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LARRY LANGE #174/263 JULY 2011 & HIS LONELY KNIGHTS

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JOHN THE REVEALATOR FREEFORM AMERICAN ROOTS #143 ROOTS BIRTHS & DEATHS REVIEWS (or not) • ROBERT ELLIS MICHAEL WESTON KING DAVID OLNEY • TOKYO ROSENTHAL , & KENDEL CARSON ‘n o n e o f t h e h it s , a l l o f t h e t im e ’ NEVER HEARD OF ’EM OOK RELEASE PARTY & CO N CERTS join SUE DONAHOE of LOCAL FLAVOR to celebrate her new book NEVER HEARD OF ’EM: On a legendary night in the fall of 1979, Austin’s Music Explosion The Cobras, with Special Guests Paul Ray and 1994—2000 Angela Strehli, took the stage at AWHQ. ...and boogied the stink right out of the carpet. SUNDAY JULY 24th Threadgill’s World HQ 8- 10.30pm PONTY BONE & THE SQUEEZETONES KAREN TYLER BILLY ELI ROSIE FLORES & THE RIVETERS SPENCER THOMAS & THE BIG POW WOW Soon at Waterloo, Antone's, Sundance and other THURSDAY JULY 28th select retailers, and online at CDBaby.com HOLE IN THE WALL

The Cobras appear Saturday, Aug 6, at 8 - 12pm BILLY ELI Threadgill's World Headquarters JULIAN LANE celebrating the birthday of THE RUSTICATORS Armadillo World Headquarters MIKE & THE MOONPIES and the upcoming CD release of (For more information, check the IJVI:I»I:AI)LY NEVER HEARD OF ’EM page on Facebook) FREEFORM AMERICAN ROOTS #141 DAVID OLNEY P resents F ilm N oir (Deadbeet $£& $£#) REAL MUSIC PLAYED FOR REAL PEOPLE BY REAL DJS op quiz: what do David Olney, Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, PAlan Ladd in This Gun For Hire and Robert Mitchum in Out Of The Past DURING JUNE 2011 have in common? Answer: they all wear/wore fedoras. , fedoras were pretty standard in 40s and 50s film noir, I just picked three favorites. Is there a causal #1 EILEN JEW ELL connection between a fedora and the lonely sound of the wailing down neon-lit, rain-slick mean streets? Well, it’s often called the grown-up’s hat, caps being ueen f he M i n o r ey Q O T K for boys, while film noir was very much adult fare, offering nothing to anybody who (Signature Sounds) *AH/*CP/*JP/*KW /*00 can’t handle hardboiled, and Olney’s five suite is very hardboiled. Featuring 2 Dave Alvin: Eleven Eleven (Yep Roc) a combo, Sergio Webb classical and ukelele, Jack Irwin drums, percussion, *DWB/*GM/*JM/*RL/*RV/*SC , organ, flute, bass marimba, Dave Roe or Dan Seymour walking bass, with Jim 3 The Border Blasters: The Sun Session (Boquillas) Hoke on the essential sax, that’s more -y than pure jazz, Olney, cowriting with *BB/*BL/*HP/*LMG John Hadley, Gwil Owen and Webb, evokes the noir ethos with that range from 4 Rod Picott: Welding Burns (Welding Rod) *DG/*GG/*JB/*TPR the enigmatic Frank Is Gone and the deadpan humor of a mugging ($20 Serenade), 5 Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers: Starlight Hotel to a caper gone sour (Blue Moon Hotel) and a cover-up crossed with a wry ‘tribute’ (Signature Sounds) *CS/*DF/*GF to Gloria Swanson (Sunset On Sunset Boulevard). Over the last 30 years, Olney has 6 Audrey Auld: Come Find Me (Reckless) *TF demonstrated and again that he’s among the best going, the only 7 The Sweetback Sisters: Looking For A Fight complaint one can make about his umptyeth is that it’s too darn short. JC (Signature Sounds) *BP 8 Cornell Hurd : Big State, Long Road (Behemoth) MICHAEL WESTON KING *KD/*SH/*TS 9 & The International Harvesters: A Treasure I D idn ’t R aise My B oy T o B e A S oldier (Reprise) *MM/*RH (Valve [Germany] #&&&) 10 Gillian Welch: The Harrow & The Harvest (Acony) *BG/*MO ack in 2006, I noted, in a feature on a surge in protest songs (Golden Protest, 11 : Carrying Lightning (self) B#118/207), that they come in waves and currently the tide seems to be out, but 12= Laura Cantrell: "Dresses a good anti-war song is never passé, a sad fact not lost on British - (Diesel Only/Spit & Polish [UK]) *BS/*GS King, who goes all the way back to 1915 for the still relevant title track (which earned Gal Holiday & The Honky Tonk Revue: Set Two (HTRP) *LB the enviable distinction of being publicly attacked by Theodore Roosevelt). Alongside 13 Eliza Gilkyson: Roses At The End Of Time (Red House) three originals, King enlists vintage songs by (Cops