A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican January 14, 2011

Junior Kimbrough is dead. R.L. Burnside is dead. Paul “Wine” Jones is dead. Robert Belfour is still alive as far as I know, but he hasn’t recorded anything in nearly a decade. It looks like the last man standing among Fat Possum’s old stable of Mississippi Hill Country blues giants is the mighty James Lewis Carter Ford, better known as T-Model Ford. He’s about 90 years old, depending on which birth date you believe. He has a pacemaker. He’s had a stroke. But the former truck driver is still on the road, and he’s still recording, as his new album, Taledragger, attests. Released on the Alive/Natural Sound label — somewhere along the line, Fat Possum ceased to be blues label — Taledragger teams T-Model with a young Seattle blues-rock trio called GravelRoad, which also appeared on T-Model’s previous record, The Ladies’ Man. (I bet The Black Keys would have walked over their grandmothers’ graves to get this gig.) The band is fortified on some tracks by a baritone sax, organ, and piano. I predict that fans of T-Model’s Fat Possum albums may be a little disappointed with Taledragger. That is based on my own initial reaction to the album. T-Model was able to create more mayhem, aided on most cuts only by his drummer “Spam” (Tommy Lee Miles) on albums like Pee-Wee Get My Gun and You Better Keep Still. But give it a second listen (and third and fourth). There’s plenty to like about Taledragger.

T-Model with Anton Terrell circa 1999

Guitarist Stefan Zilliloux gets psychedelic on the cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “How Many More Years.” It reminds me of the basic sound of Muddy Waters’ controversial Electric Mud album all those years ago. Another highlight is “Comin’ Back Home,” which is based on Hubert Sumlin’s guitar hook on Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning.” Saxman Brian Olive (also a co-producer of the album) gives the tune noir textures. It’s the same with whoever is playing the organ on “Someone’s Knocking on My Door.” This song sounds much like the crazy, chaotic version of “Long Distance Call” on The Super Super Blues Band, which featured Muddy, Wolf, and Bo Diddley. (It’s one of my favorite albums of all time.) And if GravelRoad sounds a little too restrained on some tracks, the group cuts loose on a joyous eight-minute version of “Big-Legged Woman.” (The best version of this one, though, remains Jerry Lee Lewis’ leering romp.) Many of the songs here are covers, and some are pretty close rewrites of blues standards. For instance “Same Old Train” sounds a lot like “Mystery Train,” even though T-Model starts out calling for his “big-leg woman.” “Red Dress” is basically a mutant cousin of Tommy Tucker’s “High Heel Sneakers.” I’m not sure who wrote the most moving song on the record — “I Worn My Body for So Long.” T-Model makes it a personal testimony to his age and mortality. He sings it like a lonesome ghost, while the slide guitar evokes images of Mississippi graveyards. It reminds me of Kimbrough’s “Done Got Old.” But T-Model sounds more defiant. Also recommended: * In the Nuthouse Now by Angry Johnny & GTO. This allegedly is a children’s album. It’s perfect music for the Children of the Damned. Angry Johnny, who used to play with a band called The Killbillies, first came to my attention in the ’90s with his album Hankenstein, a work distinguished by featuring not one but two songs about chain-saw murders. There are no chain saws here, but the title character of the song “Wendell” is pretty handy with a garbage disposal. The Killbillies are apparently gone now. It’s a loss. It was a bashing little band. But one faithful Killbilly crony, GTO, aka Goatis T. Ovenrude, plays mandolin and banjo as well as doing a bizarre falsetto response to Johnny’s calls. (Under his real name, Paul Amos, GTO did the soundtrack to Gimme Skelter, a slasher flick shot in New Mexico a few years ago.) Nuthouse is full of wicked tales of crazy violence, boozing, and other symptoms of degeneracy. But most of these are from a child’s eye view, so abuse and neglect are big themes. In “Drinking Daddy’s Beer,” a kid explains, “Mommy’s at the bar and daddy’s in jail/So I’m drinking daddy’s beer so it don’t go stale.” The ditty “Diggin Holes” is about innocent childhood endeavors: “Settin’ snares in the woods, in the woods/Gonna catch me a tiger or a mountain biker.” Most disturbing is “Kittens,” a minor-key “folk” ballad about daddy drowning his son’s kittens — and other household residents. You know a record is way out there when the most “normal” song on it is a fairly straight take on “Knoxville Girl,” a venerable murder ballad about a guy who kills his girlfriend, who pleads for her life. I’m just waiting for Angry to surprise us and do a “tribute” album of John Denver covers.

