1990s – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Billy Bragg and Wilco – California Stars

This is one of my favorite collaborations ever recorded. What’s the best way to put this? It doesn’t feel like Billy Bragg and Wilco are trying to recreate Woody Guthrie. Instead, they’re having a conversation with him across time. This is one of those rare songs that sounds like it has always existed. It makes you wonder how many other forgotten lyrics are still sitting in boxes somewhere, waiting for someone to give them a voice. If you’ve never heard the Mermaid Avenue albums, do yourself a favor and spend an evening with both of them. They’re among the finest musical tributes I’ve ever heard.

Mermaid Avenue was a collaborative album by the band Wilco and the British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg. It features previously unpublished lyrics by the legendary folk musician Woody Guthrie. The album was released in 1998 and is named after the street in Coney Island, New York, where Guthrie lived. There were 3 albums in all.

I can’t imagine the pressure Bragg and Wilco felt doing this. Having the legendary Woody Guthrie lyrics in front of you and writing melodies around them. They brought in a new generation of fans to Woody Guthrie. In this song, Jeff Tweedy wrote the music around Guthrie’s lyrics. Many of these lyrics were written in the 1930s – 1940s and finished in 1997.

Sometimes the best songs take a few decades to find their melody. This song began as a set of unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics that sat quietly in the archives for years. The project was started by Woody Guthrie’s daughter, Nora Guthrie, who wanted to breathe new life into her father’s huge collection of unpublished lyrics. She invited Billy Bragg to set the lyrics to music, and Bragg, in turn, invited Wilco to join the project. They did a fantastic job on these albums.

Jay Bennett and Jeff Tweedy took Woody’s lyrics for California Stars and wrote a melody that feels like it had always belonged there. Tweedy’s relaxed vocal, Jay Bennett’s beautiful piano, Corey Harris’ lap steel, and Eliza Carthy’s fiddle create one of the warmest recordings of the 1990s. It sounds like an old American folk song, yet it also fits perfectly beside Wilco’s own work from that era. It’s simple, comforting, and quietly unforgettable.

The entire Mermaid Avenue project became much more than a tribute album. Billy Bragg, Wilco, and Nora Guthrie uncovered hundreds of Woody’s unpublished lyrics and introduced them to a new generation of listeners.

California Stars

I’d like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I’d like to lay my weary bones tonight
On a bed of California stars

I’d love to feel your hand touching mine
Tell me why I must keep working on
Yes, I’d give my life to lay my head tonight
On a bed of California stars

I’d like to dream my troubles all away
On a bed of California stars
Jump up from my star bed and make another day
Underneath my California stars

They hang like grapes on vines that shine
And warm the lover’s glass like friendly wine
So, I’d give this world just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

I’d like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I’d like to lay my weary bones tonight
On a bed of California stars

I’d love to feel your hand touching mine
Tell me why I must keep working on
Yes, I’d give my life to lay my head tonight
On a bed of California stars

I’d like to dream my troubles all away
On a bed of California stars
Jump up from my star bed and make another day
Underneath my California stars

They hang like grapes on vines that shine
And warm the lover’s glass like friendly wine
So, I’d give this world just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

So, I’d give this world just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

Dream a dream with you

Jack de Keyzer – That’s The Way

I found this Canadian musician not long ago, and he sounds great. I’ve listened to quite a few songs, and he has a guitar tone that is hard to beat.

Some musicians spend their careers trying to make hit records. Others keep making great music without much attention. Canadian guitarist Jack de Keyzer falls into that second group. Born in London, England, he moved to Canada as a child and became one of the country’s most respected blues guitarists. Since the early 1980s, he has released a string of albums while building a reputation as a terrific live performer, winning numerous Maple Blues Awards along the way. While he never became a household name, musicians have known for years just how good he is.

It was one of the songs that introduced Jack de Keyzer to a much wider audience. Released first as a single in 1990 and later opening his 1991 debut album Hard Working Man, it blends blues, rock, soul, and a little rhythm and blues into a sound that feels both modern and timeless. It isn’t built around huge guitar solos; instead, the song succeeds because of its groove and tasteful guitar work.

Although I’m featuring the original version from Hard Working Man, de Keyzer continued to build his reputation over the years. One of his biggest successes came with The Corktown Sessions, which earned him a Juno Award and introduced his music to an even wider audience, and this song is on it as well. By the time his career reached that point, he’d already spent decades proving himself as one of Canada’s finest blues guitarists.

