Chuck E. Weiss: Sneaky Anthems For Old Souls

According to Wikipedia (quoth Koen), Chuck E. Weiss was known for an eclectic mix of blues, beat poetry, and rock & roll. His music included strains of every rhythmic style from nursery rhymes to zydeco…

The first time I ever heard Chuck’s name was probably in Rickie Lee Jones’s hit "Chuck E.’s In Love", but I had no idea who she was singing about… Much later when I got into Tom Waits and had read about the connections between these three, I started paying more attention to Chuck. Apparently, he had written a few songs with Tom and featured in the title of another, "Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone with Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and The Mug and Artie)" …

In the pre-digital days, I had no idea of his first album The Other Side of Town, which was released in 1981. I wasn’t the only one, as it didn’t make much of an impact.  However, 1999’s Extremely Cool was a different story, as it featured Tom Waits prominently and had some great (weird) songs on it, e.g. "Do You Know What I Idi Amin"! I did manage to get some digital tracks from it, courtesy of Napster…

John E. Depp (left) and Chuck E. Weiss (right)

Old Souls & Wolf Tickets appeared on the scene in 2001, without Waits and more in a Delta blues style. As a curiosity, it had a great collaboration with Willie Dixon from 1970 on it, with Chuck covering the old Don Raye classic "Down The Road A Piece" from the 1940s!

In 2006 he released 23rd & Stout, featuring an exploration of many blues and rumba styles with more than a nod towards Tom Waits. His last album Red Beans and Weiss appeared in 2014, again a very decent collection of songs.  He often performed live with his band the Goddamn Liars in and around Los Angeles and was at times joined by Johnny Depp on guitar.  

Weiss died on July 20, 2021, in Los Angeles at the age of 76. He suffered from cancer before his death. All in all, Chuck delivered a remarkably consistent number of high-quality (weird) songs and therefore imo certainly deserves a Jonderblog compilation! Making compilations such as these is kind of fun, as I usually try to include a few odd & sods as well, and luckily Chuck recorded a few songs for compilations such as Son of Rogues Gallery (and tributes to Kinky Friedman and Elmore James).

However, the Willie Dixon collaboration (Willie on bass & vocals, Sunnyland Slim on piano, Shakey Horton on harmonica, Buster Benton on guitar) triggered a memory, something from my pre-travelling days when I was still working in Holland and a rabid 50s rock & roll/rockabilly fan, believe it or not…

In the mid-1970s, I started ordering albums and singles from Ronny Weiser, an American rockabilly fanatic who revived the careers of forgotten artists such as Ray Campi and Mac Curtis by bringing them back into his recording studio. In 1976 Weiser started recording new artists, and I vaguely recalled his two Rollin’ The Rock compilation albums (with dreadful artwork/lay-out, done by himself…) 

As I had sold off my record collection years ago, I did some digital digging and sure enough I found those two albums, both featuring a certain Chuck Weiss! On Vol. 1 there’s a great version of Big Joe Turner’s "Boogie Woogie County Girl", again with Dixon & co.! Vol. 2 has a more rockabilly-sounding track, "Callin’ Loud", unfortunately without any information about who’s playing on it, but still pretty cool. As far as I know, neither track has ever been released on CD, so a worthwhile addition to this compilation!