Jean Shepard's Greatest '52-'64! One of Country Music's FIRST important female recording artists!

Jean Shepard's Greatest '52-'64

Jean Shepard was one of country music’s first significant female artists.  Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns said: "In the 1950s, self-supporting female country artists were rare. Women who rose to stardom on the West Coast rather than through the Grand Ole Opry were rarer still, as were women who adopted a hard-edged honky-tonk style or sang from a woman's perspective. Jean Shepard was all that and more."

Shepard’s early Capitol recordings were part of The Bakersfield Sound &  many of the session musicians on them (Buck Owens, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant) later had careers of their own.  A Dear John Letter, her 1953 duet with Ferlin Husky, was the first commercially successful recording to consist entirely of Bakersfield musicians.

Her first solo hit was A Satisfied Mind.  A new song at the time, that’s now considered a country standard, Shepard’s version battled covers by Porter Wagoner & Red Foley and made it to the #4 position on the country charts.

She recorded several songs that were feminist anthems before that term was in use.  Two Whoops & A Holler is about the double-standard that is applied to women.  Another Neon Night is about a one-night stand with a fellah whose name she doesn't know, & Poor Sweet Baby is about a couple who are about to make the beast with two backs (the latter two fall outside of the period this compilation is pulled from).  

Shepard was a member of these Grand Ole Opry for 60 years, and met her husband Hankshaw Hawkins after joining the cast in 1955.  Hawkins died in the same plane crash that took Patsy Cline’s life in 1963, after which Shepard considered retirement, but her next release Second Fiddle To An Old Guitar (the final track here) reached #5 & was considered her “comeback” recording.

Jean Shepard’s nearest counterpart, in my opinion, is Hank Williams Sr.  Her range of subject matter is similar &, like Hank, she incorporates yelps, growls, yodeling, hiccups & utilizes a very effective--almost comical--nasal delivery at times.  They both sideswipe rockabilly (on occasion) & take off without leaving a note.  For proof, give a listen to her version of Lefty Frizzell’s If You’ve Got The Money, I’ve Got The Time, or Twice The Lovin’ (In Half The Time) which was a bold statement for a woman to make when it was recorded.

Jonathan Sings For Kids! Circle The Little Kookenhakens!

Jonathan Sings For Kids!

Name a performer who’s better suited to release a children’s album than JONATHAN RICHMAN.

"I guess I have to do EVERYTHING around here!"

While BLOGGER is being a big doo doo head & not updating blog rolls, Jon & I decided to throw our faithful followers a bone, & post something anyway (despite the near certainty that no one will see it!)

I'm posting something I made for my nieces & nephews a long time ago; Jonathan Sings For Kids! because it’s already found an appreciative audience.  I bet some of the folks that regularly visit will like it, too!

The songs that simply COULD NOT be left off are here; Ice Cream Man, My Little Kookenhaken, Hey Little Insect, & I’m A Little Airplane.  There are a few that, while perfect for inclusion, are less obvious; New Teller, Not Yet Three, & When I Dance.  A couple are a bit of a stretch, & the fact that Roadrunner doesn’t involve a cartoon bird dodging a coyote’s homicidal impulses may leave some younger children feeling cheated.

But as always, our comps here at JONKY are fully guaranteed—double your money back!  

What better way to end a post aimed at children than with a dad joke?

Brillig Blogger Buggered Blather

Never forget the shameless hypocrisy of JDV and DJT
"Rules for thee and not for me"

Last week, the posting of comments on Blogger was temporarily disabled.  This week it's the blog feed.  On the sidebar of most blogs (and at the bottom of Jonkyblog), there's usually a list of "My Fave Blogs" that is updated as new posts are published.  That feed has been frozen since September 8.

Meanwhile, we bloggers have no way of letting you know about our new posts until Blogger fixes this bug.  I imagine it's not too high on the list of Alphabet's business concerns (Cardiacs joke!)  Stinky's "SAY WHAT" post is stuck in this limbo.  Thankfully, readers have been visiting us to see if we have posted anything new, and we appreciate you.

