GUEST REVIEW BY GENTLEMAN JOHN BATTLES (SteadyBoy) Whenever the
subject of pioneering Country Rockers comes up, names like Gram Parsons, Mike
Nesmith and Rick Nelson are usually among the first to be dropped, and
rightfully so, but what of Doug Sahm? Anyone remotely familiar with the cat
knows he had more different styles than Carnaby Street in it's ascension, but
he began his remarkable musical career as a small, small boy, a pre-teen steel
guitar prodigy. His dad took him to the Honky Tonks, where he was photographed
sitting on Hank Williams' boney knee. Even when he staked his claim in Rock n Roll
with The Sir Douglas Quintet, his was probably the only album of 1965 to
contain a version of "He's In The Jailhouse Now" not sung by a guy in
a rhinestone Nudie suit. In the Late 60s The SDQ were already incorporating C
& W- based originals, anchored by Doug's Country-as-chicken fiddle playing.
Doug never got his just due for being hip to Country and making Country hip, but
he would always return to his first love, and, in what would sadly amount to
his last sessions, he ain't just "Huggin' Thin Air," as he would
lament in one of the dozen heartfelt selections on tap here for you. Doug
Sahm's swan song release, unjustly, met with poor distribution when it was
originally released on CD. It's possible that many of his fans never knew it
existed. Doug's friend in this life, and fan for ALL life, Freddie
"Steady" Krc, saw that this was a situation that needed to be
rectified, PRONTO! This time around, the album gets the full treatment it,
and the fans, deserve. Deluxe 15O Gram Vinyl (Plus a Free Download Card), full
color artwork by Kerry Awn (who did the SWEET poster for Doug's memorial show),
liner notes by Rush Evans and one color photo by Bob Zink (Doug in all his
glory, playing at a used car lot with an older couple waltzin' across Texas
behind him). Even if you actually have the elusive CD, you need this on vinyl.
Why? BECAUSE DOUG SAHM'S A STONE GROOVE!!!!!!!! This is the Hardcore Honky Tonk,
the kind of stuff you could be forgiven for thinking had left this world before
Doug actually did. It hearkens to the fun, Big Fiddle sound of Mercury-era
Sir Douglas Quintet (e.g. "Dynamite Woman,” "Magic Illusion,”
"Texas Me,” which is re-made in glorious fashion here), but it's music
that isn’t pissing around, like these new "Country" acts that make
Garth Brooks sound like George Jones with six sets of balls. Sahm doesn’t mince
words putting those phonies down, either. "Oh, No! Not Another One,” is probably
Doug's best Down Home
Humorist fare since "You Can't Hide a Redneck (Underneath That Hippie Hair),
but Sahm is serious as he was about the sanctity of baseball when he sings
"He skips across the stage like a gazelle...I'll bet he's never heard of
Lefty Frizzell...Oh, no, not another one." He's going up to bat (with
lead, not cork, in his Louisville Slugger) as a Country Music fan, as if there
could be any doubt about his passion. Aided by a starting lineup, which
includes Augie Meyers, Bill Kirchen, steel guitar maestro Tommy Delamore, and
monster fiddle player Bobby Flores, San Antonio's Number One Son brings it all
back home, not knowing he'd soon be going home himself. His spirited vocals cut
a trail through songs of sin ( "Cowboy Peyton Place,” "I Can't Go
Back To Austin," and the SDQ staple, "Dallas Alice”) and redemption (“Beautiful
Texas Sunshine ,” the opener). Listen
close to his reflective take on the classic, "Texas Me.” Like this fine
album as a bookend to Sahm’s long career, there's a nice surprise at the end.
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