“He Can Sing”, or “How Jeffrey Steele Turns Another Star Into A BIG STAR.”

“He can sing,” Diane correctly stated as we walked to the car last night. She’s right, as always, and she was talking about Craig Morgan, the country singer who performed in Carver Arena after Friday night’s Rivermen game. And Craig Morgan is about to go from “decent singer with a nice following” to “country superstar” thanks in no small part to the best songwriter going right now, my favorite songwriter, Jeffrey Steele. No one captures American small town life better than Jeffrey these days, picking up from the way John Mellencamp wrote our lives in the 80’s. The name of this blog comes actually comes from my favorite song penned by Jeff.

Jeffrey’s songs are responsible for turning many country music acts who’ve had average success into acts who are country superstars. To wit: Trace Adkins’ career-changing hit? “Chrome”, written by Jeff.  Montgomery Gentry’s career builders? “Gone”, “My Town”, “Speed” and several others, all written by Jeff. Where would Rascal Flatts be without “These Days” and “What Hurts The Most”, written by Jeff. The Van Zant brothers foray into country? “Help Somebody”, written AND produced by Jeff. Keith Anderson? Produced by Jeff.

And now, Craig Morgan is going to be the latest country singer to turn the corner from “he’s pretty good, he’s had some nice songs” to “Wow! That’s my favorite song EVER!”, thanks to Jeff. Morgan is a solid performer with a great voice, always has been, and has had some decent sized hits like “Almost Home” and “Redneck Yacht Club”. He’s one of those guys that country music fans like and say, “yeah, Craig Morgan…not bad”, but would not be an act that could be a Kenny Chesney/Toby Keith-type headliner.

But now, that is changing since Craig - with Jeffrey’s song “International Harvester” - has tapped into American farm life, and thus all of Middle America, i.e. country’s base. In typical Jeffrey style, the simplicity of the lyrics makes you slap you head and say “why didn’t I think of that!”, but in typical Jeffrey style, those same simple lyrics not only make for great sing-alongs and tremendous melodic hooks, but they have an inner, deeper meaning that is hard to explain, bu the kind of meaning that makes people BECOME the song, not just hear it and sing along.

Is it a “novelty” song? In a way, maybe, some people would think so. But I say no. Sure, it’s got a catchy hook, but the song is not satire…it’s the truth. Did the 6,500 or so who stuck around after the game last night sing along out loud and know every word? Absolutely. Craig Morgan has Jeffrey Steele to thank for a song that will pass the test of time, that will still be a big hit years from now when country stations play it as a “gold”, or “oldie”. Way to go Jeff, and way to sing it, Craig. Nicely done.

Rock Honors

Ozzy, Heart, ZZ Top, and Genesis.

All were honored on VH1 tonight, all performed, in Genesis’ case it was their first appearance together in 15 years, and all had tributes payed to them.

In a recent post, I lamented today’s so-called music masquerading as rock and tonight was a perfect example of what I spoke of. All four of those bands played a different kind of music, from Genesis’ spacey, organ-driven soft/medium rock, to ZZ’s bluesy, boogie, guitar rock, to Heart’s Zeppelin-tinged straight ahead rock, to Ozzy’s metal. And you know what? It’s ALL better than the crap that is out there today.

Paying tribute were Nickelback (to ZZ); Keane (to Genesis): Queens of the Stone Age (to Ozzy) and Alice in Chains w/Gretchen Wilson on lead vocals (to Heart). And they all proved to could play music when they want to. Alice in Chains has long been a good band, and I admit to knowing nothing about the British trio Keane, but Nickelback and the Queens sounded pretty good doing great music (”Sharp Dressed Man” for Nickelback;  “Paranoid” for the Queens). If their albums of today actually sounded like that, they’d be megastars right now, the biggest rock acts on the planet.

So, it’s not that today’s bands can’t emulate legends from the past and the style of rock that sounded great, they’re just not apparently smart enough to actually do it.

A Response to AC/DC and The Who

While traversing Eastern Iowa today on the way to pick up my son for a visit, I heard The Who’s “Long Live Rock” and AC/DC’s “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” within a few minutes of each other, and I’d like to respond to both claims.