Before establishing himself, Jack de Keyzer was a member of Toronto’s The Bop Cats in the early 1980s. The band blended rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and roots rock at a time when interest in 1950s-inspired music was enjoying a revival. Featuring energetic performances and tight musicianship, The Bop Cats released several albums, including The Bop Cats (1981), Rockabilly Rhythm (1982), and Bootleg (1983). Although they never became a household name, they developed a loyal following throughout Canada and helped introduce many listeners to de Keyzer’s exceptional guitar playing long before he embarked on his successful solo career. I really like the Bop Cats and will have something coming up on them shortly.

His guitar never overpowers the song, and his vocals fit the music perfectly. The band locks into a steady rhythm and lets the melody carry things forward. You can hear influences from players like Eric Clapton, B.B. King, and Albert Collins, but de Keyzer never comes across as someone trying to imitate his heroes. He has developed his own voice over decades of playing clubs, festivals, and theaters across Canada and beyond.

Sometimes success is measured by longevity, respect from fellow musicians, and a catalog full of songs waiting to be discovered. This is one of those tracks that makes you wonder why more people haven’t heard of him, and that’s usually a sign you’ve found something worth sharing. He has opened shows for artists like B.B. King, Etta James, and Bo Diddley over the years. He may not be a superstar, but the legends certainly knew who he was. That’s often one of the best endorsements a musician can get.

Jack de Keyzer: I’ve done a lot of session guitar playing for live gigs with people. When I played with Bo Diddley and Etta James they were live shows – they weren’t in the studio. In the studio I have worked with a lot of different blues people like Rita Chiarelli, Willie Big Eyes Smith, who was Muddy Waters’ drummer, King Biscuit Boy, Harmonica Shah, David Rotundo, The Shaftmen, Brant Parker and Erin McCallum.

Notting Hillbillies – Your Own Sweet Way

I remember these guys in the early 1990s. It was completely different than Dire Straits, and Mark Knopfler could change like great artists do.

The Notting Hillbillies were never meant to be a full-time band. They came together almost by accident in the late 1980s when Mark Knopfler was working on a television soundtrack and invited a few friends to join him. Along with guitarist and songwriter Steve Phillips, keyboardist Guy Fletcher, and singer Brendan Croker, they enjoyed the sessions so much that they decided to record an album. The result was Missing…Presumed Having a Good Time, released in 1990. It wasn’t built around the Brothers in Arms sound. Instead, it mixed country, folk, blues, and the kind of music these four musicians had loved long before they became famous.

This song is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It was written by Mark Knopfler, and it has everything I enjoy about his songwriting. The melody is simple, the lyrics never try too hard, and the song breathes. Rather than showing off, everyone plays exactly what the song needs. It feels more like four friends sitting in a room making music than a carefully planned studio production.

Knopfler’s guitar is instantly recognizable, but what really makes this recording special is the relaxed atmosphere. Brendan Croker’s voice blends perfectly with Knopfler’s style, while Guy Fletcher’s keyboards and Steve Phillips’ tasteful guitar work add just enough color without ever getting in the way. You can hear the country influences, but there are also touches of folk and British roots music throughout. It has the feel of an old back porch performance that just happened to be captured on tape.

I like songs like this because they remind me that music doesn’t always have to be loud or complicated to leave an impression. It’s simply a well-written song played by musicians who clearly loved making it together. Sometimes those are the recordings that stay with you the longest, and this one has done exactly that for me.

This song peaked at #76 in the UK and #13 in Canada in 1990. The album Missing…Presumed Having a Good Time peaked at #2 in the UK and #29 in Canada.

Your Own Sweet Way

Nothing I can do
Nothing I can say
You’ll do what you want to
Go your own sweet way
You’ll go your own sweet
Your own sweet way
Now I can talk to you serious
I can talk to you nice
When it comes to love
You won’t take good advice

You’ll go your own sweet
Your own sweet way
Yeah, you’ll go your own sweet
Your own sweet way

It doesn’t matter what I say
What I do or what I think
You can lead a horse to water
You can’t make him drink

You’ll go your own sweet
Your own sweet way
I said, you’ll go your own sweet
Your own sweet way

Continental Drifters – Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway

I love finding bands like this. The Continental Drifters remind me that some of the best music never reaches the Top 40. This song has the sound of musicians who have nothing left to prove and are simply making the music they believe in. If you like The Band, The dB’s, or early Americana, I think you’ll find yourself coming back to this song again. I listened to two of their albums and you get a variety. You get female-driven songs like this, and you get male-driven songs like Mezzanine.

The band is made up of musicians who had already built impressive careers, including Susan Cowsill of The Cowsills, Vicki Peterson of The Bangles, The Dream Syndicate, Peter Holsapple of The dB’s, and several outstanding New Orleans musicians like Carlo Nuccio, a great New Orleans drummer and singer/songwriter. Everyone in the band could write songs, sing, and play multiple instruments, which gave them a rich sound without ever becoming cluttered. They never became a hit band, but musicians and critics knew just how special they were. Although they formed in Los Angeles, they eventually settled in New Orleans, and you can hear both musical worlds in their sound.

