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 Country Music

1972 was the year 13-year old Tanya Tucker hit the Top 5 with "Delta Dawn". The Fan Fair debuted and Opryland USA opened in Nashville. Countrypolitan was still dominating country music radio-- string sections replacing fiddles and steel guitars. And it was a good year for cross-overs from country to the pop charts especially for newcomer Donna Fargo and Mac Davis.

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Johnny Cash is on a roll with his network TV show, White House concerts and recent marriage to June. He celebrates the latter with his 38th album A Thing Called Love which includes his wedding song " I Promise You".

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Here's another wedding song. This one, written by Donna Fargo, almost went to 13 year old starlet Tanya Tucker. Good thing for both of them that Tanya wound up recording "Delta Dawn". "Happiest Girl" made Donna Fargo a cross-over a star. She followed it with another smash hit "Funny Face".

1972 was a good year for Merle Haggard. Then California Governor Ronald Reagan pardoned The Hag for his past crimes ( including burglary, robbery, and  larceny) And Haggard released Let Me Tell You About a Song featuring two #1 hits ( "Daddy Frank", "Grandma Harp") as well as the ground-breaking "Irma Jackson", a song about an interracial romance.

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The writer of the 6 million selling single "Harper Valley PTA", Tom T Hall hit #1 on his own with "(Old Dogs, Children And) Watermelon". The single , released in November of 1972, is a true account of a conversation Hall had with a old black janitor at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami.

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George and Tammy renewed their vows on the album Me And The First Lady in the song "The Ceremony". Jones was already such an erratic a performer he was earning the nickname "No Show" Jones. Tammy, on the other hand, at earned the title "First Lady of Country Music".

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The same year the Hag released "Irma Jackson", Buck Owens made his first #1 in three years with his own song about an interracial romance. "Made in Japan" is about a girl "made in Japan". Recorded with The Buckaroos, it features a steel guitar which seemed to be an endangered sound on Country radio at the time.

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Dolly Parton was on a hit making streak in the early 70's both as a solo artist and with Porter Wagoner. Although some country stations, citing "sexually suggestive lyrics",  refused to play the title cut of her 1972 album Touch Your Woman, the single still hit #6 on the country charts. I guess following it up with the album cut "A Lot Of You Left In Me" was a non-starter.