Of the World and Is 14 Tim Grimm: Thank You Tom Paxton (Vault) *BW/*MF There Anybody Here?), Jim Ford, a name I haven’t heard in 30 some years (Sounds 15 <& Michael Daves: Sleep With One Eye Open Of Our Time), Roosevelt Sykes (High Price ), Dylan (7 Pity The Poor Immigrant) (Nonesuch) *BR/*MDT and Simple Song Of Freedom, from the curious period when was playing 16 : Hard Bargain (Nonesuch) Las Vegas and, as Bob Darin, writing songs like We Didn’t Ask To Be Brought Here, 17= Blackie <& The Rodeo Kings: Kings And Queens (Dramatico) along with an of Langston Hughes’ poem Life Is Fine. All of them still David Olney Presents Film Noir (Deadbeet) *RA resonate—as David Rodriguez wryly observed, “I met her in the time of constant war.” 18= BettySoo & Doug Cox: Across The Borderline; Lie To Me The obvious danger of making an album of protest songs is that you’ll be preaching (Borderline Talent) *FS to the choir, but King’s greatest strength, no matter the material, is combining Wronglers With : Heirloom Music visceral and cerebral, balancing them to perfection, so while his anger and frustration (Neanderthal) *MT give the lyrics an edge—I mean, you can’t sing a protest song as a throwaway—he 19= : Satisfied At Last (Rackem) still lets the words do the heavy lifting. j c Matt The Electrician: Accidental Thief (self) The Wilders (Free Dirt) ROBERT ELLIS • P hotographs 20= Sarah Jarosz: Follow Me Down (Sugar Hill) (New West $$) Tokyo Rosenthal: Who Was That Man? (Rock & Socks) *MP efore I left London, Wes McGhee put dibs on the LPs I was fixing VA: The Best Of Ripsaw Records Vol 1 (Part [Germany]) *JT Bto unload, so I took them over to his place and, while he was shelving them, 21= Dawes: Nothing Is Wrong (ATO) asked, “Jeez, Wes, how many do you have?” To which he replied, “About 60,” “Are Mark Jungers: More Like A Good Dog Than A Bad Cat any of them any good?” “Nope. They’re all terrible.” I was reminded of this while (American Rural) reading, on the one sheet that came with Ellis’ second album, about the Houstonite’s 22= Greg Brown: Freak Flag (Yep Roc) *GV “admitted unhealthy obsession with George Jones,” because he’s certainly done the : I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive Possum proud. Not only is this a stinker, it’s a stinker in two entirely different ways. (New West) *N&T Structured like an LP, with an acoustic ‘A’ side of “folksy, dark” tracks, a transitional : Ramble At The Ryman (Vanguard) *NA number with a band and a full band ‘B’ side, you start with sub-Don McLean-sung-by- Hot Tuna: Steady As She Goes (Red House) *MN John , then segue into, well, I’m not sure what. Nothing remotely resembling VA: A Nod to Bod 2 (Red House) *ES Jones, that’s for sure (though, to be fair, Jones has certainly sung plenty of songs just 23= Larry Lange & His Lonely Knights: Wiggle Room as trite as these). It’s not so much that Ellis sounds generic, that’s pretty standard (SteadyBoy) *TB these days, as that he’s oddly hesitant, seeming, once in the studio, to be unsure of Scott Nolan: Montgomery Eldorado (Transistor 66) *JR himself and his banal lyrics, as well he might. I have to take the word of some friends The Warped 45s: Matador Sunset (self) *SR in that Ellis puts on a kickass live show, because there’s absolutely nothing on this album that even hints at anything of the kind. The nicest thing I can to say about this is that James Franco’s EP is much worse. JCs

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*XX = DJ’s A lbum of the M onth Freeform American Roots is compiled from reports provided by 140 freeform DJs. More information can be found at http://tcmnradio.com/far/ THE 968 L0UN9E 2420 S 1st • 707-8702

TUESDAY 5th * Steve 6 Steve Band, 9.30 Beth Lee, 1 1pm Fast Luke 6 The Leadheavy, midnight THURSDAY 7th • The PJ’s, 8pm P.O. Box 1, Northampton, Mass The People Vs DeLaRosa with guest bands, 10.30pm Buy-Sell-Trade TUESDAY12th * One 9ood Lung, 2928 Guadalupe Austin, Tx. 78705 The Midwives, The Foreign (512) 322-0660 Mothers, Sky Acre Spyplane, 10pm LPs - CDs - 45s - 78s - Cassettes - Posters - Mags Bl ues - Ja z z - Rock - R&B - T exas - - Country THURSDAY 21st * The PJ’s. 8pm www. antonesrecordshop. com TUESDAY 26th * Hot Crush KOOP Radio plays the music with guest bands, 10pm 3rd Coast Music writes about with six distinctly different THURSDAY 28th * Ultrawolf www.koap.org roots music programs: with guest bands. 8pm

