This Week in the Shack

A mix of alt-country, rock, and more for your listening pleasure.

1. Whiskeytown - Desperate Ain't Lonely (2:16)
2. Lucero - Slow Dancing (3:45)
3. Bruce Springsteen - Highway Patrolman (5:37)
4. Son Volt - Medicine Hat (4:13)
5. Bob Dylan - Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (6:01)
6. The Felice Brothers - Saint Stephen's End (4:03)
7. Cowboy Junkies - Where Are You Tonight? (5:05)
8. The Mavericks - Blue Moon (4:29)
9. Jon Dee Graham - Great Battle (4:51)
10. Uncle Tupelo - Steal The Crumbs (3:38)
11. Willis Alan Ramsey - Ballad of Spider John (4:19)
12. The Band - The Weight (2000 Digital Remaster) (4:38)
13. Guy Forsyth - Heart Shaped Hole (4:17)
14. Steve Earle / Townes Van Zandt / Guy Clark - Tom Ames' Prayer (Steve Earle) (3:22)
15. Townes Van Zandt - Tecumseh Valley (4:32)
16. The Last Town Chorus - Modern Love (4:26)
17. Rising Appalachia - Swoon (2:29)
18. James McMurtry - Fire Line Road (5:32)
19. Ray Wylie Hubbard - Live and Die Rock and Roll (4:29)
20. Lou Reed - Sweet Jane (8:02)
21. Tom Waits - Downtown Train (3:53)
22. Lucinda Williams - Drunken Angel (3:19)
23. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone (6:12)
24. Jay Farrar - Feedkill Chain (3:19)
25. The Gaslight Anthem - High Lonesome (3:09)
26. Bruce Springsteen - Spirit In The Night (4:58)
27. John Mellencamp - Cherry Bomb (4:49)
28. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - The Best Of Everything (4:04)
29. Tom Waits - Jersey Girl (5:11)
30. Whiskeytown - Lo-Fi Tennessee Mountain Angel (For Kathy Poindexter) (4:32)
31. Sahara Smith - The Real Thing (4:24)
32. John Doe - The Golden State [feat. Kathleen Edwards] (2:59)
33. Jon Dee Graham - One Moment (3:23)
34. Bonnie Raitt - Mighty Tight Woman (4:20)
35. James McMurtry And The Heartless Bastards - Lights of Cheyenne (6:38)
36. Robert Earl Keen - Out Here In The Middle (4:29)
37. Joe Ely - The Road Goes on Forever (4:33)
38. Dave Rawlings Machine - To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High) (3:48)
39. Cowboy Junkies - 'cause Cheap Is How I Feel (4:14)
40. Old Crow Medicine Show - I Hear Them All (3:05)
41. The Be Good Tanyas - Broken Telephone (4:54)

(Americana 6)

Eighties Friday

The Wire has eaten my evening, so this week's eighties show is another rerun. I'll put up a new show next Friday.

This Week in the Shack

This week's show is dedicated to a longtime fixture on the Austin music scene, a legendary bluesmen, and a real gentleman of the old school, Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, who passed away yesterday.

One of the problems of having a mostly-digital collection of music is that I don't have the liner notes for a substantial portion of my library, but, with a few exceptions, and within the limitations of the DMCA, this set is almost entirely tracks Pinetop played on. I'm not entirely sure if that's him on the Robert Nighthawk tracks, although I know he contributed to some of the recordings on that collection. Also, because the DMCA restricts how many tunes by a specific artist or from a specific album can be played over a block of time, there are a handful of tracks without him: Marcia Ball's "Down the Road", Cotton's "Down at Your Buryin'", Cary Bell & Lurrie Bell's "Wrapped Up in Love", and Snooky Pryor's "Nine Below Zero" don't feature Pinetop, although he played with all of those artists. And the Sunnyland Slim track is just a really nice recording of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie".

The last time I saw Pinetop play was about three years ago, when he was already well into his nineties. He was on stage with another Muddy Waters veteran, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and they were tearing the stage at Antone's up. He was always a class act, and it's hard right now to think about the blues scene here, and Antone's specifically, without him.

Goodbye, Pinetop. Thank you for the music and the memories.

