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Tuesday 31 January 2017

Twangin


The last time I featured Dave Edmunds was in April 2014 just after he had celebrated his 70th birthday.
I played a couple of songs from his 1979 album Repeat When Necessary.
This time round it is the turn of the 1981 follow up Twangin on the Swan Song label and an album I picked up for 75p somewhere along the way
Pretty much an album of covers but done in his own inimitable style where he manages to sound like a one man Everley Brothers if that  makes any sense.
Here is his version of Melvin Endsley's Singing The Blues which was made famous by Tommy Steele whose version has featured here before.
Dave follows that with his take on John Fogerty's Almost Saturday Night.

Twangin indeed.

Dave Edmunds - Singing The Blues

Dave Edmunds - Almost Saturday Night

Monday 30 January 2017

Late December in Late January


CCM behind the times as usual as it would have probably been more sensible to feature this last month.
Mrs CC put it on to accompany Sunday breakfast so better late than never.
From 2007 Late December is the sixth solo album by the  always great but completely bonkers Maria McKee.
You are getting the title track and another one you may recognize. A song she had written over 20 years earlier but had never recorded. It was a  UK number one hit for a man whose name is not uttered in Blogging circles F****** S******

Note to self - must get round to listen to and featuring some stuff by Lone Justice.

Maria McKee -Late December

Maria McKee -A Good Heart

Sunday 29 January 2017

Deadstring Brothers


During my extensive research for my Burnt Offerings series (i.e. giving the CDs a listen) Detroit alt country band the Deadstring Brothers popped up.
Surely they have featured before I thought given that their self titled debut album from 2003 is on the shelves.
Apparently not it seems so time to rectify that anomaly.
My signed copy is on Times Beach Records as opposed to Bloodshot (their spiritual home) and was acquired when the played the original Stereo bar in Glasgow's Kelvinhaugh Street at a gig put on if I recall by Tom Marsden a sound bloke and a mighty fine peddle steel player.

A band who obviously spend their formative years in bedrooms listening to Exile on Main Street - no bad thing

Deadstring Brothers -I'm Not a Stealer

Deadstring Brothers - Entitled

Saturday 28 January 2017

Dylan Covered - I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine


Lounge Lizards of the world rejoice! A resounding victory last week for Bryan Ferry with his version of A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall.
Perhaps it is merely putting off the inevitable but the scores are now Bob 8 Cover Artist 6.
Can this week's candidate Thea Gilmore narrow the gap still further?

It is I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine times two and indeed John Wesley Harding times two given that Thea  covered the entire album in 2011. I thought she was Irish but it turns out she is English
You will be pleased to know that among other things St Augustine is the patron saint of brewers.

It's Bob for me this week. His version is terrific and a fine example of less is more.. Feel free to disagree if only to prolong the series

Bob Dylan - I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine

Thea Gilmore - I Dreamed I Saint Augustine

Friday 27 January 2017

Celtic Connections -Rachel Sermanni


Second of three Celtic Connections outings tomorrow night to see an artist I've never seen before Rachel Sermanni at a venue I've never been to before The Mackintosh Church.
Looking forward to it as her 2015 album Tied to the Moon and her recent digital download Gently are both excellent.
She hails from Carrbridge in the Scottish Highlands.
The support act is Jolie Holland & Samantha Parton two founder members of the Canadian band the Be Good Tanyas.
The BGTs were excellent although I am not so sure about Jolie's solo album Catalpa which I picked up in a charity shop.
Match report to follow in due course.

Rachel Sermanni - Ferryman

Jolie Holland - The Littlest Birds

Thursday 26 January 2017

Halcyon Times



My recent featuring of Jason & the Scorchers on the Dylan Covered series had me scouring the shelves for their 2010 album Halcyon Times
A friend from the pub Graham gave me a copy.He played drums in a band called Bachelor Pad who have featured at JC's place and who once supported Echo and the Bunnymen at the Barrowlands.
Halcyon Times is a terrific rocky album.
I've seen Jason Ringenberg on a couple of occasions but sadly never with the Scorchers.
Does anyone remember when America was The Land of the Free? 19th January 2017 in case you were wondering

Jason & the Scorchers - Moonshine Guy/Releasing Celtic Prisoners

Jason & the Scorchers - Land of the Free

Wednesday 25 January 2017

Burnt Offerings 3


Isobel Campbell has appeared on these pages before in partnership with Mark Lanegan and quite possibly as part of  Belle and Sebastian. However, she has not appeared in her own right and her version of Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) was simply too good to leave out as I'm sure you'll agree. From her 2004 EP  Time Is Just The Same.

