June 2011 Newsletter ------------------ Yesterday & Today Records P.O.Box 54 Miranda NSW 2228 Phone: (02)95311710 Email: [email protected] www.yesterdayandtoday.com.au ------------------------------------------------ Postage 1 cd $2 2cd $4 3/4cd $6.50 Postage charges recently increased but we will keep them at this level for this newsletter. ------------------------------------------------ This is our biggest newsletter yet. There is something for everybody. Please be early as some titles are a single copy only. This is very important for the $5 cds and rarities section. Thank you for reading and please share it with someone else. Any questions? Please do not hesitate to ask. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Book of Lists Part II Last newsletter I invited participation in this section of the newsletter and I am pleased to say I received quite a few replies, so following are a few. Again, we would invite contributions for future newsletters and especially welcome unusual lists. Let there be no bounds. May even do a few least liked lists. Yesterday & Today Favourite Random 5 songs. 1) “Lillie’s White Lies” by Martin Delray…refer rarities section under Martin Delray for a full rundown. 2) “Daddy Never Had a Chance in Hell” by Roger Springer Band. They only ever had one album and it is a gem. You will pick up a copy in our $10 bin. It tells of the dad who used to drive his wife to church. At first he would wait in the car drinking his “Jim Beam from a sack” (what Americans call a brown paper bag). Then he would sit up the back, ostensibly to keep out of the cold outside. Then he began to move a little closer, supposedly because he was becoming a little hard at hearing…but then again “no one could explain about the tie”. I won’t spoil the ending. Photo finish with Martin. 3) “Jack & Lucy” by Hugh Moffatt (with Katy Moffatt). This is a long and brilliant look of the lasting relationship between Jack & Lucy. It starts as children & ends beyond the grave. They could have made a movie; no they should have made a movie about it. Once played it 15 times in a row. 4) “Icy Blue Heart” by Emmylou Harris from “Bluebird”, on the basis that it is the greatest female country vocal I’ve heard, and could ever imagine hearing. John Hiatt wrote it. 5) “Murder on Music Row” by George Strait & Alan Jackson. As much as I like the song I like even better the fact it was seemingly over the head of the dimwits on Music Row who have turned mainstream country music into unlistenable pop rubbish. It gets stuck into them in no uncertain terms and every word in the song is true. The honchos were proven to be even dumber than we thought. Congratulations to writer Larry Cordle. * denotes our comments. Favourite Twelve Albums (by Ian of South Grafton, a big country rock & steel guitar fan) 1) Gene Clark – No Other 2) Desert Rose Band – Running 3) Vince Gill – The Key (*a Y & T perfect album*) 4) John Cowan – Live at Telluride 5) Kimmie Rhodes – West Texas Heaven 6) Mavericks – What a Crying Shame 7) Emmylou Harris – Duets (*slight purist issues*) 8) Jerry Douglas – Glide 9) Kathy Mattea – Walk Away a Winner 10) Joe Ely – Live at Antones 11) Sky Kings – From Out of the Blue (*w. Bill Lloyd/John Cowan) 12) Ray Charles – Friendship 50 Greatest Country Songwriters A-Z (by John of Wagga Wagga *reckon he would have stayed up all night to do this). **Bill Anderson **Liz Anderson **Max D Barnes **Carl Belew **Jenny Lou Carson **Johnny Cash **Jack Clement **Hank Cochran **David Allan Coe **Ted Daffan **Dean Dillon (originally omitted but a good one to swap with original choice Sonny Throckmorton) **Jerry Foster **Dallas Frazier **Don Gibson **Merle Haggard **Tom T Hall **Stuart Hamblen **Harlan Howard(*although he did make a few albums was the pick of those who were in essence strictly writers) **Wayne Kemp **Merle Kilgore **Pee Wee King **Kris Kristofferson **John D Loudermilk **Charlie & Ira Louvin aka Louvin Brothers **Roger Miller **Melba Montgomery **Bob McDill **Willie Nelson **Mickey Newbury **Bob Nolan **A. L. “Doodles” Owens **Buck Owens **Leon Payne **Ben Peters **Curly Putnam **Bill Rice **Marty Robbins **Jimmie Rodgers **Fred Rose **Johnny Russell **Troy Seals **Whitey Shafer **Billy Joe Shaver **Mel Tillis **Floyd Tillman **Merle Travis **Ernest Tubb **Cindy Walker **Hank Williams (John’s # 1) **Bob Wills (*Think perhaps Eddy Arnold, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton are obvious omissions and John would have liked to include Lawton Williams but just missed. Maybe you could use this list as a basis for the best 10) Yesterday & Today 10 Greatest Ever (plus 3 main reasons) 1) Johnny Cash *Influence *Longevity *Uniqueness 2) Hank Wiliams *Songwriting * Lifestyle *Influence 3) Merle Haggard *Voice *Influence *Songwriting 4) Willie Nelson *Uniqueness *Attitude *Songwriting 5) George