Country – Page 5 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Jerry Jeff Walker – Pissin’ In The Wind

Pissin’ in the wind, bettin’ on a losing friend
Makin’ the same mistakes, we swore we’d never make again
And we’re pissin’ in the wind, but it’s blowing on all our friends
We’re gonna sit and grin and tell our grandchildren

I heard this song as a kid…where and when I can’t tell you but it came back to me as soon I started to play it. There was no way country radio would have played this back in 1975 so I sure as hell didn’t hear it there. You know what is really odd? I’ve been blogging for 7 years and never have I had a song with “piss” in the title…and this is the second song TODAY I’ve written up with that word in the title. I decided against posting them back to back so I picked another song to follow this post.

I had forgotten about this song until Randy and CB brought up Jerry Jeff Walker. You know his most famous song very well, Mr Bojangles. That song was made popular by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. When I get into something…I usually fall hard for it. That is the reason you have seen weeks of Texas songwriters. The writing is so consistently good. Walker was not Texan born but he settled in Texas in the 1970s and stayed there for the rest of his life.

This song is funny and different. He used a Dixieland clarient in a country song which is a wonderful mixture. Needless to say, this is not one of his serious songs but I love the loose feel of it. On top of that, he throws a fun jibe at Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind.

The song was on the critically praised album Ridin’ High. The album charted at #14 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1975.

Pissin’ In The Wind

Pissin’ in the wind, bettin’ on a losing friend
Makin’ the same mistakes, we swore we’d never make again
And we’re pissin’ in the wind, but it’s blowing on all our friends
We’re gonna sit and grin and tell our grandchildren

About the time I called this guy it was four in the morning
Teach me the words to the song I was humming

He just laughed and he said that the ole grey cat is sneakin’ down the hall
But all he wants to know is who in the hell is paying for the call

Chorus

Now this Nunn called me up, it was eight in the morning
Wanted to know how in the world am I doin’
He just laughed and he said get together boy, and fall on by the house
Some Gonzo buddies would like to play anything your’s picking now

Chorus

Now we worked and we suffered and struggled
Makin’ our record till we got it right
Now we’re waiting on the check to come sneaking down the hall
Like that old time feeling
That we never should have ever put the record out at all

Chorus

That the answer my friend is just pissin’ in the wind
The answer is pissin’ in the sink

….

Rodney Crowell – It Ain’t Over Yet

You can’t take for granted none of this shitThe higher up you fly boys, the harder you get hit

This song is haunting and gorgeous. On this album, Crowell has a conversation with his late friends Guy and Susanna Clark and his history. His ex-wife Rosanne Cash and John Paul White also appear with Crowell on this song.

What I like about this song is its simplicity but underneath…there are a lot of things going on. His writing makes it easy to follow but there is more underneath the surface.

This song is on his 15th solo studio album, Close Ties released in 2017. He calls it a bit of a “concept album,” with a clear stroll through his personal history. You almost feel like you are prying into his personal diaries while listening to it.

Crowell was born in Houston, Texas in 1950. He had a rough childhood with an alcoholic father and a very strict Pentecostal mother. At age 15 (1965) he left and joined a rock and roll band 30 miles from home. He said his parents didn’t really acknowledge him when he left.

In 1972 he left for Nashville and found a group of songwriters headed by fellow Texan Guy Clark. He gave Crowell a Dylan Thomas poetry book to look over and study. Clark told him they were not making products but making art. Clark has said: “I’ll bet that when you’re dying, you’re not going to think about the money you made. You’re going to think about your art.”

Crowell charted albums to make enough money to pay the bills through the 80s and 90s but his album Diamonds and Dirt was a huge success. 5 of the singles off that album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1998-1999.

Close Ties peaked at #28 on the Billboard Country Charts and #138 on the Billboard Album Charts in 2017.

It Ain’t Over Yet

It’s like I’m sitting at a bus stop waiting for a trainExactly how I got here is hard to explainMy heart’s in the right place, what’s left of it I guessMy heart ain’t the problem, it’s my mind that’s a total messWith these rickety old legs and watery eyesIt’s hard to believe that I could pass for anybody’s prizeHere’s what I know about the gifts that God gaveYou can’t take ’em with you when you go to the grave

It ain’t over yet, ask someone who ought to knowNot so very long ago we were both hung out to dryIt ain’t over yet, you can mark my wordI don’t care what you think you heard, we’re still learning how to flyIt ain’t over yet

For fools like me who were built for the chaseTakes the right kind of woman to help you put it all in placeIt only happened once in my life, but man you should have seenHer hair two shades of foxtail red, her eyes some far out sea blue greenI got caught up making a name for myself, you know what that’s aboutOne day your ship comes rolling in and the next day it rolls right back outYou can’t take for granted none of this shitThe higher up you fly boys, the harder you get hit

It ain’t over yet, I’ll say this about thatYou can get up off the mat or you can lay there till you dieIt ain’t over yet, here’s the truth my friendYou can’t pack it in and we both know whyIt ain’t over yet

Silly boys blind to get there firstThink of second chances as some kind of curseI’ve known you forever and ever it’s trueIf you came by it easy, you wouldn’t be youMake me laugh, you make me cry, you make me forget myself

Back when down on my luck kept me up for daysYou were there with the right word to help me crawl out of the mazeAnd when I almost convinced myself I was hipper than thouYou stepped up with a warning shot fired sweet and low across the bowNo you don’t walk on water and your sarcasm stingsBut the way you move through this old world sure makes a case for angel wingsI was halfway to the bottom when you threw me that lineI quote you now verbatim, “Get your head out of your own behind”

It ain’t over yet, what you wanna betOne more cigarette ain’t gonna send you to the graveIt ain’t over yet, I’ve seen your new girlfriendThinks you’re the living end, great big old sparkle in her eyeIt ain’t over yet

…

Danny O’Keefe – Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues

I ran across this song a few weeks ago. It was the first time I heard this song in many years. I would hear it on local radio stations growing up.

