THE B@@MER S@@NER, Kiowa Blues King - Jesse Ed Davis!!

Among American Indians, The Blues is big. Around Indian Country, where I live, there are many great Blues Artists. So it is no surprise to me to find a Kiowa Indian, whose dexterity with a Fender, and with his degree in Literature from Oklahoma University, took to writing of Blues songs, Jesse's influence is still thundering. Davis played with all the greatest Blues Artists in the world, including Eric Clapton. It is time for The Oklahoma Music Heritage Foundation, to vote Jesse into its Music Hall of Fame. It is time that Oklahoma becomes, ... "JesseEdDavisized."

Jesse was born in 1944 in The Naval Hospital on the North Campus in Norman. His mother was a full-blood Kiowa Indian, named Saumkeah. Jesse graduated from the University of Oklahoma, but afterward wasn't happy doing anything but playing the Blues. I believe that Jesse graduated in 66 or 67. during his first two years, the Folk Music Craze was big, and OU sponsored Friday-At-Four, on the patio of the Student Union. I don't recall him playing, though, they did bring in some of the great historical African American Blues players. I remember one, :) who played the blues using a knife as a slide. It was incredible. After graduation, Jesse spent two years in the business community and was drawn back to his heritage and love, The Blues. Davis played with Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, The Beatles and is considered one of the greatest Blues players of his time. If you can name a Blues artist, Jesse played with them. Davis was out of the limelight during the late '80s, struggling with overcoming a drug abuse problem.

Jesse graduated from Norman High School, in 1962. His dad was of Comanche decent, so the full-blooded Kiowa Indian is incorrect, but close, if his dad was of Comanche and Kiowa bloodline, his American Indian veins held pure Indian blood. Four years of college, which he did, would put him graduating from Oklahoma University in 1966 or 1967.

With The Beatles, and the exit of folk music, the coffee shops in OKC and Norman shut down. Friday-At-4 was a thing of the past. From his bio, Jesse really didn't start his music career for a couple of years after his graduation, so that would explain why he wasn't on the campus scene. On the other hand, after '65, I was off the campus housing, and, thus, wasn't part of the music scene. Jesse was a full-blood Kiowa Indian/Comanche Indian. He died in a Laundrymat in 1988, Venice, California. He left his wife and son. I live in Kiowa Country with their headquarters at Carnegie, Oklahoma, two skips and a hollar down the road where we presently live. All of the information above is incontrovertably true. Listening to his double LPs on one CD, you will find referrences to the Washita River, Market Street in Anadarko, Anadarko, The Drum, Reno Street in Oklahoma City, a place where homeless still live the street of homeless and drug addicted used to hang out, and one can hear Tulsa mentioned in his songs.

Anadarko hosts a Blues Festival every year in August. Most of the Blues Artists who perform are American Indian.

There is some grainy, 38 MM film of him playing at a Blues Fest, a benefit, and, in fact, more than likely the first of those type of festivals. Farm Aide, AIDs, and other "raise money" festivals are now a part of our life.

Look at his picture above. Thanks, to my son, Darrin, I wouldn't have had any clue that Jesse existed. I have, also, put out a call on my Blues List, and if anyone can come up with accurate Bio's, it will come from that list.

So, come back here to find the most accurate facts on this great Kiowa Indian. Remember, too, that many other Blues artists, think Janice Joplin, died of drug over-doses. If you have seen the documentary on the Canada Railroad event, you will see all of the artists smoking reefers, drinking tons of booz, and partaking of hard drugs, supplied by the Railroad events manager. I've seen the documentary, but most assuredly, Jesse was on that train.

Jesse Ed Davis web gleanings

I saw him play in '68 and again in '70. Jesse Ed was one of the all time greatest guitar players. (Chris lists his middle name as Edwin.) Thanks Chris!

" In April of 1979, Trudell met Jackson Browne. This meeting led Trudell into the world of music. In 1982, with Jackson Browne's help, John Trudell recorded Tribal Voice, a fusion of poetry and traditional Native music, which was released on cassette. In 1985, Trudell met legendary Kiowa guitarist and songwriter Jesse Ed Davis. Together, they recorded Trudell's debut album AKA Grafitti Man, with Trudell writing and performing the spoken word vocals and Jesse writing and performing the music. Released on cassette in 1986, it was dubbed "the best album" of that year by none other than Bob Dylan. AKA Grafitti Man served early notice of Trudell's singular ability to express fundamental truths through a unique mix of poetry, Native instrumentation and unfettered blues and rock." (Internet Records)