Some songs grab you the first time you hear them, and then some songs slowly work their way into your head. This one did that for me. I was drawn in by the title first. Then the guitars kicked in, and it had that loose, rootsy sound that reminds me of The Band. It feels like you’re riding down an endless highway with the windows down, even though the story underneath isn’t nearly as carefree.

The song was written by guitarist Vicki Peterson, formerly of The Bangles, and she also takes the lead vocal. She based it on a difficult cross-country trip with fellow band member Gary Eaton during a time when their relationship was coming apart. Instead of writing a typical breakup song, she wrapped it in the image of traveling across America. The result is a song that sounds hopeful on the surface but carries just enough sadness to make it memorable.

Without a major label, they released a song as a single in 1997. It served as a preview of the sound that would soon appear on Vermilion, the album that many fans consider their masterpiece.

I also wanted to give you another song by them called Mezzanine. Carlo Nuccio, a great New Orleans drummer, singer/songwriter, wrote this song and is singing the lead vocal.

Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway

It took two hours to drive out of post-quake l.a.
Where the freeway is sliced up like sheet cake
Got new tires I’m not gonna worry
Got three days to go so I’m not in a hurry
Get into tucson and what do I find
I’m having some trouble just keeping my mind
On the 10.

Driving by that detour we took
To watch the sunset at the scenic overlook
The light was lovely but to my surprise
The most violent colors were in your eyes
All the reds and yellows, black and blue
It’s what I remember from driving with you
On the 10.

On the 10.

Whoa oh, white noise and lightening
Ooooo on the radio, oh no.

Looking up a tree like a georgia o’keefe
And the texas stars are in high relief
University road, you think I’d have learned
So many new ways to get bitten and burned
At the devil’s river inn at three a.m.
Hey, give me those keys I gotta get
Back on the 10.

On the 10.

Whoa oh, white noise and lightening
Ooooo on the radio, go robert, go!

Feeling unbound of heart and breast
Got the visor down and I’m headed west
A little wiser now, I’m unimpressed
By the secret you and I confessed
On the 10 (whoa oh).

On the 10 (whoa oh)
On the 10 (whoa oh)
On the 10 (whoa oh).

6 String Drag – Gasoline Maybelline

With that title, I was helpless; I had to give it a try. I’m glad I did because it’s a great song and band. This is another band that was signed by Steve Earle on his E Squared Records label and another winner. What drew me in was the vocals. Not tight pop vocals but more like The Band’s loose style. I’ll also mention the intro that builds and builds.

Every now and then you run across a song title that makes you stop before you even hear the music. This song by 6 String Drag was one of those for me. The title immediately brings to mind hot rods, rock and roll, and the classic Chuck Berry song Maybellene. It turns out the music delivers exactly what the title promises. This song was released on the band’s 1997 album High Hat, the song mixed country, rockabilly, and roots rock into a sound that felt both old and new.

6 String Drag was formed in North Carolina and became one of the leading bands in the alt-country movement of the 1990s. While many groups in that scene leaned heavily into country influences, 6 String Drag never forgot the rock and roll side. This track is a perfect example. Driven by guitars, drums, and a stop-and-go format. It’s a great mixture of music that makes one.

The album High Hat was produced by Steve Earle, who recognized the band’s talent and helped bring them to a wider audience. Earle encouraged the group to embrace their love of traditional American music while keeping their own identity intact. The result was an album that blended country, rock, folk, and roots music in a way that sounded natural. This song became one of their signature songs and remains a favorite among fans of the band.

6 String Drag never achieved the huge commercial success of some of their contemporaries like Wilco and others. Songs like this show why they are still remembered by fans of Americana and alt-country. It has energy, great musicianship, and one of the coolest song titles you’ll ever hear.

If any of you are good at deciphering lyrics…could you fill in the ? in the lyrics? If so, please let me know, and I’ll fill it in. We will have the only complete lyrics to this song on the net!

Gasoline Maybelline

Soak me in gasoline
If you need more fire baby
I gave you everything it seems but me

Put me up higher than the tallest tree
I’ll come down baby then you’ll see
My broken knees please set me free

I can hold you [?] you
Oh come, don’t turn around
I’ll be gone

Go find somebody new
There’s nothing here for you
I gave you everything it seems but me

Take me down all the way to New Orleans
Leave me lying there on the street
I gave you everything it seems but me

I can hold you [?] you
Oh come, don’t turn around
I’ll be gone

Soak me in gasoline
If you need more fire baby
I gave you everything it seems but me
I gave you everything it seems but me

Jeff Beck & The Big Town Playboys – Crazy Legs …album review

I started to listen to this album and got hooked from the opening song. I kept listening to the entire album over and over. This could have been recorded in the 1950s… that’s how close they are to that sound.