Danny O’Keefe was from Spokane, Washington and he wrote the song during a period when he was struggling with his own demons. He had just gotten out of a bad relationship and was dealing with alcohol and drug addiction.

It was also recorded by Elvis using the same musicians as O’Keefe did on this recording. He also wrote the song “The Road” on Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty Album. It peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 and #19 in Canada in 1972. It was recorded at American Studios in Memphis with Arif Marden producing. Danny O’Keefe was a one-hit wonder with Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues his only Billboard hit.

The song has been featured in numerous films and television shows, including The Sopranos and Forrest Gump. It has also been recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which included it in its list of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.”

Danny O’Keefe: “The success of one’s dreams is always exhilarating. Elvis cut the song with the same group of musicians I had, so there was a pride in continuity, but I didn’t think he brought anything new to it. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate it more as part of the song’s great legacy.”

Danny O’Keefe: “Maybe it was about hipsters drawn to the high life. I lived in interesting times and there was a lot of experimentation with every kind of drug. There were a lot of damages and strange intersections of lives that provided much grist for a young songwriter’s mill.”

Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues

Everybody’s goin’ away
Said they’re movin’ to LA
There’s not a soul I know around
Everybody’s leavin’ town
Some caught a freight, some caught a plane
Find the sunshine, leave the rain
They said this town’s a waste of time
I guess they’re right, it’s wastin’ mine
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Ya know my heart keeps tellin’ me
“You’re not a kid at thirty-three”
“Ya play around, ya lose your wife”
“Ya play too long, you lose your life”
I got my pills to ease the pain
Can’t find a thing to ease the rain
I’d love to try and settle down
But everybody’s leavin’ town
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
(whistling to end)

Hometown Artist…Don Williams

Dave from A Sound Day wanted us to write about our Hometown and for us to write either a song about our hometown or highlight an artist from there.

It’s my sister’s birthday today so I thought I would post this since she is in it. Dave posted this a while back.

If you have read my blog for a while…you already know a couple of these stories so I do apologize. When someone asks me where I’m from I usually say Nashville. I was born there but I lived/live in a small town north of Nashville. It’s a town called Ashland City and it’s your typical two-redlight town. I could write about Nashville but that would cover around 20 posts so I’ll go with the town I grew up in.

Now to confuse everyone…there are 3 towns close to each other in the same county. Ashland City, which is the capital of the county, Pleasant View, and Chapmansboro where I live now…they are all within 7-8 miles of each other so “Ashland City” pretty much covers them all…at least in our minds.

3 major country stars lived in our small area while growing up at that time. Don Williams, Mel Tellis, and Randy Travis. I was at my sister’s house in the eighties and I heard her scream and then run out and slam the door. She woke me up with her oohing and ahhing and I asked what was going on. Someone was riding a horse down tout dirt road. Tammy (my sister) went out and talked a little and she came back all happy.

I asked who it was and she said it was Randy Travis. I was a total modern country snob back then…I told her…when Eric Clapton rides by on a horse…then you wake me up. Make it someone worth it…yea I know I wasn’t nice. The reason for the snobbery…if you live here you are expected to like country music…but I couldn’t take it…except early country music. You start to rebel against music that is thrown at you constantly. That may be the reason I liked British rock artists more than country artists in my backyard. As I got older I started to appreciate them more.

Why did I say, Eric Clapton? Many of us think he might have visited our town in the 70s. The reason was that he was good friends with Don Williams. Now I did like Don Williams a lot. I also liked Mel Tillis but Randy Travis was part of that new country at the time that I didn’t really care for. I personally think my sister just loved the way he looked more than anything else.

Here are two stories that I’ve told before…The first star I met was Loretta Lynn and I had breakfast with her at her ranch (in a town called Waverly) which was the coolest breakfast I ever had while I was 8 years old. I would see other stars (Jerry Reed and Kenny Rogers) also once in a while but only really talked to two…Loretta Lynn and the featured artist today.

I was around 10-12 and I played baseball at the city ballpark. I would go there after school and practice. There were days I would just hang around and talk to people. I saw this man mowing the grass that had this old cowboy hat on. After a little while, he stopped and talked to me and asked me how I was doing. I knew the guy’s face and it came to me… I was talking to Don Williams. The reason I knew him was because of my mom’s country albums. I wasn’t into country music but some songs I did like.

I would see him off and on throughout my teenage years and he always was as nice as can be. I went to school and played baseball with his son. Don would mow the city park and the high school field. I’m not sure if he was bored or just wanted to help the community…he was a super guy either way. One of the last things he did was help raise money to get his church a new building. He passed away at 78 years old in 2017.

Williams had songs like It Must Be Love and I Believe In You…plus many more.

I Believe in You peaked at #1 on the Country chart in 1980. It also peaked at #1 in Canada on the Country Charts. It ended up being Don Williams’ only Top 40 song on the Billboard 100, the song peaked at #24 in the Billboard 100, #4 in New Zealand, and #20 in Australia.

It Must Be Love peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts and #2 on the Canada Country Charts in 1979.

All together Williams had 21 #1 singles on the Country Charts and a total of 25 studio albums and 62 singles.

Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend were admirers of Don Williams and both covered his songs. Eric Clapton would cover Tulsa Time and take it to #30 in the Billboard 100.

…

Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris – Love Hurts

This song has been covered many times. The one that is probably the most popular is by the hard rock band Nazareth. This version was the one that Nazareth heard to base their version on. It was written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant, who was a very prolific and successful songwriter for other artists throughout the 1950s and beyond.

Gram and Harris’s version is my favorite version of the song now. It was on Parson’s Grievous Angel album released in 1974. Parsons and Harris had a great musical partnership. You can hear it in this song on how their voices weaved together.

Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris

On the album… James Burton played electric lead guitar, Herb Pederson on rhythm, and Al Perkins on pedal steel. Bernie Leadon played dobro, and Byron Berline added some fiddle and mandolin. Linda Ronstadt always contributed vocals to a Harris-Parsons song that I will cover next.

Harris was talking about the making of the Grievous Angel Album: “Gram was in really good shape for that album, and we were really tight from working on the road together. The band knew what they were doing and we had the charts together by the time we got into the studio. We went in and, man, it was really fast – we did the tracks in five days and then a second five days for the vocals which were nearly all first or second takes. For all extent and purposes ist should be regarded as a ‘live’ album.”

“We didn’t really write songs together. He always carried those songs around in his head. He just needed a little prodding to get them out. That’s all I did. I helped him with a line here and there. I’d suggest something but those were his songs. I didn’t dispute the credit on ‘In My Hour Of Darkness’, which he gave to me. I think that was probably because at the same time, there was this big thing about that stupid album cover.”

What Harris was referring to about the cover was that it made Gram’s wife upset. It was originally a cover of Parson and Harris that Gram picked out. Parson’s manager was Phil Kaufman and he said that Gretchen Parsons, Gram’s wife, found out about the picture and fought with Parsons. So, she had the picture removed when it was released because Gram had passed away in September of 1973 and this album was released in 1974.

The Everly Brothers were the first to cover it, but they never released the song as a single. They planned to release this as a single, but industry politics got in the way. Their version is very good as well but Harris and Parson’s voices just sounded so good together for this particular song.

Emmylou Harris: “I really liked working with Gram, it was a completely new experience for me. I was a little weary at first because of Los Angeles and Hollywood and all, and I was very much East Coast orientated. I was very much on my guard but Gram was a very real person and, whenever I went out there, I always felt that I was in some kind of protective bubble. It was never Los Angeles itself, but always working with Gram and the music, and I kept myself in a very small circle.”

“It was the first time to have ever lost a close friend. I’m sure that all people have lost someone who is very dear to them, but Gram was young and so full of life. There are people who say ‘well, it was bound to happen’… but not to me because Gram was the most alive person I ever knew and breathed a whole lot into me and into my life. So he still remains very much alive in my heart.”

“Eventually Gram will find his place in history. He had a real creative vision of his own as a writer. Perhaps there is a shadow of that inspiration on my records but it’s not the gut level thing.”

Here is a live version from Gram and Emmylou from 1973.

Love Hurts

Love hurts, love scarsLove wounds and marsAny heart not toughNor strong enoughTo take a lot of painTake a lot of painLove is like a cloudHolds a lot of rain

Love hurtsMmm-mm, love hurts

I’m young, I knowBut even soI know a thing or twoI’ve learned from you

I’ve really learned a lotReally learned a lotLove is like a stoveBurns you when it’s hotLove hurtsMmm-mm, love hurts

Some fools think of happinessBlissfulness, togethernessSome fools fool themselves, I guessBut they’re not fooling me

I know it isn’t trueKnow it isn’t trueLove is just a lieMade to make you blue

Love hurtsMmm-mm, love hurts

Love hurtsMmm-mm, love hurtsOh-oh, love hurts

Jerry Reed – Amos Moses

Well I wonder where the Louisiana sheriff went to?

I can still see the 8-track of Jerry Reed’s greatest hits in my stepdad’s truck. Jerry was a great guitar player but that gets lost sometimes because of his later acting career. He played guitar on his own recordings, as well as on sessions for Elvis, Bobby Bare, Porter Wagoner, Joan Baez, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, and others.

Whenever I read or think about the best guitarists…I think Jimi Hendrix (my favorite), Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, SRV, and others. Some guitarists seem to be left out in the country field. Jerry Reed, Roy Clark, and perhaps the greatest of them all…Glen Campbell. Jerry Reed’s style is what I always called “chicken picking” and he was one of the greats.

Frankly, I was surprised when I checked Billboard and saw how successful he was in the charts. He had 51 songs in the Country 100 charts…including three number 1’s and six top ten hits. In the Billboard 100, he had ten songs in the top 100 including two top 10 hits. Amos Moses was one of them… peaking at #8 in the Billboard 100 and #16 in the Country Charts in 1971…The other song was When You’re Hot, You’re Hot at #9.

The song’s popularity further established Reed as a prominent figure in the country music scene. His last number-one in the country charts was “She Got the Gold Mine (I Got the Shaft)” in 1982… Why did I mention it? How could I not with a title like that?

The song appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Chet Atkins produced this recording.

This is from Guitar Player magazine.

