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Home , Charlie McCoy, Dream Street Rose, Elite Hotel, Excitable Boy, Joe South, Johnny Horton

LINER NOTE HEAVEN! On 4th July 2001 Jill & I flew to to spend some time with our friends Debra & Andrew Teton in Santa Barbara and watch a few fireworks on the beach – oh, and catch a Spy Boy gig at Gaineys Winery. We also met Iris Rudeseal for the first time and I became firm friends with Emmy’s drummer, Brady Blade. Hazel and I had nearly met him the previous August in Scotland - he had red hair (well ginger actually) in those days and we couldn’t be sure it was him. In any case why would he want to speak with us? As it turned out Brady is one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet and he later introduced me to the music of the Indigo Girls with whom he was touring that year. If you remind me later I’ll tell you about the hilarious night Jill & I went to see them at Concorde II in Brighton. I was desperate to visit Borders on State Street and pick up some Ricky Nelson re-issues, which by some strange quirk of fate had been released to coincide with our visit. It turned out that Andrew knew Ricky’s cousin who regularly regaled him with stories about life with Ricky around the swimming pool (which had since been cemented over!). But then Andrew also bought a wicker rocking chair at Tule Zevon’s garage sale, little knowing that it had previously been occupied by Jordan, son of Warren! That’s the kind of backward friends I have.

Back in December 1999 Hazel and I had visited the Tetons for the first time (they had spent the previous 4th July with us in Upper Beeding) and I was proffered the opportunity to present my Millennium Project to Andrew, Jay and Russ – oh, and catch Emmy’s Landmine Concert at UCSB. Andrew took me into Borders to have a beak at their CDs, DVDs and books. You have to bear in mind that in those days there wasn’t a Borders in every shopping mall in the UK and the store was like a Mecca to me, a re-run of a recurrent dream where I discovered all of these containing previously unissued Everly Brothers tracks (and in 2005 that dream did come true!). On the way out I picked up a cheap copy of John Irving’s novel ‘A Widow For One Year’ not knowing that Jill had already ordered it for me for Christmas. Part 1 of this wonderful book has since been made into an equally wonderful movie – ‘The Door In The Floor’ with Jeff Bridges & Kim Basinger.

Back to 2001. (Incredibly we had left Frank & Tom in kennels – we’d never be apart from our dogs for that long these days.) I persuaded the guy in Borders to let me have the promotional flyer that was separating the re-issues from the rest of the Ricky Nelson catalogue, I could probably sell that on eBay today. We returned to Andrew’s house in Paseo del Refugio, and while we waited for him to brew the tea, usually a 60-minute episode, I pawed my way through the CD booklets. When Andrew eventually returned from the kitchen with two cups of luke-warm liquid he purred “Ah, I see you’ve been in liner note heaven”. Hence the title of this chapter in my life.

It’s tough enough being the wife or girlfriend of an Everly fan – just when you think the old man can pay off the mortgage and slip into graceful retirement he starts over, only this time it’s mega-bucks in huge great chunks. If anyone had told me back in 1985 that, come the ‘90s I would be buying my record collection all over again I would have laughed at them. Thank God for Erik James at Warner Music in London who’s happy to share his every fantasy with me! By 2000 I had envisaged that it would all be over, the collection would sit there in whatever order I had deemed appropriate for that particular week and I’d occasionally even play some of it.

Well this particular week, the last week of a pretty shitty 2005, I have a special section of digitally re-mastered CDs, all issued during the 21st Century and covering a period of musical history from (circa) 1955 to 2005. Some them are original albums and ‘2-fers’, with or without bonus tracks, some of them are ‘Essential Collections’, some of them are part of a boxed set. And the 23 tracks on this compilation represent just about the best damned music you will ever hear. Let me introduce you to my credentials:

The Battle of New Orleans (special version cut for England) – Johnny Horton from the CD ‘The Spectacular Johnny Horton’.

When I first put this on the CD-player Jill naturally thought it was who we had met at Albert Lee’s London house on New Year’s Eve 1979. I became a huge fan of Johnny Horton in 1960 when they released ‘’ as a single. I probably hadn’t realised that he had just been killed in a car accident and certainly didn’t know that he had been married to ’ widow – I just loved the music. This is part of the American Milestones collection, classic Columbia albums re-mastered with previously unissued bonus tracks.

