Jerry Jeff Walker, "Mr. Bojangles"

A Beautiful Time by Willie Nelson.

A friend of mine kindly gave me Willie Nelson’s new album called A Beautiful Time recently, and I have been enjoying listening to it for the past few days. Willie made his first solo album in 1962 and sixty years later his voice sounds as good as ever. This album was released on his 89^th birthday which is a remarkable achievement. I can’t claim to be a great Willie Nelson fan, although I know he is a living legend, and I did see him once at Glastonbury in 2000 when he was a mere lad of 67. This new album has a very attractive sleeve design with photos by Bruce Springsteen’s sister Pamela. The great opening track I’ll Love You Till The Day I die was written by Rodney Crowell and Chris Stapleton. I have followed Rodney Crowell for a while and remember a great concert he performed in Bristol with Emmylou Harris a few years ago. He also wrote Till I gain Control again which Willie and Van Morrison both recorded. My Heart Was A Dancer is the first of five songs here which Willie wrote with Buddy Cannon who also did a great job in producing the album. They also collaborated on Energy Follows Thought which is a very Zen-like philosophical song. ‘Your mind is in control, Even when you do not know, And if you let it idle, Ain't no telling where it'll go’, sings Willie, which shows that he thinks deeply about the human condition. 

Willie wrote Dreamin’ Again with Douglas Graham which has some beautiful guitar and harmonica playing. I Don’t Go To Funerals has Willie reflecting on mortality and he name drops many of his music legend friends who have gone before him. The title track A Beautiful Time is written by Shawn Camp and is a celebration of life on the road for a musician. We’re Not Happy (Till You’re Unhappy) is about losing at cards. Dusty Bottles is a reflection on the possible benefits of getting old. Me And My Partner was composed by Ken Lambert, an upbeat song about a road trip to Mexico. I think my favourite track on the album is Willie’s version of Tower Of Song. It seems tailor made for a country singer like Willie, especially with the references to Hank Williams. I have heard other cover versions of this classic Leonard Cohen song, but I think Willie’s is the best. (I have shared it below if you want to hear it) 

Live Every Day is another positive song about making the most of every day. Don’t Touch Me There isn’t as risqué as the title might suggest. It is about broken hearts that are still sore. With A Little Help From My Friends is Willie’s take on a Beatles classic. I bet he had a wry smile on his face singing ‘I get high with a little help from my friends’. The final track called Leave You With A Smile does just that and brings this most enjoyable album to a close. I’m very pleased I finally have an album by the great Willie Nelson.

Listening to the album reminded me that I read about four years ago that Van Morrison spent three days in the studio recording with Willie Nelson. I haven’t heard anything else about those sessions since. I’d like to hear what they recorded together.

Lukas Nelson, Buddy Cannon, Van Morrison, & Willie Nelson.

Willie Nelson - Tower of Song

Viva Terlingua by Jerry Jeff Walker.

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.

Van Morrison. Philharmonic Hall Liverpool, May 24th 2022.

This was the second time in four years that I have seen Van Morrison in the wonderful city of Liverpool. The previous occasion was at the outdoor Irish music festival at the Pier Head organised by Vince Power. I arrived at the venue as soon as the doors opened and hung around the entrance hoping to meet some of my Van fan friends. The days of big pre-show meet ups seem to be over, but it is always great to see Brendan from Ireland, and Alan McGinnity who I hadn’t seen for at least ten years, and also meeting Sofia from the USA for the first time. After the very positive reviews of Van’s recent American tour I was really looking forward to this concert, especially as I had said on Facebook that Van’s forte these days appears to be live shows rather than recordings.

I had a great seat in Row D right in front of the stage, and Van and the band shuffled on stage promptly at 8.00. The last time I saw Van in Oxford back in October I thought he had lost a lot of weight, but now he looks even thinner. He was wearing a suit that was the colour of a terracotta flowerpot. The band were Teena Lyle, Elle Cato, Colin Griffin, Paul Moore, Dave Keary, Chris White, and a new keyboards/piano player who I hadn’t seen before, (more about him later). The first song was the title track from his previous album Latest Record Project which is a catchy ditty to put the audience in a good mood, and I like the backing vocals of Elle and Teena. My Time After A While followed which I quite like, and I must say it is great to have Chris White back in the band. Both he and Van played sax during this number. The electric piano playing was also excellent. Up County Down is a jolly upbeat song which isn’t one of my favourites, but I bet people from Northern Ireland love it. 

