FARMING: Farmer's Daughters......

Quick submission loosely lauding the legend of farmer's daughters, usually involving buxom beauties, forever enticing the sort of man, well, any man really, of which their father, inevitably a brick shithouse of humanity, would disapprove, and the shenanigans thus ensuing. Here's 3 of my favourites:

"Anyone's Daughter," which also includes another staple of songsmithery, the judge's daughter, is from Deep Purple's 1971 LP, Fireball, and it really caught my teenage ears as it was so unlike anything else in their oeuvre, thus, as ever the awkward, I had to profess it  to be my favourite. (I was never really, or for long, a fan of the hard rock school of the Deeps, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep and all that malarkey.) Listening again, as the decades disappear, it isn't even much good. Hey ho.........

Onto something perhaps a bit more authentic, "Wolverton Mountain," this being the version by Doug Sahm, from his evocatively titled Texas Rock for Country Rollers, in 1976, cementing my peculiarity amongst my peers. Actually written much much earlier and covered first by a number of different acts, it was seemingly based on a real character. Nowhere does it actually say the daddy was a farmer, but I somehow have always assumed he was at least a farmsteader. And I'm writing this piece.

Finally, here is a more innocent offering, the Beach Boys with their, at least accurately, entitled, "Farmer's Daughter." Little happens, beyond yearning, and it is short. Great vocal, though, reminding you of quite why Brian Wilson was (and is) so revered. Such a pity his voice is so shot now. But, as an excuse to shoehorn in yet another vid, until today, I had no idea that this song by Fleetwood Mac was one and the same

Purchase the Purple
Dig Sir Doug
Buy the Boys
Mine the Mac

Oh Mama: I Wanna Be Your Mama Again

[photo by blakemayday984]

Sir Douglas Quintet - I Wanna Be Your Mama Again (Mendocino version) [purchase]

A few weeks ago at Groover's Paradise, I talked up Los Lobos' cover of the Sir Douglas Quintet track, "It Didn't Even Bring Me Down." It's one of several excellent cuts on the new Doug Sahm tribute disc [get you some]. I said then that the SDQ original was a bit of an orphan on Mendocino because it was the only song to have the jazzy flavor heard on Honkey Blues.

I'd like to semi-retract that statement. "I Wanna Be Your Mama Again," like many of the tracks on Mendocino, is basically a country song. However, the piano is curiously set to 'Erroll Garner'. Everything I've ever read indicates Augie Meyers was on the keys, but it wouldn't totally shock me if it was Wayne Talbert, Doug's piano man on Honkey Blues. Whatever the case, the florid, moody piano runs add a great texture and depth to the song. The Leslie-fied guitar is probably unnecessary and the freaky echo and other effects are a little dated, but this is still a standout tune. I especially love when Doug shouts out the chord change: "B7!"

Incidentally, "Mama" was a bridge between the two albums. It was the B-side to the "Mendocino" single, released a few months after Honkey Blues and a few months ahead of the titular album.

Sir Douglas Quintet - I Wanna Be Your Mama Again (Live)
Philadelphia (PA) Folk Festival [view program]
August 22, 1969

Good performance of "Mama," a little restrained, but included because of Doug's great intro. Wish the quality was a tad better, but hey, you can't beat the price. And it's not like the world's overrun with live Doug Sahm recordings.

Tangentially speaking, look at the date of this show. How would you like to have booked a music festival a week after Woodstock?!?! Ouch. I realize folk festivals and rock festivals have different fanbases, but it's not like there hasn't always been crossover. Hell, what was the SDQ doing there if it was pure folkie? Actually, why was the SDQ there and not Woodstock? I could just hear the pitch from the band's management. "Woodstock? More like Schmuckstock. All hype. The Philly Folk Festival's gonna be HUGE! We're gonna be talking about it 40 years from now." Well, I guess that last part is technically true ... heh.

Damnations - I Wanna Be Your Mama Again
Cactus Cafe, Austin, TX
July 27, 2002

The Damnations cover this on Where It Lands, but I think this live version is better. And while Doug's gender-bendery is amusing, I'd much rather hear Amy and Deborah say they wanna be my mama again. No offense, Doug.

Taken from the same Cactus Club show where they performed "What Does The Deep Sea Say?" [view that Star Maker post], the vocal harmonies of Deborah Kelly (lead vocal; acoustic guitar) and Amy Boone (bass; backup vocal) makes this performance special. I'm almost positive that's Conrad Choucron on drums, which reminds me that I don't see him play nearly enough. Anyone who can get in the pocket for the Damnations and sit in with Mandible is, by definition, a badass.

If I have one complaint it's that I wish the whole band was a little higher in the mix, especially Rob Bernard's magic Tele. Of course, that's my answer for pretty much everything.

"LD, what did you think of Wilco's last album?"
"Not enough Rob Bernard."

Trains: The Railpak Dun Done In The Del Monte

Sir Douglas Quintet - The Railpak Dun Done In The Del Monte [Purchase]

In January 1971, Doug Sahm returned to his native Texas after a five-year sabbatical in the San Francisco Bay Area. Once home, he cut his final album with the '70s edition of the Sir Douglas Quintet, The Return Of Doug Saldaña (available above as a two-fer with 1+1+1=4). According to Doug, "Saldaña is the name the Mexicans gave me. They said that I had so much Mexican in me that I needed a Mexican name."

