King's X

"I Fought the Law" is deeply ingrained in El Paso's collective consciousness, and all of us have tried our hand at it at one time or another. Singing it is one thing, but the lead guitar part is another: it's all in the wrist, and I never had a light enough touch to pull it off. We got around that by having Tony do the lead work on the piano. He could, and would, play anything. The tape ran out during the second chorus, so I copied sections from earlier in the song and grafted them to the end to make a complete performance. It's not revisionist history. It's "post-production."

Hello Mary Lou

Bent Fender & the Moonglows
Zoomer Roberts: guitar & vocal
Tony Custer: piano & vocal
Bill Owen: bass
recorded June 1973 at the King's X

When "Rick Nelson In Concert" came out in 1970, jaws dropped. Here was the kid from "Ozzie & Harriet" fronting a great band and singing Dylan. He also included new arrangements of some of his earlier material. Bill and I did a lot of informal playing in those days, and we got the album and worked up some of the songs "for our own amazement." "Hello Mary Lou" was a special favorite, and we brought it with us when we joined forces with Tony. I suppose I thought the word substitution in the second verse was funny, but it's a little embarrassing now.

Crocodile Rock (upgrade)

Bent Fender & the Moonglows
Tony Custer: piano & vocal
Zoomer Roberts: guitar & vocal
Bill Owen: bass
recorded June 1973 at the King's X
















The single most significant outside contribution to this project has come from Bill Owen, who mailed me his first-generation tapes of Bent Fender & the Moonglows. This has not only enabled me to upgrade previous posts, but it has brought to light a series of forgotten events. In the autumn of 1972, I rejoined the Shade Tree Boys, Hal and Henry, who were now playing at the Black Garter. Henry had a job selling tires at Sears & Roebuck, and often showed up late or not at all. He finally quit the group, and Hal moved me from bass to electric guitar, hired Ross Swall to play bass, and returned to a quasi-country repertoire. Always quick with a quip, Hal off-handedly dubbed this aggregation "the Shade Trio." Long-time followers of the band missed the comedy routine, but I knew it by heart (having heard it a hundred times) and soon Hal had me doing Henry's x-rated "village idiot" shtick. Meanwhile, the club hired a new waitress named Cleo Bell Thompson. When Hal discovered she was a singer of some merit, he began showcasing her as "Foxy Thompson." Besides the Black Garter gig, we also played at the Red Rose Lounge and at service clubs at Fort Bliss and White Sands. In 1973, Hal chucked it all and went to California to re-connect with one of the loves of his life. Ross also left the group, and Cleo and I teamed up with Bill Owen to play the army jobs Hal had booked before he left. Cleo named us "Peaches 'n' Cream," which I hated, but it was a transitional situation: she soon joined forces with Charlie McDonald to form Applejack, and Bill and Tony Custer and I started Bent Fender & the Moonglows. Soon we were playing six nights a week: three at the Jade Club and three at the King's X (where we played on Long John Hunter's nights off). We were an identity crisis band -- for the audience. We did Fats Domino and Ernest Tubb, John Denver and Rolling Stones, Elton John and Barbershop, Eagles and Elvis. We drank -- for free -- as though our lives didn't depend on it, and after months of doing filthy comedy, I was one smart-ass front man. One night after we got through playing at the King's X, I discovered somebody had slashed all four of my tires. I never found out who or why. BF & the MG's were history by the end of the year -- Bill and Tony had careers to prepare for, and I went back to playing sideman for local country singers. The three of us are in contact, and once in awhile some of us see each other. Listening to these tapes 35 years after the fact, I take quiet pride in having been involved in this unique, eclectic little band. Perhaps not many people know who we were or what we did, but we do.

Heart of My Heart

Bent Fender & the Moonglows
Tony Custer: piano & vocal
Zoomer Roberts: guitar
Bill Owen: bass
recorded 1973 at Kallman Service Club, Ft. Bliss TX

Tony was playing piano at Shakey's Pizza Parlor when we first met him. The place had an early 20th century motif, with vintage signage, silent movies, and Tony doing old Nora Bayes songs. One of their promotions was awarding a pitcher of beer to the customer bold enough to get up and sing some old chestnut, and Bill would tell me to "go win us that beer!" I was happy to oblige. "Heart of My Heart" was my favorite of Tony's barber shop numbers, and we kept it in our repertoire for the duration.

Break-Up

Bent Fender & the Moonglows
Zoomer Roberts: guitar & vocal
Tony Custer: piano
Bill Owen: bass
recorded June 1973 at the King's X

When you're working with a good pianist, it's only natural to start thinking of Jerry Lee Lewis songs you can do. We learned this one from one of the many reissues of the Killer's Sun recordings that flooded the market in those days. We were probably the only people in the bar that night who were interested in it.