Remember the days of blog aggregators like Hype Machine and elbo.ws?  If you've been around long enough, you might even remember "blog rings".  Blogs were grouped by similar interests and topics, and you could click an arrow to go from one blog to the next in your ring of choice.

Until a fix is implemented, what can we do as a workaround?  Maybe each of us music bloggers can "shout out" our colleagues' new posts.  Feel free to link to this roundup and add anyone I missed here.

First, I want to welcome back Moozler, who took a hiatus for job seeking and soul searching.  It's good to see him "fit and working again" (and sharing his wonderfully curated mixes). Nate Rabe (former proprietor of the C90 Lounge) recently paused in his travels to share a tribute mix of Dolly Parton songs at Missionaries, Mercenaries, and Misfits.

Also back with new posts after a lengthy absence are Pee-Pee Soaked Heckhole (with memories of the DC scene and the rise of Nation Of Ulysses), as well as George Glass at Groovy Library.  George used to share Halloween mixes starting in September; not sure he will continue that tradition, but right now he's got some "Rockin' Rollin' Doo-Wop and R&B" for us!  Tone And Wave also started sharing again, with lots of rare 2Tone and New Wave.

Nathan Nothin's readers know that this month is in fact DUBTEMBER, with a glorious daily feast of heavy riddims.  Today's post features Rhoda Dakar's covers album Version Girl (a personal favorite of mine). 

AJ also made a comeback with Themes From Great Cities, and he's been sharing some great compilation albums as well as music from the Cramps, Danse Society, Drab Majesty, and Faster Pussycat.  If you like metal and goth, don't miss Black Lodge Relics.  Custom comps of rarities from Venom, G&R, and Michael Monroe are on offer, as well as Joy Division, Manic Street Preachers, Placebo and (HALLOWEEN ALERT) -- an extensive collection of Elvira!  

Our friends draftervoi, Jobe, and the gang at Voodoo Wagon and Floppy Boot Stomp are busy as ever, with everything from Bow Wow Wow to Ted Nugent, The Outlaws and Steely Dan.  And don't forget the Adult Bookstore, Motel and Records.  I hear they've got liquor in the front, and poker in the back!

One Buck Guy has shared a thoughtful and heartfelt essay on September 11.  Ape Mummy reposted an unmissable collection at Primitive Offerings: Jon Savage's 50 Pre Punk Missing Links.  Angelo at Power Pop Angels shared a rare XTC EP, a tribute album to The Jam, and a great rockabilly LP from the 80's by The Zantees (Billy & Miriam's band before The A-Bones).

Doom & Gloom From The Tomb has Neil Young, Lou Reed, Richard Lloyd, "new" Antietam, Run On, and a collection of Stephen Malkmus performing David Berman songs.  Dubhed has a birthday salute to Moby, the return of Renegade Soundwave, and Khayem's enthusiastic review of the new Dexy's album. Diskobole has a feature on Ezra Furman, and maybe the artists Baby Bertha and Moxie are as new to you as they are to me. 

Paul at Albums That Should Exist has shared an excellent radio broadcast of a live Cassandra Wilson set, plus St. Vincent, Laura Nyro, Roberta Flack, Robyn Hitchcock, and a bounty of Beatles-related stuff.  Albums I Wish Existed has a massive set of rarities from Icecream Hands, plus Pink Floyd and UK.  My Vinyl Dreams has a Eurythmics bootleg and lots of EnVogue remixes.

Everybody's Number One To Someone explores the history of the British Independent Charts (which started in 1981).   We have now reached the summer of 1988, and blogger 23 Daves always has insightful observations to share about the recording industry, the music press, and the artists and trends that came and went.

Vibes just celebrated its second anniversary.  The Vibes crew shares classic rock (The Doors, Genesis, Clapton, Love, Dylan) world music (Salif Keita, Takashi Hirayasu, The Paragons) and punk (Ramones): a bit of everything!   

TwilightZone has been posting almost every day for the past 20 years (with the exception of RYP's annual beach vacation).  Incredible!  Vinyl Villain is also celebrating its 20th birthday.  Fluxblog (the O.G. of mp3 blogs) has been at it since 2002, and recently featured the long-awaited collaboration between Erykah Badu and The Alchemist.

