40 Year Itch : Hill Country Honky Tonk

Presidio, Texas, 1975 by Stephen Shore

Guy Clark : Rita Ballou

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    By the time Guy Clark released his critically praised 1975 debut, Old No 1, his song "L.A. Freeway" had already been a hit for Jerry Jeff Walker. Walker had also recorded "Desperados Waiting For the Train".  It's an album full of characters and moments straight out of Clark's life spent in a small West Texas town called Monahans where he was raised by his grandmother who owned a small hotel. Clark enlisted a few stars to help him with the debut, including Randy Crowell, Emmylou Harris and Sammi Smith. This is country without strings attached and that may have been one of the reasons countrypolitan soaked country radio ignored what is now considered a classic. For more information ( and more mp3's) check out this post from The Rising Storm.

40 Year Itch: Those We Missed from Nov '73

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"Mr Bojangles" songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker's Viva Terlingua! must have offered Jimmy Buffet a blueprint for the rest of his career. It's full of good-time, hangover-healing progressive country tunes including the legendary Ray Wylie Hubbard satiric number "Up Against the Wall Red Neck Mother". Other "must hears" are Guy Clark's "Desperadoes Waiting For a Train" and Gary P. Nunn's Austin City Limits anthem "London Homesick Blues" with its unforgettable refrain "I want to go home with the armadillo..."

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Somehow, despite constant touring, Irish blues rocker Rory Gallagher found the time to write nine new tunes and record them with his well-honed, now semi-telepathic band. Here's a great starting place to get yourself hooked on this amazing talent, who should be mentioned in the same breath as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.

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With the help of Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover as producer, Nazareth broke out in a big way in 1973, releasing the hard rocking Razamanaz followed by Loud 'n' Proud. The rollicking UK#11 single "This Flight Tonight" barely resembles Joni Mitchell's original. There's also a trudging cover of Dylan's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown." The Scottish hard rockers would finally seduce US audiences in 1973 with the two-million selling Hair of the Dog

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On the band's fifth album, Carlos Santana continues his jazzier explorations with the help of John McLaughlin, Alice Coltrane and smooth vocalist Leon Thomas. Gone for good were teenage guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Gregg Rolie . They would form Journey. Critics still found ways to rave ("Carlos..has never played better"; "good themes, good  playing, good beat") but fans of Santana's Latin rock sounds were starting to wander away. Still, Welcome went gold.

                   

                                                                           

                                                                           
                   
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       The heartbreaking photos on the cover say more about the state of the George Jones Tammy Wynette marriage than the songs. The title cut topped the Country charts while the novelty tune "(We're not) The Jet Set" remains an all-time fan favorite.

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              Before the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack was released in 2007 ( selling nearly 8 million copies to date), this two-LP from Bill Monroe's bluegrass festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana was THE bluegrass album to own if you were only going to own one. The CD release offers selections from Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass and more of the top bluegrass acts of the day.

                                                         

40 Year Itch : 1972 in Twang, Part 1

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Released originally as an eight-track called All American Music in 1972, this obscure recording really did become legendary when band mates Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and Joe Ely found success later in their careers. The guy who played musical saw did not become famous...and my ears still can't get used to the sound. But More a Legend Than a Band deserves its cult status thanks to songs like "Dallas", "Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown" and "One Day at a Time".

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The man who wrote "Mr Bojangles" has by now shed his folksinger persona for that of a Texas dope smoking chilled out  party animal...who wakes up some mornings with short lived regrets. Recorded in both NYC and Austin, Walker is backed by a superb band that makes "laid back" actually rock.

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This song may be the biggest gem of the post. Unfairly, Willis Alan Ramsey is best known for writing "Muskrat Candlight" which became "Muskrat Love" for both America and Captain and Tennille. He recorded one perfect album at the age of 21 and has yet to make a follow-up. ( Willis asks "What's wrong with the first one?")

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 Country singer Steve Young is best known for writing the title track of the 1972 album Seven Bridges Road, which was covered by The Eagles on their 1980 live album. When looking for the origins of "outlaw country" you might just want to start here.

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 Linda Ronstadt, the singer's third solo album, is a mixed bag. Some sweet country covers ("I Fall To Pieces", "I Still Miss Someone") and a number of singer songwriting gems ( Jackson Browne's "Rock Me On The Water", Neil Young's "Birds"). Most notable, because the backing band --made up of Glenn Fry, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner --became The Eagles.