Most people know Jeff Beck for his blazing guitar work on albums like Blow by Blow and Wired, but in 1993 he surprised a lot of fans by taking a sharp turn into rockabilly. Beck teamed up with the British revival group The Big Town Playboys to record Crazy Legs, an album dedicated to the music of Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps. For Beck, it was a chance to pay tribute to guitarist Cliff Gallup, the man he often called his biggest influence as a young player.

The Big Town Playboys had built a reputation in Britain by recreating the rhythm and blues, rockabilly, and jump blues sounds of the 1940s and 1950s. They were fronted by vocalist and pianist Mike Sanchez, the band was already well known among musicians. Beck had admired their work and felt they were the perfect group to help recreate the sound and spirit of Gene Vincent’s classic recordings.

The album was recorded and mixed at The Townhouse Studios in London and was produced by Stuart Colman. Rather than modernizing the songs, Beck and the band tried to capture the energy of the original recordings. They succeeded so well that I would have never guessed it was recorded in 1993.

The track list included Gene Vincent favorites such as Race With the Devil, Cruisin’, Pink Thunderbird, and the title track Crazy Legs. One of my favorites is Double Talkin’ Baby, where Beck just rips the guitar. His guitar work is remarkable because he deliberately restrained himself. Instead of the wah-wah-bar fireworks that made him famous, he focused on honoring Cliff Gallup’s style, showing just how deeply those early rockabilly records had shaped him. I could go on and on with the songs…but you’re essentially getting an album full of Gene Vincent’s sound, songs, energy, and a lotta love from Beck. It’s really hard to beat that.

Crazy Legs was never intended to be a huge commercial album. It hardly dented the charts, but that was never really the point. The record was a labor of love from a legendary guitarist paying his respects to one of his heroes. For fans who only know Jeff Beck from his later instrumental work, this album offers a look at the music that inspired him in the first place. Sometimes the best way to understand a great musician is to hear what they were listening to when they were young, and Crazy Legs does exactly that.

Here is a short concert at Ronnie Scotts! Great music and vibe

Elvis Costello – 13 Steps Lead Down

I remember being so curious when I saw Elvis Costello’s debut album. My first thought at 10 years old was, who is this skinny guy with Buddy Holly glasses named Elvis? I found out quickly who the skinny guy was…

Costello had been away from The Attractions for years in the studio. This album Brutal Youth felt like a return. An album with the band chemistry that helped make those late 70s records so sharp. The Attractions, Steve Nieve, Bruce Thomas, and Pete Thomas played on much of the album. Costello later said songs like this reminded him how powerful the band could still sound together.

The song itself came fast. Costello said he wrote it during a one-day burst where he also came up with songs like Rocking Horse Road and Pony St. He would crank up his guitar loud and ad lib and then go back and see what was worth saving. He said: “I would work for about half an hour with the guitar cranked up really loud, and make a tape of just anything that came into my head. I did it in bursts, and then I listened to see if any of it was interesting. A lot of it was gibberish.”

The title of this song came from the Tomb of the Spanish Kings at El Escorial, where thirteen steps supposedly created a feeling of dread as people descended. Some said the song poked at the growing culture of twelve-step recovery programs that were everywhere in the early 90s.

The recording captured the late seventies energy. The guitars are jagged and loud. The ending guitar solo sounds almost out of control, which I love! Critics at the time heard it as Costello reconnecting with the energy of This Year’s Model and Armed Forces.

13 Steps Lead Down

When nobody knows she puts on secret clothes
And lies in the meadow with her hands tied behind her back
I won’t refuse if you know how to use it
Just stop playing that ugly drug music

Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
There’s commoners and kings
And everyone’s a prisoner of
Paper and glue
And a decent pair of scissors
So tonight I’m drinking to your health
Because I just can’t stand myself

Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down

She stands and fails
On fashion fingernails
Her lovers have her walking ’round
On instruments of torture
And one of them is poisonous
The other is a thief they say
So what one could give to her
The other cannot take away

When nobody knows she puts on secret clothes
And lies in her splendor for a picture opportunity
Cover up that bruise, put on patent leather shoes
Just stop playing that bad mood music baby

Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down

Marah – Walt Whitman Bridge

My friend Ron (Hanspostcard) recommended this band to me not long ago. I had mentioned the V-Roys, and he asked if I had heard of these guys. This is another band that Steve Earle signed to his E-Squared Records in the 1990s. Like the V-Roys song from yesterday, this one took one listen, and I was sold. Ron had said that live, they were a lot like the Replacements but just more alt-country.