"Trudell recorded two more albums with Jesse Ed Davis before Davis' untimely death in 1988 and would continue the work the pair had pioneered, this time in partnership with Mark Shark, on such landmark early 90's releases as Fables and Other Realities and Child's Voice: Children Of The Earth. A touring stint with Australia's incendiary Midnight Oil and roles in the feature films Thunderheart and Smoke Signals and the documentary Incident At Oglala helped spread the word of the artist's multi-faceted talents, as did a 1992 rerecording of AKA Grafitti Man, this time produced by Jackson Browne. Released on Rykodisc, the album was dubbed by Rolling Stone Magazine "a moving, shape-shifting rock & roll treatise on the state of the world." Two years later, Trudell would return with Johnny Damas & Me and, in 1999, released the acclaimed Blue Indians, once again produced by Browne. The album, remarked Parke Puterbaugh, in Rolling Stone, "is an affecting marriage of tribal rhythms, traditional chanting, modern musical backdrops and Trudell's penetrating poetics." (Net and record Bios)

"A full-blooded Kiowa/Comanche Indian, Jesse Ed Davis was perhaps the most versatile session guitarist of the late '60s and early '70s. Whether it was blues, country or rock, Davis' tasteful guitar playing was featured on albums by such giants as Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, John Lennon and John Lee Hooker, among others. It is Davis' weeping slide heard on Clapton's "Hello Old Friend" (from No Reason to Cry), and on both Rock n' Roll and Walls & Bridges, it is Davis who supplied the bulk of the guitar work for ex-Beatle Lennon."

"Born in Oklahoma, Davis first earned a degree in literature from the University of Oklahoma before beginning his musical career touring with Conway Twitty in the early '60s. Eventually the guitarist moved to California, joining bluesman Taj Mahal and playing guitar and piano on his first three albums. " by Steve Kurutz

A full-blooded Kiowa (sic) Indian, Jesse Ed Davis was perhaps the most versatile session guitarist of the late '60s and early '70s. Whether it was blues, country or rock, Davis' tasteful guitar playing was featured on albums by such giants as Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, John Lennon and John Lee Hooker, among others. It is Davis' weeping slide heard on Clapton's "Hello Old Friend" (from No Reason to Cry), and on both Rock n' Roll and Walls & Bridges, it is Davis who supplied the bulk of the guitar work for ex-Beatle Lennon.

Born in Oklahoma, Davis first earned a degree in literature from the University of Oklahoma before beginning his musical career touring with Conway Twitty in the early '60s. Eventually the guitarist moved to California, joining bluesman Taj Mahal and playing guitar and piano on his first three albums. It was with Mahal where Davis was able to showcase his skill and range, playing slide, lead and rhythm, country and even jazz guitar during his three-year stint.

The period backing Mahal was the closest Davis came to being in a band full-time, and after Taj's 1969 album Giant Step, Davis began doing session work for such diverse acts as David Cassidy, Albert King and Willie Nelson. In addition, he also released three solo albums featuring industry friends such as Leon Russell and Eric Clapton.

In and out of clinics, Davis disappeared from the music industry for a time, spending much of the '80s dealing with alcohol and drug addiction. Just before his death of a suspected drug overdose in 1988, Davis resurfaced playing in the Graffiti Band, which coupled his music with the poetry of American Indian activist John Trudell. The kind of expert, tasteful playing that Davis always brought to an album is sorely missed among the acts he worked with.

There is a CD of Jesse's which can be found on eBay. I've ordered it. It says it is a combination of two vinyls. I have ordered the CD. Of course, as well, you can pick up som Taj Mahal CD's of that era and find him playing lead on those.

+++
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Mahal, Taj - Taj Mahal CD

Taj Mahal CD
Taj Mahal
Our Price: $9.89
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Detailed Information
List Price $11.98 (You save $2.09)
Category Rock/Pop, Urban Soundtrack, Blues, Contemporary Blues
Label Legacy Recordings
Orig Year 1968
CDU Part# 1089076
All Time Sales Rank 19243
Catalog# 65858
Discs 1
Street Date Sep 05, 2000
Studio/Live Studio
Mono/Stereo Stereo
Guest(s) Jesse Edwin Davis; Ry Cooder
Additional Info Remastered

Posters From Allposters.com
Spirit - At the Whiskey A-Go-Go

14 x 20 inch
Art Print

Price: $15.99

Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68
Kooper, Al
Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68

CD $7.69

Notes
Personnel: Taj Mahal (vocals, slide guitar, harmonica); Ryland "Ry" P. Cooder (guitar, mandolin); Jesse Edwin Davis (guitar, piano); Gary Gilmore, James Thomas, Charles Blackwell (bass); Sanford Konikoff (drums). Producer: David Rubinson. Reissue producer: Bob Irwin. Recorded in August 1967. Originally released on Columbia (9579). Includes liner notes by Tom Nolan, Taj Mahal & Stanley Crouch. Though these 1968 sides were cut in LA at the apex of the burgeoning counterculture movement, the main influences at play here are those of the Mississippi Delta blues. Featuring early performances from Ry Cooder and Jesse Ed Davis, TAJ MAHAL is the joyfully confident debut that propelled the eponymous bluesman to national recognition. Comparable to similar experiments by Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield and British blues maven John Mayall, Mahal's sound is both intensely traditional and aggressively pure. For an example of the former, check out the album's closer, "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues," the intro of which sounds as if it could Mahal's self-titled solo debut, released in 1967, featured an amalgamation of musicians from different ethnicities. "We were a mixture of what America was all about, red, black and white," Mahal said.