When It’s Springtime In Alaska (It’s Forty Below) – from the CD ‘Orange Blossom Special’.

This is in the same series of CDs and was very special to me as, in 1965, it was the first Johnny Cash I bought (in mono). I had heard the wonderful Charlie McCoy harmonica on the title track and it may also have been Johnny’s versions of Dylan songs that attracted me to it. But this track, which had also been a hit for Johnny Horton back in 1959, was the icing on the cake and it was almost certainly the first time I’d taken any notice of June Carter. These days Jill and I do a Wayne’s World to it in the car!

Bleeker Street (demo) – from the CD ‘Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.’, part of ‘The Columbia Studio Recordings 1964-1970’ CD Box set by Simon & Garfunkel.

This track is a gem. In the original sleeve notes Art Garfunkel confessed that “Bleeker Street (finished October 1963) was too much for me at first. The song is highly intellectual, the symbolism extremely challenging.” And up to that time we had thought that pop music was trivial fun! That album included the original Simon & Garfunkel recording of ‘The Sound Of Silence’, before Joe South added his eclectic electric , and the whole re-mastered thing sounds just wonderful, to think that we were content to put up with scratchy vinyl, John Benfield!

‘A Little Bit Of Rain’ – from the CD ‘Bleeker & MacDougal’ by Fred Neil, part of a 2-fer with Martin & Neil’s ‘Tear Down The Walls’.

If that track was a gem this one is pure perfection! By 1964 Fred Neil was a Greenwich Village legend having written ‘Candy Man’ with Beverly Ross in the Brill Building 3 years earlier. This was his first solo album without Vince Martin, was produced by Paul Rothchild (who went on to produce the Everlys ‘Stories We Could Tell’), and also featured a very young John Sebastian on harmonica. Of course Fred would be haunted for the remainder of his tragically short life by the ghost of ‘Midnight Cowboy’ and Harry Nilsson’s wonderful ‘Everybody’s Talkin’ – John Schlesinger’s choice instead of Nilsson’s own ‘I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City’. Do we think Fred was grateful?

‘Darlin’ Companion’ – previously unreleased solo demo by John Sebastian, included on the CD re-issue ‘Hums Of The Lovin’ Spoonful’.

This song has been a wonderful companion over the past 40-odd years and Johnny Cash included a great duet with June on the ‘San Quentin’ album (also re-issued as part of the American Milestones series). John is such a great talent and the four Spoonful re-issues are an essential part of my collection as well as his solo stuff and his contributions to and Everly sessions. This album alone included classics such as ‘Rain On The Roof’, Nashville Cats’ and ‘Summer In The City’ – mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!

‘Hey That’s No way To Say Goodbye’ – track 4, CD1 of the 2-CD ‘The Essential Leonard Cohen’.

Of course I was a Leonard Cohen fan in the ‘60s but when I shared a bed-sit in Acton with John Montgomery it was already 1968, we were into Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bookends’ album and actually felt pretty good about life. I got into his music more seriously when he teamed up with and recorded some of the live ‘Field Commander Cohen’ album at The Dome Theatre in Brighton on 15th December 1979. Of course they included this song but the original still sounds wonderful. More from Jenny later!

‘Games People Play’ – from the Joe South album ‘Introspect’, part of a 2-fer CD with ‘Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home’ on Raven.

I bought this album on vinyl from the second-hand shop across the road from the Corn Exchange in Brighton. One of the partners later got murdered, just for being gay. Joe South is such an enigmatic talent, his guitar has graced Simon & Garfunkel and albums and his songs have been covered by everyone from Billie Joe Spears through to Crispin Mills’ Cooler Shaker. In 1983 I met his ex- wife, Diane Craig then with Don Everly who was so nice to me at the Reunion Concert rehearsals at the Dominion Theatre (she wrote Don’s address on Jill’s hand!) and later in Brighton & Bournemouth. Raven make a habit of releasing these wonderful 2-fers - Don Everly/Mary K Place - I just hope they’re legal!

‘Just The Other Side Of Nowhere’ – from the CD ‘Kristofferson’.