Ah, the history of punk, and specifically, of the word "punk," is always interesting. I need to get me a copy of Let it Blurt (Lester's biography), but in the meantime I'll just paste this here. You can read more at www.fastnbulbous.com/punk.htm

The word "punk" first made an appearance in music journalism in a 1970 essay, "The Punk Muse: The True Story of Protopathic Spiff Including the Lowdown on the Trouble-Making Five-Percent of America's Youth" by Nick Tosches in Fusion. He described a music that was a "visionary expiation, a cry into the abyss of one's own mordant bullshit," its "poetry is puked, not plotted." That same year, Lester Bangs wrote a novella titled Drug Punk, influenced by William Burroughs' book, Junky, in which there is a line, "Fucking punks think it's a joke. They won't think it's so funny when they're doing five twenty-nine on the island." Dave Marsh used the phrase "punk rock" in his Looney Tunes column in the May 1971 issue of Creem, the same issue that introduced the term "heavy metal" as a genre name. Marsh wrote, "Culturally perverse from birth, I decided that this insult would be better construted as a compliment, especially given the alternative to such punkist behavior, which I figured was acting like a dignified asshole." Tosches, Bangs, Marsh, Richard Meltzer, Greg Shaw and Lenny Kaye used the term to define a canon of proto-punk bands, including the Velvets, Stooges, MC5, the Modern Lovers and the New York Dolls (DeRogatis, Let It Blurt, 118-119).

TeenFink said:

dude i got my shit together. that era was first referred to as "punk" in 1972 (Lenny Kaye's liner notes in nuggets), which was four years before '76. i just don't think it's right to call '76-'80 "the first punk era," that's all. by doing so, you're displaying ignorance of real rock'n'roll in general and it's misleading to some who may come here and be totally unaware of '60s punk.

ratoonie said:

it wasnt cald Punk .........back then!!! get your shit together!!!!!

TeenFink said:

the FIRST punk era was from '65-'67, not '76-'80.

Hey guys, how's about you're both right really, yeah OK it wasn't really called Punk back then, but since "Nuggets" those in the know DID in fact call it Punk: teen punk, garage punk, acid punk, psych punk, so none of us are wrong...and I'm sure as far as rock'n'roll is concerned we do have our shit together...have a great weekend

TeenFink said:

dude i got my shit together. that era was first referred to as "punk" in 1972 (Lenny Kaye's liner notes in nuggets), which was four years before '76. i just don't think it's right to call '76-'80 "the first punk era," that's all. by doing so, you're displaying ignorance of real rock'n'roll in general and it's misleading to some who may come here and be totally unaware of '60s punk.

ratoonie said:

it wasnt cald Punk .........back then!!! get your shit together!!!!!

TeenFink said:

the FIRST punk era was from '65-'67, not '76-'80.

dude i got my shit together. that era was first referred to as "punk" in 1972 (Lenny Kaye's liner notes in nuggets), which was four years before '76. i just don't think it's right to call '76-'80 "the first punk era," that's all. by doing so, you're displaying ignorance of real rock'n'roll in general and it's misleading to some who may come here and be totally unaware of '60s punk.

ratoonie said:

it wasnt cald Punk .........back then!!! get your shit together!!!!!

TeenFink said:

the FIRST punk era was from '65-'67, not '76-'80.

Yeah, this is a tough question. I hosted The Wayback Machine for over ten years on KDHX in St. Louis and LOVED it. But it was a LOT of work... I put a ton of time into show preparation, research, not to mention money buying records and CDs, promoting the show, you name it. But that's the way I am. I don't do anything half-assed. I typed up playlists and posted them online, sent them to labels requesting promos, etc. It was a real thrill for me to play this crazy-assed music on the airwaves. I'd sit there at the station while doing the show and just get a huge rush off of the thought that this stuff was going out over 50,000 watts and anyone in their cars could just flip it on. And that thrill never really wore off, even after almost 11 years.

