New Year's Eve is fast approaching, and for lots of folks that means... drinking. Plenty of drinking. And since there's no shortage of singers and songwriters who've had a little something to say about that particular topic, maybe some of the following tunes can serve as an appropriate soundtrack to your own joyous (or not?) imbibing of spirits. For example, there's... Jimmy Liggins with his succinct rendition of
Drunk, and there's...
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 30, 2011 -
67 comments
Fifty years ago, those decrying rock 'n' roll as devil music that would crumble the morals of America needed to look no further than
Wanda Jackson for evidence. Her
raspy, brassy voice,
suggestive lyrics, and
sexual energy were almost unbelievable for the Eisenhower years. Coaxed into singing rockabilly by her then-boyfriend,
Elvis, she had a
string of
rock hits, before marrying and IBM programmer and switching to more traditional,
conservative country music.
posted by Jon_Evil
on Aug 20, 2009 -
23 comments
So You Think You Hate Country Music? Then listen to this. The roots of American country music may surprise you. In this series of NPR programs, trace the gradual development of real country music through the first half of the 20th century. Learn how a woman's instrument of the late 1800s, the parlor guitar, became the the central symbol of country and rock; see how African-American musical forms like gospel and blues meshed with the development of country and early rock and influenced the traditional forms in turn; listen to German-Mexican hybrids of accordian style; find out why women had so many honky-tonk torch songs to sing in the late 40s. The series contains hours of content (narrative, interviews, music tracks), and a multitude of excellent links for deeper digging.
posted by Miko
on Feb 2, 2006 -
111 comments
Pay Up, Cheaters! The Story of the Beat Farmers (QT trailer for as-yet unreleased DVD, Jamie Dawson, director)
Pour yourself a shot of Jäger and gather round the campfire, boys and girls, it's time for testifyin'. Tonight I present the cautionary tale of a big, kind-hearted stink-ape of a man, Country Dick Montana, who spent his short life as the Master of Ceremonies for a neverending party. He played drums, guitar and sang in The Beat Farmers, a legendary Southern California roots rock (embedded RealVideo) band proud of its fans' ability to make bar cash registers explode. Too country for rock radio, too rock for country radio, they could fill any showroom, but their only airplay outside San Diego consisted of ditties (embedded RealVideo) played by Dr. Demento; not exactly the recognition one would hope to receive. [more inside]
posted by planetkyoto
on Nov 6, 2005 -
27 comments
Rockin' Country Style You usually hear the music termed "rockabilly," but the creator of this site prefers the term "country and western rock 'n' roll," a term he feels reflects what observers of the music's prime era (the mid-to-late 1950s) thought was going on, and is more inclusive besides (racially and also in regard to artificial genre boundaries).
Whatever you think about his "theoretical scope," there is so much here to explore. And so much deeply, deeply odd music. The usual suspects are here, among them
Elvis and the
usual Sun heroes, as well
Gene Vincent and
Buddy Holly, etc.
What is really interesting about this site, however, is how one can explore the evolution of a performer's sound (see:
Link Wray) or the sounds of a
geographical area or city. Then there are just so many great song samples, like
Hep Cat Baby from Eddy Arnold and
Fickle Chicken by the Atmospheres - and that's only from the
A's! The site also features compilations by label,
photographs of singles, and likes to sites dedicated to labels and performers.
Terry Gordon, who oversaw the creation of this impossibly thorough database, is now working on a second database site dedicated to southern soul.
posted by raysmj
on Aug 14, 2005 -
14 comments