This album has always been very special to me as it first introduced me to Kris’s music. Then on 12th October 1971 at Albert Hall Don Everly introduced a “brand new song (Breakdown), written by a feller called Kris Kristofferson”. I remember thinking “this could give the Everlys one more Top 10 hit” (something that Phil had declared on the radio as his one remaining ambition). I only managed to obtain the re-released version of the vinyl, by that time they had re-named it ‘Me & Bobby McGee’, and that was how it first came out on CD. Then American Milestones issued a re-mastered version with the original artwork, plus bonus tracks, and I found a mint promo version of the original vinyl. My life was complete! We all sang along with Kris when he performed this solo in Dublin on 14th June 2005.

‘You Never Even Call Me By My Name’ – Steve Goodman from the CD ‘Steve Goodman’.

Kris co-produced this with Norman Putnam and John Prine wrote a quick by-line on the album sleeve confessing that, before he met Steve, he had imagined this “tall skinny cat with a little beard” singing ‘City Of New Orleans’. According to Steve, he and John wrote an extra verse which aimed to include every country & western cliché in the lyrics. The result was a big hit for David Allan Coe. Being a huge Mickey Newbury fan I just loved the not-so-subtle plagiarism of ‘She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye’, even down to version’s “bye bye baby”! My hitherto-mentioned friend Andrew Teton was in halls just down the corridor from Steve from 1967 thru 1971 (the year this album was released) and now wishes that he and his fellow students hadn’t just written him off as “weird”!

‘I Take It On Home’ – Charlie Rich from the CD ‘Behind Closed Doors’.

I’ve waxed lyrical about Charlie Rich for so long that one day someone will start to take notice. This is another American Milestones gem with unreleased bonus tracks. Up until this issue I’d been secure in the information that the original album was sitting pretty in my vinyl cabinet. I’m still waiting to hear the Everlys’ version of ‘My Elusive Dreams’ but they’ll have to go a long way to beat the Silver Fox! This Kenny O’Dell song is so evocative, so typical of the Rich philosophy on life it’s hard to believe that Charlie himself or his wife Margaret Ann didn’t write it.

‘Hands On The Wheel’ – from the CD ‘Red Headed Stranger’

I was a huge fan of Willie’s 1974 concept album ‘Phases & Stages’, so much so that ‘Red Headed Stranger, a year later, nearly passed me by even though it is arguably his most career-defining storyline. In 1992 this track closed the Northern Exposure Season 3 episode ‘Three Amigos’ and that fact alone made me go out and buy it on CD. Back in September 1998 I had bought the produced/ collaboration ‘Teatro’ at the Half Moon record store in Traverse City on the east coast of Lake Michigan, while Patrick and I completed our rites of passage trip to Escanaba via Whitefish Bay. But nothing had prepared me for this American Milestones re-issue with extra tracks and I got back into it in a big way.

‘Carmelita’ – from the CD ‘Genius – the best of Warren Zevon’

This track, with David Lindley’s wonderful guitar solo, has been my favourite Warren Zevon performance since 1976 when it was first released. More recently ‘Searching For A Heart’ has seriously challenged it but I remain faithful. On 25th February 1988 Jill and I took Hazel to her first rock’n roll concert at (what was) Hammersmith Odeon (a “venerated venue”) and Warren performed this with a full band including Jennifer Condos on bass (she was playing with Joe Henry at that Gaineys Winery gig in 2001, supporting Emmylou). The various radio broadcasts of the show cut it out (why?) but I finally discovered it on a bootleg CD from the Paris gig earlier in February 1988 and once more I could fit that elusive jigsaw piece in place. That Warren Zevon album from 1976 included his friend Lindsey Buckingham on ‘’ and ‘Mohammad’s Radio’ – Warren and Lindsey had previously been in Don Everly’s band at The Sundance in 1974.

‘Songbird’ – previously unreleased version from the Fleetwood Mac 2-CD re- issue of ‘Rumours’.

So why wasn’t this version included on the original album? I’ve used the phrase before but it is pure perfection! Apparently this live recording is Christine McVie accompanying herself on a grand , up on a stage, with Lindsey strumming along in the background. The result is just about the purest magic I’ve ever heard. There is nothing else I can possibly add which would enhance the subject.

