It has been a rainy-day Monday, so I haven’t been outside. I had a nice time though listening to some new music. The first album I want to tell you about is called Viva Terlingua by Jerry Jeff Walker. Before hearing this album all I knew about Jerry Jeff Walker is that he wrote Mr Bojangles which I discovered about 45 years ago on an album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Viva Terlingua was recorded in August 1973 in a dance hall in Luckenbach Texas. I looked up Luckenbach on Wikipedia and discovered that it was more or less a ghost town until it was bought for $30,000 by a man called Hondo Crouch in 1970. He turned it into a centre for country music. Jerry Jeff wrote some very informative and rambling sleeve notes all about Hondo Crouch who he called a ‘legend of the land’. I’m not an expert on Country Music at all, but I would describe this music as Outlaw Country Music with an influence of rock and blues and a flavour of Mexican music. Jerry Jeff is accompanied by the Lost Gonzo Band who play acoustic and electric guitars, organ, bass, drums, percussion, pedal steel, harp, electric piano, and violin. I hadn’t heard of the band members before, but apparently, they are all well-known on the Country music scene.
The opening track Getting By is a semi-autobiographical song about Jerry Jeff’s haphazard lifestyle, but not to worry, he will get there in the end. I know the second song Desperados Waiting For The Train because it is written by Guy Clark and I first heard it on a Steve Earle album. It is a classic wonderful song. Sangria Wine by contrast is an upbeat happy song about the joys of friendship, Mexican food and strong homemade wine. Little Bird is a very moving song about a lost relationship. Get It Out is on the same theme, but about expressing emotion through creating music. Up Against The Wall Red Neck is one of two songs recorded in front of a raucous live audience. It is written by Ray Wiley Hubbard. It is very humorous (although I don’t like the sentiment of ‘kicking hippies’ asses’ because I used to be a hippy 😊). Backslider’s Wine is written by Michael Murphey and is a sad ballad which could be described as a ‘drunkards lament’. I particularly liked the violin playing of Mary Egan. The first few notes of Wheel reminded me of Reason To Believe by Tim Hardin. It is a very quiet song and possibly autobiographical about a series of tragedies involving wheels. I suppose it is about the wheels of time taking us all to the same destination. The final track was also recorded live. London Homesick Blues is written by Gary Nunn who sings the lead vocals, and concerns someone from the USA in cold grey London being homesick for Texas. I love how he rhymes Armadillo with Amarillo. The audience sing along to the honky-tonk piano style, and it brings a very enjoyable album to a close. I’m pleased I have been introduced to the music of the late great Jerry Jeff Walker.