Regarding Pete Townshend’s words “Long Live Rock, be it dead or alive!” I agree, as long as said rock is of the 50-s through some of the 90’s variety. But Rock as we children of Rock and Roll know it is indeed dead. Today’s “rock” (I hate equating that great word to today’s so-called “music”) is completely digustingly terribly awful.  Never worse. For the first time in 20 years, given the choice, and being forced to listen to one over the other…I’d choose hip hop over hard rock. Today’s bands suck. Worst ever. It’s not music. It’s f’ing noise.

Which leads me to the AC/DC claim: 20-30 years ago? No, it wasn’t noise pollution. Some of it was bad, but most of it was great. Today? It’s noise pollution. Period. I’d rather put a chainsaw and my head simultaneously into one of those large metal toolboxes and crank up the chainsaw for an hour. The pain of that noise would be FAR less than the noise I’m hearing out of so-called “bands” who profess to be making “music”.

No, I’m not old. I will still rock out with the best of ‘em. Hence the reason I was listening to classic rock and turning it up to Nigel Hufnel’s vaunted “11″ on the way to get the boy today. But today’s…”music”… is killing rock and roll. It may already have.

Dennis Wilson Is Rolling In His Grave

Have you seen this Hover-round commercial with the Beach Boys “I Get Around” playing underneath the whole thing? It’s not the actual Beach Boys recording (just a poorly done cover), but it really is embarrassing. Do Brian Wilson and Mike Love and Al Jardine need money that bad?

Over the years, many songs from many artists have served as commercial themes: “Like A Rock” by Bob Seger and “This Is Our Country” by John Mellencamp have both been the backdrop for Chevy trucks, and Alan Jackson and Toby Keith have been Ford spokesmen and their songs have been featured in their adds. There are countless others. But this Beach Boys one is the most appalling to me. Let’s take a fun song about, well, sleeping around, and play it for a motorized scooter that helps the elderly who can no longer get around like they used to. There’s just something weird about that. Maybe it’s me. I dunno.

But it got me to thinking…what other songs would work for endorsement deals?

Here are a few. Feel free to add more:

• “Any Way You Want It”, Journey - Burger King. Remember “have it your way?” This would be a different take.
• “Touch of Grey”, Grateful Dead - Just For Men.
• “A Little Mud On The Tires”, Brad Paisley - Jeep or John Deere ATV’s.
•  ”Loser”, Beck - Chicago Cubs. They could use it for their season ticket drives.

I’m sure there are many more.

More Lists

So, basically, it took me a week, but I finally got my “All-Underrated” list complete. If I had to rank ‘em, here’s how it would look, with #1 being most underrated.

BJ’s All Underrated List, Music Category

• 1. Jeffrey Steele
• 2. Kentucky Headhunters
• 3. Mavericks
• 4. Charlie Robison
• 5. Jack Ingram
• 6. Bachman  Turner Overdrive
• 7. Derailers
• 8. Dwight Yoakam
• 9. Three Dog Night
• 10. BoDeans

Now, my all-overrated list. Let me preface by saying the bands/singers on this list aren’t bad by any stretch, they’re all great acts, as a matter of fact. I’ll do an All-sucks list later. But I’m simply saying these acts, while very talented, are overrated, whether it’s by too much airplay, or being too highly regarded by radio consultants, or being too critically acclaimed for what they really are/were. So here goes, and a lot of thought goes into this, some agony, a little pain, but through it all I’m quite serious in coming up with the list.