WHEN PEOPLE TALK ABOUT UNDERRATED guitarists, the name Jerry Reed often doesn’t even come up. That’s how underrated Jerry Reed is. More often viewed as an actor, singer, or variety show regular, Reed possessed mindboggling guitar technique that incorporated intricate fingerpicking, gorgeous cascading harp-style runs, and an infectious, funky sense of rhythm and humor. He got his start as a songwriter, penning “Crazy Legs” (which would be covered by Gene Vincent and later inspire an album of the same name by Jeff Beck) and “Guitar Man,” which caught the ear of Elvis Presley. By the mid-’60s, Mr. Guitar himself, Chet Atkins, had taken note of Reed’s amazing fingerstyle prowess and began producing and collaborating with Reed, most notably on the albums Me & Jerry and Me & Chet.

Amos Moses

Yeah here comes Amos
Now Amos Moses was a Cajun
He lived by himself in the swamp
He hunted alligator for a living
He’d just knock them in the head with a stump
The Louisiana law gonna get you Amos
It ain’t legal hunting alligator down in the swamp boy

Now everyone blamed his old man
For making him mean as a snake
When Amos Moses was a boy
His daddy would use him for alligator bait
Tie a rope around his neck and throw him in the swamp
Alligator bait in the Louisiana bayou
About forty-five minutes southeast of Tippitoe, Louisiana
Lived a man called Doc Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah
Well, they raised up a son that could eat up his weight in groceries
Named him after a man of the cloth
Called him Amos Moses, yeah

Now the folks around south Louisiana
Said Amos was a hell of a man
He could trap the biggest, the meanest alligator
And he’d just use one hand
That’s all he got left cause an alligator bit it
Left arm gone clear up to the elbow

Well the sheriff caught wind that Amos was in the swamp trapping alligator skin
So he snuck in the swamp gonna get the boy
But he never come out again
Well I wonder where the Louisiana sheriff went to
Well you can sure get lost in the Louisiana bayou
About forty-five minutes southeast of Tippitoe, Louisiana
Lived a cat called Doc Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah
Well, they raised up a son that could eat up his weight in groceries
Named him after a man of the cloth
Called him Amos Moses

Sit down on ’em Amos!
Make it count son
About forty-five minutes southeast of Tippitoe, Louisiana
Lived a man called Doc Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah

Loretta Lynn – Coal Miner’s Daughter

She was the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century…Jack White

This is one country song that even rockers know and of course, the movie with the same title doesn’t hurt either. I remember the movie when I was younger and hearing this song constantly. She wrote it and she wears it like a badge of honor singing it.

In 1976 Loretta wrote an autobiography and named it Coal Miner’s Daughter. That book is what they made the movie on. I always looked at Loretta as the Punk of country music. What I mean by that is she wrote about subjects that weren’t talked about…much less in country music. Songs like The Pill and Rated X just to name a couple. While talking…she had no filter at times and told you exactly how she felt.

In life and in this song Lynn’s main point is that she is proud of where she comes from and the morals her family values. She is not ashamed of her poverty or rural upbringing, but appreciative of her family’s hard work ethic, love for each other, and the bond that happens in hardships.

The song was on the album of the same name released in 1970. What made this one different is that it crossed over to the pop charts. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts and Canada’s Country Charts. I also peaked at #83 on the Billboard 100 in 1970.

The song was released in 1980 with Sissy Spacek singing her version of the movie…it peaked at #7 in Canada (Country Charts) and #24 in the Billboard Country Charts.

The movie Coal Miner’s Daughter was released in 1980. It starred Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn as well as co-stars Levon Helm, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D’Angelo, and more.

The producer Owen Bradley told Lynn to drop off four additional verses that she had. Loretta Lynn: “He said, There’s already been one ‘El Paso,’ and there’s never going to be another one, so I fiddled around and fiddled around, and finally I got four verses that I took off of ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter.’ I wished I hadn’t, but I did.”

Sadly those verses were lost to time because she left them in the studio.

Loretta Lynn: “I remember that, in one of the verses, I talked about Mommy papering the wall with movie magazines, and she named me after Loretta Young, because she had Bette Davis and Claudette Colbert and Loretta Young up on the wall. And the day before I was born, she said, ‘If this baby is a little girl, I’m going to name her after one of them girls.’ And she said, ‘I kept looking at the pictures, and I thought Loretta Young was the prettiest, so I named you Loretta.’ And I’m glad she did.”

“I didn’t think anybody be interested in my life, I know everybody’s got a life, and they all have something to say. Everybody has a story about their life. It wasn’t just me. I guess I was just the one that told it.”

Coal Miner’s Daughter

Well, I was borned a coal miner’s daughter
In a cabin, on a hill in Butcher Holler
We were poor, but we had love
That’s the one thing that daddy made sure of
He shoveled coal to make a poor man’s dollar

My daddy worked all night in the Van Lear coal mines
All day long in the field a hoin’ corn
Mommy rocked the babies at night
And read the Bible by the coal oil light
And ever’ thing would start all over come break of morn’

Daddy loved and raised eight kids on a miner’s pay
Mommy scrubbed our clothes on a washboard every day
Why, I’ve seen her fingers bleed
To complain, there was no need
She’d smile in mommy’s understanding way

In the summertime we didn’t have shoes to wear
But in the wintertime we’d all get a brand new pair
From a mail order catalog
Money made from selling a hog
Daddy always managed to get the money somewhere

Yeah, I’m proud to be a coal miner’s daughter
I remember well, the well where I drew water
The work we done was hard
At night we’d sleep ’cause we were tired
I never thought of ever leaving Butcher Holler

Well, a lot of things have changed since a way back then
And it’s so good to be back home again
Not much left but the floor, nothing lives here anymore
Except the memories of a coal miner’s daughter

…

Kris Kristofferson – Why Me

Good morning to everyone on this fine Sunday morning! This was a song that I heard on my mom’s country stations along with the AM pop stations that my sister listened to. It crossed genres and was a massive hit.

