twang club radio hour episode 9 - haul check - burlington edition
Starting off with some great songs including a favorite of mine from James Talley, the tragically under appreciated and somewhat forgotten songwriters of the 70s (primarily). His records are available to stream and each one is worth many listens.
Jim Ringer and Tom Mitchell were both dollar bin rescues. I have most of Jim’s records but this was my first from Tom. Both records came out on Philo and I’ll usually give anything on that label a chance, especially for a buck.
Randall Bramblett is one of the most prolific sidemen around. He’s played with way too many people to mention but also has some great records of his own. This is from his solo debut and the whole record is pretty fantastic. I will definitely be putting more tracks from it on future episodes.
0:00:00 - BG - The Challengers - Back Beat - 1964
0:03:05 - James Talley - Are They Gonna Make Us Outlaws Again - 1976
0:06:24 - Jim Ringer - The Band of Jesse James - 1977
0:09:08 - Willis Alan Ramsey - Ballad of Spider John - 1972
0:13:24 - George Jones - Memories of Us - 1975
0:16:36 - Randall Bramblett - No Stone Unturned - 1975
0:20:04 - Tom Mitchell - Look Out - 1975
This is one of several albums Bonnie Owens recorded with Merle Haggard’s backing band The Srangers while they were married. This song was also a cowrite with Merle.
This was Goldie’s first album in several years when it came out. She had left a promising music career when she married Carl Smith which makes this song written by J.D. Loudermilk rather poignant.
This Charlie Walker tune is a classic Dallas Frazier tune, this time a cowrite with “Doodle” Owens (no relation to other Owens’ of note).
0:22:51 - BG - The Challengers Pipeline 1964
0:25:50 - Bonnie Owens and the Strangers - Gone Crazy - 1968
0:28:00 - Goldie Hill Smith - There’s Gotta Be More To Life (Than Lovin’ A Man) - 1967
0:30:10 - Billy Larkin - Lonely Woman (Love A Lonely Man) - 1980
0:32:41 - Charlie Walker - I Don’t Mind Going Under - 1972
0:34:47 - Amarillo - Pretty Poison - 1979
0:36:46 - C.W. McCall - There Won’t Be No Country Music (There Won’t Be No Rock N Roll) - 1976
I’ve been trying to resist buying more Rockabilly and related comps until I work my way through the ones I have but the one with these Big Al Downing tracks on it. The Poe Cats were one of Wanda Jackson’s early backing bands and Al was their piano player including on the classic “Let’s Have A Party”. Down On The Farm has been covered by several rockabilly revival bands like Shakin Stevens and even the Pres Hall Jazz Band. “Oh Babe!” is of course a Louis Prima tune.
“Greasy Kid Stuff” was one of only a few records that Janie Grant put out. The title is a play on an advertising campaign from the time. Like my dad I’m a sucker for silly novelty songs and this one has a great hook.
This Freddy Fender tune was written by Tommy McClain who I included in the last episode. He had a hit in 1966 with the Don Gibson song “Sweet Dreams” made famous by Patsy Cline and this is one of several of his tunes that Freddy recorded.
0:40:35 - BG - Doug Jernigan California Blues - 1976
0:43:40 - Al Downing & The Poe Cats - Down on The Farm - 1958
0:45:15 - Al Downing & The Poe Cats - Oh Babe! - 1958
0:47:48 - Ricky Nelson - Milk Cow Blues - 1960
0:50:00 - Robert and Johnny - Hear My Heartbeat - 1960
0:52:32 - Janie Grant - Greasy Kid Stuff - 1962
0:54:30 - Freddy Fender - If You Don’t Love Me (Why Don’t You Just Leave Me) - 1977
Fanny has finally started getting their due as the first successful all female rock band. June has been living in Western Mass for a long time so their records don’t tend to last long in stores here.
I’ve had the Dave Edmunds and Josie Cotton albums for a long time but it’s nice to find cheap 45s to bring to Dj nights. I still remember seeing Pansy Division play their version of “He Could Be The One” when I saw them in 1997.
0:57:07 - BG - Doug Jernigan - Debbie’s Song - 1976
0:59:15 - Gary Stewart - Roarin’ - 1980
1:03:02 - Sugarloaf - Texas Two Lane - 1974
1:07:13 - Fanny - Beggar Man - 1974
1:11:15 - Dave Edmunds - Almost Saturday Night - 1981
1:13:22 - Josie Cotton - He Could Be The One - 1982
I had the single of this song by Diana Trask for awhile and then found not one but two copies of this album at Burlington Records. The dollar bin copy was pretty beat up but the other copy was nice and clean. The album is all tracks written by Joe Tex and has some real bangers. Diana was from Australia but had been in the US for awhile when this came out. The jacket notes are written by Joe Himself. He says he was excited about the idea of having an album of his songs recorded until he found out it was by a “pretty young ‘white’ singer. He wasn’t sure she could capture the emotion of the songs but was very happy with the results.
Melba Montgomery is best known for her duets with George Jones but she had an incredible career of her own. This is from one of her later records which were a little patchy but had some great moments. She was also a fine songwriter and penned this song. The record was produced by Pete Drake and included a song by Linda Hargrove both of whom I will be featuring on future episodes.
This is an early rockabilly track by Wynn Stewart. He had released a handful of country singles but they hadn’t gone anywhere so he took his shot at rockabilly. It didn’t last long but he would go on to be one of the originators of the “Bakersfield Sound” which was certainly influenced by rockabilly and early rock and roll.
1:16:07 - BG - Doug Jernigan - Debbie’s Song (cont.) - 1976
1:17:59 - Diana Trask - You Got What It Takes (To Get What I Got) - 1969
1:20:07 - Melba Montgomery - Let Me Show You How I Can - 1973
1:22:35 - Wynn Stewart - Come On - 1958
1:24:36 - Delbert McClinton - Lovinest Man - 1978
1:27:53 - Fanny - Butter Boy - 1974
These bands are super nice folks in addition to being super talented and you should by their records.
1:31:11 - BG - Doug Jernigan Sally Goodin - 1976
1:33:07 - Charlie Hill - Called You - 2026 https://hillcharlie.bandcamp.com/
1:36:45 - Johnny Fritz - Tea Man - 2025 https://jonnyfritz.bandcamp.com/
1:39:42 - Ponyhustle - When The Fire Burns Low - 2025 https://ponyhustle.bandcamp.com/
1:42:15 - Wild Leek River - Yankee - 2021 https://wildleekriver.bandcamp.com
1:45:20 - Chris Acker Overdrafted
1:47:54 - Charlie Hill - Something Stinks - 2026 https://hillcharlie.bandcamp.com/
1:51:12 - Johnny Fritz - Shut Up - 2013 https://jonnyfritz.bandcamp.com/
1:55:29 - Chris Acker - Game 6 of ‘86 - 2024 https://chrisacker.bandcamp.com
1:57:45 - BG - The Challengers - Kami-Kaze - 1963