Thank God For The Blues is another of Van’s more recent songs. What’s It Gonna Take? is the title song from the brand-new album. I don’t like it very much. What made it worse was that Van was clearly reading the words from a lyric sheet on his music stand. He obviously didn’t know the words to his own song. Another rant from the new album followed which was Dangerous. This was also read from his music stand. It was only enlivened by some tasteful playing by Chris and Dave. It was a blessed relief to hear the next song Days Like This. Another great song from the past is Someone Like You which was originally a wonderful ballad, but it has been given a new upbeat arrangement which highlights Teena on vibes and Elle on backing vocals. 

The medley of Baby Please Don’t Go / Got My Mojo Working brought the audience to life and Elle and Teena played tambourines and injected some fun into the proceedings. Think Twice Before You Go also involved some dance routines from the backing singers. Sam Cooke’s song Laughing and Clowning was one of the better songs of the evening for me. Dave on guitar and the organ solo were excellent. You can’t fault the band for trying, they were all doing their best. The audience clearly loved Precious Time which featured Dave on pedal steel guitar. I enjoyed Carrying A Torch which featured Elle. After the show Brendan said to me that he thought Elle Cato is Van’s best backing singer since Katie Kissoon and I think I agree with him. The piano solo was also wonderful on this song. The Ray Charles classic I Can’t Stop Loving You didn’t quite reach the heights of when Van had the Crawford Bell singers with him, but I still enjoyed it, and Dave played more pedal steel. Ain’t Gonna Moan No More featured a solo by Teena which brought spontaneous warm applause from the audience. Van excelled himself on sax as well. I should mention that Van’s voice sounds as good as ever. 

Broken Record again starred Teena, all the band had a solo, but I really don’t like this song, it irritates me. Wild Night improved matters and then the perennial crowd pleaser Cleaning Windows/ Be Bop A Lula. The Oscar nominated Down To Joy from Belfast was possibly my favourite song of the evening. I love the backing vocals which remind me a bit of Dylan’s backing singers around the Street Legal period. Chris again excelled on sax. I knew the end was nigh when Van sang Help Me which has been in his repertoire since the year dot. He then left the stage but returned for Brown Eyed Girl and Gloria to send the crowd home thinking they had got their money’s worth. The band played on after Van exited stage left, but I had heard enough by now and headed for the door.

Afterwards, I had a couple of drinks in the pub with Brendan and Alan. I think we all agreed that it was a pretty disappointing concert. I don’t know if Van is still tired after the American tour, or they wanted to play safe because of a new band member, but the concert just felt like a contractual obligation which he wanted to get out of the way. We all know that he can still perform great shows when he is in the mood and wants to show off how good he is. He knows what his best songs are, as he proved in Llangollen four years ago. There was no attempt in Liverpool for an extended workshop medley of great songs. Anyway, Dave Keary was sitting at the bar in the pub, so I asked him who the organ/piano player was. Dave told me that his name was John McCullough from Ireland. I thought he performed very well indeed, so I hope he stays in the band. Finally, I said cheerio to Brendan and Alan, and that was the end of my evening with Van Morrison in Liverpool.

Irish Mythen | Into the Mystic.

Van Morrison's Best Songs 1964-1967.

Yesterday afternoon my kitchen was filled with the sound of The Complete Them 1964-67 which is a 3-CD set that I bought in 2015. The reason for playing it was that I remembered that a few weeks ago I said I would write a piece about Van Morrison’s best songs of the 1960’s, (Pre-Astral Weeks) and then promptly forgot about it until yesterday. This set contains everything Them recorded, album tracks, singles, B-sides, demos, radio sessions and rarities., 69 tracks in all. I’m not going to attempt to talk about all of these songs, but I’ll tell you my favourites. 

