Don't Cry For Me Argentina

 

Sunday night saw a victory for football versus anti-football in the World Cup Final with Spain triumphing over Argentina after a war of attrition.

Argentina were an absolute disgrace and the rest of the world surely rejoiced in their defeat. They did beat England though!

As an added bonus Trump, Infantino and Javier Milei will be well pissed off

Spain were worthy winners having conceded only one goal throughout the tournament which is an astonishing achievement.

They have reached an unprecedented streak of 38 matches unbeaten. The last team to beat them? Scotland of course!

To celebrate their magnificent achievement here are two songs by Spanish artists followed by some Spanish related songs

Star Trip - Velocidad

Hinds - Chili Town

Mink De Ville - Spanish Stroll

Ray Wylie Hubbard - The Knives of Spain

Eleanor McEvoy - He Never Spoke Spanish to Me

Cash Covered

 

I'm pretty sure that the Mojo CD Cash Covered  could not accurately be described  an Americana Compilation.

However I am pushing for 50 entries in this series ( this is 42) and there are a number of Americana artists contributing. as confirmed by the attached setlist

My blog, my rules

Michelle Shocked perhaps slightly pre-dated Americana but I think that I an justified in including her fantastic version of One Piece of Americana.

Were you to look up Americana in the dictionary the entry might simply read Steve Earle. Although Hardin Wouldn't Run  was written by Johnny himself it is easy to imagine Steve writing this or something similar

Willard Grant Conspiracy never came across as a particularly happy band so I Still Miss Someone is probably appropriate.

Again it is fairly easy to associate Robbie Fulks  with a song like Cry Cry Cry.

We may, or may not , return next week with number 43

Michelle Shocked - One Piece At a Time

Steve Earle -Hardin Wouldn't Run

Willard Grant Conspiracy - I Still Miss Someone

Robbie Fulks - Cry Cry Cry

Saturday Shuffle 153

 

I haven't been able to find out much information about our cover stars Bill Fadden & the Silvertone Flyers other than a search throws up the words - rockabilly, rock and roll, hillbilly and Western swing. A fine combination as I'm sure you'll agree. It seems they have been active since 1999. Here they are with Too Bad Baby

Edwyn Starr and his majestic song War surely need no introduction.

War! What is it Good For? Absolutely Nothing! Say it Again ...

Some of you will be familiar with Jesse Malin. After listening to Wendy I'm sure many more of you will be hitting the search button.

Another mixed bag next Saturday.

Bill Fadden & the Silvertone Flyers - Too Bad Baby

Edwyn Starr - War

Jesse Malin - Wendy

Hot Shots II

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #19 - The Beta Band - Hot Shots II

Not unusually I was pretty late to the party when it came to The Beta Band. While I was aware of the name it took Vic Galloway's book Songs In The Key Of Fife to give me the necessary kick up the pants.

Respected colleagues pointed me in the direction of 1998's The Three E.P.s which  was duly purchased. This was followed by charity shop purchases of  The Beta Band (not sure where) and Heroes to Zeros (Stirling)

Hot Shots II their second studio album from 2001 and  my second purchase in Kinder Handl probably completes the set.

There's probably not much to say. If you like the Beta Band you will like this. If you don't you wont. Thankfully I'm in the first camp and you should be too.

The Beta Band - Squares

The Beta Band - Al Sharp

The Beta Band - Dragon

Thrum at Cottiers

 

Last night saw me at Cottiers Theatre in Hyndland to see Thrum. 

It was originally scheduled for 13th March in the Glad Cafe but was subsequently rescheduled. This annoyed me at the time as the Glad Cafe is reasonably local but Hyndland is in Glasgow's West End and over an hour away on the bus.

It turns out that it was probably a good thing as they were very loud and the Glad Cafe has a low ceiling and Cottiers which is a lovely old church a much higher ceiling. It was loud but thankfully not Sugar at the Barrowlands loud or Ryan Adams at the QMU loud. No ringing ears to report.

Put on by Douglas McIntyre's FRETS the support act was Radhika a singer-songwriter who was accompanied by Douglas on guitar. Her set was pretty pleasant and well received.

Thrum's  tour was to promote a new remastered version of their 1994 album Rifferama  see here and Glasgow was a fitting finale.

For someone who is the height of nothing Monica Queen is a total force of nature. She led the line well, interacted with the audience and  frequently jammed with Johnny Smillie on guitar. The band seemed to be having a blast and genuinely thrilled to be performing.

Any band who encore with Sheena Is a Punk Rocker are surely worthy of your time.

A solid 8/10 performance

Thrum - Rifferama

Thrum - Hey Joe

Thrum - Nowhere To Run

Tender To The Blues

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #18 - James Yorkston & The Athletes -Tender To The Blues (CD Single)

I visited the Kinder Handl charity shop on Glasgow's Battlefield Road on Saturday afternoon. I went through all the 500 to 600 CDs on their shelves and came away with two!

One was Tender to the Blues a CD single by James Yorkston & the Athletes from 2002 on the Domino label. 

A native of the East Neuk of Fife James Yorkston was part of the Fence Collective. I have a couple of his albums on the shelves and this is a welcome addition. More recently he has been writing fiction books and those I have read have been pretty good.

Stay tuned for CD 2 which also has Fence Collective connections

James Yorkston & The Athletes - Tender To The Blues

James Yorkston & the Athletes - 6.30 Is Way Too Early (Reuben's String Arrangements)

James Yorkston & the Athletes - A Man With My Skills

James Yorkston & the Athletes - Hares On The Mountain/ Old Maid

He replaces Dwight Yoakam as the last CD single alphabetically speaking on the shelves

Desert Songs

 

From April 2017 I give you Mojo Presents:Desert Songs: 15 Tracks of Cosmic Roots Music

I think that the tracklist justifies its inclusion as number 41 in the Sunday Americana series.

Let's kick off with Warm Storm by Howe Gelb. I offered to buy him a pint once but he politely declined.

Next we have The Long Ryders who appeared at John Medd's place recently Here is Ivory Tower taken from a Cherry Red Boxset called Final Wild Songs

Track 3 is Tree Detail by Devon Sproule from her album The Gold Spring.

I couldn't resist sneaking in a fourth number namely Burn Something Beautiful by Alejandro Escovedo an album which I only have in a Digital format.

Howe Gelb - Warm Storm

The Long Ryders - Ivory Tower

Devon Sproule - Tree Detail

Alejandro Escovedo - Beauty of Your Smile