It wasn't until family responsibilities started getting in the way of the show, or, more appropriately, vice-versa, that I decided it was time for a change. I was finding less and less time to put into the show and I could sense that the quality of it was diminishing because of it, and it was causing friction at home (never a good thing). I brought in and tried out a couple cohosts towards the end, thinking that would help, but it just didn't really click, and after a few months of this I just decided to pull the plug. The only reason I really had to do that was because it was a WEEKLY show, and two hours long at that. I'm way too much of a perfectionist to just go in and wing it every week. So, because I had less and less time to dedicate to the show and keeping it great (not just good), I pulled the plug on it. At the time I was also podcasting (Savage Kick), so I still had that avenue for expressing my musical tastes, and I stuck with it.

So now I don't have a radio show anymore, but I'm still podcasting, and I'm still running this site and all that. I find podcasting a LOT different from terrestrial radio, of course. But it takes a lot less time for me to prepare for and do my podcast than it did years ago with my weekly show. Plus, I think more people hear the podcast than heard the radio show. It's more convenient for people to "tune in" to a podcast whenever it's convenient for them rather than expecting them to tune their radio to your show at a specific time every week. I discovered that was just way too much to ask of most people.

So while I totally enjoyed doing the radio show and would do it again in a heartbeat (if my schedule allowed), I'm enjoying the podcasting thing because it's so much easier and less strain on my personal life.

Hope this helps! Let us know what you decide to do. You might even try to do both.

my show, INTOXICA,  is a live broadcast which relies totally on the chaos that that brings, and i record it and post it as a podcast...sometimes i get these morons complaining that it is edited bad or some such podcastian blather & i have to explain that THIS IS A REAL RADIO SHOW! not something put together in mommy's den...no offense to all the great podcasters out there!!! just the whiners..

I recently have been provided with the opportunity to co-host a 2 hour radio show at my local community station.  I’m debating the merits of this over a podcast.  I know radio is supposed to be as dead as a can of Spam and you’ll get more listeners with a podcast but there’s just something about a live radio broadcast.  Are podcasts just preaching to the choir?  Is a radio show a waste of time and energy that could be better spent elsewhere?  What do you guys think? 

The Victims Real WIld Child LP is an ABSOLUTE KILLER LP!!! Total seering guitar leads, testosterone chocked vocals and some great songs!! Don't know why those guys aren't highly regarded in the NYC punk scene.

Heard that they've re-united and are out playing again.

 

Have you heard Cyborg's Revisited by Simply Saucer? It's 70's recordings that were never released...think Syd's Pink Floyd at their heaviest meet Velvet Underground with lots of bad drugs tossed about.

Duke Of Earl said:

That Death record was pretty impressive. Yeah rare stuff, V.G. You are on the right track.
-Victims-real wild child LP
 

The Outsiders' "Calling on Youth" is pretty good.

That Death record was pretty impressive. Yeah rare stuff, V.G. You are on the right track. -Victims-real wild child LP EPs are always of interest too. I just thought it would be more useful to talk LPs first since you get more bang for you buck usually with a longplayer.

The Von Ghouls said:

you mean unreleased stuff like Death (detroit) was recently uncovered - I have a test press that's a pre-punk band in studio dated '74 but have no idea who it is...everything good I know is on EP or 7" or comps...the reactors, V2, radiators from space

 

I don't know if punk bands from those days could hold it together enough to complete an album...

 

 

you mean unreleased stuff like Death (detroit) was recently uncovered - I have a test press that's a pre-punk band in studio dated '74 but have no idea who it is...everything good I know is on EP or 7" or comps...the reactors, V2, radiators from space

 

I don't know if punk bands from those days could hold it together enough to complete an album...

 

 

The Kids from belgium. They had a cd box set called Kids-anthology come out, it had all there material and a dvd. I didn't get it because it wasn't cheap enough after I spent all my money on beer. I've only ever heard there 1st two LPs. How's the later albums?

So far these are all classic first wave punk LPs. I especially like that Lurkers LP, but I was starting this chat with the intention of hearing about lesser known albums, meaning rare ones that might have flew under the radar of even those who listen to the stuff. C'mon dig deep! I wanna hear about some mystery punk-rock groups here. I wasn't born yesterday. There was another talk goin on here about favorite 76-80 punk bands and I found it was getting redundant so this was meant to be for Rare-stuff.    