They came out of Philadelphia in the late 1990s. The band centered around brothers Dave Bielanko and Serge Bielanko. They mixed rock, folk, soul, and bar-band energy into something that sounded rough around the edges but real. Early records like Let’s Cut The Crap and Hook Up Later Tonight built a small following, but Kids in Philly in 2000 really put them on the map. That album captured city streets, broken people, late nights, and hope, all wrapped inside loud guitars and singalong choruses.

The band toured hard for years. They became known for long, wild live shows and a loyal fan base. Bruce Springsteen even praised them during that period. Marah never quite broke into the mainstream, but they built a reputation as one of those bands that people discovered and held onto like The Replacements, Big Star, and others. They kept pushing their mix of heartland rock and the personal Philadelphia stories.

This song came off the 2005 If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry album. This was recorded after a difficult stretch for the band. They had dealt with industry pressure and changing lineups, and the record felt more stripped down and personal because of it. Dave Bielanko wrote songs about Philadelphia, working-class life, and trying to keep going when things were falling apart around you.

This song captured that feeling perfectly. The Philadelphia bridge itself became a symbol for movement and escape. You are tied to the city, no matter how far you drove. Acoustic guitars, rough vocals, and a live feel. The band never wanted things to be too clean. They liked records that sounded lived-in and not crystal clear. That approach gave the song its emotional weight.

The album did not sell in big numbers, but fans connected deeply with it. This song became their signature song.

Walt Whitman Bridge

Got seven dollars to my name
Got sixteen cigarettes somehow I just ain’t smoked yet
Got two shoelaces and two shoes
I should toss ‘em on the telephone wire as a monument to my blues

I’m goin’ down to get a coffee
Gonna mean one less buck
Maybe six will bring me luck
Got a little shake I kept in the fridge
Gonna drink my bean and walk out smoking on the Walt Whitman Bridge

Faraway from these winter streets
On a cloudless day
Your memory
Blows away

Got a leather wallet on a chain
Got a picture of my lover’s lips before they dried up under my kiss
A prayer in my heart I’m too scared to recite
Oughtta toss that stale loaf of words to the birds as a monument to my whole life

Faraway from these winter streets
On a cloudless day
Your memory, Your memory, Your memory
Blows away

Your memory, Your memory, Your memory
Blows away

V-Roys – How I Got To Memphis

Steve Earle signed this band to his E-Squared Records label in the 1990s. Once I heard the opening guitar, I knew this was for me. The voice followed, and it hit that alt-country sweet spot. The V-Roys came out of the mid-1990s roots-rock and alt-country scene, led by singer and songwriter Scott Miller. This is one of those bands that just are so easy to listen to. I love when they slot into that mid-90s alt-country sound.

The band formed in 1994 in Knoxville and quickly built a reputation for mixing country, rock, and Southern storytelling. They fit alongside bands like the Bottle Rockets and early Wilco. The V-Roys always seemed tied to the Tennessee backroads and small-town life. By the time they recorded All About Town in 1998, the group had tightened into a strong live band. They were originally the Viceroys, but they were forced to abandon their original name after being threatened with a lawsuit by a Jamaican reggae band that already owned the rights to it.

This song was written by Tom T. Hall. He originally released this song in 1969, and it became one of his signature songs. Instead of trying to modernize it, the V-Roys keep the original rhythm but add electric guitars and a fuller band arrangement that fits the late-1990s Americana sound without losing the song’s feel.

Steve Earle reportedly encouraged the group to trust the songs and not overplay, which worked perfectly on this one. They kept the song grounded, and it worked. That approach made the track fit naturally beside the band’s originals. The band made two studio albums in the 1990s and a compilation album in 2011. This song was an unreleased 90s track on this compilation album called Sooner or Later.

How I Got To Memphis

If you love somebody enough
You’ll follow wherever they go
That’s how I got to Memphis
That’s how I got to Memphis

If you love somebody enough
You’ll go where your heart wants to go
That’s how I got to Memphis
That’s how I got to Memphis
I know if you’d seen her you’d tell me ’cause you are my friend
I’ve got to find her and find out the trouble she’s in

If you tell me that she’s not here
I’ll follow the trail of her tears
That’s how I got to Memphis
That’s how I got to Memphis

She would get mad and she used to say
That she’d come back to Memphis someday
That’s how I got to Memphis
That’s how I got to Memphis

I haven’t eaten a bite
Or slept for three days and nights
That’s how I got to Memphis
That’s how I got to Memphis

I’ve got to find her and tell her that I love her so
I’ll never rest ’til I find out why she had to go

Thank you for your precious time
Forgive me if I start to cryin’
That’s how I got to Memphis

Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings – Chicken Shack Boogie

I always liked Bill Wyman’s bass playing with the Rolling Stones. Wyman never got the credit he deserved. Really good bass player and a great taste in music. When I first heard this band, I was excited by how authentic they sounded. I knew that Wyman grew up with jump-blues, and he went back to the source.