★ STRICTLY BLUEGRASS New and older Biuegrass releases presented by a team of rotating hosts, Sundays 10 am - noon ★ UNDER THE X IN * Ted Branson features Texas artists, live Never A Cover performances, covering a variety of genres, Tuesdays 9 - 11 am ★ FA IS DO DO plays the music of South and East Texas from host Tom Mahnke, Wednesdays 9- 11 am ★ RANCHO DEL RAY* Ted Smouse plays new & older Americana, Roots, Honky Tonk, Hawaiian, Surf & more, Wed. 11 am- noon ★ COUNTRY, SWING & JAMBOREE* presented by Pickin’ Professor Rod Moag, Thursdays 9- 11 am ★ COUNTRY ROOTS* plus new "real" Country releases with host Len Brown, Fridays 9- 11 am •Reports to the Free#«m Mierteen Roots (FAR) Chart CHIP TAYLOR • R ock & R oll J oe JOHN THE REVEALATOR (TrainWreck $$$&$$$$) ot way too relaxed towards the end of May, thinking I had plenty of time to omewhat misleading, but that’s how the label lists this album on its website. The lash together an 8-page issue, so then, of course, things blew up in my face, Sactual cover is somewhat more prolix: ‘Rock & Roll Joe: A Tribute To The Unsung G I had to cover a sick colleague’s shift and flat lost the time frame which I’d Heroes Of Rock N’ Roll Starring John Platania, Kendel Carson, Chip Taylor, With Ron blocked out for proofreading and doublechecking. Biggest disasters, which I like to Eoff, Bryan Owings, Seth Farber, Hakan Olsson, , Tony Mercadante and think I’d have caught, were the Births & Deaths changing format, not coming up with A Cast Of Thousands... ” More than an album, Rock & Roll Joe is the centerpiece of a new headline for the editorial, not sizing the title of Eliza Gilkyson’s latest album an ongoing project with its own website, where you too can nominate your favorite properly, not fixing The House O f The Rising Son and getting Eilen Jewell’s debut ‘Unsung Heroes.’ I can’t claim to be a disinterested third party as Taylor & Co chose album, Boundary County, right twice but blowing it on the third mention. to launch Rock & Roll Joe at a 3CM Presents show last March, with a stellar set H> Forwarded, by Dave Ludwig, of Third Coast Music Network, KSYM, San which, among things, demonstrated that, much as I love , the Taylor/ Antonio, was a recent article in Spin by Amanda Petrusich, ‘Meet The New Stars Platania/Carson lineup is something really special, three very different personalities Of Americana.’ Cutting to the chase, “This spring and summer, acts like Mumford & creating a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts, when such mix and hope Sons, , Carolina Chocolate Drops, Those Darlins, the Civil they match combinations normally fall into the disappointing-to-disastrous range. Wars, the Low Anthem, , of Heathens, Amanda Playing off each other, the legendary Taylor and, stepping up, ace guitarist Platania, Shires, O’Death, David Wax Museum, Delta Spirit, and the Brothers Avett, Felice, both of whom were making records long before the twentysomething Carson was born, and Punch are expected to attract rabid, bowler-hatted crowds who will scream along create fabulous mosaics on 14 songs with complicated credits, Taylor being the only with every heartfelt word, even if they can’t all tell a from a dobro.” Aside common denominator. Most celebrate the “underappreciated,” starting with Mickey from Amanda Shires, the only one I give a shit about, and a couple I wouldn’t know Baker and Panama Francis. Obvious digressions are Hot Rod Carson, a showcase for from Adam’s off ox, I’m looking at a list of acts who are either wildly inconsistent, Kendel’s , Taylor & A1 Gorgoni’s I Can’t Let Go, first recorded 46 years ago by hideously pretentious, grossly overhyped, one trick ponies or only ‘Americana’ if the , and Taylor & Carson’s The Van Song, a jokey riff on Platania’s primary term is extended to include folk/pop schlock. However, it’s hard to take Petrusich too gig (he’s been with off and on since 1970’s ). The heart seriously as, in setting the context, she makes the absurd claim that “In the , of the album though is such songs as the opening title track and its closing reprise, ... spearheaded [my emphasis] a -based folk revival.” The Savoy Files, The Union Song and Live And Die For Rock & Roll, an anthem to Makes her sound like the Sarah Palin of music writing. Taylor, Platania & Carson’s own commitment to the music. Produced by Taylor, this, Ms Petrusich has written a book about Americana, It Still Moves: Lost Songs, just taken as product, is musically outstanding but, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music (Faber & it’s an album with a purpose far beyond product.