odds and ends: Roger Miller etc...

well the Roger Miller was a big hit....this surprised me actually. You guys never let me down. So now I get a chance to pretend I'm a music blogger, and well if there is one thing music bloggers love to do it's talk about their record collections. Being able to show pictures of your vast vinyl library is the ultimate music blogger cred. It's the equivalent of shanking a nazi in prison culture. And if you happen to have some super rare out of print limited edition french edition with a misprint on the cover.....oh hell.....you are like music blogger God!

So with that said.....here are some pictures of my sweet record collection :P

Now since I've posted that Roger Miller show I've been on a big Roger Miller kick....matter of fact it's about all I've been playing down in my secret lab whilst building my mom's mother's day gift. While burning through the grooves and wood, one song in particular stuck out, it's called Private John Q, and it's about a reluctant soldier fighting World War III. A song as apt today as ever. I can just hear this song being used in the opening credits of some kick ass war movie.....like say the new Tarantino flick Inglorious Basterds.....
Roger Miller - Private John Q

While I'm at it I thought I would post my favorite Roger Miller tune, the absurd My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died
Roger Miller - My Uncle Used To Love Me But She Died

Now I said about all I've been playing has been Roger Miller, well since I heard of Vern Gosdin's passing I've also been playing this bad boy

Now I am an unashamed fan of 70's country music.....Don Williams, Hank Jr., Johnny Lee, Eddie Rabbit, you know all of the "Urban Cowboy" type country that I'm not supposed to admit I like (there goes my recently aquired music blogger cred!!). Well this album, Vern's first solo album from 1977 has that sound in spades. At the end of the 60's after a couple albums with his brother (as the Gosdin Brothers), most notably a seminal album with country rock legend Gene Clark, Vern had tired of the music scene and was running a glass company in Atlanta, Georgia. Lore has it that Emmylou Harris convinced him to record again in 1976 and this album is the outcome....this album was the springboard that led him to become a country hitmaker throughout the 80's. Well anyway, if you want to know more about Vern "The Voice" Gosdin I suggest you read his bio on his official website.

So here are two of my favorite tracks off the above pictured album....the ode to country music herself....."Mother Country Music", and maybe my favorite version of the classic Harlan Howard song "The Chokin' Kind" (that's saying a lot right there, but hey, I love this funky smooth country soul version)
Vern Gosdin - Mother Country Music
Vern Gosdin - The Chokin' Kind

Thanks for "the voice" Vern.....R.I.P.

Roger Miller - Live at The Birchmere (Alexandria VA 2/16/91)

"Now wait a dern minute..." I can hear you guys saying, "....I thought this was supposed to be all about the outlaw country?" Well in my opinion Roger Miller laid the ground work for what became known as "outlaw country". "What?" you say....stay with me here....for one Roger shared and apartment with Johnny Cash in the early 60's, legend has it they took a lot of pills and wrote a lot of songs. Another is he's was one of Willie Nelson's best friends. Did you know Roger Miller was the first person to record Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee"?. Not only that but Kristofferson's first couple of records have more than a subtle hint of Roger Miller influence running throughout. Waylon's obviously a fan too, as he covered Been A Long Time Leaving on the previously mentioned Dreaming My Dreams album. He hung with George Jones during those early years, wrote the song Tall Tall Trees for him (later covered by Alan Jackson).

If you're not familar with Roger Miller you are probably familiar with some of his songs. King of The Road has been used in many man movies and commercials, most famously a Burger King commercial from the late 90's. Walking In The Sunshine was used recently for some credit card fast pass commercial that lot's are sure to recognize. Oh yeah and then there was that stint he did in Disney's Robin Hood (probalby my favorite Disney movie), where he voiced the Rooster/Narrater/Balladeer and sang the impossible to get out of your head ooh-da-lally song.

If his song titles don't clue you in, listen to this show and it will become obvious that Roger doesn't take himself too serious. In that affect you could call him the proto-Todd Snider.....definitely a good comparison can be made between the two. Now that we have worked our way up to alt-country, it's worth mentioning that The Sadies & Neko Case have covered his songs, numerous others I can't think of off the top of my head. Anyway, if there is one thing this world needs more of is live Roger Miller...and certainly more Roger Miller talk in the "blogosphere".

An afterthought, in this show, he talks about relaunching his career, sadly he never did as he died a little over a year later on Oct. 25th 1992....RIP

Oh, BTW, this is a killer show, great sound.....when I started listening to it I didn't even realize it was from 1991, I thought it was vintage from the 60's.....his voice sounds EXACTLY like it did back then.

MP3 @ 192

Roger Miller - Live At The Birchmere

Oops, sorry. Here is the missing track: Roger Miller - Don't We All Have The Right To Be Wrong Now And Then