‘You’re Running Wild’ – Emmylou Harris & from the re-issue CD ‘Elite Hotel’.

When Jill and I first went to see Emmy & the original Hot Band at The Dome Theatre, Brighton in 1976 it was merely for me to pay homage to my hero . However I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears, especially that wonderful guy playing rhythm guitar and singing heavenly harmonies. Of course Emmy was singing lead by then but the experience was spookily Parsons-like. Emmy was ‘my songbird’ but Rodney was my new- found hero. I wanted to sneak his re-recorded version of ‘Till I Can Gain Control Again’ onto the end of this CD but I just ran out of space! This spine-tingling version of the Ray Edenton/Don Winters song from 1956 was included as a bonus track on the ‘Elite Hotel’ re-issue. There’s no guarantee it was recorded at the same time as the original album but I like to think it was.

‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’ – George Jones from the CD ‘I Am What I Am’’.

This tearjerker has always been one of my favourite country songs and Don Everly made my life complete when he performed the definitive version during the 1997 UK Tour. I’d searched and searched for a worthwhile George Jones compilation that included it but American Milestones came to my rescue again by re-issuing the entire original album from 1980, plus bonus tracks. I’ve just watched the BBC documentary on the life of Tammy Wynette and there is no doubt that George ‘no show’ Jones was the love of her life and deservedly so.

‘The Loser Babe Is You’ – Rick Nelson from the CD ‘Playing To Win’.

This was Rick’s final studio album from 1980 and was something of a bonus package when I bought those Imperial re-issues in Borders in 2001. It’s Rick at his singer/songwriter best and this track, which gave the album its title, is a gentle side- swipe at his estranged wife Kristin. It was originally titled ‘It’s Rock & Roll To Me’ from the other Nelson composition on the album, ‘Call It What You Want’, but by this time was a bigger hit at the tills than Rick (what had it come to?) so we had to be content with Rick’s versions of John Fogerty, John Hiatt and Ry Cooder songs – we even got a previously unreleased version of ‘Radio Girl’ on the re-issue!

Spiral Highway – from the CD re-issue of ‘One Trick Pony’.

Have I used the phrase “pure perfection” before? Well, this is! It’s an early version of ‘How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns’, itself a near- perfect performance, recorded 2 years earlier and unreleased until 2004. Erik James gifted me the entire boxed set of Paul Simon’s original studio albums and despite Paul’s efforts to revamp them they remained intact and unveiled some wonderful hidden treasures, including this.

‘She’s Not The Same’ – Gordon Lightfoot from the CD ‘Shadows’

My problem in the early ‘80s was that I had become bored with that scratchy old vinyl and was yet to adopt cassettes as an acceptable alternative – OK in the car but……. In 1981 Gordie bombed out on us at the Dominion Theatre in London and I never really got into the ‘Shadows’ album at the time. Since its re-issue by Rhino in 2002 as part of a ‘final four’ package which included ‘Old Dan’s Records’, ‘Dream Street Rose’ and ‘Salute’, it’s become a firm favourite and I tend to put it on the CD player when I can’t be bothered to think of anything else to play, and that’s a compliment! I particularly love this track which is the latter-day singer/songwriter as his best.

‘Bird On a Wire’ – Jennifer Warnes from the Digitally Re-Mastered ‘Best’ collection: ‘First We Take Manhattan’.

I’d been a fan of Jennifer Warnes since she sang back-up to Warren Zevon on ‘Excitable Boy’ (and subsequently ‘The Heartache’ on ‘’). I enjoyed her solo work but it wasn’t until my DJ hero, the late great Roger Scott introduced me to this riveting version of the Leonard Cohen classic that I made a conscious effort to get into her music. I recommended ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ to anyone who would listen and her version of ‘Joan Of Arc’ with L Cohen himself is as good as any boy/girl combo in the history of music as we know it. ‘The Hunter’ was great and I almost included the song she wrote with Lenny – ‘Way Down Deep’ – which is also on this collection. Her catalogue is all too sparse but ‘The Well’ from 2001 kept our hopes alive.

‘Little Rock’N Roller – Steve Earle from the CD ‘Guitar Town’.