1. Flamin' Groovies

2. Flamin' Groovies

3. Flamin' Groovies....

 

Detect a pattern here? Last time they played in Canada was 1978 and i didn't go to see them as i wasn't a huge fan. Now that i'm older (but definitely not wiser) and a HUGE fan of The Groovies AND Roy and Cyril are out doing shows, i gotta see them!! A-Bones are the perfect back up bands as Mirian was the Prez of The Flamin' Groovies fanclub for many years.

I did get to see Magic Christian (Cyril's new combo) about 2 years ago and that just whet my appetite even more for a real Flamin' Groovies show!!

I wonder if Jerry Lee Lewis still does shows.  I believe he put out a new album in the last year, didn'y he?

 

I got this from the Dirty Water newsletter re Flaming Groovies:

Le Beat Bespoke 7- Easter 2011 (22/23/24 April)2011 marks the seventh instalment of this unmissable extravaganza. Over three nights and one daytime event on Easter Bank Holiday weekend, DJ Dr Robert (compiler of the renowned compilation album series also titled Le Beat Bespoke) and his New Untouchables team and Dirty Water Records have assembled another killer line-up. THE FLAMIN’ GROOVIES are American powerpop legends founded in San Francisco in 1965 by Ron Greco, Cyril Jordan and Roy Loney.Best known for their deathless single ‘Shake Some Action’, the band were a key influence on the punk rock movement of the late 1970s. Roy Loney left the band in 1971 after the classic ‘Teenage Head’ album, but in the last couple of years Loney and Jordan have reunited and performed live to critical acclaim at festivals like the “Ponderosa Stomp”, backed by members of The A-Bones and Yo La Tengo. This will be the first time Cyril and Roy have ever performed live together in the UK.

Cool, yeah I heard about the Chicago show not working out. If he plays again when he gets better I hope to see it. For sure if it's within driving distance.

Jimbo said:

Your post gave me the idea to go on a trip with my dad to see Chuck Berry (he's 70 and he grew up listening to Chuck as it was happening), so i checked the website for future shows. Unfortunately:

"Due to exhaustion, Mr. Berry was unable to complete his scheduled performance in Chicago at the Congress Theatre January 1, 2011. However, he is fine and has returned to his home near St. Louis. ... [Read More]"

 

I suppose that's gonna be the last show ever? I hope not...

Duke Of Earl said:

Well sadly, most of them are no longer with us. In body anyways. Hmmm...If any of these groups could play with core lineups here are some of my choices. Im not including bands whose main members are buried(as far as I know). Hrd to always keep up with whos still breathing. If these are impossible, I'd be curious to here why.
-flamin groovies(Roy Loney is playing this month, anybody have the dates)
-hanoi rocks
-berlin brats
-boys
-generationx

Can't really think of them all on the fly. Anybody know which original 50s cats are still playin, I'd hate to miss a limited opportunity to catch any of the originators? I missed Wanda Jackson again a few months ago. I know Chuck Berry did a show in Chicago recently. I have to see him soon at any given opportunity. There are a few that I saw at the tail end, that I'm eternally happy about and some that I kick my self in the pants for missing my last ever chance. R.I.P.

Your post gave me the idea to go on a trip with my dad to see Chuck Berry (he's 70 and he grew up listening to Chuck as it was happening), so i checked the website for future shows. Unfortunately:

"Due to exhaustion, Mr. Berry was unable to complete his scheduled performance in Chicago at the Congress Theatre January 1, 2011. However, he is fine and has returned to his home near St. Louis. ... [Read More]"

 

I suppose that's gonna be the last show ever? I hope not...

Duke Of Earl said:

Well sadly, most of them are no longer with us. In body anyways. Hmmm...If any of these groups could play with core lineups here are some of my choices. Im not including bands whose main members are buried(as far as I know). Hrd to always keep up with whos still breathing. If these are impossible, I'd be curious to here why.
-flamin groovies(Roy Loney is playing this month, anybody have the dates)
-hanoi rocks
-berlin brats
-boys
-generationx

Can't really think of them all on the fly. Anybody know which original 50s cats are still playin, I'd hate to miss a limited opportunity to catch any of the originators? I missed Wanda Jackson again a few months ago. I know Chuck Berry did a show in Chicago recently. I have to see him soon at any given opportunity. There are a few that I saw at the tail end, that I'm eternally happy about and some that I kick my self in the pants for missing my last ever chance. R.I.P.