It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts and Canada’s Country Charts, #16 on the Billboard 100, and #19 on Canada’s RPM Charts in 1973.

Kristofferson is an incredible songwriter but he gave up a lot to be one. He is very intelligent and he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.

Kristofferson came from a military family. Both of his grandfathers were military men, his dad was a general in the Air Force, and his brother was in the Navy. Kris himself had made a name for himself in the armed forces, achieving the rank of captain and being offered a teaching position at West Point.

Instead, he moved to Nashville and ended up working odd jobs to support his disabled son while trying to break into the music business. When his mother found out about the music business she wrote a letter to him that he was an embarrassment to the family and he was disowned. Someone showed the letter to Johnny Cash, who believed in Kristofferson, and Cash told him ‘Always nice to get a letter from home, isn’t it, Kris?’

I feel lazy doing this but Kristofferson tells the story of the song better than I can. He went to church with country music artist Connie Smith and this happened.

Kris Kristofferson: “The night before we’d been down in Cookeville with a bunch of people, doing a benefit for Dottie West’s High School band or something and then Connie took me over to church the next day to Jimmie Snow’s church. And I had a profound religious experience during the session, something that never had happened to me before. And ‘Why Me’ came out of it.

Everybody was kneeling down and Jimmie said something like if anybody’s lost, please raise their hand. And I was kneeling there. I don’t go to church a lot and the notion of raising my hand was out of the question and I thought, ‘I can’t imagine who’s doing this.’ And all of a sudden I felt my hand going up and I was hoping nobody else was looking because everybody had their head bent over praying.

And then he said, ‘If anybody is ready to accept Jesus, come down to the front of the church.’ I thought that would never happen and I found myself getting up and walking down with all these people and going down there. And I don’t really know what he said to me. He said something to me like, ‘Are you ready to accept Jesus Christ in your life?’ And I said: ‘I don’t know.’ I didn’t know what I was doing there. And he put me down, said, ‘Kneel down here.’ I can’t even remember what he was saying but, whatever it was, was such a release for me that I found myself weeping in public and I felt this forgiveness that I didn’t know I even needed.”

Why Me

Why me Lord, what have I ever done
To deserve even one
Of the pleasures I’ve known
Tell me Lord, what did I ever do
That was worth loving You
Or the kindness You’ve shown

Lord help me Jesus, I’ve wasted it
So help me Jesus, I know what I am
Now that I know that I’ve needed you
So Help me Jesus, my soul’s in Your hand

Tell me Lord, if you think there’s a way
I can try to repay
All I’ve taken from You
Maybe Lord, I can show someone else
What I’ve been through myself
On my way back to You

Lord, help me Jesus, I’ve wasted it
So Help me Jesus, I know what I am
Now that I know that I’ve needed you
So help me Jesus, my soul’s in Your hand

Jesus, my soul’s in Your hand

Waylon Jennings – Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line

When I hear this song…I think it’s one of the coolest songs I’ve ever heard. The song is classified as country but there is some early rock in this also. I could hear Buddy Holly singing this one with no problem. Jennings to me, could have easily been a rock and roll singer and his songs often crossed genres. Waylon was in the “Outlaws” which included Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe. It wasn’t a band but a group of musicians who had freedom with their music and didn’t follow Nashville’s so called guidelines.

Speaking of Buddy Holly. Jennings played with Buddy Holly in the 50s. Holly saw Jennings, a radio DJ since his pre-teen years, as a promising talent. The first fruits of the two late 50s partnership came when Jennings recorded the songs “Jole Blon” and “When Sin Stops (Love Begins)” with Holly and guitarist Tommy Allsup.

Jennings went on the road as part of Holly’s post-Crickets backing band for the Winter Dance Party Tour along with co-headliners Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (JP Richardson). They had unheated buses and the drummer Carl Bunch got frost bite on the bus. Holly charted a flight and bandmate Allsup allegedly lost a seat in a coin toss to Ritchie Valens, and Jennings offered his spot to a sick Richardson.

Holly and Jennings were very close. They joked with each other on the night of the crash as Holly was leaving. Holly jokingly told Jennings, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up!” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes!” That haunted Jennings for years after that. Jennings has said that Buddy influenced him a lot in his career. He said he learned not to compromise your music.

Jim Alley, an American country singer, first recorded this song in 1967. However, his version didn’t become that popular during his time. Jimmy Bryant wrote this song and was a fiddle player who played on some country records along with The Monkees song Sweet Young Thing.

Waylon recorded the song at RCA Victor Studios in Nashville and no other than Chet Atkins produced it. The song was released a few months later. The song was a hit, it peaked at #1 on the Canadian Country Charts and #2 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1968. The Kentucky Headhunters and Linda Ronstadt covered the song later on.

Jennings had one of the best marriages in music. He married Jessi Colter in 1969. Jennings experienced three failed marriages before he finally found the one. Jessi remained his wife until Jennings’s death in 2002.

Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line

Everybody knows you’ve been steppin’ on my toes
And I’m gettin’ pretty tired of it
You keep a steppin’ out of line
You’re messin’ with my mind
If you had any sense you’d quit

‘Cause ever since you were a little bitty teeny girl
You said I was the only man in this whole world
Now you better do some thinkin’ then you’ll find
You got the only daddy that’ll walk the line

I keep a workin’ every day all you want to is play
I’m tired of stayin’ out all night
I’m comin’ unglued
From your funny little moods
Now Honey baby that ain’t right

You keep a packin’ up my clothes nearly everybody knows
That you’re still just a puttin’ me on
But when I start a walkin’
Gonna hear you start a squawkin’
And beggin’ me to come back home

You got the only daddy that’ll walk the line

Jimmie Rodgers – Blue Yodel No 1 (T For Texas)

T for Texas
T for Tennessee
T for Tennessee
T for Thelma
That gal that made a wreck out of me

Jimmie Rodgers was the first country star and is called the Father of Country Music. He is also called The Singing Brakeman and The Blue Yodeler. He was massively popular and others got their start imitating him like Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry. Rodgers had a deep love for Texas and all it represented. He drew inspiration from his travels and experiences across the country.

I never heard Rodgers version until the internet. I had read where a young George Harrison mention that he was a big influence on him. I do know this song well by Lynyrd Skynyrd who Ronnie Van Zant was influenced by him. They took this 1928 song and turned it on its ear.

Rodgers recorded this at what used to be Trinity Baptist Church in New Jersey. The record company Victor (later RCA Victor) was launched in Camden, New Jersey in 1901 and, in 1918, purchased Trinity Baptist Church, at 114 N. Fifth St., in order to have a space large enough to record a symphony orchestra, with good acoustics. Many artists recorded there including Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, and the Carter Family. At the time of his death in 1933, his sales represented 10% of the total for the label. Even during the Depression his records sold well.

The song was released on February 3, 1928. Why the yodels? Rodgers said he saw a troupe of Swiss yodelers doing a demonstration at a church. They were touring America, and he just happened to catch it, liked it, and incorporated it into his songs. Altogether he wrote 13 Blue Yodels.

It’s been covered in every decade since. According to secondhandsongs.com it’s had 71 versions. Jimmie Rodgers died at 35 from a pulmonary embolism that was a direct result of tuberculosis he was diagnosed in 1924. He passed on May 26, 1933.

Journalist John Lilly wrote about the original song in 1992: It generated an excitement and record-buying frenzy that no one could have predicted. … The lyrics made an obvious connection to the southern states, talked about hard times with women and work, and had a macho, slightly dangerous undertone. Not only were these to be recurring themes in subsequent Jimmie Rodgers songs, (he re-worked these ideas for a total of 13 ‘Blue Yodels’ but they continue as themes in country songwriting to this day.”

Blue Yodel No 1 (T For Texas)

T for Texas
T for Tennessee
T for Tennessee
T for Thelma
That gal that made a wreck out of me

If you don’t want me mama
You sure don’t have to stall
You sure don’t have to stall
‘Cause I can get more women
Than a passenger train can haul

I’m gonna buy me a pistol
Just as long as I’m tall
Just as long as I’m tall
I’m gonna shoot poor Thelma
Just to see her jump and fall

I’m goin’ where the water
Drinks like cherry wine
Drinks like cherry wine
‘Cause this Georgia water
Tastes like turpentine

I’m gonna buy me a shotgun
With a great long shiny barrel
With a great long shiny barrel
I’m gonna shoot that rounder
That stole away my gal

‘Druther drink muddy water
Sleep in a holler log
Sleep in a holler log
Than to be in Atlanta
Treated like a dirty dog

…

Blackie and The Rodeo Kings – Step Away

CB introduced this band to me a couple of weeks ago. I started to listen to them and ran across this album and as soon as I heard this…I liked it.

This song is beautiful… the band was making an album and put a call out to many female singers to do duets. Some of the women they got were Lucinda Williams, Amy Helm (daughter of Levon Helm), Patti Scialfa (wife of Bruce Springsteen), Pam Tillis, Rosanne Cash, and more. One of the “more” is Emmylou Harris. She is the one who is singing in Step Away.

Last Sunday I posted a song named When The Spirit Comes by Colin Linden. Colin is part of this band that includes Tom Wilson and Stephen Fearing. They started the band in 1996 as a tribute to Canadian folk artist Willie P. Bennett. One of Bennett’s albums was called Blackie and the Rodeo King. They wanted to get one of Bennett’s songs down on an album and this is the one. Colin Linden said, “I wanted a Willie P. Bennett song on the record, and I couldn’t imagine a better honor to bestow on someone we love as much as Willie than to have Emmylou Harris sing on one of his songs. I don’t think there’s ever been a better singer on the planet; I’m so glad she said yes.”

This album is called Kings and Queens and it was released in 2011. I’m also including a song they did with Rosanne Cash that was released as a single off the album called Got It Covered. Linden said, “Rosanne’s a real supporter of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and I knew she was a fan of Ron Sexsmith. Ron came in with an idea for Got You Covered and we wrote it in a hotel room in Austin, Texas in a matter of a couple of hours. He’s brilliant a pretty easy guy to write with. It’s like riding in a Cadillac, writing with that guy.”

Got You Covered has an older soul feel and Cash sounds fantastic in this one. In my next post with these guys, I’ll get to more of the edgier ones.

Tom Wilson on Willie Bennett: “Willie articulated the sensitivity of a fifty-year-old guy and he represented the rebellious ‘fuck you’ attitude of a sixteen-year-old. Willie managed to be more punk rock than any punk rocker I have ever met and, at the same time, could probably break your heart in two. He was a true poet. His wings were a little dirty. He wasn’t afraid of living life and taking chances. When you’re a young guy and you’re looking for an influence, there’s your man right there.”

