Phantom Pomps
The Higher the Hair, the Closer to God
(self)

"Breakneck  thrill-seekers may go for zis," sputtered Prof. Gustav Klemperer, of the venerated Heidelberg Institute. "But bevare! I vud caution strongly against allowing zis 'music' to infect ze general populace! In all my years under the tutelage of European psychiatry's finest minds, I haf nevah encountered such lunatic celebration. I fear innocent souls vill be lured from sanity by ze seductive rock'n'roll, and be reduced to mindlessly undulating participants in unspeakable pleasures, crashing through doors man vas never meant to open!" 

Recommended: "Runaway Truck Ramp," "Psychobilly Attack," "I Forgot My Meds," "No More Hot Dogs." "Is You Is?"

Videos: "Runaway Truck Ramp"
             "No More Hot Dogs"
             "Is You Is?"


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Will Payne Harrison
[featuring the Freetown Flyers]
Living With Ghosts
(self)

Harmonica and accordion ambled over to throw in with guitars, piano, and drums. A subtle, Nashville/Louisiana singer drawled insightful, pacific compositions that denuded humanity. Plain folk genres like bluegrass, country, and blues again illustrated they had much in common. 

Recommended: "Jacqueline," "I'm Over Thinking About You," "High/Low," "Anne Marie,"  "Walk On," "Funeral Home," "Red River Blues," "Living With Ghosts."

Videos: "Jacqueline"
             "I'm Over Thinking About You"
             "Walk On"
             "Red River Blues"


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Bob Woods
Western Swing Train
(self)

A thousand and one nights plugged in before honky tonk crowds gave Bob an ear for what fits in western swing: Simple narratives articulated in a nice guy-voice, and a guitar of pearl-shaped tones so sublime as to soothe away all cares. 

Recommended: "Tiny Moore," "Swing Train," "I've Got A New Road Under My Wheels," "Desert Flower," "I Love the Nightlife."

Videos: "Tiny Moore"
            "Swing Train"
            "Desert Flower"



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The Memphis Suns
Old Fashioned Fool
(self)

Much like 1956, though not pretentiously so. A clean sound, in which hillbilly and step-lively beats, crested with smooth and accessible vocals, romp with upbeat assurance.

Recommended: "Old Fashioned Fool," "Demon Woman," "Loves Me Hard,"  "Hats Too Tight," "I Let Her Down," "Like I Love You."

Videos: "Old Fashioned Fool"
             "Demon Woman"
             "Loves Me Hard"


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Elvis Presley
My Kind of Blues 
(Petticoat Records)
Best of the '68 Comeback Special 
(Sony)

Of comic actors, Chevy Chase told an interviewer: "We're all doing Jerry" Lewis.

No less apt an observation is that all rock'n'rollers are doing Elvis, Whether the manifestations be physical or attitudinal, actuality is inarguable.

From his blue collar Memphis origin, Elvis ascended to worldwide renown. Alex Harvey remarked that, in the deepest jungle, one would be more likely to find a photo of Elvis than of the president.

Presley was of the people because he was born of our plebian sphere. Record-buying regular folks intuited that; when the former truck driver made it big, we did, too.

Throughout decades, his incomparable voice remained a grand vessel of common humanity. It was gloriously stentorian, and merits the reverence still paid it, today.

And whatever the raiment, audacious essence had its say.

The blues-centered disc collects 1950s-1970s tracks, including alternate versions. They're austere, as befits the material, and Elvis doesn't so much interpret songs as imbue them with wrenching immediacy.

By the moment of the '68 Comeback Special, his pop-culture preeminence was endangered by evolving generational tastes and the British Invasion. Classics by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, among others, were reinvented with abbreviated arrangements and prominent brass that presaged the Vegas Era.

Perhaps that modernization was calculated as an appeal to younger audiences. Veteran loyalists were served by the Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana appearances; their participation underscored Elvis's early standing. 

Spinning these discs, one appreciates a grand talent who raised out of blues their anguish, loosed from rock'n'roll a storm yet a-howl, and wrought a legend for the eons.

Recommended (My Kind of  Blues): "Stranger In My Own Hometown," "Like a Baby" (spliced take), "It Feels So Right" (take 2)  "Give Me the Right" (take 2), "Good-Time Charlie's Got the Blues" (take 6), "Down In the Alley" (take 1), "Reconsider, Baby" (live 1977).

Recommended (Best of '68 Comeback Special): "Trouble / Guitar Man," "All Shook Up," "Jailhouse Rock," "One Night," "Love Me," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Burning Love," "Baby, What Do You Want Me To Do?," "Don't Be Cruel."

Videos: "Stranger In My Hometown"
             "Down In the Alley"
             "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues"
             "Trouble" / "Guitar Man"
             "All Shook Up"
             "Love Me"



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Little Junior Parker
[with the Blue Flames]
Rocks (Bear Family)

"We got the old-time boogie / and the new one, too," Junior declared, on 1953's Sun 187. "Don't nobody boogie / like the Blue Flames do!" He was right. And not just a little bit.

Recommended: "Feelin' Good," "Love My Baby," "Mystery Train," "That's My Baby" (With Bill Harvey's band), "Next Time You See Me," "Pretty Baby," "Barefoot Rock," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Sometimes," "Seven Days," "Annie,Get Your Yo-Yo," "I Feel Alright,Again," "Sweeter As the Days Go By," "Cryin' For My Baby."

Videos: "Feelin' Good"
            "Love My Baby"
            "Mystery Train"
            "That's My Baby"
            "Barefoot Rock"



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Billy Lee Riley
Rocks (Bear Family)

Billy Lee's hot-rodded cover of Billy 'The Kid' Emerson's "Red Hot" and mad-dash "Flying Saucers Rock and Roll" may be his most widely known efforts. But many of the multi-instrumentalist's other sides, for Sun and others, also yielded treasure. Listen to "Betty and Dupree," "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash," or "Little Green Men." and get hip to the tip.

Recommended: "The Little Green Men," "Red Hot," "Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll," "Pearly Lee," "I Want You, Baby," "Got the Water Boiling," "College Man," "Baby, Please Don't Go," "Betty and Dupree," "Rockin' On the Moon," "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash," "I've Been Searching" (As Darron Lee). 

Videos: "The Little Green Men"
            "Red Hot"
            "Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll"
            "Pearly Lee"



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