Isobel Campbell -Bang Bang (My Baby Shot me Down)



Beaver Nelson - great name, scary looking bloke.
A singer -songwriter from Austin, Texas with a passionate fan base in Japan.
I had him down as an Americana artist but this splendid song has a touch of power pop about it. Taken from his 2004 album Motion

Beaver Nelson - Minute Man



Inexplicably, there are no records by Marah on the shelves.
Kids in Philly has been on my wish list for as long as I can remember but I have never gotten around to acquiring it.Not one that you are likely to happen upon in a charity shop I suspect.
 Feel free to chastise me in  the comments section.
This song is from a later album 2005's if You Don't Laugh You'll Cry

Marah - The Demon of White Sadness


Volume 4 of assorted nonsense next week.


Tuesday 24 January 2017

A Brighter Beat


Some Malcolm Middleton for you today with 2007's A Brighter Beat his third  solo album and the first following Arab Strab's split in 2006.
Described by the man himself thus:
If I was forced to describe it, which I am, I'd probably say it was a pop album for people who hate pop music. Or maybe I'd describe it as love songs for depressed people who find it hard leaving the house sometimes and worry too much about dying and the consequences of their daily actions and thoughts to be able to enjoy life fully
There was a social media campaign to make We're All Going to Die the Christmas number 1 in 2007 but sadly it peaked at number 31 with the top slot gong to X Factor's Leon Jackson (no, me neither ).

Cover by the great David Shrigley.

Malcolm Middleton -We're All Going To Die

Malcolm Middleton -A Brighter Beat

Monday 23 January 2017

End of the Millennium Psychosis Blues


1988's End of The Millennium Psychosis Blues marked a pretty radical evolution in the music of Derry band That Petrol Emotion.
Gone was the anger and the rockier sound of  it's predecessor 1987's Babble and in it's place was some dance and sample experimentation and indie.
This led to them later being highlighted as an influence to Britpop and the Madchester indie-dance scene.
Whatever, it was the last of their albums on which former Undertone John O'Neill featured.

I don't play it as often as Babble probably because I would rather cross the ocean than make a Big Decision

.That Petrol Emotion -Here It Is ... Take It!

That Petrol Emotion - Groove Check

Sunday 22 January 2017

Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.


I am currently reading and enjoying Born to Run the Bruce Springsteen autobiography which was a Christmas present to myself.
A well written and interesting read following his life and career in chronological order.
It has had me reaching for some of his earlier stuff which has not had an airing for a while.
His 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. for instance.
The original version was returned  by Clive Davies at Columbia Records as it didn't contain a hit single.
Undeterred Brucie quickly rattled off Blinded by the Light and Spirit in the Night in jig time as you do. However, neither charted.

Manfred Mann clearly had an eye for a song as he picked these up and they were both subsequently hits for his Earth Band a few years later

Bruce Springsteen - Blinded By The Light

Bruce Springsteen - Spirit In The Night


Saturday 21 January 2017

These Are For You Mr President

Trump Women in Protective Pose





Dylan Covered - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall


A very convincing win for Bob over Neko Case with Buckets of Rain last week with even the dogs in the Portuguese streets casting their two escudos worth for Mr Zimmerman.
The score is now Bob 8  Cover Artists 5. Is he home and hosed or can this week's contender stop the rot?

A first visit in this series to 1963's  The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan with  A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.
An apt song to "celebrate" the inauguration of President Chump.(America, what have you done?)

Not the Robert Plant verion or the Jimmy Cliff version nor the one by Dunfermline's finest Barbara Dickson. Not even Patti Smith's version at the Nobel Prize Ceremony when she stumbled with the words.
No it is the old lounge lizard himself Bryan Ferry with the song that was his first solo hit single in 1973.