Step Away

I’m just a step away
Turn around, see where I’m standin’
I’m a step away
From your heart
I’m just a step away
I might stand here forever
I’m a step away
From your heart

Some people act kind; some people act cruel
Some people act blind when they see the Golden Rule
If you ask me, I’d say you’re a nervous wreck
I’ve got me to share if that’s what it takes to get

Just a step away
Turn around, see where I’m standin’
I’m a step away
From your heart
I’m just a step away
I might stand here forever
I’m a step away
From your heart

Reelin’ from a brand new lost love affair
You weren’t so lucky this time; somebody got scared
Maybe you’re like me and you can’t be nobody’s pet
I’ve got love to share if that’s what it takes to get

Just a step away
Turn around, see where I’m standin’
I’m a step away
From your heart
I’m just a step away
I might stand here forever
I’m a step away
From your heart

I’m just a step away
Turn around, see where I’m standin’
I’m a step away
From your heart
I’m just a step away
I might stand here forever I’m a step away
From your heart

A step away (step away)
A step away
Just a step away

Ned Miller – From A Jack To A King

This song takes me back to when I was a kid. On my country post a few weeks ago, I did 5 songs that I liked…Obbverse mentioned this one and I didn’t remember it by the title. Once I played it I knew it right away. I probably haven’t heard it since I was around 7-8 years old.

Ned’s mom taught him how to play guitar, and he wrote his first song at 16 while still in High School in Salt Lake City. After a three-year stint in the Marine Corps – he served in the Pacific theater during World War II – he went to college with the help of the G.I. Bill and became a pipe-fitter and later air-conditioning man by trade.

He wrote a song called Dark Moon that was made into two top 5 hits for other artists. He wrote and recorded this song in 1957 but it did absolutely nothing on the charts. He convinced his record company to re-release this song in 1962 and it was a massive international hit.

Ned recorded between 1957 and 1970. He did have another huge country hit with Do What You Do Do Well. After that, he had some top-50 hits in country but nothing in the top 10. It didn’t help that Ned rarely toured owing to stage fright. He gave up recording in the 1970s and moved to Prescott, Arizona, and later to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ned came back into the limelight in 1989, when Ricky Van Shelton resurrected ‘From A Jack To A King’ and took it to #1 on the Country charts and #1 in the Canadian Country Charts.

The song peaked at #2 on the Country Charts, #6 on the Billboard 100, and #2 in the UK in 1962.

Ned Miller passed away at the age of 90 in 2016.

From A Jack To A Queen

From a jack to a king
From loneliness to a wedding ring
I played an ace and I won a queen
And walked away with your heart

From a jack to a king
With no regrets I stacked the cards last night
And lady luck played her hand just right
And made me king of your heart

For just a little while
I thought that I might lose the game
Then just in time
I saw the twinkle in your eye

From a jack to a king
From loneliness to a wedding ring
I played an ace and I won a queen
You made me king of your heart

For just a little while
I thought that I might lose the game
Then just in time
I saw the twinkle in your eye

From a jack to a king
From loneliness to a wedding ring
I played an ace and I won a queen
You made me king of your heart…

Townes Van Zandt – Waiting Around To Die

Once in a while, I’ll listen to a song that is so good that it’s beyond a normal song. It happens when lyrics can tell a story just right..in a real down-to-earth way. Few fit in this category…this song does. Townes said it was the first song he ever wrote. If so…that would be like painting the Mona Lisa on your first try.

He lived in an apartment with his first wife Fran and he converted a walk-in closet into a studio. Fran said that he wrote the song in there and she was disappointed that he didn’t write a happy or a love song.

“Waitin’ Around to Die” was first recorded for Van Zandt’s 1968 studio debut called For the Sake of the Song. It’s a dark song that encapsulates the pain, despair, and struggle that can engulf a person’s life. It also foretold Van Zandt’s life and ending in a lot of ways.

Townes was diagnosed with depression in his sophomore year of college. His father, Harris Williams Van Zandt, was a corporate lawyer. Townes tried to follow in his footsteps but dropped out of school to become a musician. Earlier in grade school, his friend Guy Clark said that Van Zandt found out that the sun was slowly burning out. Clark thinks that after that he didn’t take much seriously in life.

He was born John Townes Van Zandt in Fort Worth, Texas, into a wealthy oil family whose prestige was known throughout the state. His great-great-grandfather Khleber Miller Van Zandt became president of both a construction company and a bank, the Fort Worth National Bank. Khleber’s own dad, Isaac Van Zandt, was a leader of the Republic of Texas. Van Zandt County, located in the northeastern part of the state, was named for Isaac in 1848.

Townes Van Zandt died on New Year’s Day in 1997 at age 52, exactly 44 years after the death of his idol, Hank Williams.

Townes Van Zandt: “I talked to this old man for a while, and he kinda put out these vibrations. I was sitting at the bar of the Jester Lounge one afternoon drinking beer, thinking about him, and just wrote it down …..Sometimes I don’t know where this dirty road is taking me/Sometimes I can’t see the reason why/But I guess I’ll keep rambling/Lots of booze and lots of gambling/Well, it’s easier than waitin’ round to die.”

Townes Van Zandt: “I have a few others like that that I don’t play all the time. I have to watch that when I do shows. I have to stay away from that side because nobody wants to hear blues on blues on blues.”