"Railpak," cut in early '71, is Sahm's love letter to both Monterey County and "soulful trains," and is delivered as a kind of Woody Guthrie talking blues. The Del Monte was an actual Southern Pacific train line between Monterey and San Francisco whose service was discontinued on April 30, 1971. The picture above is from a great pictorial overview of the Del Monte's final Saturday run.

"Railpak" is a unique species in the Sahm canon, as I can't think of another song he did in the folkie troubadour style. In fact, other than "Oh Lord, Please Let It Rain in Texas," which follows "Railpak" on the Doug Saldaña LP, there are precious few songs with just Doug and an acoustic guitar. Enjoy.

1973: Doug Sahm/Jerry Wexler Edition

Doug Sahm & Bob Dylan: Wallflower [purchase]

Doug Sahm: Ain't That Loving You* [purchase]

Doug Sahm: Me And Paul [purchase]

Doug Sahm: Blue Horizon* [purchase]

"I worked with a lot of musicians over the years and had been very fortunate. There was something about Doug, though, that really intrigued me. The fact that he could not only play just about every style of Texas music, but play it with so much soul and intensity was something that always amazed me. I never got tired of listening to him pull out song after song and just pour it on."
--Jerry Wexler on Doug Sahm

"Jerry Wexler always used to tell me how he could holler and scream with the promotion people, but if their hearts weren't into it, they just weren't into it. Now Atlantic is a small part of the Warner monster and Wexler can't do that soulful thing with all his new people anymore. It's like a new era had dawned: the new people go the new way. And Wexler resigned, bless his heart."
--Doug Sahm on Jerry Wexler

This post is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Wexler, who died yesterday morning at the age of 91. I've often said that if I could be any person in history, Wex would be that guy. He worked with Ray Charles at his peak, worked with Aretha at her peak, got Memphis out of Dusty Springfield, was the brains behind Derek And The Dominos (and other assorted love songs), was at Atlantic during that label's prime, coined the term "rhythm & blues" while working at Billboard, ran sessions at Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio in the mid-'50s, saw every western swing and bebop innovator in the heyday of both genres, midwifed Willie Nelson's move from Nashville outsider to Austin visionary, and was the mastermind behind two of Doug Sahm's best albums, both released in 1973. Hell, Doug and Wex actually convinced Bob Dylan to be in the band. Here's a sampler platter of their collective genius, two from Doug Sahm And Band and two from Texas Tornado. You lived a full life, Jerry. RIP.

For another great read on Wexler's career ... by way of Wilson Pickett's "Soul Dance Number Three" single ... please visit The B-Side.

*Two of the songs I posted originally weren't actually recorded under Jerry Wexler's supervision. Ever the stickler, I replaced those two songs ("Someday" and "Juan Mendoza"), with two other tracks from the Texas Tornado LP, both featuring Wex behind the boards.

Fifty States: Tennessee

Bobby Charles: Tennessee Blues [download]*

Doug Sahm: Tennessee Blues [purchase]*

Here's two different versions of Bobby Charles' homage to Tennessee. The first can be found on his waaaaay under-appreciated 1972 self-titled LP. While there aren't individual song credits ... at least on the vinyl copy ... it's worth noting that Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel of The Band all back up the Louisiana native. In fact, Danko and longtime Band co-conspirator, John Simon, produced the album with Charles. It only takes about 10 seconds to realize that this tune is right in The Band wheelhouse.

A year after Charles released his album, Doug Sahm tackled the tune on his equally under-appreciated Texas Tornado record. What's interesting is that there is a common musical denominator. Dr. John was part of the Bobby Charles Krewe and he served in much the same capacity for Sir Doug, tickling the ivories to add the night trippin' gumbo flavor. Where Charles aims for the back porch, Sahm goes for the nightclub. Of course, given all the talent involved, both versions deliver the goods. A great song from two albums definitely worth owning.

* I swear I'm not intentionally seeking out songs from expensive, hard-to-find albums, but in both cases here the CD versions of the albums are positively usurous. However, the downloadable versions are somewhat reasonable, so I linked to them instead.

2:42 - Sometimes/Cryin' Inside

Doug Sahm: Gene Thomas Medley: Sometimes/Cryin' Inside

[purchase]

Doug Sahm ... as Sir Doug & The Texas Tornados ... released this tune as a single in 1976, the same year that Boston released the song that inspired the post that inspired this theme. Doug's single is actually a medley of two Gene Thomas songs from the early '60s and features a spoken bridge rife with nostalgia: "Yeah, I remember those times. Back in the old nightclubs in 1961 in San Antone." In other words, Doug's medley not only flies in the face of the cocaine-fueled self-indulgence of its own time (1976), it's an intentional throwback to that pre-FM time when singles and AM radio ruled the earth (1961). Furthermore, Doug cherry-picks the best parts of two separate songs to maximize the concision of his 2:42. All meat, no potatoes, and absolutely gorgeous harmonies from Sahm and his longtime compadre, Atwood Allen. God bless Sir Doug.