Well sadly, most of them are no longer with us. In body anyways. Hmmm...If any of these groups could play with core lineups here are some of my choices. Im not including bands whose main members are buried(as far as I know). Hrd to always keep up with whos still breathing. If these are impossible, I'd be curious to here why.
-flamin groovies(Roy Loney is playing this month, anybody have the dates)
-hanoi rocks
-berlin brats
-boys
-generationx

Can't really think of them all on the fly. Anybody know which original 50s cats are still playin, I'd hate to miss a limited opportunity to catch any of the originators? I missed Wanda Jackson again a few months ago. I know Chuck Berry did a show in Chicago recently. I have to see him soon at any given opportunity. There are a few that I saw at the tail end, that I'm eternally happy about and some that I kick my self in the pants for missing my last ever chance. R.I.P.

Just found this one and wanted to share!

 

Ha! Getting blackisted in Rochester. Somehow that's just funny to me. I'm sure they were crushed. ;)

The Clash "The Cost of Living EP"

I'm thinking you might actually save money by just getting a different cab. A 6x10 Silvertone cab is probably pretty rare. I built one for my 1484 out of pine from Lowes. I just stained the bare wood and put some polyurethane on it. I ordered a fender style grillcloth online. It looks pretty decent. I might put a picture up here sometime.

 

I used some 12" Eminence Legends because 1. I found them cheap on ebay and 2. supposedly they have a vintage Jensen/JBL vibe to them. I've never played through any vintage speakers so I couldn't tell you how they compare. They are very loud and clean. They don't really break much at all. They have good bass but are also pretty bright. They're just about right for the Silvertone as far as clean speakers go but are just a little too bright for my blackface Bassman head. They might continue to break in.  

I think I'm going to build another cab and try to find some lower powered speakers so I can get that cardboard box sound you're talking about. I may try some tens.

Wow Dave!  That's awesome!  Can't imagine meeting Link!  And he probably still put on one hell of a show!  Very cool!

DammitDave said:

I got to meet Link Wray in 1996 (97?) when he played in Champaign, Il.  I was friends with the opening band (The Bottletones) and got to meet him before the show.  He was the nicest guy ever and had some great stories about "The Killer" and writing Run Chicken Run (too naughty to tell here).  He also told about being on a tour with some teen heartthrob in the 50s that went through Kentucky.  There were tons of teenage girls there with their fathers and the fathers were there with their shotguns to protect the daughters' virtue!

I got to meet Link Wray in 1996 (97?) when he played in Champaign, Il.  I was friends with the opening band (The Bottletones) and got to meet him before the show.  He was the nicest guy ever and had some great stories about "The Killer" and writing Run Chicken Run (too naughty to tell here).  He also told about being on a tour with some teen heartthrob in the 50s that went through Kentucky.  There were tons of teenage girls there with their fathers and the fathers were there with their shotguns to protect the daughters' virtue!

That's great that it was a pleasant experience!  My fear has always been to meet a band/musician that I really liked, but they turned out to be major douchebags...I have met some that were arrogant or just asses (I won't name them), but that's just life, I guess...Back when I was on "Whiskey 'N' Waterbeds", I came away from a couple of experiences where I was like "Fuck this"!  I keep in mind "Love the art, not the person"...

Doc Sanchez said:

With my former band Filthy Cowboy Sunset we once opened for DM Bob and Jem Finer (of Pogues fame - a band that meant pretty much to me back then) with Bob's girlfriend Silke from the Watzloves, and hanging out with them was one of the least rock'n'roll things ever - but pretty great! We played on a weekday, and my band was tired from work, and they were tired from travelling, so we hung out in the backstage room and must have been a sight to see: Bob and Jem were playing chess, Silke was reading copied texts about Dadaism, our violinist was reading something else, our pianist and our drummer were sleeping, and me and our singer were just sitting there eating, amused about the scenery.

The three of them were really nice people, polite, cool, nice, funny and modest - and so much fun on stage (which you wouldn't have thought seeing them playing chess like some elderly gentlemen on the porch)!

 

So - hanging out with fave musicians for me was like watching TV with friends: a relaxing, funny thing, somehow without much rock'n'roll, but still a fine experience.