He considers the band's electric guitarist, the late Jesse Edwin Davis, a Comanche Indian, "one of the most underrated electric guitar players of the century." Audiences weren't accustomed to such diversity on stage. been recorded any time in the previous 30 years, while "Statesboro Blues," with Davis's thrillingly raw slide interjections featured heavily throughout, is an intensely focused performance still capable of producing chills decades after the fact. There's no tinkering with genre here, as was later to become the style with countless '60s and '70s blues rock bands--what's on offer on TAJ MAHAL is a direct electrified line to the heart and soul of a seminal American art form. This edition features alternate artwork to the original, chosen by Mahal himself, and contemporary liner notes by celebrated critic Stanley Crouch.

Jesse Ed Davis* -- Washita Love Child -- Jesse Edwin Davis -- Wounded Bird (Washita River meanders through Carnegie, Anadarko, and Chickasha, Oklahoma.

Goog Taste Music

2103 Edwards Ave

Muscle Shoals, AL 35661

GOOGLE THEM

Song Titles on double LP DISk. All Songs written by Davis

1) Reno Street Incident (Every Okla resident knows of Reno Street in OKC)

2) Tulsa County

3) Washita Love Child (River runs through Carnegie, Washita, Anadarko

4) Every Night is Saturday Night

5) You Belladonna You

6) Rock'n Roll Gypsies

7) Golden Sun Goddess

8) Crazy Love

9) Red Dirt Boogie, Brother

10) White Line Fever

11) Farther On Down The Road

12) Sue Me, Sue You Blues

13) My Captain

14) Ululu

15) Old Susannah

16) Strawberry

17) Make a Joyful

18) Alcatraz

"Haven't had it yet," he says. "Maybe it'll happen tonight. There have been a lot of highlights though: Abraham's Children's Ivor Wynn Stadium concert, where a minor teenage hysteria riot broke out and the police had to stop the show after the third song. Sharing a bill with Teenage Head at the Millhaven Pen. Getting to play bass for Taj Mahal's band for two sold-out Toronto shows when his bassist got turned back at the border. Jesse Edwin Davis actually taught me the bass parts 20 minutes before we hit the stage!"
by Arlo Guthrie

"Concert collaborations between Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger had a truly magical cross-generational folk music bond, but also were a showbiz boxoffice venture, an aspect that no amount of shucking or jiving can hide. The recordings that were released from these onstage meetings are enjoyable, but hardly memorable. In some cases the shlock factor is so mighty that, on a track by track basis, this album could be used to repelf as well as attract, just as surely as the hefty double-album itself could be used as a weapon. Not that Seeger nor the young son of his former singing partner Woody Guthrie would advocate such a thing."

"The Guthrie connection leads to a strong "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)". "Joe Hill", tough as ever, might require a bit of patience, but the jug band "Stealin' sneaks up at the beginning of the fourth side to give the entire album a new jolt of energy. The set's promise of a concert recording is not entirely misleading, though the sides mix and match excerpts from four different gigs. Cowboy songs are a nice connection for the two men, with "Lonesome Valley" another strong part of the final side. "Guantanamera" is horrid, though, and Seeger is sure stilted when it comes to old English balladry. In the musicians' musician column, these recordings feature nice back-up lead guitar from native American picker Jesse Edwin Davis, who has a nice feeling for both country and blues. Some listeners will want to give the two frontmen the hook and just listen to Davis."

Posted by Eugene Chadbourne [+] |

" In April of 1979, Trudell met Jackson Browne. This meeting led Trudell into the world of music. In 1982, with Jackson Browne's help, John Trudell recorded Tribal Voice, a fusion of poetry and traditional Native music, which was released on cassette. In 1985, Trudell met legendary Kiowa guitarist and songwriter Jesse Ed Davis. Together, they recorded Trudell's debut album AKA Grafitti Man, with Trudell writing and performing the spoken word vocals and Jesse writing and performing the music. Released on cassette in 1986, it was dubbed "the best album" of that year by none other than Bob Dylan. AKA Grafitti Man served early notice of Trudell's singular ability to express fundamental truths through a unique mix of poetry, Native instrumentation and unfettered blues and rock." (Internet Records)