1. Pinetop Perkins - Intro Chicken Shack (1:32)
2. Pinetop Perkins - Little Girl, Little Girl (7:00)
3. Pinetop Perkins/Willie "Big Eyes" Smith - Walkin' Down the Highway (6:40)
4. Maria Muldaur - Decent Woman Blues (3:59)
5. The Band ft Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy (6:40)
6. Big Bill Morganfield - Sloppy Drunk (4:03)
7. Pinetop Perkins - Pinetop's New Boogie (With Marcia Ball) (4:28)
8. James Cotton - Sugar Sweet (4:19)
9. Kenny Wayne Shepherd/Muddy Waters Band/Pinetop Perkins - Grindin Man (8:04)
10. Pinetop Perkins - Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins (With Angela Strehli) (3:31)
11. Robert Nighthawk - Black Angel Blues (3:04)
12. Koko Taylor - Please Don't Dog Me (5:19)
13. The Legendary Blues Band - High Heel Sneakers (3:46)
14. Muddy Waters - Crosseyed Cat (6:00)
15. Earl Hooker - Earl's Boogie Woogie (2:38)
16. Nighthawks - Red Hot Mama (3:35)
17. Ronnie Baker Brooks, Pinetop Perkins, Rusty Zinn - Walk This Way (4:49)
18. Carey Bell - I Wanna Will My Love To You (3:40)
19. James Cotton/Johnny Winter/Muddy Waters - Dealin' with the Devil [#] (7:49)
20. Pinetop Perkins/Willie "Big Eyes" Smith - Lord, Lord, Lord (5:33)
21. Muddy Waters - Mamie (5:35)
22. Earl Hooker - Sweet Black Angel (3:12)
23. The Legendary Blues Band - I Almost Lost My Mind (5:48)
24. Koko Taylor - Walking the Back Streets (6:47)
25. Carey Bell - Sad Dreams (4:47)
26. Robert Nighthawk - Prowling Nighthawk (3:10)
27. Nighthawks - Long Distance Call (5:46)
28. James Cotton - Down at Your Buryin' (4:34)
29. Muddy Waters - No Escape from the Blues [#][*] (6:17)
30. Snooky Pryor - Nine Below Zero (6:48)
31. Sunnyland Slim - Pinetop's Boogie Woogie (2:21)
32. Marcia Ball - Down the Road (4:12)
33. James Cotton/Johnny Winter/Muddy Waters - Caledonia [#] (6:57)
34. Big Bill Morganfield - Screamin' & Cryin' (4:09)
35. Maria Muldaur - Ain't What you Used To Have (6:00)
36. Carey & Lurrie Bell - Wrapped Up In Love (3:41)
37. Pinetop Perkins/Willie "Big Eyes" Smith - Take My Hand, Precious Lord (5:57)

(blues 44)

Eighties Friday

The Eighties Friday sets are going to mostly go back to alternating weeks between new sets and rerunning old ones. For that reason, this week's show reruns this set from early last year.

This Week in the Shack

I had eye surgery yesterday, and can't look at a computer screen for more than a couple of minutes, so this week I'm rerunning this set of Texas music.

Eighties Friday Returns

This week's eighties (which as always, really means "eighties-ish") set is new. As always, I hope you dig it.

1. The Clash - London Calling (3:19)
2. The Men They Couldn't Hang - Rosettes (3:40)
3. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Radio, Radio (3:07)
4. The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays (4:18)
5. Madness - Our House (3:19)
6. Prefab Sprout - Desire As (5:19)
7. The Sundays - You're Not the Only One I Know (3:51)
8. Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday (3:32)
9. The Motels - Shame (4:10)
10. Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Perfect Skin (3:12)
11. The Church - Terra Nova Cain (5:11)
12. Sisters Of Mercy - Nine While Nine (4:11)
13. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence (3:50)
14. Concrete Blonde - God Is A Bullet (4:24)
15. The Go-Go's - Lust To Love (4:04)
16. X - 4th Of July (4:07)
17. The Outfield - Say It Isn't So (3:47)
18. The Pretenders - Talk Of The Town (3:13)
19. 'Til Tuesday - Maybe Monday (3:40)
20. U2 - The Electric Co. (4:57)
21. Teardrop Explodes - Treason (2:58)
22. The Sugarcubes - Birthday (3:59)
23. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - Little Miss S. (3:39)
24. Rod Stewart - Love Touch [Extended Version] (5:01)
25. Madonna - Jimmy Jimmy (3:56)
26. Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance (5:42)
27. Prince - Raspberry Beret (3:32)
28. The B-52S - Channel Z (4:50)
29. Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart (LP Version) (3:52)
30. Talking Heads - Girlfriend Is Better [Live] (3:36)
31. Romeo Void - Never Say Never (5:53)
32. Devo - That's Good (3:24)
33. David Bowie & The Pat Metheny Group - This Is Not America (2002 Digital Remaster) (3:51)
34. David & David - Welcome To The Boomtown (5:31)
35. Falco - Der Kommissar (3:49)
36. Cameo - She's Strange (7:12)
37. Thomas Dolby - One Of Our Submarines (5:07)
38. Yello - Desire (3:42)
39. Erasure - Who Needs Love (Like That) (3:06)
40. Duran Duran - Meet El Presidente (4:18)
41. The Style Council - The Lodgers (Or She Was Only A Shopkeeper's Daughter) (4:56)
42. The Blow Monkeys - Digging Your Scene (4:05)
43. Love Spit Love - Long Long Time (4:17)
44. The Jam - Going Underground (2:54)
(eighties 14)

This Week in the Shack

With carnival now season over, this week I'm rerunning my gospel set from last summer.

Happy Texas Independence Day

Tomorrow, March 2, is the 175th anniversary of the adoption of the Texas Declaration of Independence. I'm interrupting this week's Mardi Gras set to rerun this set of Texas music from last fall. The regularly scheduled set will resume Wednesday.