Columbus Stockade Blues

 

Zoomer Roberts: lead vocal & harmonica
Buddy Winston: harmony vocal & guitar
Recorded 7 December 2013 at La Tierra Cafe

photos by Pat O. Winston

16 Tons

Zoomer Roberts: vocal
Buddy Winston: guitar
Recorded 7 December 2013 at La Tierra Cafe

Photo by Pat O. Winston

Over the Waves

D.W. Roberts: harmonica
Ray (Zoomer) Roberts: tuba
Recorded circa 1966

Daddy played the "French harp" all his life. He learned from my grandfather (H.E. Roberts, 1877-1947) on expensive instruments such as the one shown below. I played tuba in the school band for seven years. One night we tried putting the two of them together. This is the result. This is probably the only recording of me playing the tuba in existence. Fortunately, we made other recordings of Daddy playing the French harp -- and with subtler accompaniment, too!

Click to hear Over the Waves 

Pat Minter Medley

Recorded in Pickton TX, summer 1966

Yesterday:
Pat Minter: vocal
Ray "Zoomer" Roberts: guitar

Fannie Mae
Pat Minter: vocal, rhythm guitar
Ray "Zoomer" Roberts: harmonica

I'm With a Crowd But So Alone
Pat Minter: vocal, rhythm guitar
Ray "Zoomer" Roberts: lead guitar 

My cousin Pat Minter (1935-2001) was a singer, songwriter and pianist. He worked throughout East Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas, often on the Holiday Inn circuit. He recorded numerous singles under the auspices of such legends as Jack Rhodes and Huey P. Meaux, and also appeared in several motion pictures. In the summer of 1966, I spent part of my summer vacation with Pat's parents and siblings in Pickton, TX. Pat came to visit and the two of us played and recorded some songs. Pat is on guitar here, which wasn't his first instrument, and I, at age 15, had a lot to learn. But Pat is in great voice, and we had fun, as you will hear. Enjoy!

Listen to Pat & Zoomer HERE 

Blue Bonnet Lane

Zoomer Roberts: Vocals & harmonicas
Buddy Winston: Rhythm guitar
Ed Starkey: Bass
Recorded in El Paso and Houston, 2013

Listen to Blue Bonnet Lane HERE

Pick Me Up On Your Way Down

Hank Telford & the Auctioneers
Hank Telford: rhythm guitar & vocal
Zoomer Roberts: lead guitar
Carl Stephens: bass
Bob Gormley: drums
Recorded 4 April 1973

The Cuckoo

The Shade Tree Boys
Henry Beebe: lead vocal on the verses, tenor harmony on the choruses, banjo
Randy Jones: lead vocal on the choruses, mandolin
Zoomer Roberts: baritone harmony vocal, bass
Hal Smith: bass harmony vocal, rhythm guitar

Recorded at the Jade Club, circa 1970

Listen to The Cuckoo

Somebody Touched Me

The Shade Tree Boys
Randy Jones: lead vocal & mandolin
Henry Beebe: tenor vocal harmony & banjo
Hal Smith: bass vocal harmony & rhythm guitar
Zoomer Roberts: baritone vocal harmony & bass
 
Recorded at the Jade Club, circa 1970

Listen to Somebody Touched Me

Won't You Sometimes Think of Me?

Zoomer Roberts: vocal & french harp
Buddy Winston: guitar
Recorded 23 March 2013

I thought I had an original tune here, but Sara Carter has already sung these notes. And, Hank Williams wrote a song with this same title 65 years ago. And, when I started writing down the lyrics, I quickly realized I was using every hoary cliche in the book. Finally, I decided to just roll with it and laced it with all manner of old song references. By the fourth verse, I had become shameless. The final product is fun and catchy, according to both people who have heard it thus far. Hope you like it, too!

Listen to "Won't You Sometimes Think of Me?"

The Wedding of Gregg Carthy and Robin Russell

When Gregg Carthy and Robin Russell of the Tex-Mick band Celtic Lie decided to get married, they asked band-mates Kate Gannon and Tim Green to sing a few songs before the wedding. Tim asked me to join them, and the three of us worked up ten songs for the occasion. Here are some of those songs, recorded at a rehearsal two weeks prior to the wedding, which took place on St. Patrick's Day 2013.

Listen to "Rockin' Robin"

Listen to "Comes a Time"

Listen to "Do You Love An Apple" 

Listen to "LaLa's Song" 

Listen to "Give Yourself to Love"  

Listen to "I Should Have Known Better"

Listen to "And I Love Her" 

Hal Smith

The Shade Trio
recorded 21 October 1972 at the Black Garter Club
Hal Smith: rhythm guitar & lead vocal
Zoomer Roberts: lead guitar & harmony vocal (lead vocal on "Golden Rocket"
Ross Swall: electric bass

In the early 1970's, Henry Beebe took a job selling tires at Sears Roebuck, and the hours often made it impossible for him to make the Shade Tree Boys gigs. On these occasions, Hal Smith would move me to electric guitar, bring in another bassist, and sing the straight country songs he'd started out with in the 1950's. He also did early Johnny Cash material at a breakneck pace, his right arm becoming a blur as he hammered out percussive rhythms on his battle-scarred Martin D-18. I was playing a Fender Esquire through a $25 Gibson amp. From the evidence that can be had from a 40-year-old multi-generational tape, it got the job done. The bassist here is Ross Swall.

Hal referred to this little aggregation as "The Shade Trio" (tree-o -- get it?), and while it didn't satisfy those who came expecting to see the Shade Tree Boys' x-rated comedy act, these were some of happiest days of my musical life.

Listen to "So Doggone Lonesome"

Listen to "Hey Porter"

Listen to "I Was There When It Happened" 

Hal used to say, "You're not supposed to sing religious songs in bars, but God knows that's where they're needed!" This rum-soaked performance of "I Was There When It Happened" is one of only two renditions of this song I can remember Hal doing in my years with him. The thumping sound you hear is Johnny Cash rolling over in his grave.

Listen to "No Reason to Quit"

Listen to "All Over Again"

I knew the guitar solos from most of Johnny Cash's Sun records, and that knowledge served me well in the years I played with Hal Smith. But this song -- which Cash recorded for Columbia circa 1959 -- was news to me. I therefore invented a guitar break that I felt certain would be close to what Luther Perkins must have played. Hal praised it and I kept playing it. When I finally heard Cash's recording years later, I was surprised at how little my solo resembled Luther's.

This was recorded on a Panasonic 8-track deck. There is a glitch where the tape changed tracks. Hey -- it was 1972!

Listen to "Pearly Shells"

Listen to "Medley: (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such As I & (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" 

Listen to "Remember Me (I'm the One Who Loves You)"

Listen to "Medley: I'm Movin' On & The Golden Rocket"