Wyman built a band around his childhood records, which he grew up with before rock became so huge. They came together in the late 1990s as a loose group of players who loved jump blues, early R&B, boogie-woogie, and jazz. The lineup changed from tour to tour, with musicians like Mike Sanchez, Paul Carrack, Mick Taylor, Mary Wilson, Georgie Fame, Albert Lee, and Terry Taylor moving through the group. They resembled those early rock and blues package tours, with singers, horn players, and keyboard man Mike Sanchez sharing the spotlight.

This classic song was a natural fit for that kind of band. The song dates back to 1947 when Amos Milburn recorded it during the rise of jump blues, and it was written by Lola Cullen and Amos Milburn. It was released in 1948, and it became one of Milburn’s biggest hits. The title referred to late-night clubs and roadside spots where people gathered for music and dancing. It was built around a rolling piano riff, which caught my ear right off the bat.

They recorded and played it with respect for the original sound. Mike Sanchez usually handled the piano and vocal duties, giving the track the same driving feel that Milburn’s version had. This sound and song could have been recorded and played in 1950. Having Albert Lee in your band is like having an ace in the hole. One of the best guitar players there is. He can and has played about every type of music you can think of.

Chicken Shack Boogie

Hello everybody this cat is back,
Looking for a place called the Chicken Shack
They only serve warm beer rice and beans
But it feels just like it’s down in New Orleans
Brace yourself baby I’m here to attack
Down at the place called the Chicken Schack
The girls at that place are mighty fine
But stay off sadie green cause that girl is mine
The moonlight shines through the holes in the wall
Everybody there is having a ball
They don’t care that the place looks like a wreck
Down at the place called the Chicken Shack
I wanna rip it, rock it, really bop it
Flip it, flop it, David Crocket
Just like Roy Montrell every time he hears hat mellow saxophone
The good old rockin’ days will never come back
Except down at the place called the Chicken Shack
The good old rockin’ days will never come back
Except down at the place called the Chicken Shack

Joe Ely – Settle For Love

5-6 years ago, I had no clue who Joe Ely really was. I had heard his name but not much of his music. When I started to get into his music, I fell hard and am still falling. He opened up different artists and bands to me to enjoy. Guy Clark, Dave Alvin, and many more. Now that music is entrenched in my daily listens. I love the seesaw between the vocals and guitar in this song. It hits you with that, and that was enough to hook me.

Ely was born in Amarillo in 1947 and raised in Lubbock, Buddy Holly’s hometown. Ely came of age surrounded by dust storms, flat horizons, and rock ‘n’ roll. He has been in many bands. The Flatlanders, The Buzzin Cousins, Los Super Seven, and more. Plus, he was good friends with The Clash, with whom he toured at one time.

The song has the Texas storytelling with a harder rock edge that had grown through the 1980s with Ely. The song is from the 1992 album Love and Danger, and it feels like Ely standing between two worlds, part roots rock, part country song built for barrooms. I listened to the album this past week, and I would recommend it to everyone.

The album was recorded in Nashville and produced by Ely alongside producer Tony Brown. Brown had worked with artists across country and roots music, and his approach fit Ely’s writing style. The sessions focused on clean performances and strong players rather than heavy studio production.

During the making of the record, Ely had written dozens of songs over several months, pulling ideas from travel, Texas landscapes, and years of touring. The sessions had clean arrangements that gave space to the lyrics and Ely’s voice. Guitarist David Grissom added strong electric guitar throughout the album, helping fuse all the styles together.

Settle For Love

You say you want drama
I’ll give you drama
You say you want muscle
I’ll give you nerve
You want sugar
Would you settle for honey?
You want romance
Would you settle for love?

Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love or do you need
All that meaningless stuff
Would you settle for love?
Would it be enough?
Baby, would you settle for love?

You say you want fire
I’ll give you fever
You want kisses
I’ll give you all I got
You want diamonds
I’ll give you rhinestones
And you want romance
Would you settle for love?

Buick MacKane – Big Shoe Head

I haven’t posted these guys in a couple of years. This one hits you from the start. With that title of the song, I had to post this one. I posted a song called The End by them in 2023, and this album has been on my playlist since. At the time, I couldn’t decide which song to write about, so I came back to this one.