A pretty obvious choice you would have thought except that I couldn't find a version on the shelves. I found him doing It Ain't My Babe but it had to be this one and I ended up parting with hard cash for a version of it.

I'm going for Bryan Ferry as it was the one that introduced me to the song although I think that the single version is much better (seeing as how I was paying for it I forked out for the extra minute or so - which was somewhat foolish of me).
Others, of course, may choose to disagree


Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall

Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Friday 20 January 2017

Celtic Connections -Tom Russell


The first of three Celtic Connections concerts tonight as we are off to see Americana troubadour Tom Russell at St Andrews in the Square.
I don't have much of his stuff only 2004's Indians, Cowboys, Horses , Dogs but anyone who has written songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith, Dave Alvin and Iris DeMent has got to be worth checking out.
The support act is Cera Impala  a banjo player who may or may not be with her band The New Prohibition. I know absolutely nothing about her and I have resisted temptation to check out any of her stuff beforehand.

Oh, and just to clarify it is Tom Russell the Americana  artist we are going to see and not the Godfather of Rock Tom Russell the Radio Clyde and Real Radio DJ as everyone comments on when I mention the name



Tom Russell -Tonight We Ride

Tom Russell - East Texas Red

Thursday 19 January 2017

Shemekia's Got The Blues


I'm struggling a wee bit at the moment for motivation and inspiration for my posts - it is January after all.
So if  you wake up one morning and there is no new CCM post do not despair it won't be far away.

Perhaps I've got the Blues - just like Shemekia Copeland..
Daughter of fellow blues star Johnny Copeland here she is with a couple of numbers from her 2000 album Wicked one of which features the great Ruth Brown.
Don't say I amn't good to you.

Shemekia is actually her middle name. Her first name is Charon. Glad we sorted that out.

Shemekia Copeland - Not Tonight

Shemekia Copeland & Ruth Brown - If He Moves His Lips

Wednesday 18 January 2017

Burnt Offerings 2


First some sad news. I've just learnt that Greg Trooper who I featured last week died on Sunday at the ridiculously young age of 61.
I saw him play once in Glasgow and he was very good. A sad loss.

Hopefully I have not jinxed the series.
If you are standing up sit down. If you are sitting down lie down. If you are lying down stay where you are.
At least one of the artists this week is not Americana.

No, the band pictured above are apparently post- punk and are from Leeds. They are Delta 5 and Now That You're Gone was part of a double A single from 1979 along with Mind Your Own Business .They only lasted as far as 1981.


Delta 5 - Now That You've Gone



I thought that Mendoza Line had appeared before but I was wrong there. Originally from Athens Georgia they ended up in Brooklyn and may or may not be Americana. Their name is derived from a baseball term.
For all things baseball can I refer you to Brian our resident baseball expert.

Mendoza Line -Mysterious in Black


Jeff Finlin is definitely Americana. He has not featured before despite his album Original Fin being on the shelves.Sugar Blue is not from that album but from Life After Death.
I saw him support someone at King Tuts but I can't remember who.

Jeff Finlin - Sugar Blue


Volume 3 next week

Tuesday 17 January 2017

A Single I Never Knew I Had


I'd pulled out Wooden Foot Cops On The Highway  a 1988 album by the Woodentops with a view  to featuring it  today when a 7 inch single fell out of the sleeve.
It contains two of their previous singles from 1985 Move Me and Well Well Well
I gave it a listen (once I realised it was a 33 as opposed to a 45!) and decided that it should feature today with the album being put aside for a later date.
I had absolutely no recollection of ever seeing or playing this single before although  I suspect I must have.
Not sure if I can therefore put it down as a find but it sure feel like one.

The Woodentops - Move Me

The Woodentops - Well Well Well

Monday 16 January 2017

My Introduction to Elvis


I've been with Elvis pretty much since the beginning.
The first of his songs I can recall hearing and the first I purchased was Watching the Detectives a single released on 14th October 1977  which first charted on 5th  November 1977 spending 11 weeks in the charts and peaking at number 15.
Even now that drum beat introduction sends visible shivers running up and down my spine and on any given day I would still list it as one of my top 10 songs by the great man.
The b-side had live versions of Blame It on Cain and Mystery Dance. The single has long since gone so here are the versions from My Aim is True
Watching the Detectives was Elvis Costello's 4th single. Unbelievably the first three Less Than Zero, Alison and (The Angels Wanna Wear My ) Red Shoes did not chart
When you think of some of the pap which has charted this just beggars belief.
Fortunately after this he was up and running.