SAY WHAT? Vol. 1 Utter Nonsense! "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé"

SAY WHAT? Vol. 1 Utter Nonsense!

Jonky’s new SAY WHAT? series concerns itself with “non-lexical vocables” or in layman’s terms; complete nonsense.

At the dawn of rock & roll, if you had a “hep” phrase that the kids were using that had the "squares” scratching their heads, or even a bunch of random syllables that sounded good strung together, & stirred in a wild sax solo, you were in business.  Bill Haley & The Comets built an entire career on that formula with songs like Crazy Man Crazy, & Hot Dog, Buddy Buddy.  

The most famous early example might be Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti with its refrain of "A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom!"  It came about from Richard vocalizing a drum fill he wanted to open the song.  In 2007, an eclectic panel of recording artists ranked it at No. 1 on MOJO Magazine’s ”Top 100 Records That Changed The World" & hailed the recording as "the sound of the birth of rock & roll". 

The original lyrics were a paean to anal sex with lyrics like; “Tutti Fruitti, good booty.  If it’s tight, it’s alright.  If it’’s greasy, it makes it easy” which were replaced with the nonsensical Tuttu Frutti, Aw Rooty” (which was itself slang for “all right”).

Non-lexical vocables may include word salads of disconnected lyrics that lack coherent meaning, or can rely on amphigory—with verses that SEEM to have meaning, but are meaningless.  Even scat singing can land a song in the category.  A cappella & Doo-Wop music was rife with it, & even became the subject of the song Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp).

Such devices have been touched on in my comps; SHA LA LA & NA NA NA but utilizing those old standbys doesn’t guarantee a track a place in the SAY WHAT?! series.  Neither does yodeling, onomatopoeic references, rigmarole, folderol, or pig latin.

All that gobbledegook is meaningless unless the compilation rocks enough to pull the listener in, & keeps their hips swinging & their lips singing along throughout.  That was my goal, & I hope you find it as Super­cali­fragilistic­expiali­docious as I do!

Some stand out examples include Volume 3’s Prisencolinensinainciusol by Italy’s Adriano Celentano, which is made up of nonsense lyrics that Celentano wrote to sound like English to people who don’t understand English.  Or Volume 2’s Shimmy, Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop by Little Anthony & The Imperials.  

Here on Volume One you get Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah by Violent Femmes—which (despite being a children’s song) seems a natural progression from Tutti Frutti.  Music intended for children is of course FULL of non-lexical vocables, as evidenced by Mahna Mahna by The Muppets, or Witch Doctor by The Chipmunks with its “Walla walla bing bang” refrain.  

Worth mentioning is John Lennon’s #9 Dream.  John dreamed "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé" and inserted it in this wonderful hallucination set to music.  

My favorite style of music, rockabilly relied heavily on nonsense lyrics in the absolutely classic songs included on Volume One; Bip Bop Boom, Ooby Dooby, & Hasil Adkins’ demented She Said, which pops up on a subsequent volume covered by The Cramps!

So if you dig Will-O-Wil-O Wops, & Shama Lama Ding Dongs, don’t be a Rooty-Toot-Galoot!  Dive right in!  The Hum Diddley Dee Doo is fine!

Marti Jones' Jukebox

 

In my post last week I asked our readers, "Who you wish would make another record?"  One of my own answers was Cassandra Wilson.  Sadly, this immensely talented singer of jazz and blues (and more) died this week at age 70.  Several collections of Cassandra Wilson's music are still available at this blog.  One of the greatest voices I ever had the pleasure to hear in concert.

A reader who goes by JPB In DC mentioned Marti Jones as a singer who hasn't made a record in a long while.  That got me listening again to her albums.  

Marti started her recording career with the short-lived Akron band Color Me Gone, but she is best known in the music world as a solo artist and as the wife and collaborator of Don Dixon.

Dixon produced each of Marti's solo albums, and they got married after the third one (1988's Used Guitars).  They have written wonderful songs together, but I think Marti excels as an interpreter of other writers' compositions.  She has a fabulous voice, and an ear for a great tune.  Dixon creates brilliant arrangements to showcase Marti's vocals.  He is also a terrific duet partner, his gruff voice like the Beast to his wife's Beauty.