______JC Faber, 2008), which was not very kindly received, even on the Internet, and which ho as hat an you can buy on for 464—the market has spoken. Even one of her colleagues TOKYO ROSENTHAL • W W T M ? at Paste, where she was a senior contributing editor, was moved to note, in a superbly (Rock & Socks ambiguous review, “For Petrusich, authentic Americana music, and the Americana ot a real dilemma here. I have a lot of use for Chapel Hill singer-songwriter Rosenthal, who’s already made two excellent and puts on a very effective mindset in general, aren’t likely to be found very far west of the Mississippi River.” G live show, but I can’t abide Chris Stamey’s production values (there seems to be a Guess this means I need to fire a whole bunch of the FAR reporters and check the state law that mandates that Stamey produce all albums made in North Carolina). As origins of every CD that comes in. While I’m not quite sure what exactly constitutes “very far west,” I’m fairly certain that anyone on the other side of the Continental with Love Won Out and Ghosts, the liner notes say “Produced by Tokyo Rosenthal with additional production by Chris Stamey,” but the balance seems to have shifted Divide is pretty much fucked when it comes to authenticity. as this one sounds much more like a Stamey production, and the problem with a H> As you may know, one sheets (which are often multiple sheets) are the blurbs that accom pany CDs sent to the media and ofttimes the spinmeister or meisterin doesn’t Stamey production is that there’s so much of it—way too many notes getting in the have a whole lot to work with when it comes to quotes from supposedly disinterested way of the music. I have nothing against mariachis, but there’s a slight difference third parties. Take, for instance, the one that came with Robert Ellis’ wretched between having the premier Mariachi Vargas back her on rancheras Photographs (see reviews), in which the quotes are “If this young Texan is the and an Americana artist being joined by a British mariachi (this is not a joke). They’re of , the future looks good,” and “equally inspired by Jackson Browne only on two tracks, but one of them is the opening title track, so the album gets off and George Jones” (there’s another one from a website, but that doesn’t count). #1 to an iffy start (though I do like that Rosenthal included the ? so often elided in song is from , which has on the cover of its May/June titles) However, the core is still Rosenthal’s powerful and flexible voice delivering ten ‘Country’ issue, so we can dismiss that out of hand. #2 is a bit iffy, sounds like a thoughtful originals, including Black To Blue, a really good ecology song and that, my musical trainwreck to me, but it does come from the Grey Lady herself. Sort of, it friends, takes some doing (though you probably need to be a cat lover to appreciate was only in The Times’ Texas edition, and it was written by Andy Langer, Little Old Man). Very much a comer in his field, but I think he needs someone like not perhaps the very last person I’d consult about country music but by no manner Gurf Morlix (if there such a thing) next time round, or move to another state. JC of means the first. When we consider the sources, we’re left with... nothing much. You have to give him points for chutzpah—British soul heavyweight ’s PAVE ALVIN • E leven Eleven ex-boyfriend is trying to radically change the way royalties are calculated, claiming (Yep Roc $&$&$&$$) a cut as a reward for inspiring lyrics in which she tells how he made her life a misery. y me, Alvin has made 15 albums, in fact you can buy no less than 14 of them, Adele said, “For about a week he was calling and was deadly serious about it. Finally, I Beverything but Romeo’s Escape (Epic, 1987), from Yep Roc’s own website, so said, ‘Well, you made my life hell, so I lived it and now I deserve it.’ He really thought while it does indeed have 11 tracks, I’m not clear why this is his 11th album, or, put he’d had some input into the creative process by being a prick. I’ll give him this it another way, which four of his earlier albums don’t count. Even discounting two credit—he made me an adult and put me on the road that I’m traveling.” I imagine that used only to be available at shows doesn’t help much. Still, a new Dave Alvin many people, for whom being immortalized as a prick in an ex’s song could turn out album, who’s counting? Returning on many tracks to the 80s Blasters sound, indeed to be a nice little earner, are following this story with keen interest. Not sure what recruiting ex-Blasters such as pianist and singing a duet with his brother to advise singer-songwriters, either quit writing breakup songs or only date other Phil, Alvin demonstrates that he can do everything from the stinging electric leads singer-songwriters, so, like and Jules Shear, you can write breakups of Harlan County Line to the gentle acoustic finger-picking of No Worries, Mija songs about each other and it’ll be a wash. and that he can still write a great song. Even so, I have a couple of problems. The + STEVE POPOVICH biggest is the Dave & Phil duet, on which they both complain how everyone wants to hough I only met Steve Popovich once, in the late 80s, when he was a Polygram know What’s Up With Your Brother. Aside from the fact that I don’t give a rat’s ass T VP, he made an indelible impression on me as the only Nashville what ’s up to, this is just too inbred and self-referential for me. The other executive I ever encountered who showed any interest in music as such. Indeed, is Is Dead, which does a great job of telling the ‘official’ story, that Ace Popovich seemed passionate about music, and not just country—I still have a shot himself playing Russian Roulette, but I, for one, tend to give more credence to wonderfully eclectic cassette he gave me of tracks from all the off-beat projects he the version which says that offed him when he put his hand up couldn’t make happen. The son of a coal miner, born in Nemacolin, PA, Popovich her skirt (this was 1954, so the Houston PD didn’t really care one way or another). started out unloading trucks at Columbia’s Cleveland warehouse rising to become Closer to home are the ghosts of , celebrated on Run Conejo Run, and CBS’s VP for Promotions (Dylan, Springsteen), before founding Cleveland former Guilty Women fiddle player Amy Farris, who committed suicide (Black Rose International Records, which put out Meat Loafs Bat Out Of Hell after it had been Of Texas, “I hope you’ve found some peace this time”), and the album ends, rather turned down by every major and the Grammy winning 70 Years Of Hits With eerily, with an Alvin/Gaffney duet, Two Lucky Bums, a kind of Bob Hope/Bing Crosby Frank Yankovic. Neatly tying in with this month’s editorial, in 1995 Popovich sued look back on the ups and downs of their lives as . However many albums Sony, CIR’s distributor, for unpaid Bat Out Of Hell royalties, settling out of court Alvin has made, none of them has been totally satisfactory, but if five stars/flowers/ for nearly $7 million. Steve Popovich died on June 8th, age 68. whatever have eluded him, he’s never rated less than a solid four. JC & T he A M Band July 201 i Giddy Ups Saloon Thursday July 7 8pm-1 I pm

Jim’s Country Jam Sunday, July 3 ,7pm- i Opm Sunday, July 17,7pm-1 Opm Waterloo Ice House Deep South Austin I 106 W est 38th Street