Jones *Voice *Longevity *influence 6) Patsy Cline *Personality *Attitude *Influence 7) Marty Robbins *Versatility *Style *Voice 8) Ray Price *Voice *Longevity *Style 9) Hank Thompson *Style *Personality *Voice 10) Bob Wills *Style *Uniqueness *Influence Top 20 CDS (by Alf of Canley Height) *many would also be in mine!! 1) “Wherever You Are Tonight” by Keith Whitley 2) “Heartaches & Lies” by Shane Worley 3) “Honky Tonk Revival” by Miss Leslie 4) “Too Country” by Billy Hardwick Jnr 5) “Here Come the Teardrops” by Amber Gigby 6) “Sad Songs & Waltzes” by Keith Whitley 7) “Best of Volume 1” by Kenny Seratt 8) “Close Every Honky Tonk” by Norman Wade 9) “Under Neon Light” by Leo Nelson 10)“Chiselled in Stone” by Vern Gosdin 11) “Old Time Cuntry Music” by Norman Wade 12) “Longnecks & Short Stories” by Mark Chesnutt 13) “Get Rhythm” by Martin Delray 14) “Bridges” by David Jones 15) “Music from the Honky Tonk” by Amber Digby 16) “Texas Style” by Ron Williams 17) “Loving Proof” by Ricky Van Shelton 18) “Ten in Tennessee” by Ron Sweet 19) “Three Times the Charm” by Jacob Lyda 20) “Purified Country” by Shane Worley Top 20 Female Vocalists by Allan of Upper Mt Gravatt 1) Tammy Wynette 2) Loretta Lynn 3) Patty Loveless 4) Jean Shepard 5) Connie Smith 6) Tanya Tucker 7) Patsy Cline (*very controversially low placement). Quoting the late Jumbo Jim Burgess “Patsy would be the lead vocalist and all the rest can compete to see who sings in the chorus”) 8) Emmylou Harris 9) Dolly Parton 10) Dottie West 11) Janie Fricke 12) Pam Tillis 13) Billy Jo Spears 14) Terri Clark 15) Trisha Yearwood 16) Heather Myles 17) Leona Williams 18) Dawn Sears 19) Amber Digby 20) Lacy J Dalton *Allan…where’s Rose Maddox!! My Top Ten Albums by Alan of Digby, Victoria (*certainly a unique list) 1) Mary Schneider - Sound of Yodelling 2) Tennessee Ernie Ford – 20 Golden Greats *one of the best & most versatile vocalists who did hymns, country boogies & ballads all with equal aplomb. 3) Moe Bandy - 20 Great Songs of the American Cowboy 4) Tex Morton – Regal Zonophone Collection 5) Various – My Rifle, My Pony & Me (Bear Family) 6) Bob Dyer – Pick a Box Hillbilly Heaven *recorded in England!! 7) Peter Pratt – Ever True 8) Slim Dusty – Heritage Album 9) Johnny Horton – Greatest Hits 10) Gene Autry – You are My sunshine & Many More Top 5 Male Singers by Denny of Lansdowne 1) Marty Robbins 2) George Jones 3) Hank Williams 4) Porter Wagoner 5) Conway Twitty (*up until fairly recent times had most number ones) Top 5 Female Singers by Denny of Lansdowne 1) Kitty Wells 2) Jean Shepard 3) Tammy Wynette 4) Loretta Lynn 5) Wanda Jackson (not the rockabilly stuff) If you only had One Album by Each you’d go for ….(from Russell of Warren) 1) John Anderson – 2 (*Wild & Blue) 2) Clint Black – Killin’ Time (*a no brainer!!) 3) Marty Brown – High & Dry (*Here’s to the Honky tonk) 4) Johnny Cash – Live at San Quentin 5) Steve Earle – Guitar Town (*absolutely 100%) 6) Vince Gill – The Key (*truly amazing album) 7) Emmylou Harris – Roses in the Snow (*a definite) 8) Cornell Hurd – Honky tonk Mayhem (*Live at Broken Spoke!) 9) Alan Jackson – Here in the Real World (*Yep, impossible to beat) 10)Patty Loveless – Mountain Soul (*superb taste) 11)Loretta Lynn – Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (*not on cd) 12)Rose Maddox – The One Rose box set (*never too much Rose) 13)Charley Pride – Live in Person (*is there any other way?) 14)Doug Sahm – SDQ 98 (*great artist many may not know) 15)Doug Supernaw – Red & Rio Grande (*all good & not many to pick from…it would be great to think he could overcome his demons & make another) 16)Randy Travis – Storms of Life 17)Norman Wade – Tennessee Eyes (*but find one!) 18)Chris Wall – Honky tonk Heart (*What chance another album?) 19)Dale Watson – Cheatin’ Heart Attack (*unbelievably good. Any one who cares about true country music & likes Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash should have every one of Dale’s albums) 20)Dwight Yoakam – If There was a Way (*This Time but what a great artist…again, will he have a new album or is what we have it?) ------------------------------------------------------ New & latest W C Edgar “Old School Survivor” $28 Great second album which is right up there with his wonderful debut, ‘Alcohol of Fame’. All songs are by W C and he has very traditional values. “Old School Survivor” is an anti-Nashville rant which is right up there with some of the best of our hero Dale Watson. (I do wonder when someone is going to do an anti-Nashville song called “Shooting Fish in a Barrel!). You have to admire WC’s dedication…”Old School Survivor” is dedicated to “Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Corporate Radio and everyone else that’s really screwed up Real Country Music as we know it.” W C’s voice reminds me of Marty Haggard, which is a compliment.