"Trudell recorded two more albums with Jesse Ed Davis before Davis' untimely death in 1988 and would continue the work the pair had pioneered, this time in partnership with Mark Shark, on such landmark early 90's releases as Fables and Other Realities and Child's Voice: Children Of The Earth. A touring stint with Australia's incendiary Midnight Oil and roles in the feature films Thunderheart and Smoke Signals and the documentary Incident At Oglala helped spread the word of the artist's multi-faceted talents, as did a 1992 rerecording of AKA Grafitti Man, this time produced by Jackson Browne. Released on Rykodisc, the album was dubbed by Rolling Stone Magazine "a moving, shape-shifting rock & roll treatise on the state of the world." Two years later, Trudell would return with Johnny Damas & Me and, in 1999, released the acclaimed Blue Indians, once again produced by Browne. The album, remarked Parke Puterbaugh, in Rolling Stone, "is an affecting marriage of tribal rhythms, traditional chanting, modern musical backdrops and Trudell's penetrating poetics." (Net and record Bios)

"A full-blooded Kiowa/Comanche Indian, Jesse Ed Davis was perhaps the most versatile session guitarist of the late '60s and early '70s. Whether it was blues, country or rock, Davis' tasteful guitar playing was featured on albums by such giants as Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, John Lennon and John Lee Hooker, among others. It is Davis' weeping slide heard on Clapton's "Hello Old Friend" (from No Reason to Cry), and on both Rock n' Roll and Walls & Bridges, it is Davis who supplied the bulk of the guitar work for ex-Beatle Lennon."

"Born in Oklahoma, Davis first earned a degree in literature from the University of Oklahoma before beginning his musical career touring with Conway Twitty in the early '60s. Eventually the guitarist moved to California, joining bluesman Taj Mahal and playing guitar and piano on his first three albums. " by Steve Kurutz

A full-blooded Kiowa Indian, Jesse Ed Davis was perhaps the most versatile session guitarist of the late '60s and early '70s. Whether it was blues, country or rock, Davis' tasteful guitar playing was featured on albums by such giants as Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, John Lennon and John Lee Hooker, among others. It is Davis' weeping slide heard on Clapton's "Hello Old Friend" (from No Reason to Cry), and on both Rock n' Roll and Walls & Bridges, it is Davis who supplied the bulk of the guitar work for ex-Beatle Lennon.

Born in Oklahoma, Davis first earned a degree in literature from the University of Oklahoma before beginning his musical career touring with Conway Twitty in the early '60s. Eventually the guitarist moved to California, joining bluesman Taj Mahal and playing guitar and piano on his first three albums. It was with Mahal where Davis was able to showcase his skill and range, playing slide, lead and rhythm, country and even jazz guitar during his three-year stint.

The period backing Mahal was the closest Davis came to being in a band full-time, and after Taj's 1969 album Giant Step, Davis began doing session work for such diverse acts as David Cassidy, Albert King and Willie Nelson. In addition, he also released three solo albums featuring industry friends such as Leon Russell and Eric Clapton.

In and out of clinics, Davis disappeared from the music industry for a time, spending much of the '80s dealing with alcohol and drug addiction. Just before his death of a suspected drug overdose in 1988, Davis resurfaced playing in the Graffiti Band, which coupled his music with the poetry of American Indian activist John Trudell. The kind of expert, tasteful playing that Davis always brought to an album is sorely missed among the acts he worked with.

There is a CD of Jesse's which can be found on eBay. I've ordered it. It says it is a combination of two vinyls. I have ordered the CD. Of course, as well, you can pick up som Taj Mahal CD's of that era and find him playing lead on those.

+++

Personnel: Taj Mahal (vocals, slide guitar, harmonica); Ryland "Ry" P. Cooder (guitar, mandolin); Jesse Edwin Davis (guitar, piano); Gary Gilmore, James Thomas, Charles Blackwell (bass); Sanford Konikoff (drums). Producer: David Rubinson. Reissue producer: Bob Irwin. Recorded in August 1967. Originally released on Columbia (9579). Includes liner notes by Tom Nolan, Taj Mahal & Stanley Crouch. Though these 1968 sides were cut in LA at the apex of the burgeoning counterculture movement, the main influences at play here are those of the Mississippi Delta blues. Featuring early performances from Ry Cooder and Jesse Ed Davis, TAJ MAHAL is the joyfully confident debut that propelled the eponymous bluesman to national recognition. Comparable to similar experiments by Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield and British blues maven John Mayall, Mahal's sound is both intensely traditional and aggressively pure. For an example of the former, check out the album's closer, "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues," the intro of which sounds as if it could Mahal's self-titled solo debut, released in 1967, featured an amalgamation of musicians from different ethnicities. "We were a mixture of what America was all about, red, black and white," Mahal said.