Waiting Around To Die

Sometimes I don’t know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I don’t even know the reason why
But I guess I keep a-gamblin’
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin’
Well it’s easier than just a-waitin’ around to die

One time, friends, I had a ma
I even had a pa
Well he beat her with a belt once ’cause she cried
She told him to take care of me
Headed down to Tennessee
Well it’s easier than just a-waitin’ around to die

Well I came of age and I found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit in on the sly
I tried to hide the pain, I bought some wine and hopped a train
Well it’s easier than just waitin’ around to die

A friend said he knew
Where some easy money was
We robbed a man, and brother did we fly
The posse caught up with me
And drug me back to Muskogee
Two long years waitin’ around to die

Well, now I’m out of prison
I got me a friend at last
Well he don’t drink or steal or cheat or lie
His name’s codeine
He’s the nicest thing I’ve seen
Yah, together we’re gonna wait around and die
Yah together we’re gonna wait around and die

Merle Haggard – Swinging Doors

And I’ve got swinging doors a jukebox and a barstool
And my new home has got a flashing neon sign

This is country music I love. I’ve always been a bit jealous of the Country music genre in one area. I’m not sure they still have this but at certain times of year the musicians and artists are out and about and you can meet them. It was really big in Nashville through the years.

It was called Fan Fair. It’s basically like a job fair but with country stars. Can you imagine Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and others in a building meeting and talking to their fans? How about going up to Bob Dylan and slapping him on the back…” Hey Bob” how are ya? No that would not happen.

I remember this happening in Nashville where you could go and meet Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, and more. Rock and Roll doesn’t have anything like that. Maybe it’s because Country is centered in Nashville where Rock is spread throughout the world? I think it was a great way to spread their music.

In 1966 Merle Haggard traveled to Nashville to record his first-ever collaboration project with The Strangers. They would later on become his backing band. At first, it just didn’t work but Haggard and the band continued. The album ended up with 12 tracks and Swinging Doors was the title track. Haggard wrote all of the tracks on the album. The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts. His first number-one album. He would go on to record 66 studio albums and 8 live ones.

The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1966. Another song off of this album peaked at #5…The Bottle Let Me Down.

This song takes me back to being a kid. Early morning rides with my dad and him having a country station on.

Swinging Doors

This old smoke-filled bar is something I’m not used to
But if gave up my home to see you satisfied
And I just called to let you know where I’ll be living
It’s not much but I feel welcome here inside

And I’ve got swinging doors a jukebox and a barstool
And my new home has got a flashing neon sign
Stop by and see me anytime you want to
Cause I’m always here at home till closing time

I’ve got everything I need to drive me crazy
I’ve got everything it takes to lose my mind
And in here the atmosphere’s just right for heartaches
And thanks to you I’m always here till closing time

And I’ve got swinging doors a jukebox and a barstool
And my new home has got a flashing neon sign
Stop by and see me anytime you want to
Cause I’m always here at home till closing time

Yeah, I’m always here at home till closing time

…

Waylon Jennings – Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way

This song I wrote in 10 minutes…it took me 10 years to think it up though…Waylon Jennings

This is country music that I really like. Waylon was part of the Outlaw country movement of the 1970s and he was a badass. This song is a tribute to Hank Willaims and also questions the extravagance of the modern country stars of the 70s with their “new shiny cars” and “rhinestone suits”.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts and #21 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks…it also made it in the Billboard 100 at #60 in 1975.

Waylon acted more like a rock star. He took that Outlaw title to heart. He used the Hells Angels as bodyguards and hung out and partied with them. Lynyrd Skynyrd was known as rough and fighters but when they shared a plane with Jennings and the Angels… they gave them plenty of room and stayed quiet like school boys.

In the seventies, Waylon took a pistol to a recording studio one time because he didn’t like studio musicians. He knew they were great musicians but they didn’t give any new ideas so he was joking around with the pistol about shooting someone’s fingers off if they didn’t play well. It wasn’t serious and everyone there knew it was a joke… but rumors got around that he was serious. Later on in 1975 at the Grammys… Waylon Jennings and John Lennon met backstage. They started talking to each other and really hit it off. Waylon was surprised because he told John that he was very funny but he thought he was some kind of madman because of John’s press. John then told him that people in England thought Waylon shot people.

Lennon wrote him a letter after that and there was even talk of Waylon recording a song by Lennon (Tight A$ on Mind Games). Not much came of it but the letter was found when Waylon passed away and sold at auction.

Waylon was hired to play bass for Buddy Holly on that last tour and he gave up his seat on the plane for J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and ended up saving his own life. So he was in rock and roll before country.

Also…if you see the live clip…Waylon used that guitar for years. My guitar tech was Waylon’s guitar tech. The guitar was at the shop one day and Turner (the tech) told me to come over and play it. Of course, I did…I’ve never seen a guitar with leather…and I’ll never forget it. It was sometime in the late eighties or early nineties. He used that guitar from the 70’s to the mid-nineties.

Waylon Jennings: “I met John Lennon, and we were cutting up and everything at one of the Grammy things, and I said, man, you’re funny. I didn’t know you were funny,’ I said, ‘I thought you were some kind of mad guy or something like that.”

John Lennon: “Listen, people in England think you shoot folks.”

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way

Lord it’s the same old tune, fiddle and guitar
Where do we take it from here?
Rhinestone suits and new shiny cars
It’s been the same way for years
We need a change

Somebody told me, when I came to Nashville
Son you finally got it made
Old Hank made it here, and we’re all sure that you will
But I don’t think Hank done it this way
No, I don’t think Hank done it this way

Ten years on the road, makin’ one night stands
Speedin’ my young life away
Tell me one more time just so’s I’ll understand
Are your sure Hank done it this way?
Did ol’ Hank really do it this way?

Lord I’ve seen the world, with a five piece band
Looking at the back side of me
Singing my songs, and one of his now and then
But I don’t think Hank done ’em this way
I don’t think Hank done it this way
Take it home