Sunday 15 January 2017

Standing in the Way of Control


The more eagle eyed among you, and indeed the eagle eared, will have noticed this is not Soul.
The reason -Sunday Soul has been on the go pretty much continuously since September 2013 and I have pretty much run out of material and inspiration.
Rest assured, however, that soul will continue to pop up from time to time but just not in a regular slot.

Today we have Gossip who have been on the go from 1999 but who only really shone briefly and brightly with their 3rd album from 2006 Standing in the Way of Control.
I think it is safe to say that the media did not know what to make of Beth Ditto given that she shattered pretty much every stereotype and cliche for a young female singer. In short, a breath of fresh air.

Gossip -Standing in the Way of Control

Gossip - Eyes Open

CCM had it's 5000th comment yesterday. Thanks to all of you who have taken the trouble to drop a note. It means a lot and makes this all the more worthwhile

Saturday 14 January 2017

Dylan Covered -Buckets of Rain


A narrow win for Bob versus Jason and the Scorchers last week with Absolutely Sweet Marie. Had the vote of George's large dog been allowed to count it would have been a draw!
Clear daylight now between Dylan and the rest with the score now being Bob 7 Cover Artists 5.

I think today is the first time Blood on the Tracks has featured in this series and again Bob is up against an alternative country star this week in the form of Canadian chanteuse Neko Case.
Her version of Buckets of Rain is on one of the Burnt Offerings CDs. I had no information as to it's origin.until I just checked and it is from her Live from Austin,Tx album (excuse the bit at the end)

Another close one this week I suspect..
For me Bob just shades it .The vocals on both are excellent but his version benefits from the minimal musical accompaniment and no jazz interlude.
Others may of course choose to disagree

Bob Dylan - Buckets of Rain

Neko Case - Buckets of Rain

Friday 13 January 2017

Friday Three Names - June Carter Cash


This may well be the last, or one of the last in this series. Not because I've run out of material, more I have run out of steam. It may well be revisited at a later date.

Country royalty today in the form of June Carter Cash -daughter of Maybelle  and Ezra Carter of Carter Family fame, member of Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters , ex-wife of Carl Smith, wife of Johnny Cash, step-mother of Rosanne Cash and mother of Carlene Carter. Oh, and a distant cousin of President Jimmy Carter to boot.

Wildwood Flower was her last studio album released in September 2003 four months after her death and only a few days before the death of Johnny. Recorded when she was 72.
An excuse,  as f there  needed one, to feature the most moving musical video of all time




June Carter Cash -Keep On The Sunny Side

June Carter Cash - Wildwood Flower

Thursday 12 January 2017

Strange Days


I don't know that I've ever posted anything by The Doors before.
I suspect that this may be primarily because apart from the odd song on a compilation here and there the only album I have of theirs is Strange Days their second studio album from  September 1967 the summer of love and all things psychadelia.
Described by music critic Robert Christgau as muscular but misshapen a description guaranteed to pique your interest

Even then it is not the original but a freebie from the Sunday Times. Worry not I did not take the Murdoch shilling. It came courtesy of my mother-in -law.

The Doors - People Are Strange

The Doors - When The Music's Over


Wednesday 11 January 2017

Burnt Offerings 1

Edith

A New Year and a New Series - Burnt Offerings.
From around 2006 to 2008 I put a number of tracks I had downloaded from various blogs onto CD - 32 CD's worth in fact.
The idea is that I will subject you to two or three songs  each week preferably where possible  from artists who have not featured here before.
Before we start I have to admit it is quite Americana heavy particularly on the early ones although it gets a bit more varied later on..
Let's s kick off then with Volume 1 and  Edith Frost from San Antonio with Emergency the first track on her 2005 album It's a Game on Drag City. She describes her music as pensive countrified psychedelia and who am I to disagree.

