Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic
This full-page ad in Billboard‘s “World of Country Music” special edition gives every indication that 1967 promised to be a break-out year for Molly Bee: Billboard October 28, 1967 The previous year, inside the gatefold sleeve of 1966’s Freak Out – the groundbreaking debut double album by Frank Zappa‘s Mothers
Interesting to see Kelly Gordon and (especially) Shorty Rogers attempt to muscle in on the hot rod scene with a late 60s concept album — contemporaneously titled, Bug-In! — that pays musical tribute to the hot rod’s off-road counterpart, the dune buggy. Gordon and Rogers splurge on a gatefold album
Thanks to Andy Volk of The Steel Guitar Forum for pointing me to Anne Miller‘s fascinating profile of steel guitarist bandleader Alvino Rey for The Smithsonian in which we learn Rey, as a consultant for Gibson Guitars in the 1930s, helped develop the prototype for the ES-150 (made famous by
Two electric keyboard innovators who helped move popular music forward with their “futuristic” sounds – Billy Preston and Sly Stone – collaborated briefly in a musical partnership that produced this A-side, “Can’t She Tell“: “Can’t She Tell“ Billy Preston (featuring Sly Stone) 1966 Jointly written by Billy Preston and Sly
I love how the staccato guitars emulate the sound of scratching fleas as a result of the song’s protagonist being banished to the doghouse in this retooling of Hank Williams: Rose Maddox “Move It on Over” (1960) John Maddox & John Newman: Guitar Henry Maddox: Mandolin Allen Williams: Bass Henry
Jim and John Hager – like the Chaparral Brothers – were (1) identical twins, who (2) once recorded for Capitol. Unlike the Chaparral Brothers, the Hager Twins (1) would perform on TV’s Hee Haw from 1969 to 1986, and (2) get close to a Top 40 Country hit in 1969
At last weekend’s Arbutus Record Show, I picked up some interesting long-players, including one each by a pair of unsung Capitol country artists – both, as I discovered, identical twins: The Chaparral Brothers and The Hagers. Paul Vorhaben + John Vorhaben The Chaparral Brothers Indeed, I was happy to acquire
Steve Stanley’s article in Shindig! #38 about Jesse Lee Kincaid – original member of The Rising Sons with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder – made me curious to hear the two singles he recorded for Capitol. Kincaid’s first – “She Sang Hymns Out of Tune” – from December 1966 would
Speaking of old songs that take on a whole new meaning when considered against a modern geopolitical context (see previous post about Cat Stevens), Capitol US released a 45 in 1957 that featured “Rockin’ in Bag[h]dad,” a song that I very well could have imagined playing in the background during
Sunday towers mightily over the other days of the week in Charlie Louvin‘s life, as indicated by his choice of song titles over the years: “Month of Sundays“; “As Long as There Is a Sunday“; “Will You Visit Me on Sundays” – and “Sunday Morning,” the album closer from 1967’s
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