He considers the band's electric guitarist, the late Jesse Edwin Davis, a Comanche Indian, "one of the most underrated electric guitar players of the century." Audiences weren't accustomed to such diversity on stage. been recorded any time in the previous 30 years, while "Statesboro Blues," with Davis's thrillingly raw slide interjections featured heavily throughout, is an intensely focused performance still capable of producing chills decades after the fact. There's no tinkering with genre here, as was later to become the style with countless '60s and '70s blues rock bands--what's on offer on TAJ MAHAL is a direct electrified line to the heart and soul of a seminal American art form. This edition features alternate artwork to the original, chosen by Mahal himself, and contemporary liner notes by celebrated critic Stanley Crouch.

This is certainly not definitive. I have emailed The University of Oklahoma and will contact the State of Oklahoma Musical Heritage Commission, to celebrate this great artist's impact on the US musical culture.

COUNTRY DUETS

In the years 40s and 50s, it was a time when women simply could not be recorded. There was no women singers in those years making a difference in CW environment.

Hank Thompson had a HUG hit with "I Didn't Know God Made Honky Tonk Angels." It was hugely successful, and so was the remake of it, by Kitty Wells, "God Doesn't Make Honky Tonk Angels." It was a Thompson song, so she suffered to survive on a Country Music Atmosphere.


With the 60's some Women/Men Duets moved some vinyls. Porter Wagoner let his woman act, status, and called Dolly Parton to appear on his show. Dolly that Wagoner called because he wanted to sing some of her songs, so she was blown away that Wagoner was wanting to be part of his Show. She told him that she would give 5 years, and after that, she wanted to pursue her single career. After 7 years, Dolly quit, under a bitter ending of a classic duo.

Now, on this blog, I will be writing about a Macro-Level to introduce you some of the Duets that were hitting the Charts in the 60 and 70's. My favorite was Parton and Wagnor, but I've mentioned that before.

The strongest Duet, of all times, was Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. I will spend a full blogg on this couple's duet. To say it was top duet act in the Nation, would be under-playing the venture.

Other acts we will be studying about, all had some ties to Oklahome.

Buck Owens and Susan Ray.
Waylon Jennings and Jesse Coulter
Tammy Wynette and George Jones (Look at that act with interest. Notice I put the hugely successful who dominated Nashville music for years, George Jones, behind Tammy Wynette.)
Kenny Rogers flirted with duets with little success.
I will add more, when I think of them. It is time for me to try to get some "sleep-eye."

COUNTRY DUETS

In the years 40s and 50s, it was a time when women simply could not be recorded. There was no women singers in those years making a difference in CW environment.

Hank Thompson had a HUGE hit with "I Didn't Know God Made Honky Tonk Angels." It was hugely successful, and so was the remake of it, by Kitty Wells, "God Doesn't Make Honky Tonk Angels." It was a Thompson song, so she suffered to survive on a Country Music Atmosphere.


With the 60's some Women/Men Duets moved some vinyls. Porter Wagoner let his woman act, status, and called Dolly Parton to appear on his show. Dolly that Wagoner called because he wanted to sing some of her songs, so she was blown away that Wagoner was wanting to be part of his Show. She told him that she would give 5 years, and after that, she wanted to pursue her single career. After 7 years, Dolly quit, under a bitter ending of a classic duo.

Now, on this blog, I will be writing about a Macro-Level to introduce you some of the Duets that were hitting the Charts in the 60 and 70's. My favorite was Parton and Wagnor, but I've mentioned that before.

The strongest Duet, of all times, was Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. I will spend a full blogg on this couple's duet. To say it was top duet act in the Nation, would be under-playing the venture.

Other acts we will be studying about, all had some ties to Oklahome.

Buck Owens and Susan Ray.
Waylon Jennings and Jesse Coulter
Tammy Wynette and George Jones (Look at that act with interest. Notice I put the hugely successful who dominated Nashville music for years, George Jones, behind Tammy Wynette.)
Kenny Rogers flirted with duets with little success.
I will add more, when I think of them. It is time for me to try to get some "sleep-eye."

History of Violence

A kid and his dad leave a motel in Podunk, America. The dad tosses the keyes to the son.

"Drive it up to the office. I'll take care of the manager."

The kids drives up and parallels the office. George Jones or Ray Price is on the radio. The kid turns off the key and waits.

"What took you so long?" asks the kids.

"Nothing. Ah, ... had some problems with the janitor. Took care of it, though."

"Water, we need water," the conversation goes.

"There's a cooler in the back. Go fill it up."

The kid opens the door. Blood streaks are seen on the counter. The kid looks over and sees two dead people. He is not surprised. He checks the cards, and tries to find a quarter in the pay telephone. He bumbles around to the water and starts filling it up.

The camera switches where it is behind him and sees the water and pictures the door.

The door opens. A little girl, maybe 10, holding a teddy bear. She whimpers and looks toward the dead boddies.