It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry

Bent Fender & the Moonglows
Zoomer Roberts: vocal, harmonica, guitar
Tony Custer: piano
Bill Owen: bass
recorded June 1973 at the King's X

This arrangement was lifted directly from the Concert for Bangla Desh album. Bob Dylan rarely performed live in the years between his 1966 and 1974 tours (he was at home raising kids), so it was revelatory when he emerged for a day and performed six of his classic songs with a fresh voice, accompanied by his own acoustic guitar, Leon Russell and two members of the Beatles. I committed every nuance of that set to memory. Today, it's not unusual for Bob to be playing in your town, and everybody knows he doesn't sound like his old records -- and doesn't want to. But in those long ago days, it was a bolt from the blue.

Men With Broken Hearts

Zoomer Roberts: recitation
Buddy Winston: guitar

I wanted to include a "Luke the Drifter" recitation in the 2003 Hank Williams tribute show. There are more than a dozen such items to choose from, and I was pretty sure that none of the other participants in the program would be doing one. Recitations are easy to do badly, and difficult to do well enough to not elicit derisive jeers. They tend to be preachy -- and depressing -- but I love them. "Men With Broken Hearts" is a masterpiece of the genre, and its message is as relevant now as it was when Hank recorded it in 1950.

Whiskey and the Wheel

The Applejack Band
Charlie McDonald: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Buddy Winston: lead guitar, vocal
Zoomer Roberts: bass, vocal

recorded c. October, 1989 at KTEP Studio B, Cotton Memorial Building, University of Texas at El Paso

Charlie McDonald wrote this song, and it is -- literally -- "a medley of our hit." It was recorded circa 1977 in Las Cruces and issued on Emmett Brooks' Gold Dust label. Although neither Buddy nor I were officially members of Applejack when it was recorded, we both played on the session, along with core members John Ruddock and Cleo Bell and studio drummer Jake Brooks. The record did sufficient business to be leased and re-issued on the Teardrop label out of San Antonio, which resulted in wider distribution. Ultimately, the song hit #1 in Billings, Montana. Not bad!

Gold Watch and Chain

The Applejack Band
Zoomer Roberts: lead vocal, bass
Charlie McDonald: rhythm guitar, vocal
Buddy Winston: lead guitar, vocal

recorded c. October, 1989 at KTEP Studio B, Cotton Memorial Building, University of Texas at El Paso

I first became aware of this Carter Family song when I saw Alisa Jones sing it on a Grand Ole Opry telecast in 1979. It was the most pitiful, heart-wrenching thing I'd ever heard. It haunted me for some time, and I searched high and low for a copy of it (a task in the days before the Internet). Finally, it appeared on an Emmylou Harris album, and I've been singing it ever since. Over the years it has become something quite different from Alisa Jones' sad-eyed plea for reconciliation. In the early 1980s, June Carter sang it on the Nashville Network and included a verse that went more or less like this:

There's a white rose that grows in my garden
It has been blooming there for a while
It broke through on the day that I lost you
It will die if I ever should smile

Your Sweet and Shining Eyes

The Applejack Band
Buddy Winston: lead vocal, lead guitar
Zoomer Roberts: bass, vocal
Charlie McDonald: rhythm guitar, vocal

recorded c. October, 1989 at KTEP Studio B, Cotton Memorial Building, University of Texas at El Paso

I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound

The Applejack Band
Charlie McDonald: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Buddy Winston: lead guitar, vocal
Zoomer Roberts: bass, vocal

recorded c. October, 1989 at KTEP Studio B, Cotton Memorial Building, University of Texas at El Paso

Early Morning Rain

The Applejack Band
Charlie McDonald: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Buddy Winston: lead guitar, vocal
Zoomer Roberts: bass, vocal

recorded c. October, 1989 at KTEP Studio B, Cotton Memorial Building, University of Texas at El Paso

Titanic (Fare Thee Well)

The Applejack Band
Zoomer Roberts: lead vocal, bass
Buddy Winston: lead guitar, vocal
Charlie McDonald: rhythm guitar, vocal
recorded c. October, 1989 at KTEP Studio B, Cotton Memorial Building, University of Texas at El Paso

I learned this from Tim Green, who just might sing folk songs better than anybody. He learned it from the "Mud Acres" album, which featured Happy & Artie Traum, Maria Muldaur and John Sebastian, among others. They learned it from Leadbelly. The reference to Jack Johnson doing the "Eagle Rock" attests to its antiquity. I had forgotten all about this song until this tape surfaced. That's the way of it sometimes, as one of the hands said to Captain Smith on that long-ago night.

