A Truer Halloween Part 2: ...Revenge of The Witch Puppy

Witch puppy is back and he's pissed! Spooky Spooky x 2!

1. Rabid Monkey - The Sadies
2. Dark Night - Flat Duo Jets
3. Wicked Old Witch - John Fogerty
4. Vampire Lake - The Builders & The Butchers
5. The Plank - Devil Makes Three
6. Am I Demon? - Bonnie Prince Billy
7. The Curse of The Little Bastard - Dexter Romweber
8. Walking On My Grave - The Cartwrights
9. Graveyard Song - I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In the House
10. Vampires & Failures - Grandpa Boy
11. The Haunt - Roky Erickson
12. Ghost On The Highway - The Gun Club
13. Hell's Gate - Jason & The Scorchers
14. Vampire - Bap Kennedy
15. Werewolves Of London - Magnolia Electric Co.
16. Devil's Stomping Ground - Southern Culture On The Skids
17. Walkin' With Scary Hillbilly Monsters - Dexter Romweber
18. Hanged Man - The Meat Purveyors
19. Mr. Undertaker - Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
20. It's A Monster's Holiday - Buck Owens
21. Pardon This Coffin - Jon Rauhouse
22. Night Walk - The Country Gentlemen
23. Werewolf - Michael Hurley
24. The Hellbound Train - Those Poor Bastards
25. The Lost Soul - The Handsome Family

MP3

A Truer Halloween 2

Free Music Alert: Lost Highway Records Sampler

The folks over at Lost Highway Records have decided to make a sampler of some of their artists free through Amazon.com. Sampler included tracks from the latest releases of Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen, Ryan Bingham, and one of my favorite artists to emerge this year, soul man Black Joe Lewis (he's damn good folks). Did I miss anyone.....oh yeah, this sampler also includes an unreleased Hayes Carll track!

Get it while it's free

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Highway-Sampler-Texas-Tennessee/dp/B002T9ZI70

From The Archives: A Truer Halloween

It's that time of year again folks. Vol. 2 coming up later this week


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This just in, a special halloween edition sampler for your hearin' ears. Spooky spooky!!

01-The Sadies-The Creepy Butler
02-CCR-Sinister Purpose
03-Frank Carlier-Hellbound
04-Supersuckers-Sleepy Vampire
05-Blanche-Superstition
06-David Childers and The Modern Don Juans-Burning In Hell
07-David Alan Coe-The Ride
08-Drive-By Truckers-Demonic Possession
09-Freakwater-Cloak of Frogs
10-The Meat Purveyors-I Have A Devil In Me
11-The Sadies-Lucifer Sam (with Gary Louris)
12-Southern Culture on the Skids-Tombstone Shadow
13-Wil Ridge-Devil's Toenail
14-Trailer Bride-Ghost on the Highway
15-Hank III-Satan Is Real/Straight To Hell (Medley)
16-The Sadies-Locust Eater
17-Tony Joe White-Conjure Woman
18-Blue Mountain-My Wicked, Wicked Ways
19-Bobby Bare-Marie Laveau
20-William Elliott Whitmore-Diggin' My Grave
21-Split Lip Rayfield-Devil
22-Songs Ohia-I've Been Riding With The Ghost
23-Christa Meyer & Jon Langford-The Hangman's Song

MP3
A Truer Halloween

Wayne Hancock - Live on KUT '94 & 10-10 Demo

You ever get a hankering for some classic sounding honky tonk music? The kind of country that sounds like it's being played in some post-WWII juke joint full of ex-servicemen drinking their GI Bill away. Well I just might have the cure for that, and it's called Wayne "The Train" Hancock. To compare Wayne Hancock to Hank Williams would be the easy way out....but really....it's the best comparison. He has THAT sound. Hank III said of him "Wayne Hancock has more Hank Sr. in him than either I or Hank Williams Jr. He is the real deal."

He is a man born 40 years too late, had he been recording in the 50's no doubt he would have been hanging out at Tootsie's with Ernest Tubb in between his Opry performances and on the top of the "hillbilly" charts.