"Shh," the kid says. He reaches for the gun behind him in his pants and pulls it out.

"Shhh," the kid says. The camera closes in on the gun.

"Boom!!"

Screams can be heard in the background. The watcher is stunned, juxtaposing the dad racing into the bedroom, while just being a witness to, at least, a triple murder." (I heard the scream on Jay Leno from the little girl.)

"I was dreaming that monsters were about to get me!"

"So what are you up to, today?" The scene switches to a mail box with "Stall" written on it and a home, where the daughter and son are getting ready for school.

"I got a game in PE. Not much. else. Should be early."

The scene switches to a baseball field The son is playing center. A kid strikes out.

A smart-mouthed kid walks up to the plate laughing with his blue clad buddies.

"Out of the park," he spews.

The second pitch the kid gets good wood, and the son goes back and catches it. The batter is burned. They go for the showers, and the hitless phenom, threatens the "sissy kid from center field." But the young man won't fall for the fight.

The scene switches to cafe in a small town. A quiet owner is getting ready to shut the cafe down for the day. 3 customers are left. One man get's up and pays his tab and leaves. A teenage boy and girl are drinking Sodas.

The smart mouthed kid is driving - spots the kid sitting at the library chatting with his girlfriend.

"You should get him," comes from his friend. They start to make a U-Turn, but a pickup pulls in front of them. Smart-out shoots him the bone. The young killer looks at him and stares. Smart-mouth pulls his hand down sheepishly, and says, "No, I'm going home."

"I hate podunk towns," the kid killer says to his dad. "And I hate podunk people."

"I've heard you say that before. Get off of it."

"I don't have any money," the kid says.

"That's going to be easy to take care of," as he pulls in front of the closing restaurant. John Stall is closing down. A girl and boy share a shake, and the girl behind the counter is ready to leave. The kid and the father come in.

"Coffee!" the older man orders.

"Yes, and I'll take some pie, " the kid says.

"We are closing, " Stall says softly.

"COFFEE!" the man shouts.

"Okay, but we are closing. Why don't you go on home," the owner says to the waitress.

The kid gets out of his seat and grabs the lady. "You're not going any where!" He grabs her and pushes her down, running his hands over both breasts, and then smelling his hand.

"Do her," the dad orders. "We'll show them how serious we are."

"We don't have much money but you can have it," the owner says.

The man pulls a gun and orders, "Do her."

The owner has the coffee glass in his hand, and quickly breaks it on the dad's face, with the gun falling out. Quickly, Stall is over the counter, grabs the gun and shoots the kid twice. The dad, pulls out a knife and stabs the owners foot, John Stall.

Quickly Stall shoots the father in the face, and turns to see the other kid who is dead, crashed through the door window.

And the chilling story begins. Has sex and nudity in it, but, ... the story` unfolds when others come to Podunk, Oklahoma, having seen his picture on the televisions.

Let it be a warning. City guys who think they are tough, won't find pansies in Podunk, OK.

Ray Price and The Cherokee Cowboys



Marcella came in Saturday from working all day and baby sitting all Friday evening and she was pooped. I told her Ray Price was singing at Yukon, and she didn't want to go. I did, because I wanted Mr. Cecil's class to experience what it was like to go see and hear a Country Music Traditional, historical, and successful recording artist.

At the age of 80, last December, which makes him an octogenarian. Look up that word with your computer dictionary.

"You really want to go," she said.

"Yes, and I think you would like it. How much cash do you have?" She had 40 dollars and I had 20 dollars, plus about 10 dollars in cash that we were honored with at the pow wow, last Saturday night. The pow wow is another story, that I will share with you in a special report just for your class, later.



So we headed out on the beautifully scenic route going through, Gracemont, where we bought our Mazda S6, and then turned by the Caddo Tribal World Headquarters, a very rich tribe, and went by Salyer's Lake. If you get to Oklahoma, we will take you that route, even though we hit a jack rabbit on the way back. Those suckers are big, but our car was bigger. Marcella didn't want to stop and get it, so we could have eaten it. No road kill for her. We also just missed an armadillo on the way back as well.. Do a google on jack rabbits and armadillos.

So we got to Yukon, and began searching for the Gymnasium. It was supposed to be an out door thing, but we had lots of rain and it was changed to the gym. We got there in plenty of time.

We pulled out our "pow wow" chairs and sat down in the handicapped section. Great gym. You will see pictures of the Steinway Grand Piano that he had and see the 4 violinists, 3 who came up from their homes to play. One was from Oklahoma City. They read music. The piano player played by ear, which is okay, if you do the same songs over and over, but, ... trying to play Classical Music without reading is like trying to push a dump truck up a hill, by yourself.