Monday July 4, May 12,3pm-7pm JULY VFW Pilot Knob Every Sunday: Karaoke with James 8.30pm Independence Day Dance Every Monday: Open Blues Jam Boogie 8.30pm a complete schedule Every Tuesday: DJ Honky Tonk Red 6pm at: Every Wednesday: Best Damn Open Mic in WWW.JIMSTRINGER.US South Austin 8pm (click “Schedule”) 1st Bob Appel, 5pm Too Good Dogs, 9pm A PLACE FOR GOOD TEXAS MUSIC 2nd Chad Thomas & The Crazy Kings 9pm e music room 7th Jim Stringer & The AM Band, 7pm s t i n tz X a 8th The Daliens 9pm [email protected] www.musicroom.org 9th Lost John Casner, 9pm 14th The Daliens 6pm 15th Bob Appel, 5pm The Duquaines 9pm loth Wild Healers 9pm 21st George Knaak 5pm Guthrie Kennard 22nd Roadhouse Rockers 9pm Unmade Beds 23rd Redneck Boys 9pm 28th George Knaak 5pm 29th Jack Higginbotham 9pm The Great Recession Orchestra 30th KB & The Headliners 9pm Have Yon Ever EVEN Heard A Genuine Texas Honky Tonk of Hilton Brown? Live music, classic jukebox, shuffleboard tournaments, chili cookoffs, fund raisers We Welcome Good Friends and Good Times and we do charge $5 for whining. 12010 Manchaca Road SWIttgingfor the fences (2.3 miles S of Slaughter Lane) (512) 280-4732 newtexasswing.com www.giddyups.com NEWTEK LARRY LANGE & HIS LONELY KNIGHTS Wiggle Room (SteadyBoy # # ■ §£ $&) ven if saying that was only popular in Southwest Louisiana and England is a simplification, there’s still an element of truth to it. Yes, a few 7609 Islander Dr, Austin, TX 78749 Esingles broke nationally, Dale & Grace even hitting Billboard’s #1 in 1963 512/712-5574 • [email protected] with I’m Leaving It Up To You, but most Swamp Pop recordings, including Cookie & publisher/editor • John Conquest The Cupcakes’ anthemic Mathilda, were never more than regional hits. In England, where the very term ‘Swamp Pop’ was coined by music writer Bill Millar, Another SUBSCRIPTIONS (12 Issues) Saturday Night (Oval, 1974) caused a sensation, even spawning a UK gold record US/Canada • $18 (1st class)/$6 (email, PDFs) for Johnnie Allen’s Promised Land. To this day, Ace Records is the primary source for Swamp Pop artist and various artists compilations. Elsewhere • $30 (air mail)/$6 (email, PDFs) However, a more nuanced version follows Highway 90 from Lafayette to San Antonio. Back in the day, Winnie, TX, where Huey P Meaux produced records by SPONSOR REVIEWS CODE $ # # # & Killer musicians from Opalousas, Cut Off, St Martinville, San Antonio, Port Arthur and Beaumont alike, tied this geography together. Today, when Swamp Pop is represented FARM What's not to like? in Louisiana by what aficionados contemptuously call ‘Mathilda bands’ (if Don Rich Can do better is the best it’s got, a genre’s in deep shit), the nexus is Austin, nowhere near Highway Friends of Why did they bother? 90. After a career playing bass with The Cobras, Delbert McClinton, , Piss on this noise , King Soul and Rob Roy Parnell, Larry Lange decided it was time to “do American what I wanna do.” Born and raised in Victoria, Lange, whose father was an oilfield Roots Music ? I don't get it worker with a taste for ‘race’ records and honky tonks, grew up on that Highway 90 % Fraction of what you pay for music and in March 2005, was invited to put together an hour long SXSW showcase for it. This one-off was followed by a couple of encores at Evangeline Cafe, but when CASH OR CREDIT (OR NEITHER) Curtis Clarke, himself from Lake Charles, offered them a first Friday of every month residency, Larry Lange & His Lonely Knights were up and running. esponding to last month’s editorial bit on covers (by any name), Jonathan According to The Encyclopedia Of Cajun Culture, “the Swamp Pop sound Strong of DC’s Ripsaw Records, which I could have used to illustrate that covers is typified by highly emotional vocals, simple, unaffected (and occasionally bilingual) Rcan be used for good (I went with The Detroit Cobras because of the extreme lyrics, tripleting honky tonk piano, bellowing sax sections and a strong R&B backbeat.” purity of their aesthetic), while generally feeling the most covers don’t compare to The architecture, as Lange likes to call it, of The Lonely Knights is, up to a point, the original, raised the question of some that were seminal, even life altering, such classic, but what this blueprint doesn’t specify is that Swamp Pop made rockabilly as ’ Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music. look like an equal opportunity genre. Grace Broussard was half of Dale & Grace, Irma Strong’s list opened by asking “Would any of us have been the same if Elvis hadn’t Thomas, and cut some Swamp Pop, or anyway Swamp Pop­ covered That’s All Right, Mama?’’ An excellent question, and the obvious answer is of ish singles, Margo White just one before vanishing and, well, that’s it. Though Lange course not. However, that particular song can be used to open a can of worms that’s may have broken with tradition by making Joanna Ramirez, harmony and lead vocals, particularly nasty even by music business standards. You have, of course, already a featured member of the band, he not only diversified the sound (“Who wants to deduced that I’m about to open the sucker up and give you a glimpse into what might listen to me sing all night?”) but tapped even more deeply into the San Antonio (and happen if someone else has a hit with your song. beyond, all the way to East LA) dimension with Chicano Soul material in Spanish. First off, there is absolutely no dispute that, variant titles notwithstanding, That’s While some elements of The Lonely Knights sound, most obviously Michael All Right, Mama was written and originally recorded (Bluebird, 1946) by ‘Big Boy’ Christian on drums and Grady Pinkerton on lead guitar, fell into place right away, Arthur Crudup. It is, I suppose, conceivable that many of Elvis’ 50 million fans are others have been more problematic, Lange’s biggest headache, his motto being “the aware of this, though, to be honest, that’s not a demographic I’d count on if I were more horns the better,” has been creating a cohesive horn section that can not only running for office, but even if absolutely nobody knew his name, between Elvis, read his charts (he studied composition at San Antonio College) but will actually Dylan, and the dozens of other acts that have recorded his song since follow them—“I’ve been through a lot of horn players.” That he’s painstakingly built 1954, you’d figure Crudup must have done OK off the royalty checks. As the Persian something truly authentic is testified by, if nothing else, the fact that Lonely Knights’ poet Omar Khayyam advised, “Take the cash and let the credit go.” albums are in rotation on Eunice’s somewhat insular KBON (‘Louisiana Proud’). The reality is that Crudup got neither. He only received a few small checks, and Where Crazy Crazy Baby (Texas Jamboree, 2007) faced west,Wiggle Room, by small I mean $20 or less, before his death in 1974. You can find the full, vile story though opening with Jail In San Antone, which Lange got from Mitch Webb who in Dick Waterman’s Between Midnight and Day (Da Capo, 2003), but the potted lifted it off a single on Tacoland’s jukebox, quickly faces east, with Ramirez singing version is that, in 1973, after five years negotiating with Hill & Range, the publishing Dave Bartholomew’s Ooh La La, followed by a Lange/Ramirez duet of Cam King & company that had taken over the Bluebird catalog, Waterman met Crudup, then Freddie Krc’s What’s So Hard About Love, featuring Bradley Williams on , working as a farm laborer in , at Hill & Range’s office to pick Swamp Pop veteran Van Broussard’s Everything Gonna Be Alright and Lange’s title up a check for $60,000. There, they were told that a senior executive, having learned track instrumental. Ramirez fronts Once In A While, a #1 hit for Tommy Dorsey in that Crudup was black, almost 70, in poor health and broke, had nixed the agreement 1937, though this version owes more to The Chimes, followed by a duet with Lange and that he’d have to sue the company to get anything at all. of Shirley & Lee’s Feel So Good. Then we come to a Very Special Guest, Swamp Pop Crudup was philosophical about this, telling Waterman, “I know you done the legend Tommy McLain, whose poignant original Don’t Make Me Leave best that you could... Them people got their ways of keeping folks like me from getting is followed later by Another Saturday Night In Wardville. Ramirez gets to sing How any money... Naked I come into this world and naked I shall leave it. It just ain’t Many Midnights, which she cowrote with Lange and Pinkerton, Lange steps up meant to be.” However, Waterman, not done with these bastards, used a lawsuit as for Louisiana rockabilly A1 Ferrier’s I ’ll Try One More Time and Doug Sahm’s Two leverage when Chappel Music was in the process of taking over Hill & Range, as one Hearts In Love (from a 1962 Renner 45) then joins Ramirez on Marvin Gaye’sOnce thing