2-CD Digipak (6-plated) with comprehensive booklet, 46 tracks. Total playing time approx. 157:52 minutes.
like new
TRUCKERS, KICKERS, COWBOY ANGELS
The Blissed-Out Birth of Country Rock, 1973, Volume 6
The leading edge, certainly the funkier edge, of the country rock scene was shifting from Los Angeles to Austin. In March 1973, in what was probably the first national attention paid to Austin as a music venue, Crawdaddy's Jeff Nightbyrd wrote, "Austin musicians and audiences value music as a form of expression, not as a commodity. In New York you spend two-fifty to get into a joint where it doesn't take very long to figure out they're using music to sell alcohol. In Austin you pay a buck to get in and get off." In September, 'Billboard' devoted one full page to Austin, calling out
Willie Nelson as the godfather, followed by
Michael Murphey (whose albums are frustratingly unavailable to us),
Doug Sahm,
Jerry Jeff Walker,
Billy Joe Shaver, and local legend Henry Threadgill. Willie moved to Austin in January 1973, and the scene coalesced around him.
On
July 4, he held his first annual picnic in nearby Dripping Springs, headlined by
Waylon Jennings,
Kris Kristofferson,
John Prine, Doug Sahm,
Tom T. Hall, Billy Joe Shaver, and - bizarrely -
Charlie Rich. Somewhere between 38,000 and 40,000 people showed up in temperatures that neared 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Journalist Billy Porterfield was there: "It was miserable and it was great, one of the glorious heathen stomps between the Americas of J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy and Ronald Reagan. Many had come the evening before and spent the night passing stories and hits around campfires."
Between 1970 and '80, the Armadillo World Headquarters sat at the heart of Austin's music community. At one point, its annual beer consumption was exceeded in Texas only by the Houston Astrodome. But the Soap Creek Saloon, founded in 1973, was Austin's soul. So wrote 'Austin Chronicle' journalist Margaret Moser, and so it was. A dilapidated dive on an equally rundown section of Bee Caves Road, Soap Creek (known locally as Dope Freak) was where Doug Sahm reintroduced the world to
Freddy Fender after Freddy had spent years laying low. Sahm led the de facto house band throughout the early 1970s, and lived in a rented house down the road.
The next best thing to being there is to look at the poster art from the period. Unlike the trippier west coast posters, the Soap Creek calendars were one color with their own homegrown cosmic cowboy aesthetic: armadillos and western motifs through a distorting mirror.
Atlantic Records tried to tap into the scene, supposedly recording Willie Nelson's first picnic, signing Willie and Doug Sahm and trying to sign several other local acts, like Freda and the Firedogs. Sales didn't meet the expectations of Atlantic's new corporate parent. You know how that goes.
As on earlier volumes, we're reminding you once again of the vagaries of licensing a compilation like this. Some artists in addition to
Michael Martin Murphey remain unavailable to us.
Colin Escott
Trackliste: (Volume 6, CD 1)
01. Doug Sahm And Band: (Is Anybody Going To) San Antone
02. Willie Nelson: Shotgun Willie
03. Gram Parsons: That’s All It Took
04. Delbert & Glen: California Livin‘
05. Townes Van Zandt: Pancho & Lefty
06. Jerry Jeff Walker: Gettin‘ By
07. Bobby Bare Sr.: Ride Me Down Easy
08. Billy Joe Shaver: Old Five And Dimers Like Me
09. J.J. Cale: If You’re Ever In Oklahoma
10. Hank Wilson: Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms
11. Gene Clark: Don’t This Road Look Rough And Rocky (Aka Rough And Rocky)
12. The Earl Scruggs Revue: Salty Dog Blues
13. New Riders Of The Purple Sage: Lonesome L.A. Cowboy
14. The Band: Crying Heart Blues
15. Goose Creek Symphony: (Oh Lord Won’t You Buy Me A) Mercedes Benz
16. Rick Roberts: Glad To Be Goin‘
17. Ozark Mountain Daredevils: Country Girl
18. Borderline: Please Help Me Forget
19. Dennis Linde: Burning Love
20. Little Feat: Roll Um Easy
21. Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks: Payday Blues
22. Doug Sahm And Band: It’s Gonna Be Easy
23. Jerry Jeff – Lost Gonzo Band Walker: Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother
Trackliste: (Volume 6, CD 2)
01. Willie Nelson: The Troublemaker
02. Hoyt Axton: Sweet Misery
03. J.J. Cale: Lies
04. Little Feat: Dixie Chicken
05. The Allman Brothers Band: Ramblin‘ Man
06. Gram Parsons: She
07. The Earl Scruggs Revue: If I’d Only Come And Gone
08. Asleep At The Wheel: Take Me Back To Tulsa
09. Jerry Jeff Walker: Sangria Wine
10. Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen: Everybody’s Doing It
11. Jim Ford: Big Mouth Usa
12. Delbert & Glen: To Be With You
13. Kinky Friedman: Sold American
14. Goose Creek Symphony: Me And Him
15. Michael Nesmith: Winonah
16. Here Tonight
17. Gene Parsons: Sonic Bummer
18. Chip Taylor: 101 In Cashbox
19. Billy Joe Shaver: I Been To Georgia On A Fast Train
20. Townes Van Zandt: If I Needed You
21. Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris: Sleepless Nights
22. The Sir Douglas Quintet: Texas Tornado
23. Jerry Jeff Walker: London Homesick Blues