Two kids got up and sang. One harmonized, and they had just got back from Nashville with a "paid for" CD. We could see their mother so proudly videoing them. It was neat, but Chance and Chad has about as much luck as a snow storm in an Oklahoma in July.

One could harmonize and faked playing the harmonica, and bombed on playing his banjo. I mean the kid couldn't even play the thing. And the harmonica, well, I would have blown him away. I should have brought my harps and we could have done some double harmonica stuff. But, they played about 40 minutes. AND THEN, ... RAY PRICE'S ORCHESTRA CAME OUT. YES, that is right, ... an orchestra.

I kid you not, they had the grand piano, an upright base, his son Cliff playing a guitar, somewhat, a drummer and a fiddle player. The last 40 minutes, he had three more "free lance" violinists come in and play. They were professionals and all read sheet music. (See Picture>



It was a great show. Enjoy the pictures when I get them up. I want all of you to go to iTunes and do a search on Ray Price. He started singing in 1948, fronting for Hank Williams and at 80, his voice sounded the same.

Where they get their money, is under the table. They had sponsors that probably paid their 40,000 dollar show fees, and then the 20 dollars a pop for two different CDs, they made some big time bucks. There was probably 300 people there, most of them the same age as Ray. I will be putting Marcella's picture with him in the local newspaper. Marcella had fun.



After the program, they set up a table and signed audographs for all the CDs that they were selling. The retarded kid sitting next to me, asked to save his lawn chair and left. He went to Hastings and bought a Ray Price CD for 4 dollars. Who says that if you are retarded, you are dumb?

So, I took a bunch of pictures. Have fun looking at them. I went down to try to get a picture for the Anadarko Paper, but these idiot guards wouldn't let me go out and take a picture. So I went back up, grabbed my camera bag that has a "Press Pass" sign hanging on it and went back down to show the guards the press pass and said, "Because of you, this picture will not show up in the Anadarko Daily News. I may write a letter-to-the-editor to the Yukon Paper, and tell them thanks for the show, and no thanks for the rude ushers. Hee, Hee.

Now, what I want you to do, is go to iTunes and do a search on Ray Price and see how many downloads they have. Then I want you to go to WalMart.com and run a check through them to see how many CDs that they have.



See if you can find out on the web if Ray Price is a member of the Grand Ol' Opery and is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Have fun with it, because music is fun. I will learn his "A Lifeless Mansion on a Hill." Great song. Now it is time for a signature and a smile for the students in Bangkok!

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton

The greatest Country Duet in
Country Music History




Darrin was graduating from the Navy Boot Camp outside of Chicago, and we were going up to see him graduate. We had a new USED, Flivver - a vintage 1976 Buick Custom that had been setting in a garage for years and had low mileage, as well. Sound like a good buy? Not really. As cars set for long periods, tires get hard, hoses get hard, and seals get crispy.

We thought we had all the bugs out of the Buick, when we hit the road. We'd replaced a leaky water pump, checked the tires, and drove it far enough that it looked "good to go!" Well, it wasn't, and close to the Dolly Madison donut factory in Kansas, we had one tire lose its tread, and when he pulled in to replace it, the other was losiing tread quickly.

Now, I had found a tape of Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, and we listened to it over and over all the way to Chicago. Dolly and Porter created some of the greatest, pure Country Music for years. The car had a tape player in it.

Oklahoma City was a central point of the Country Nation. The Mathis Brothers Furniture Store and Jude and Jody Furniture Stores had a music program that played on the Saturday TV times when TV time is cheaper. The brothers, both sets, sang and had visitors. Whoever showed up with their bus, found a place to shower and sleep, and even get time on the TV. This is absolutely true. The Mathis Brothers Furniture was the hub of every traveling Country Music Bus on the roads in the 50s and 60s. Didn't know that, did you, Bro Cec? In fact, the Jude and Jody Furniture store is giving away a free Vintage DVD of their old programs for anyone who stops in and buys furniture. Their kids run the stores now, and they are high volume trade stores. No music any more, just regular commercials with the two brothers, one holding a pure bred "Schnotzipoodle" - perfectly trimmed.

Judy and Jody have their commercials done, and their sons usually have a doll in their hand or a Teddy Bear to mock fun at the Mathis Brothers. Mathis probably makes a million a day, right now. They have put two awesome skateboard parks in the city.

Back in the '60s, Country stars like Porter Wagoner, Buck Owens, The Levin Brothers, made their own thirty minute shows, usually played on Saturday afternoon. Porter had lost his girl partner, who moved on, hopefully, to greener pastures. But Porter pulled an 18 year old girl with a silkish, chipmunk voice named Dolly Parton, out of the open mike restaurants and boy, did they change the industry.