When Hazel and I went to Steve’s acoustic gig at The Mean Fiddler on 21st February 1997 he launched into a typically long story about returning home to meet his teenage son after many months on the road. He painted a picture of an unkempt, unwashed layabout with green hair only to introduce the beautifully handsome Justin, just as he played the opening chords to this song, which of course he had written about Justin 11 years earlier. ‘Guitar Town’ was a seminal country album and well worth a re-issue, especially with the addition of a live version of Springsteen’s ‘State Trooper’ as a bonus track.

‘On The Other Hand’ – from the CD collection ‘The Very Best of Randy Travis’

Erik sent me this CD along with a number of Warner re-issues and it took me a while to make time for it. Travis was one of a batch of ‘new country’ artistes – Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, - who refreshed the genre for a few years and the music world is a richer place for their presence. Roger Miller was the cleverest writer of country songs (remember ‘The Last Word In Loneso[me] Is Me’?) but this, Randy’s first single for Warner Bros. almost captures that old magic. And his voice ain’t bad either!

‘Buenos Nochas From A Lonely Room’ – Dwight Yoakam from the CD boxed set ‘Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros Years’

Another gift from Erik, where would I be without him? This has to be one of the great country songs from the past 20 years - Dwight singing his own composition, the title track from his 3rd album, with the wonderful Flaco Jiminez on accordion, the equally wonderful Pete Anderson on lead guitar, and Dwight himself adding some acoustic magic. On 1st August 2005, the first day of our holiday in Ireland (Frank was still with us), we listened to Dwight being interviewed on the radio. He cited the Everlys and John Prine as major influences (who wouldn’t?) but also spoke of his split with Pete Anderson as producer. Now that I own the Austin City Limits DVD I know what magic that combination was.

San Andreas Fault – Natalie Merchant from the Retrospective 1995-2005 CD.

I fell in love with Natalie Merchant when she performed with 10,000 Maniacs on MTV Unplugged in the early ‘90s. She sat cross-legged on a stool, a picture of innocence, then introduced “the lovely David Byrne” to join her on a storming version of Jimmie Dale Gilmour’s ‘Dallas from a DC99’. I loved the ‘Tiger Lily’ album, have it on DVD-A, but failed to follow up on her other solo efforts until this arrived. Her explanations of the background to the songs in the liner notes are truly magical. San Andreas Fault is usually playing when we have guests - I flick the ‘play’ button as they walk in.

So that’s it, folks! A slice of musical history wrapped up in a spiral-bound booklet. Thanks to you for listening and a special thanks as always to the dogs for being there when I need them. Frank would have enjoyed sitting at my feet throughout.

THE MUSIC

1. THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS – JOHNNY HORTON 2. WHEN IT’S SPRINGTIME IN ALASKA – JOHNNY CASH 3. BLEEKER STREET – SIMON & GARFUNKEL 4. A LITTLE BIT OF RAIN – FRED NEIL 5. DARLIN’ COMPANION – JOHN SEBASTIAN 6. HEY, THAT’S NO WAY TO SAY GOODBYE – LEONARD COHEN 7. GAMES PEOPLE PLAY – JOE SOUTH 8. JUST THE OTHER SIDE OF NOWHERE – KRIS KRISTOFFERSON 9. YOU NEVER EVEN CALL ME BY MY NAME – STEVE GOODMAN 10. I TAKE IT ON HOME – CHARLIE RICH 11. HANDS ON THE WHEEL – WILLIE NELSON

12. CARMELITA – WARREN ZEVON 13. SONGBIRD – FLEETWOOD MAC 14. YOU’RE RUNNING WILD – EMMYLOU HARRIS & RODNEY CROWELL 15. HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY – GEORGE JONES 16. THE LOSER BABE IS YOU – RICK NELSON 17. SPIRAL HIGHWAY – PAUL SIMON 18. SHE’S NOT THE SAME – GORDON LIGHTFOOT 19. BIRD ON A WIRE – JENNIFER WARNES 20. LITTLE ROCK’N ROLLER – STEVE EARLE 21. ON THE OTHER HAND – RANDY TRAVIS 22. BUENOS NOCHAS FROM A LONELY ROOM – DWIGHT YOAKAM 23. SAN ANDREAS FAULT – NATALIE MERCHANT