This set is a radio show from '94, and a demo tape that was circulated in 95. Both predating his first album (and my personal favorite) Thunderstorms & Neon Signs released in 1995. Sound quality on both is excellent, and the band is in top shape. A must have recording for fans of hard core honky tonk. Also fans of Justin Townes Earle's throwback country sound may want to check this out as well.

Wayne has a new album out this year called Viper Of Melody, and if you like this you will certainly like the new album. Wayne is pretty consistent with his releases, they always scratch that classic country itch.

MP3

Wayne Hancock - KUT '94 & 10-10 Demo

Free Music Alert: Sons of Bill - Live at The Windjammer

This was brought to my attention by Twangville via The 9513. You guys have heard me talk about Sons of Bill on here before, and one day I will get around to writing a real review of their newest album One Town Away. The band has decided however to make available a live show from August 16th of this year on their site. No registering, just a straight download (you can stream it too).

Download Live at The Windjammer here

They have also made available for folks who support them by coming to their shows, another live download from a show on Sept. 15th if you have the password that is given out at their concerts. Even if you don't have the password, they still make two tracks from that show free for download.

Seasick Steve - Never Go West (Vid) & Free EP alert!

Oh man I just found out that Seasick Steve released a new album this week! Very excited about this, his album Started Out With Nothing (And Still Got Most Of It Left) was a favorite from last year. His new album is called Man From Another Time and expect it to be just as killer! I don't think I've talked about Seasick Steve on here before, but I know you guys would dig him. Especially you folks who dig Scott H. Biram. Seasick Steve is to Scott H. Biram, what The Flying Burrito Brothers were to The Eagles....that is, a purer form of the same art.

While you are on his site, you can click to recieve a free live EP from earlier this year (just register your email). I just got mine and it's something you are going to want to download!....can't beat the price anyway!

Here is a clip from earlier this week of one of the new songs.....man I love the hell out of this guy!

Concert Report: James McMurtry @ Attitudes in Blacksburg, VA 10/17/09

Well let me do a quick write-up about this. For those who have seen McMurtry perform you folks already know it was a killer show. Everyone I've ever talked to as a matter of fact who has seen McMurtry live all say he is amazing. This concert, friends, was no different.

A rare treat for us in the New River Valley to have a performer of this caliber come to town, and also my first McMurtry show. James said he had been trying to get down to Blacksburg for years, as he grew up in Loudon County Virginia, and he said half of his friends went to college at Virginia Tech. We are glad he finally got here. The place was small and in a holiday inn (or was it a mariott) and there were only maybe 70 people there, but every one of them was a McMurtry fan. Some came from West Virginia, Roanoke, North Carolina, even Kentucky. It was a pretty good mix of people from intellectuals familiar with McMurtry's NPR features, to old hippies from Floyd, VA, to rowdy hell raisers happy to partake in the $1 PBR special (this being the camp I myself most closely fell). One group suspiciously absent though were students...hmm...their loss.

When McMurtry and The Heartless Bastards took the stage as a power trio, the dance floor filled and the band kicked into Bayou Tortous (Tortue??) [watch a clip of Bayou Tortous].

The energy of the show was incredible, and later in the show we found out why. During his rousing (and I mean ROUSING!) rendition of crowd favorite (by crowd I mostly mean me) Choctaw Bingo he riffed that they had just gotten back to the states from the UK the day before, and it's good to see some people moving their asses for a change! He then tagged on "they're good people they just don't move". Everyone was moving at this place, in fact Choctaw built to such a climax he could have easily lead us all happily dancing and grooving into the mouth of a fiery volcano....it was that kind of concert! [watch a clip of Choctaw Bingo]

While the concert was mostly a rowdy ass rock show including killer versions of Red Dress, Too Long in The Wasteland, and my new favorite Lobo Town, (which goes with my theory that the rowdiness of a show is inversely proportional to the price of beer at said show), he did play a couple slow ones. These were Ruby and Carlos, which he played solo and Hurricane Party. Mostly though it was high octane McMurtry and The Heartless Bastards, who he quipped were going to have to change their name because "that band from Ohio has gotten too big". He then dubbed the band James McMurtry and The Motherfuckers, which he didn't think was taken yet. Someone in the crowd yelled "Go Motherfuckers go!", and that's the best way to sum up this show.....Go motherfucker go!