Back through the years
I go wonderin’ once again
Back to the seasons of my youth
I recall a box of rags that someone gave us
And how my momma put the rags to use
There were rags of many colors
Every piece was small
And I didn’t have a coat
And it was way down in the fall
Momma sewed the rags together
Sewin’ every piece with love
She made my coat of many colors
That I was so proud of
As she sewed, she told a story
From the bible, she had read
About a coat of many colors
Joseph wore and then she said
Perhaps this coat will bring you
Good luck and happiness
And I just couldn’t wait to wear it
And momma blessed it with a kiss
Chorus:

My coat of many colors
That my momma made for me
Made only from rags
But I wore it so proudly
Although we had no money
I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me

So with patches on my britches
Holes in both my shoes
In my coat of many colors
I hurried off to school
Just to find the others laughing
And making fun of me
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me

And oh I couldn’t understand it
For I felt I was rich
And I told them of the love
My momma sewed in every stitch
And I told ’em all the story
Momma told me while she sewed
And how my coat of many colors
Was worth more than all their clothes

But they didn’t understand it
And I tried to make them see
That one is only poor
Only if they choose to be
Now I know we had no money
But I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me
Made just for me


Now Bro Cecil doesn't know this, but Porter Wagoner is kin to us on the Wright side of the family, ... or our father's side. If you asked Porter, he would deny it, but his roots are firmly planted in Cook County, Tennissee where our Grandma Hill came from.

"It was odd," said my mother. "When it came time for the Porter Wagoner Show in your father's family, every one would get quiet, speaking not a word, listening to Porter." Porter Wagoner was a great song writer and had a "port-folio" filled with promising songs.

It must have been good for Dolly, because she became one of the great writers of songs, Country, soft listener, and somewhat poppish music of her time. Her song, Working 9 'til 5, became not only a hit, but a song for a series of critically released weekly, fun-loving shows by the same name that lasted several years. Dolly is now working on a Broadway production for 9-5.

I have a CD of "The Greatest Wedding Songs" on it, and there with all those others, including, "Here Comes The Bride," and Paul Stookies "The Wedding Song," was Dolly's "And I will Always Love you." She wrote the song after Parton left Wagoner, and the break-up had hurt Wagoner big time. He filed suite, and she paid him a million dollars to get out from under him. But Dolly was going no where on his program, and she wanted more than to be recognized as the girl who sings with Porter. Believe me, she did.

Dolly Parton is now recognized well beyond just a Country Singer. She has had lots of great parts in movies, and was in one that received an Oscar, ... "Steel Magnolias," about a lady who was diabetic and chose to have babies, even though she knew it could and did kill her. Dolly played, herself, of course, as the local hair dresser, who looked and dressed like the town's tramp. She owns all of her songs with copyrights on all of them, just like Ray Charles. Sharp Cookie.

Elvis wanted to sing her, "And I Will Always Love You," but his manager said that he always received 50% royalty on all songs he sings. Dolly hated it, but she said no. "I own it; it has already proven that it is a worthy song, one that I wanted Elvis to sing. But I have to turn him down."

Whitney Houston made a big hit out of "I Will Always Love You," Vince Gill and Dolly made a duet hit out of it once again. If she had gone the Elvis way, Elvis would have gotten half the millions that Dolly made on that song.

While Parton blossomed, Wagoner aged, and usually would appear at the Gaylord Country Music Park to sign autographs. Then, like Willie Nelson, Porter was hit with a 2 million dollar IRS debt. He was facing sure bankruptcy, and Dolly stepped in and bought his song collection for 2 million dollars, and sold them back to him for a dollar.

Both are doing well in Nashville now. Dolly had met a car dealership owner in Nashville and married him with no children. I figure it was Dolly's choice. Three years ago, her husband died, and Dolly went into a grieving time that lasted for three years. But she is back with a new album and tending to her "DollyWood" Amusement Park, just east of Nashville. So, the big question now is, which duo song do I like best. All of them are incredible, but one has been rated as the greatest duet in Country Music History. "Just Someone I Used To Know." But, I can't get by without, proudly displaying some of their other incredible song history. Listen to the following:"Please Don't Stop Loving Me," "Better Move It On Home," and "Is Forever Longer Than Always." Oh, yes, :"If Tear Drops Were Pennies." But, I am prejudice. I think the duo can never be unseated as the greatest Country Duo in the history of the business.

Now the strange thing is, ..., as I am writing this on my laptop, I switched to A&E Documentary on none other than the Dolly Parton was being shown. Dolly Parton, now keeps a full town in jobs with her Dollywood Attraction. I guess, we will have to go see Dollywood. So, get your teacher to get a copy of A and E's Documentary on Dolly, sit back, and have fun. Life dreams can really can true in the United States.

So, your job, if you choose to do it, is go to iTunes and do a search for all Dolly Parton songs. The one that gets the right number, gets a candied Apple with peanut butter in the middle of it.