Angelo at Power Pop Criminals recently nominated Lisa Mychols as The Queen Of Power Pop. I wouldn't start an argument with an expert like Angelo, but I think Marti deserves a seat at that royal table.  

Fun factoid: Color Me Gone's 1984 EP was coproduced by fellow Akronite Liam Sternberg. Marti sang the demo for a song that Liam wrote called "Walk Like An Egyptian".  Marti later recorded another Liam Sternberg song called "Crusher".

Marti currently focuses on painting.  Her last album, You're Not The Bossa Me, was released in 2014.  Her frustration with the business of music might be summed up in a verse from "Put Me On Top" (an Aimee Mann song that Marti covered):  "I should be riding on a float in a hit parade, instead of standing on a curb behind a barricade."

IT'S ABOUT TIME! Vol. 2 - Songs about seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, & years!

IT'S ABOUT TIME! Vol. 2 

In the latest installment of IT'S ABOUT TIME, we've got all kinds of time.

CHERRY TESS starts us off with Fifteen Seconds, THE CHERRY VALANCE & THE CINELLI BROTHERS concern themselves more with minutes... as BROOK BENTON says; It's Just A Matter Of Time.  

Time is a luxury STEVE FORBERT doesn't think he has, & THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES' Days Are Numbered.  THE NOMADS are Five Minutes Ahead Of My/Their Time.

THE J. GEILS BAND is living On Borrowed Time, the king of the honky-tonks; GARY STEWART borrows The King Of Rock & Roll's One Night, & the always wonderful JEAN SHEPARD assures us that she'll make the time, if you've got the money. 

MOON MULLICAN has Seven Nights To Rock, THE GRASSROOTS always get around to rocking Sooner Or Later, while THE SHANGRI-LAS prefer to rock Right Now, & Not Later.

The title of the anthology came from the final track, the theme to the '60s time-traveling sitcom; IT'S ABOUT TIME, but it could just as easily have come from THE PANDORAS' track of the same name.

What are you waiting for?  As THE SPECIALS remind us It's Later Than You Think.  Don't you think it's about time you downloaded Volume 2?

Women Sing Westerberg

Here’s a comp that does what it says on the tin.  Longtime Mat fans may remember that after the breakup, Paul Westerberg announced that he would be doing some collaborations with other artists.  

In the early 1990’s, he cowrote songs with the Goo Goo Dolls, Joan Jett, and Johnette Napolitano (for her Pretty & Twisted album).  The latter two songs can be heard here, along with covers of The Replacements and songs from Paul’s solo career.  

One of the last things Paul has released (a decade ago) was another collaboration:  The I Don’t Cares was his duo with Juliana Hatfield, and their version of “Born For Me” is here as well.

There were three versions of “It’s A Wonderful Lie” to choose from.  Mary Lou Lord and Christina Martin have recorded it. I chose the version by Puss N Boots, the trio of Sasha Dobson, Norah Jones and Catherine Popper.  

Two versions of “Swingin Party” are included, because the covers seemed different enough in style and mood.  “Androgynous” has also been covered a number of times.  I didn’t quite have room enough for the version by Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett and Laura Jane Grace.

It has been almost a decade since new songs appeared on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.  I wonder what Paul has been doing. Does he sing around the house?  Pick up the guitar, or plink at the piano?  Has he retired from playing and writing music?  Or does he have a dry wood garage full of unreleased material – enough to rival Prince’s archives at Paisley Park?  

He’s old enough now for Medicare.  Maybe he earned enough from the reunion tour, the reissues, and the royalties that he doesn’t have to "whore his past" anymore.  There's a theory that Paul agreed to the comeback tour in order to pay for his recent divorce and raise funds for Slim Dunlap's medical care.  Slim and Paul's ex-wife Laurie Lindeen both died in 2024.  Paul may have socked enough away to fund his own retirement.

So is he done with music? Will he have any involvement with the upcoming Mats biopic?  Who knows?  Not me.  Who cares?  Not many.  And do any of us deserve the answers?  Not likely.  But we can still grab our favorite lampshades and enjoy the swingin' sounds of Wimmen Singin' Westerberg.

We could do a lot worse.