I Would Like To See You Again

The Applejack Band
Zoomer Roberts: lead vocal, bass
Buddy Winston: banjo, vocal
Charlie McDonald: rhythm guitar, vocal

recorded c. October, 1989 at KTEP Studio B, Cotton Memorial Building, University of Texas at El Paso

"Picker of the Year" Award ~ 1982

The El Paso Friends of Folk Music was formed by Charlie McDonald, who ran it as an autocracy until he took to the road with Applejack in 1980. When he gave up the reins, it became a full-blown organization, with officers, committee meetings and politics. Before it collapsed under the weight of its seriousness, it provided El Paso with a fruitful acoustic music scene. "Name" artists were booked for the Border Folk Festival and concerts at the Chamizal Theater. Funds were raised through t-shirt sales, beer concessions, and concerts featuring local performers, who donated their services. These shows had such names as "West Texas Opry" and "Picker's Night," and I played in many of them. At one such event in 1982, I was mingling in the lobby during intermission when Jerry Boyer told me I was needed backstage. I couldn't imagine why. When I saw the "Picker of the Year" award was about to be presented, I assumed Buddy Winston was going to receive it and she wanted me there to congratulate him. I certainly had no expectation of winning it myself: I wasn't the best "picker" in town, and I was openly critical of the bureaucratic way in which the Friends of Folk was run. So, when Charles Harding announced my name, something akin to rigor mortis set in. I had to be pushed onto the stage like a stalled car to accept the honor. The concert was videotaped and shown later on the public access channel, at which time I captured the audio of the presentation.


(left to right)
Lee Gaston
Zoomer Roberts
Charles Harding

Party Doll

performed by Backtrac'n
recorded May 1984 at the Mesa Inn







Bud Sanders: leader
Zoomer Roberts: vocal & lead guitar
"Johnny O." - guitar
Ron Duncan: harmony vocal & electric bass
Bobby Porter: drums

I always liked this Buddy Knox song, as much for the instrumental break as anything else. The subject matter is about as basic as it gets, and if the lyrics were any simpler they'd be a series of grunts. But it's fun to do, and it's got a beat, and you can dance to it, so I give it a "7".

Dixie Fried

performed by Backtrac'n
recorded May 1984 at the Mesa Inn
Bud Sanders: leader
Zoomer Roberts: vocal & lead guitar
"Johnny O." - guitar
Ron Duncan: bass
Bobby Porter: drums




Dueling Elvises:
with Bud Sanders






Backtrac'n was a band that Bud Sanders put together to perform the pre-British Invasion rock 'n' roll music he loved. The primary focus was on his renditions of Elvis Presley songs, but he generously shared the spotlight with the rest of the group. I had wanted to do this old Carl Perkins hell-raiser for a long time, and this was the band to do it. My principle memory of this gig was that we were playing for the gate, and nobody thought to station anybody at the door to collect the cover charge until the night was half gone. We each went home that night with $2.00. I left shortly thereafter to permanently rejoin Applejack. I used to kid Bud that he'd have to quit doing Elvis at the age of 42, because that's how old Elvis was when he left the building for the final time. Bud is still around, and still rockin'.

Fool

The Lariat Cowboys
recorded May 2, 1981
Zoomer Roberts: vocal & guitar
Jimmy Smith: fiddle
Tony Quero: bass
Mark Kays: drums

I might have fared better in the bar band business if I hadn't insisted on doing numbers like this. It had been a modest hit for John Wesley Ryles four years earlier, but nobody recognized it now. It was difficult to sing, too. Within many of us, there is a desire to wail like Ray Charles or Jerry Lee Lewis. This performance makes a good case for suppressing that desire.

Dixie

The Lariat Cowboys
recorded May 2, 1981
Zoomer Roberts: vocal & guitar
Jimmy Smith: fiddle
Tony Quero: bass
Mark Kays: drums

Southern Rock was loud and exciting, and fired-up patrons often shouted requests for "Dixie" after being sonically sandblasted by the latest Charlie Daniels opus, so we worked it up. I only used the first verse of the song -- subsequent verses deal with such antebellum esoterica as "buckwheat cakes and injun batter," and are best left to students of minstrelsy.

Blown Up On KLAQ Radio

November 17. 1982

A thousand copies of the "Little Darlin' " single were shipped from the pressing plant to Scott Martin's studio. When I went over there to pick them up, a KLAQ disc jockey who was visiting Scott listened to the record and asked me if he could "blow it up" on his morning show. Feeling sure this was a euphemism for spotlighting or showcasing, I readily agreed. I got up early the next morning and taped the show. The excerpt heard here contains the actual blowing up (not at all what I expected) book-ended by some period ambiance.

The World Is Waiting For the Sunrise

The Shade Tree Boys
recorded 1969 at the Jade Club
Hal Smith: guitar & vocal
Henry Beebe: banjo & vocal
Zoomer Roberts: bass

I never thought to ask Hal and Henry where they got the idea of doing this as a bluegrass song, but it's a safe bet they took Don Gibson's 1960 version and simply sped it up.