Edith Frost - Emergency


Greg Trooper is one of those artists who seems to have been about forever but one who unfortunately has never had a breakthrough record.
Here is a brief potted history from the Glasgow Herald Thankfully he appears to be recovering from a cancer scare which makes this song all the more pertinent.

Greg Trooper - Lucky That Way


We finish off with Amy Allison who is the daughter of Jazz legend Mose Allison who sadly passed away recently.
Her genre is country and she has a somewhat unusual nasal tone voice which divides opinions.
Me, I quite like it but in small doses.I suspect that its placement as the last track on BO 1 was no accident.
Baby You're the One is from her 2003 album No Frills Friend.

Amy Allison - Baby You're The One

Volume two next week

George has a copy of all these so he gets Wednesdays off!

Tuesday 10 January 2017

The Prettiest Star


It was a year ago today that the Starman left us to return to space.
Others today will write more eloquent tributes than I ever could and you will find some on the sites listed in the right hand side bar.
Me, I'll listen to the music and maybe cast my eye skyward towards The Prettiest Star

David Bowie -The Prettiest Star

David Bowie - Golden Years (Single Edit)

David Bowie -Young Americans (Single Edit)


Monday 9 January 2017

Jury Out on Julia


Hello Stranger from Julia Holter's album Loud City Song appears on the Best of 2013 compilation I featured the other day.
This prompted me to give her 2015 album Have You  in My Wilderness another listen.
I bought it that year with my Christmas money alongside Gwenno's Y Dydd Olaf and LoneLady's Hinterland and to me it is the weakest of the three.
It has a couple of good tracks such as the one below but so far it has failed to ignite a spark.
Maybe after a few more listens or perhaps maybe not.
I know that many of my blogging colleagues will disagree as it featured in many best of the year lists for 2015

Julia Holter - Hello Stranger

Julia Holter - Sea Calls Me Home


Sunday 8 January 2017

A Defense of the Kane Gang .... of sorts


I own both albums that The Kane Gang recorded 1985's The Bad and Low Down World of the Kane Gang and 1987's Miracle.
Until now they had not been played this century and should I ever have to cull my record collection they would be among the first to go.
I would have got round to The Staple Singers eventually but they accelerated the process and for that I suppose I owe them a debt of gratitude.
I cannot forgive them for being responsible for the Ooh Gary Davies jingle on Radio One though.

The Kane Gang - Respect Yourself

The Staple Singers - Respect Yourself

The Kane Gang - Closest Thing to Heaven

Saturday 7 January 2017

Dylan Covered - Absolutely Sweet Marie


We are back to the Saturday slot this week and back to Blonde On Blonde.
A narrow victory for Bob last time out against a well received Nanci Griffith with Boots of Spanish Leather.
The scores on the doors are therefore now Bob 6 Cover Artists 5.

Another Country artist is up for the challenge this week albeit one slightly more alternative than Nanci.
A demo by Jason and the Scorchers of Absolutely Sweet Marie which I have on the Uncut: Radio Radio compilation but which comes  from 2002's Wildfires and Misfires:Two Decades of Outtakes and Rarities on the Blue Rose label..
The raw energy of the Scorchers version swings it for me.
Others may choose to disagree

Bob Dylan - Absolutely Sweet Marie

Jason & the Scorchers - Absolutely Sweet Marie (Demo)

Friday 6 January 2017

Friday Three Names - James Dean Bradfield


I had to double check that James Dean Bradfield was in fact his real name  and that no nickname was involved and  that appears to be the case.
He has the added bonus of playing with a three named band Manic Street Preachers.
An English Gentleman is taken from his only solo studio album The Great Western from 2006 and is a tribute to their late publicist Philip Hall.
The other two are from the Manics. I had a copy of their version of Suicide is Painless on a tape with no name attributed  to it and it took me ages to discover who it was by (this being in the days before the internet) We'll dedicate it to William Christopher who was Father Mulcahy in M*A*S*H*  and who died on Hogmanay.
Is it just me or is there a passing resemblance to Harry Enfield in that picture?

