DUDE NEVER GETS OLD

There is something untouchable about this song. It's one of very few songs that when I hear it randomly (it's rare), everything stops. It becomes the soundtrack for whatever I'm doing for three minutes. Man, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the record over the years, drunk and sober.

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Listen:
Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin' mp3 at Tumblr

WELL PLAYED, HIPPIE RASCALS.

I had something totally different planned for tonight. That changed about a half hour ago. I was out in the alley having a smoke and and the neighbors on the other side of the fence, ordained Deadheads, actually had a lapse in their bad taste. Seated around a fire pit, they were playing Hank Williams's "Lovesick Blues". Yeah, changed the whole damn night. Those sneaky unwashed fuckers just earned some bonus points on this side of the fence.

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Listen:
Hank Williams - Lovesick Blues (streaming) at YouTube
Hank Williams - Your Cheatin' Heart mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin' mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Move It On Over mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Hank Williams - Mind Your Own Business mp3 at ATumblr (?)

YEAH, SURE, THE STYLISTICS.

"There have been many great performers, but only four great stylists—Al Jolson, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, and Jerry Lee Lewis." said Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the four great stylists. Now, I love Jerry Lee Lewis's music, and I do think he is a great stylist. I'll take any of his boasting if his music is part of the package, and he really does make just about any song sound like a Jerry Lee Lewis song. But I take issue with the number of stylists he cites. C'mon, four? I guess the Killer's criteria is different than mine.

Out of curiosity, I decided to listen to the Hank William covers I knew that he did, back to back with Hank Williams's versions. Great stylist versus great stylist. It doesn't work. It's total apples and oranges, each with their own different distinctive style. Then I tried the same exercise with a Jimmie Rodgers song. This was a little tougher because Rodgers was a god of yodeling, and that shit's hard to do convincingly. In that regard the Killer ain't Rodgers, nobody is, but he yodels just fine. It sounds like a Jerry Lee Lewis song. The stylists job is done.

I've no idea if Jerry Lee Lewis ever covered Al Jolson. I did a cursory search, squat. For now, step one is done. I still have to go find a fifth great stylist.

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Listen:
Jerry Lee Lewis - Jambalya mp3 at Internet Archive
Hank Williams - Jambalya mp3 at Internet Archive
Jerry Lee Lewis - You Win Again mp3 at Internet Archive
Hank Williams - You Win Again mp3 at Internet Archive
Jerry Lee Lewis - Waiting on a Train (streaming) at YouTube
Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting on a Train (streaming) at YouTube

I LIKE MY HAIR LIKE MY ROADS

What became of my third night of a three day Memorial Day weekend? I'm not one to bow their head in reverence to fallen soldiers. In some sort of way, all service men and women are answering the call to duty to defend our country. In the end though, they're basically signing up to kill or be killed, and as cynical as that sounds I have the quote from my friend Harold, ten years older than me and a source for many beer drinking insights, who once said that he could not be in the military because he's just as soon turn around and shoot someone he didn't like than someone he didn't even know. It's all bullshit. Yeah baby, peace, love and dope. As misguided and corny as hippies were (and bad dancers to boot), at least they offered a counterpoint.

Whatever. Trying my best to put on a patriotic front, I ended up thinking about what American music was most American, undeniably born here and done better here than elsewhere. Fuck, where to start? Blues, jazz, country and western, surf, rockabilly? I settled on country and western, after revisiting Porter Wagoner's "The Rubber Room", a sure fire Lux and Ivy favorite had they ever ventured near the pedal steel abyss. Really, nothing says good ol' American country and western than a song about being institutionalized, replete with echo that would make King Tubby sit up straight for a minute.

After that it was the George Jones's "The Race Is On" which may be my favorite country and western song ever. (That's him at the top of the post.) It's not high art, but it's perfect. 1964 who the fuck are the Beatles flat top twang. After playing that it became an orgy of my dog died yesterday and my wife left me. I was so damn forlorn, I could only muster the energy to cut and paste four songs.

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Listen:
Porter Wagoner - Rubber Room mp3 at April Winchell
George Jones - The Race Is On mp3 at David Fullmer
Hank Williams - Your Cheatin' Heart mp3 at Rocky 52
Red Simpson - (Hello) I'm a Truck mp3 at ATumblr (?)