There are four different versions of Here Comes The Night on these CDs. Written by Bert Berns,, it has to be one of my favourite songs of the Them era. I had a great time yesterday singing along with it and pretending to play the guitar. It came within a whisker of giving Van his only UK number one single when it reached number 2 in 1965. It was only the Rolling Stones that kept it off the top spot. I have shared a video below of Them performing at the NME Poll Winners Concert in 65. That historic performance is the only known footage of Them playing complete songs live. There are other Them videos, but the band are miming in those. 

I have to include Baby Please Don’t Go written by Joe Williams because it is a brilliant version of a great song, and it gave Them their first taste of success. Their management made a big mistake in my view because they put Gloria on the flip side. Gloria is a rock & roll classic and I’m sure if it was the A side it would have got to number one in the UK charts and established Them alongside The Stones and The Animals as one of the top R & B bands. It was also written by Van which would have made his name more widely known as an emerging songwriter. Another song which has the frenetic energy of punk rock 12 years ahead of its time, and some great harmonica playing is Mystic Eyes. A favourite song of mine is My Lonely Sad Eyes. I only started to realise what a great song it is after discovering the fabulous cover version by Maria McKee. 

A song that I also think should have been released as a single is Them’s version of Bob Dylan’s It’s All Over Now Baby Blue. It has to be one of the greatest covers of a Dylan song ever. In the sixties and seventies everybody was having hits with Dylan songs. The Byrds, Manfred Mann, Fairport Convention to name but three. Them should have done so as well. I must also mention Friday’s Child from the Them era which I also think is a great Van composition. If Them hadn’t kept changing their line-up every ten minutes and made wiser decisions I think they would be remembered as one of the greatest bands, but sadly by mid-1966 they had imploded.

I think some fans must see the post Them pre–Astral Weeks period as the wilderness years, but Van wrote and recorded some great songs during this time. Impatient with waiting for a record contract Van moved to the USA to be reunited with Janet Planet and signed a deal with Bert Berns and his Bang label. When you join a record company called Bang what could possibly go wrong? Van’s first album as a solo artist was called Blowin’ Your Mind!. Van didn’t even know that it was being released and when he saw the cover design, he almost threw up. Bert Berns released it to cash in on the success of Brown Eyed Girl which is one of the most perfect pop songs ever recorded and must have made Van’s name known to millions of people around the world. Due to the dodgy contract that Van hastily signed he never received the financial rewards that the song should have brought him. Just the royalties from that one song would have made him a millionaire many times over. However, I bet a lot of concert tickets have been sold over the years to people hoping to hear Brown Eyed Girl. 

Another song that I always like listening to, and think is almost as catchy as Brown Eyed Girl is Spanish Rose. Van is usually associated with R & B, Soul, Blues, and jazz influences, but he has written some great pop songs as well. I Love You (The Smile You Smile) is another very catchy song. By contrast, the blues influence T.B. Sheets is a harrowing, disturbing song about death and guilt. I don’t think anyone could write a song like this without it being quasi-autobiographical. Although I appreciate its greatness, sometimes I find it difficult to listen to. A song I do like from the Bang era which I think is one of Van’s most underrated is Joe Harper Saturday Morning. Lyrically I think it shows the direction he was taking towards Astral Weeks.

Finally, Van escaped from the nightmare of his contract with Bang and signed with Warner Brothers. One fateful late summer evening on 25 September,1968 he arrived at Century Sound Studios in New York to begin recording what was to become arguably the greatest album ever made. From the raw primitive sound of Them only three years before, Van had made a quantum leap to becoming one of the greatest solo artists in the world and now his career could really begin. So, what are my favourite ten Van recordings pre-Astral Weeks? I might change my mind tomorrow, but today I would say in reverse order.

10^th….Mystic Eyes.

9^th….Friday’s Child.

8^th….Spanish Rose.

7^th….Baby Please Don’t Go.

6^th….Joe Harper Saturday Morning.

5^th….My Lonely Sad Eyes.

4^th….Here Comes The Night.

3^rd….Gloria.

2^nd….It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.

In 1st place. Congratulations to BROWN EYED GIRL Van Morrison’s best song from 1964 to 1967.