The member I have covered the most out of this band is an artist named Alejandro Escovedo, a Texas singer-songwriter who has been around since the early seventies. I’ve had their album The Pawn Shop Years on my playlist for a couple of years now, and it’s fantastic. The band was named after the T. Rex song Buick MacKane and I see the similarities.

Buick MacKane was essentially Alejandro Escovedo stepping away from the more polished feel of his solo work and into something looser and louder. The band’s album The Pawn Shop Years was recorded quickly, with a live feel, and this song fits right into that approach. Buick MacKane was a way for Escovedo to reconnect with the bar-band energy he came up with in earlier groups like Rank and File and The True Believers.

They formed in 1989 and began perfecting songs live that would be recorded and released in 1997. They mostly played around Austin, and they were a mix of garage and glam rock… and it sounds great. Escovedo had just broken up with his band The True Believers when all of this happened. They were popular in Austin, and they had some trouble getting people to accept Buick MacKane because they thought it would be The True Believers part two.

If you want to hear a 1990s rock album that sounds like the early seventies…this is the one. Instead of checking out a few songs…check out the album. I also included the album below on Spotify.

Alejandro Escovedo – “People say, ‘Man, there aren’t bands like you guys anymore,’ and it’s nice, because there’s a lot of this kinda hippie stuff, and then every girl has a guitar and hates men. And we just wanna rock, you know.”

I can’t find a live version of this song…But The End is a great one as well.

Golden Smog – Son (We’ve Kept Your Room Just the Way You Left It)

I wrote about these guys a year or so ago, and I’ve continued to listen to them. The way I describe them is 90s alt-country mixed with Big Star. You literally get Big Star, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, and The Jayhawks in this band…plus a member of the Replacements.

The Golden Smog started as a loose collaboration of Minneapolis-based musicians who got together to play cover songs under pseudonyms. The name Golden Smog comes from a character in a Flintstones episode. The band initially played country and rock covers, but it evolved into a serious musical project over time.

Membership in this band has been fluid. They have had Chris Mars (Replacements drummer), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Louris and Perlman of The Jayhawks, Dave Primer from Soul Asylum, and more. Also in 1997, Jody Stephens became their drummer. He was an original member of Big Star.

This song, to my surprise, was first released by a band from the early seventies called Michaelangelo. They were a baroque-folk band around that time. This song was on their 1971 album One Voice Many.

Lyrically, it is very interesting. A mom sends her son a letter, and he is unsure whether to send a reply and tell her the truth about how he is doing…and it’s not good.

This song was released on their debut EP, On Golden Smog, in 1992. Altogether, they have released 1 EP and 4 albums, with the latest one in 2007 and a “Best Of” package in 2008. They reunited in 2019 and played together last year with Jeff Tweedy.

Son (We’ve Kept Your Room Must the Way You Left It)

Hello Mom, I’m fine, where the sun is dyin’How’s the weather around my old hometown?You seem to worry about my livin’, you say that all’s forgivenWhat’s lost is bound to be found

I hope you don’t expect to see me‘Cause you know I’m very far awayYou know I really miss youBut a man’s gotta make it on his own someday

Sue, she sends her greetings ’bout the school and civic meetingsSays she’s doin’ well in her cellYeah, her brother’s won the race nowAnd he’s proud to show his face now‘Round the corner scene in his paper-doll dreams

And me, I guess I’m livin’Takin’ what’s for the livin’Oh, Mom, you know how I really wishYou could see what’s on my mind, yeah

Yeah, I guess it’s kinda lonely, and I’ve been uptight for moneyBut I’ll make it on my own, stayin’ highYou seem upset about the drugs and thingsI guess I’ve finally found my wingsIt’s my way to be free, don’t think you failed in me

Someday, you’ll understand all thisJust what it is I mean to sayJust don’t try and love meI don’t wanna see you hurt this way

Yes, I’ll be ignorin’, makes a guy feel freeKnowin’ that somebody cares somewhere

Mama, can I mail this and let you know I failed?It’s just not right somehow, oh noI’d rather let you think I’m dead than hung on drugs insteadI’m dyin’ anyhow, and it’s too late now

And I guess there’s a moral somewhereBut I can’t seem to think just nowIf I had to do it overGuess I’d try to change the trial somehow

Lord, it’s really hell when you’re livin’ in a spellAnd nothing’s like it seems in a cocaine dream

Guy Clark – The Randall Knife

Finding Guy Clark in the past few years has been amazing. Song after song that I can relate to with words that always fit. I lost my dad in 2005, so I can totally relate to this song. I have some of his tools for making guitars and an old wooden case he made for them. This song brought back a lot of memories. This song is a true story song in every sense of the word. I’m usually a little more hesitant on partial talking songs…but this one is a winner.