NEVER MIND THE PROGENY

His music got me through a few tough nights when I was younger. Come to think of it, he may be the only singer I've ever listened to when I really was actually crying in my beer. Forlorn? Really want to sink into it? No one does the job like Hank Williams. This multi-talented son of a gun did the happy shit too. Cry in it, or spill it. Whatever.

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Listen:
Hank Williams - Your Cheatin' Heart mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Last Night I Heard You Crying In Your Sleep mp3 at The Look Back
Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin' mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Move It On Over mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Kaw-Liga mp3 at Internet Archive

PARTY WITH WORDSMITHS

Here's two sides to an always spinning coin, two takes on a hot rod Ford and a two dollar bill, both catchy mood enhancers. Hank William's "Hey Good Lookin'" is a masterwork of poetic simplicity. One of those songs that you can't imagine being improved upon. If you're ignorant of Hank Williams, go do some digging, for crying out loud. Or just check his song below. It may fit your mood at your pre-party soirée tonight. Just keep those cloth napkins the hell away from me.

Let's fast forward to midnight, because that's when things go up a notch, and where the second song comes in. The intent is clear in the title of the Cramp's "Let's Get Fucked Up", but rarely does one song cover all the bases as on topic as this one.  But then, who better then the Cramps to articulate what it's like to go absolutely nuts? They know of what they speak.

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Listen:
Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin' mp3 at ATumblr (?)
The Cramps - Let's Get Fucked Up (streaming) at YouTube NOTE: Wasn't able to find an mp3, but Surfadelic has the whole LP. If you like it, go buy it.
Full LP:
The Cramps - Flame Job at Surfadelic Entire album in a zip. Click on "Burn!" at the end of the text.

AND WESTERN

I don't really need to go into this do I? If you know him, you know. If you don't,...well, you better figure out where you're headed. Are you really going to be one of those people who don't recognize the understated brilliance of Hank Williams? Listen to this song and then decide.

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Listen:
Hank Williams - Last Night I Heard You Crying In Your Sleep mp3 at The Look Back

CAN'T TOUCH THIS

A friend recently shared a link on Facebook, about some new "country music" hot shot shooting his mouth off about the old Country and Western artists, and those who still listen to older country music, referring to them as "old farts" and "jackasses".  Yeah. It is fucking on. Or so you might wish. This shit has been hovering around for a long time. We've been due a Battle Royale between the traditionalists and what's being called country these days. It's like calling Blondie punk rock. Worse. Yet, this little episode will probably be forgotten. That's too bad, because for as long as this old country vs new country dynamic has existed, there has never been a better time for the shit to hit the fan. With all the social media and viral this and that, it's high time for this debate to get legs outside of hardcore country crowd. There's a link to the article below. For now, one Hank, and a reminder about Rocky-52. I'm not through with this.

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Listen: 
Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues mp3 at Kick Kick Snare 
Country and western smorgasbord:
Rocky-52 - Huge resource of country music with rockabilly and other roots type music. Click on names with the speaker icons for music. 
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Ray Price Attacks Blake Shelton for Comments About Classic Country Fans at Taste of Country

HAYSEED PAYDIRT

So, what to pick up for that retro roots fiend on your list? You know, the one who thinks they have everything sewn up. They have their cowboy shirts, Levis, pomade, boots, vintage ride and a few Hank Williams and Gene Vincent records. They've spent so much time covering the bases, getting all the required accessories, they've now considered their job finished, and retired to the bathroom mirror. Here's what you do: send them to school. Run down to your local drug store and pick up a couple packs of blank CD-Rs. Then head over to Western & Bop for the motherlode. The amount of genre specific stuff they've got is mindblowing. Really, they have all the bases covered. Hillbilly, rockin' hillbilly, obscure rockabilly, western swing, trucker favorites and more; and much of it obscure.

It will take a little bit of effort. The music they've posted is all in album length RAR files, which, if you're technically inclined, is no big deal. If you don't have experience with RAR files, or don't have a converter, it's easy enough to find one online (for Windows, try WinRAR at C.net). Look, if I can figure it out, you can. The payoff is huge. Here's direct links to their posts with "Rockin' Hillbilly" compilations, but do browse. If you're into anything affiliated with old country & western music, bookmarking should be a reflex. Now tell your greaser to get back to work!

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Rockin' Hillbilly - Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, Volume 6, Volume 7, Volume 8, Volume 9, Volume 10 at Western & Bop

More country & western, hillbilly, western swing, trucker's favorites, and rockabilly compilations at Western & Bop