Here is a full clip of Hurricane party, the only song I captured in full (click the other links above to see short clips)

Album Review: Wrinkle Neck Mules - Let The Lead Fly [10/20 Lower40 Records]

Well here is probably my most anticipated album of the year. You guys have heard me talk about for a few months now, ever since I found out about it no less. Well I'm here to tell you, if you are already a fan of Wrinkle Neck Mules this album does not let down! It is everything a Wrinkle Neck Mules album should be....teemed to the brim and overflowing with sweet americana (or whatever they are calling it nowadays) sounds that are as unique as they are familiar.

Now this may not be the most objectionable review, fact is I love the Wrinkle Neck Mules. I think they should be at the top of the american/alt-country whatever heap, and the fact that they are not still baffles me. These guys, and this album is a damn fine representation of that....they should win awards for this album! Get some wider recognition at the very least. The instrumentation, the songwriting, the arrangements, all of it top notch.

Now let's talk about the songs a minute here. The tracks alternate pretty consistently between what I like to call smooth twangers and rugged twangers. I wish I could tell you who's singing what songs, but I just don't know. The one guy has the rugged southern drawl, and the other has the smooth southern drawl, and I'm pretty sure there is a third guy in there too. Regardless, the sequencing plays like a great boxer continuously hitting you with one-two punches. Let The Lead Fly picks up where 2007's Wicks Have Met left off, while also bringing back some of the more traditional aspects of 2006's Pull The Brake. The result is a damn fine album, with songs like "Fortune Fades" recalling "Cadillac Limosine", "Catfish & Color TV's" recalling "Okeechobee", and "Before The Rise and Fall" recalling "The Wicks Have Met". But that is greatly simplifying things. Fact is this is a band consisting of many talented individuals who somehow manage to pull themselves together as a single band and make albums that keep getting better.

I said earlier in this review that this album is everything a Wrinkle Neck Mules album should be....I would like to recant that and say that Let The Lead Fly is everything an AMERICANA album should be! So if you are a fan of classic alt-country like Uncle Tupelo & Son Volt, a fan of good old fashioned country rock like the Byrds and The Burritos, a fan of bluegrass and country that's not afraid to rock, or just a fan of damn good music in general.....this album is for you. It's a damn fine album and I'll stand by that!

Buy Let The Lead Fly here (out tomorrow, first 100 pre-orders get a special "lead-ed" edition)

Official Site - Myspace - Facebook

Listen to Wrinkle Neck Mules - Waters All Run Dry here

Listen to Wrinkle Neck Mules - One Hand In The Furnace here

Listen to Wrinkle Neck Mules - Before The Rise and The Fall here

Goin' to see McMurtry tonight - Fireline Road (Vid)

so for those who can't make it, here's another of my McMurtry faves:

From The Archives: Manassas - Live In Amsterdam 1972

I'm re-posting this because there is a new Manassas album out you may not be aware of. It's called Pieces, and it consists unreleased tracks and outtakes from the sessions of Manassas' only two albums, 1971's Manassas, and 1972's Down The Road. Word is the album is part of a series that Stephen Stills (Manassas' front man) started releasing with last years Just Roll Tape, and will include a box set and even some session recordings with Hendrix.

This news and Neil Young archives means it's a great time to be a country rock fan!

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I'm pulling this from another blog, I found it in the archives a while back.....and man this is just a phenomenal bootleg. Manassas was a vastly under-rated country rock band consisting of most notably, the mighty Stephen Stills and Chris Hillman (ex-byrd, founding member of the burrito brothers) . This is their inaugural concert as the band Manassas according to the insert (which is not in the download, but can be found here). They run through some of the Manassas songs, some Stills songs, some CSNY songs and even a Byrds song, a Burritos song, and a Buffalo Springfield song. Download this if you like vintage country rock sounds, you will not be dissapointed. (and a thanks to Zen Archer @ The Clock That Went Backwards for this one)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manassas_(band)

Manassas - Live In Amsterdam 1972