they didn’t want to acquire was a dispute over an artist’s estate. The very first Upon A Time. One of the highspots is Between Here And Baton Rouge, originally a cheque the family received was for $248,000 dollars. country song by Tom Clifford (King Soul) which Lange completely rewrote, to great You might think that the moral here is that truth and justice prevailed over the effect. Finally, the 15 tracks wind up with an instrumental version of unrighteous, but the fact is that if not for Dick Waterman’s perseverance, his lawyer & Sally Nix’s I Love You, Yes I Do. and a stroke of luck, Crudup’s estate wouldn’t have got anything. Plus ca change, As cited, Swamp Pop calls for “highly emotional vocals,” which Lange prefers plus ca la meme shit. Try Googling ‘Unpaid Music Royalties’ and you’ll have enough to call “pathos.” Either way, you get plenty of it from Larry Lange & His Lonely reading material to last a lifetime, almost all of it involving lawsuits brought against Knights, along with the requisite tripleting honky tonk piano, bellowing sax section major labels on behalf of Big Names. Buried in among them are stories by songwriters and strong R&B backbeat. When I moved to Austin, I never thought that, 37 years who simply don’t have the resources to take on a corporation. There’s a perverse after getting hooked on the music by Charlie Gillett’s fabulous compilation, I’d be beauty to the system: we don’t pay you so you can’t afford to sue us to recover the living five minutes away from what’s arguably the only remaining high-grade fix for money we should have paid you in the first place. JC a Swamp Pop jones. JC 8106 BRODIC mnc flu/tin "I™ i i r — iw I I**** \ a / m r — i c * yk cjj f**1** I I I SwMMt I N EL, V V I X EL. Im» EL, tm m J d » 5 12/282-2586 f r o m Southern (oui/icinci Cojun Kyle Cafe LARRY LANGE a n d h i s LDNELY KNIGHTS 9th, Omar & The Howlers, 10pm 13th, Chrissy Flatt, 7pm The Peacemakers 10pm 14th, Danny Britt, 7pm 15th, Redd Volkaert, 10pm juiy music 16th, South Austin All Stars, 10pm Mondays (x 4th), Austin Cajun Aces,2oth, 6.30pm & Redd Volkaert, 7pm Tuesdays (x 5th), Brennen Leigh, 6pm The Peacemakers 10pm 1st, Larry Lange 21st, Flyin A’s, 7pm & His Lonely Knights, 10pm 22nd, Clay McClinton, 10pm 2nd, Sunset Valley Boys, 3pm 23rd, Greezy Wheels, 10pm 4th, CLOSED 27th, Tony Airoldi, 7pm 5th, Jim Trainer, 7pm The Peacemakers 10pm 6th. Lissa Hattersley, 7pm 28th, Matt Smith, 7pm 29th, Horton Brothers, 10pm The Peacemakers, 10pm 30th, Ted Roddy’s Excelloraters, 7th, Liz Morphis, 7pm 10pm 8th, Van Wilks, 10pm let T%e Good Times Roll!

Largest selection of Austin music posters and movie memorabilia jewelry - furniture - toys & more Open 7 Days (512)371-3550 5341 Burnet Rd. [email protected] Austin, TX 78756 FLAYING THE HIGHWAY 90 SOUND S a n A n t o n i o t o L a f a y e t t e Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus FEATURING J o a n n a R a m i r e z Friday July 1st, A Special Couples Event “Sw a m p F o p L e g e n d ” To m m y M c L a i n with Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus and Bradley Kopp & Lorrie Singer 7:30-9:30, NeWorlDeli, 4101 Guadalupe, Austin, TX

Saturday July 9th, , Laytonsville, MD. Pot luck 6pm, show 7pm m k iS ^ VISIT WWW.LARRYLANGE.COM Christina Van Norman opens, followed by Jim & Sherry w/David Glaser ■ B 5 9 B H H I I C D A v a i l a b l e a t $10 suggested donation; Bring drinks, a pot luck dish to share CDBABY.COM and a blanket or lawn chair. 24724 Hipsley Mill Rd, Laytonsville, MO 20882. For directions or other questions contact: also available at David Coe (410-489-9521)

Monday July 11, with Dan Haas & David Glaser, 49 West, 49 West St, Annapolis, MD (410-626-9796)

Friday August 5, Jim & Sherry and Stuart Adamson, 7:30-9:30, NeWorlDeli, 4101 Guadalupe, Austin, TX Burnside Distributors ivww.pattonbrokus.com | www.inyspace.tom/pcittonbrokus 20th JE Mainer • 1898 Weaversville, NC • 1925 Mart, TX Sleepy LaBeef • 1935 Smackover, AR Jo Ann Campbell • 1938 Jacksonville, FL • 1944 Wellington, TX Rodney Foster • 1959 Del Rio, TX 21st Sara Carter • 1898 Flat Woods, VA Darcie Deaville • 1962 Canada 23rd • 1943 Oak Grove, LA Keitn Ferguson • 1946 Houston, TX ~tfm. i. i.L c. a. n. &