James Dean Bradfield - An English Gentleman

Manic Street Preachers - Suicide Is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H*)


Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness

Thursday 5 January 2017

Sun is Shining


A bit of a snapper weather wise is forecast for this morning round these parts - a few degrees below freezing.
So what better to reach for than a Mojo compilation - Sun is Shining -15 Reggae Summer Scorchers?

We will be warm in spirit if nothing else and hopefully the frost bitten toes will soon start tapping.
Toots and The Maytals have featured here before but somewhat criminally Bob Marley and the Wailers haven't.
By way of an apology here is 11 minutes and 32 seconds of Exodus live
Movement of Jah people

Toots & the Maytals - Funky Kingston

Bob Marley & the Wailers -Exodus (live)

Wednesday 4 January 2017

Back On The Chain Gang


Back to work today after nearly two weeks of eating too much, drinking too much and long lies.
Back to a department where all the good work and teamwork since 2010 has been systematically destroyed over the last year - joy of joys!
Indeed it would be safe to say that my motivation is Less Than Zero.

I've never been a huge fan of the Pretenders although I do think Chrissie Hynde is pretty cool
The only album of theirs I have is a charity shop acquired Greatest Hits. The nearest I came to seeing them was sitting outside the Free Trade pub in Newcastle whilst music from a concert they were holding in Gateshead wafted over the Tyne.

A belated  Happy New Year to all my fellow Chain Gangers

The Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang

Elvis Costello - Less Than Zero

Tuesday 3 January 2017

Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 2013



My first charity shop purchase of the year was Mojo -2013 The Best of the Year.
I have been accused of living in the past and on this basis I can't offer up much of an argument.

Some reasonably good stuff. I was stuck between Bill Callaghan and Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle.
Bill Callaghan has not featured before but Mark Kozelek has so Bill should probably get the nod.
However as I am still in holiday mode you are getting them both.

Roy Harper's January Man is perhaps not the best song on the CD but I couldn't really not post it

Bill Callahan - The Sing

Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavelle - Gustavo

Roy Harper - January Man

Monday 2 January 2017

My Last Purchase of 2016


One day in between Christmas and New Year (don't ask me which day of the week as I have no idea) I popped into my local Oxfam music shop with a view to picking up some goodies.
It was lean pickings I'm afraid and I only came away with the one album Lonesome Pine by the Lonesome Strangers from 1988 and on Special Delivery Records
Not a band I knew at all but I was attracted by a sticker that stated Produced by Pete Anderson/ Independant Country.
Anyone who is produced by Pete Anderson and who can't spell is surely worth a punt.
Further investigation revealed that the lead singer was one Randy Weeks who I had seen live on a couple of occasions many years ago.
The internet later told me that Randy and fellow band member Jeff Rymes provided backing vocals on one of the greatest ever albums of all time  Buenos Noches from a Lonely Room by Dwight Yoakam another Pete Anderson production. That would have totally sold the deal.

Verdict - pleasant if hardly startling Californian honky- tonk Country and well worth the punt.

The Lonesome Strangers - The One Who Wore My Ring

The Lonesome Strangers - 8-Ball

Sunday 1 January 2017

The First Record Played in 2017


At this time of the year I often think that I should try and keep a log of all the records  played in the year.
I never do safe in the knowledge that I would give up after about a week.

If I was to do so for 2017 the first record would be Catching a Tiger by Lissie followed swiftly by Traces  from Karine Polwart, If Wishes Were Horses by Kris Drever and Grit by Martyn Bennett.

Not a bad way to kick start the year I'm sure you'll agree

Lissie - Bully

Lissie - Little Lovin'

New Years Day Homage


As is  traditional on New Years Day at Charity Chic Music we pay tribute to two great artists who both died on January 1st.
Sure 2016 saw a lot of heroes fall but many had fallen before them.
The greatest country singer of them all the Hillbilly Shakespeare Hank Williams fell on the 1st of January 1953 aged just 29.
Another country superstar Townes Van Zandt fell on the 1st of January 1997 aged 52

Both are hopefully still Honky Tonkin' in a better place.

Happy 2017 to you and yours.

Hank Williams - Honky Tonkin'

Townes Van Zandt - Honky Tonkin'