The song was on the album Dublin Blues, which was released in 1995. The musicians on this album were staggering. Rodney Crowell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Nanci Griffith, Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea, and more. This song closed the album, and that’s where it belongs because it would have been hard to follow this song.

The song centers on a knife passed down from his father, a Randall Made Knives blade with history behind it. Clark doesn’t treat it like an object; it’s more like a stand-in for memory and loss. He talks about using it, holding it, and what it meant to his dad. By the end, the knife becomes a way of holding on to someone who’s gone.

The arrangement stays simple, and nothing pulls attention from the lyric. You can hear the same mindset in writers like Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle, where detail matters more than volume. Every line feels and is important.

It’s about one knife, one father, one set of memories. But it doesn’t stay there. Anyone who’s held on to something after losing someone will recognize it. Clark never says more than he needs to, and that’s the reason it holds up.

The Randall Knife

My father had a Randall knifeMy mother gave it to himWhen he went off to World War IITo save us all from ruinNow if you’ve ever held a Randall knifeYou’ll know my father wellAnd if a better blade was ever madeIt was probably forged in hell

My father was a good manHe was a lawyer by his tradeAnd only once did I ever seeHim misuse the bladeWell, it almost cut his thumb offWhen he took it for a toolThe knife was made for darker thingsYou could not bend the rules

Well, he let me take it camping onceOn a Boy Scout jamboreeAnd I broke a half an inch offTrying to stick it in a treeWell, I hid it from him for a whileBut the knife and he were oneHe put it in his bottom drawerWithout a hard word one

There it slept and there it stayedFor 20 some odd yearsSort of like ExcaliburExcept waiting for a tear

My father died when I was 40And I couldn’t find a way to cryNot because I didn’t love himNot because he didn’t tryWell, I’d cried for every lesser thingWhiskey, pain and beautyBut he deserved a better tearAnd I was not quite ready

So we took his ashes out to seaAnd poured ’em off the sternAnd then threw the roses in the wakeOf everything we’d learnedAnd when we got back to the houseThey asked me what I wantedNot the law books, not the watchI need the things he’s haunted

My hand burned for the Randall knifeThere in the bottom drawerAnd I found a tear for my father’s lifeAnd all that it stood for

Tragically Hip – Fiddler’s Green

I heard this song while listening to Road Apples last year or so, and I knew I wanted to come back to it. A shout-out to deKe, who recommended this album to me. This one is such a beautiful and sad song. When I looked up the inspiration, I sadly understood.

There’s a quiet weight (best way I can describe it) to Fiddler’s Green that sets it apart in the catalog from what I heard of The Tragically Hip. It was released on Road Apples in 1991; it comes in soft and stays there. No huge dynamic, just a steady song that feels epic at times.

The song was written by Gord Downie after the loss of his 3 year old young nephew. That context explains the tone and meaning without needing to be spelled out in the lyrics. The band keeps the arrangement simple, light acoustic guitar, space between the notes, and a vocal that sounds like it’s being carried more than delivered. Producer Don Smith, who had worked with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, helped guide the sessions toward a more direct sound, and this track benefits from that restraint.

The album was recorded in New Orleans, and the environment shaped parts of the album, but this song feels separate from the rest. While other tracks were more into groove and band interplay, this song is kept simpler. It’s closer to a live recording in spirit, one voice, one guitar, and the room around it. The band understood it didn’t need more.

I didn’t hear this one right away when I first got into Road Apples. It was one of those tracks you come back to later, and it hits you differently. The first thing I thought was how different it was. The album peaked at #1 in Canada in 1991. The album had 6 singles released from it, but this one wasn’t one of them, and that is a shame.

I’m not an expert on this band, but after listening to the debut album and then this one. It sounded like a band settling into who they were. It’s an excellent album.

Fiddler’s Green

One, two, three, four, one, two

September seventeenFor a girl I know it’s Mother’s DayHer son has gone aleeAnd that’s where he will stayWind on the weathervaneTearing blue eyes sailor-meanAs Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrainFor a boy in Fiddler’s Green

His tiny knotted heartWell, I guess it never worked too goodThe timber tore apartAnd the water gorged the woodYou can hear her whispered prayerFor men at masts that always leanThe same wind that moves her hairMoves a boy through Fiddler’s Green

Oh, nothing’s changed anywayOh, nothing’s changed anywayOh, any time today

He doesn’t know a soulThere’s nowhere that he’s really beenBut he won’t travel long aloneNo, not in Fiddler’s GreenBalloons all filled with rainAs children’s eyes turn sleepy-meanAnd Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrainFor a boy in Fiddler’s Green