Hi
I recently subscribed to P2 and have followed the various debates and
discussions of the past couple of weeks with interest and not a little
envy, particularly the one on tape trading. Tape trading?!!? Jeez,
where I come from (Durban in South Africa) finding the new Steve Earle,
or even the last Emmylou, in a local record store less than a year after
its release - and often even at all -is a small miracle. Getting hold
of anything more exotic involves more hard work than you guys in
America, or England, or Europe, or Australia, or .. can imagine.
Live performances are, of course, out of the question, though I may just
be the only P2-er to have seen the Byrds live with Gram-replacement
roadie Carlos Bernal in tow - the infamous 1968 safari. Bernal spent
the entire show with his back to the audience, except for a couple of
brief moments when he seemed either totally bewildered or hopelessly
stoned, or both. Whatever, he definitely didn't know all the chords.
I guess not many of us can claim first hand experience of so off the
wall a rock 'n' roll footnote.
As a fanatical teenager, I loved it all, but my next local live gig on
the twang-ish front was Kinky Friedman nearly thirty years later. A
trip to Austin last year helped, and I'll die happy having seen Emmylou
at the New Orleans jazzfest, but next time you're wondering whether
Wilco (whose latest album still hasn't hit our shelves, even as a
high-priced import, which is the only way we get anything decent anyway)
still qualifies as whatever the latest term for country-rock is, think
of us down here in the boondocks. There are a few of us who'd pay to
watch them sing unaccompanied whaling songs.
Nevertheless, things aren't all hopeless. I've been writing about music
for fifteen years or so and have made a point of plugging the
extraordinary, no matter where it comes from. For the last five years
I've been broadcasting on national radio and playing everything, from
Albanian goat-herding songs to John Zorn, that no-one else will. And,
surprise! There are more people than you might imagine who have started
to listen and enjoy.
I love a vast range of music, but I keep coming back to Townes and the
Stanley Brothers.
Among the programmes I've compiled and presented was a thirteen part
series on a highly personal choice of "cult heroes of rock 'n' roll"
which included individual programmes on Alex Chilton, Syd Barrett, Nick
Drake, Gram Parsons, Richard Thompson, Velvet Underground, Ry Cooder,
England's On-U Sound label, New Zealand's Flying Nun label, the
Go-Betweens and the Triffids, Tim Buckley, the CBGBs antecedents and
offshoots, and the Nuggets-era garage bands.
If you're in South Africa at any stage, and are wondering where the hell
to hear interesting music on the radio, you might check out my current
show, entitled Roots To Fruits, on Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. on SAfm -
104 to 107. Not much of interest in the radio station's library, of
course, so it all comes from my own collection, or, occasionally, that
of friends. Since I've enjoyed reading the playlists posted on P2 every
week, I thought I'd post mine from time to time, so here goes, backdated
for a few weeks:
14 Feb.
JOE ELY - Musta Notta Gotta Lotta (request)
THE FLATLANDERS - Dallas
ECK ROBERTSON - Brilliancy Medley
DENNIS McGEE - Blues De Texas
BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON - You'll Need Somebody On Your Bond
BOB BROZMAN - Devil's Slide
TARRAS - Da Fields O' Foula (UK)
RACHID TAHA - Ya Rayah (Algeria)
PIERRE BENSUSAN - La Femme Cambree (France)
NIBS VAN DER SPUY - Minedump Surfing (South Africa)
DANNY DE WET THE LOWVELD GARAGE BAND - Love In A Pill (South Africa)
GLEE CLUB - Playing Guitar In An All Girl Band (South Africa)
SUNWAYS - Standstill (South Africa)
HABIB KOITE - Sirata (Mali)
NATALIE McMASTER - The Drunken Piper (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia)
21 Feb.
BATTLEFIELD BAND - Reels : The Jolly Old Gardener set
ANDY M.STEWART - The Gaberlunzieman
DAVE ALVIN - Blackjack David
HAZEL DICKENS ALICE GERRARD - Won't You Come And Sing For Me
GUY CLARK - Dublin Blues
STANLEY BROTHERS - Handsome Molly
RALPH STANLEY BOB DYLAN - Lonesome River
LUCINDA WILLIAMS - The Night's Too Long
THE BAND - W.S.Walcott Medicine Show (Rock Of Ages version)
MERCURY REV - Opus 40
THE GOURDS - Piss And Moan Blues
HABIB KOITE BAMADA - Wassiye (Mali)
AMADOU ET MARIAM - Dounia (Mali)
SALAMAT - Lau Elreida (Egypt/Sudan)
28 Feb. (The banjo and its relatives)
FLATT SCRUGGS - Foggy Mountain Breakdown
BILL MONROE - Sailor's Hornpipe
JERRY DOUGLAS BELA FLECK - The Ride
BELA FLECK - Bach/Ballad Of Jed Clampett
BLUEGRASS 96 - Up On The Blue Ridge
DRY BRANCH FIRE SQUAD - Banjo Jokes/Bluegrass Breakdown
DOCK BOGGS - Down South Blues
UNCLE DAVE MACON - Way Down The Old Plank Road
ZARSANGA - Gula Sta De Kille (Afghanistan)
IGOR KOSHKENDY - Atchamaining Ohi (Tuva)
RADIO TARIFA - Las Cuevas (Spain)
TAKASHI HIRAYASU - Uturushimun (Okinawa, Japan)
SILLY WIZARD - Reels : Miss Shepherd set (Scotland)
GILLIAN WELCH -
