You'll Had Had Your T

One of my best Internet discoveries has been Tim Crane A.K.A T Bird with his band the Breaks
Based in Austin they produce a big band sound which I would describe as a more Bluesy Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - high praise indeed
Other than that I don't really know much more about them other than they are well worth checking out.
From the list of albums on their web site they seem to be pretty prolific
This track is taken from the 2008 album Learn About It

T Bird & the Breaks - Blackberry Brandy

Bloodshot Tuesday 3

This week's featured artists hail from Kansas City , Missouri and play  wonderful drink soaked and misery tinged honky tonk country music.
One reviewer accurately describes them as being in the beers and tears vein of classic country.
They are the aptly named Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys and this song is from their 2002 album Your Favorite Fool (BS094)

Rex is known to his mom and pop as Scott and the Misery Boys are J.B. Morris, Solomon Hofer, Blackjack Snow (superb name!)and T.C. Dobbs (not Tyrone from Coronation Street, I suspect)
The album is produced by Pate Anderson of Dwight Yoakam fame
A band that does what it says on the tin

Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys - You've Got Some Cheating To Do

Saints Preserve Us

I've driven through Saint Etienne the French city between Lyon and Toulouse.

From memory it was quite industrial and not particularly picturesque. Indeed it is the home of the French bicycle making industry.

The local football team AS Saint-Etienne graced Glasgow's Hampden Park in the European Cup Final in 1976 losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich

The Croyden band of Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs also go by the same moniker (a more sexy and sophisticated name than Croydon - I'm sure you'll agree) and produce some not unpleasant indie/dance tunes which have a nice summer feel to them
Too Yong to Die -Singles 1990-1995 purchased Saturday - Chest, Heart and Stroke

Saint Etienne - Only love Can Break Your Heart

Saint Etienne - You're In a Bad Way

Pat and Lolly

Pat and Lolly Vegas were the mainstays of the Native American/Mexican American rock group Redbone who had hits with Come and Get Your love and The Witch Queen of New Orleans.
More importantly, however, they were the backing band for Jim Ford on Harlan County -see yesterday's post.

The sleevenotes for Harlan County have a picture of the cover of Pat and Lolly Vegas at the Haunted House (above) from 1966 and and on the strength of this , not surprisingly , it was high up on my wish list for many years.
Thanks to the power of the Internet I eventually obtained a copy on CD and frankly it was a wee bit of a disappointment.
It is a mixture of bog standard covers of songs such as In The Midnight Hour, Papa's Got a Brand New Bag and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction and a few of their own compositions a couple of which feature here.
Still it's got a fantastic cover!

Pat and Lolly Vegas - Keep Me Up Tight

Pat and Lolly Vegas - Any Old Time

Harlan County

Jim Ford's song Harlan County shot to relative prominence when championed by Andy Kershaw and even appearing on Kershaw's compilation album "Great Moments in Vinyl History"
An interesting and strange character is our Mr Ford
He was kicking around in the 60's and 70's writing and performing country, pop and R&B.
His only album Harlan County was published in 1969 re-released by Demon in 1997
When Nick Lowe was in Brinsley Schwarz in the early 70's they were roped in to back Ford on a proposed follow up to Harlan County
"We spent 3 days trying to play with Jim " says Lowe "but frankly we weren't good enough"
He wrote a couple of songs for Bobby Womack including Happy Hippie
Mr Ford had a penchant for narcotic substances as the second song pretty much alludes to and was found dead in his trailer home by the Mendocino County Sheriff's department on November 18th 2007
If you do not already own Harlan County you should rectify that at the earliest opportunity.


Jim Ford - Harlan County

Jim Ford - Dr Handy's Dandy Candy

The Law of Diminishing Returns

Darlene Love born on 26th July 1938

Mick Jagger born on 26th July 1943

Roger Taylor from Queen born on 26th July 1949

Gerry Cherone from Boston, Terri Nunn from Berlin AND Charity Chic born on 26th July 1961

The Law of Diminishing Returns!

Altered Images - Happy Birthday

Lawyers, Guns and Money

The late, great Warren Zevon may well have been writing about the Vinyl Villian -Blogger take note

Zevon was a terrific songwriter with such songs as Werewolves of London , Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner and of course the mighty Carmelita.
However, perhaps his most powerful piece of work was his album The Wind recorded shortly before his premature death at the age of 56
I defy anyone to listen to this and not get a lump in their throat from Knocking on Heaven's Door and in particular Keep Me in Your Heart.

What we need JC is Lawyers, Guns and Money!

Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns and Money