BJ’s All-Overrated, Music Category

• 1. Led Zeppelin - too much airplay. Classic Rock radio…move on already.
• 2. Toby Keith - country consultants’ Golden Child. He’s good, but not earth shattering. Pretends to be “an Outlaw”, but I’ve seen his perms in his early career…he’s no Waylon Jennings. Never will be.
• 3. The Doors - see #1 above.
• 4. Tim McGraw - sings a little bit, but mostly poses for the ladies. Has never written a song, which is important in my book. Great early, too safe and predictable for the next ten years, seems to be taking more chances lately.
• 5. Lou Reed - I never understood the fascination. Guess the fact I don’t and never have smoked weed must have something to do with it.
• 6. Fleetwood Mac  - Nice stuff, but to me, very average and fluffy.
• 7. Garth Brooks - Yes, he brought new fans to country. But he’s a bit to melodramatic and staged to me, particularly in  interviews. A bit insincere and over emotional. And while I enjoy his uptempo work, his ballads are too contrived and lame for me, for the most part.
• 8. Pink Floyd - Does the lack of pot thing come in again here? They were interesting, but no Beatles.
• 9. Steely Dan - Yawn.
• 10. Rascal Flatts - I know one thing, the only songs I’ve EVER liked by these guys turn out to be the ones that Jeffrey Steele wrote, and in several occasions I’ve heard the songs and said, “okay, that’s not too bad”, and then found out later that Jeff penned ‘em. A female act, for sure. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Just overrated in my book, that’s all.

More lists forthcoming.

Underrated, part 10

As you read this list, raise your hand each time you recognize one of these country songs:

• Chrome - Trace Adkins
• My Town - Montgomery Gentry
• Speed - Montgomery Gentry
• Unbelievable - Diamond Rio
• The Cowboy In Me - Tim McGraw
• Couldn’t Last A Moment - Collin Raye
• Something To Be Proud Of - Montgomery Gentry
• These Days - Rascal Flatts
• Help Somebody - Van Zant
• When The Lights Go Down - Faith Hill
• I’m Tryin’ - Trace Adkins
• Gone - Montgomery Gentry
• Big Deal - LeeAnn Rimes
• Me And My Gang - Rascal Flatts
• My Wish - Rascal Flatts
• Podunk - Keith Anderson
• Everytime I Hear Your Name - Keith Anderson
• Brand New Girlfriend - Steve Holy
• And The Crowd Goes Wild - Mark Wills
• Hello L-O-V-E - John Michael Montgomery
• If That Ain’t Country - Anthony Smith
• What Hurts The Most - Rascal Flatts
• Hell Yeah - Montgomery Gentry
• Please - Pam Tillis

Heckuva list, huh? Guess what they all have in common?

(more…)

Underrated, 8 and 9

Two more underrated acts today

Dwight Yoakam

Big country star in the late 80’s and early 90’s, driving women wild with his tight fittin’, full of holes jeans and his sexy little dance steps, Dwight Yoakam was big. But now, like so many other great artists who are still putting out viable country music (Hank, Jr. and Mark Chestnutt immediately come to mind), he can’t get a sniff of airplay in the world of country radio, because they’re not the consultants’ “chosen few”.  Don’t get me wrong, I have appreciation for what Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw do, but I challenge anyone to listen to Dwight’s recent album “Blame the Vain”, and then listen to Kenny or Tim’s latest album, and tell me why Kenny and Tim have 8 number ones between them and Dwight hasn’t broken into the Top 20 in years. It is incomprehensible to me, and I’ve been around this stuff for 25 years.

Dwight deserved his early success, with songs like “Guitars, Cadillacs” and “Little Sister” and “Streets of Bakersfield”, the legendary duet with Buck Owens.  Yoakam was chart gold for several years. Why? Because he was talented, his songs were hooky and smart, and his players were always among the best. Well, guess what? His last three albums have been just as good as his first three. He’s still talented, his songs are still smart and hooky, the musicians are incredible, the production first rate. Dwight Yoakam hasn’t changed, radio has. And that’s really sad. Sickening. Disgusting.

Among Dwight’s best albums are “This Time” (1993), which featured three straight #2 hits (someone obviously was already turning against him…you don’t have three straight #2’s without someone making sure you DON’T get a #1), and none of those three were even the best song on the album, a darkly-humored dirge called “Two Doors Down”, and a great set called “Under The Covers”, where he gives surprising renditions of songs from artists as diverse as Sonny and Cher, The Clash, Johnny Horton, and Roy Orbison.

His three discs from the current decade, “Tomorrow’s Sounds Today”, “Population Me” and “Blame The Vain”, are full of songs just as clever, just as hooky, just as good as all of his previous work, but he hasn’t gotten a chart single higher than #26 since 1999. Dwight Yoakam is still out there, people. Just turn off your out-of-touch country radio station and go buy one of his CD’s.

Three Dog Night

Along with BTO, one of my favorite unappreciated 70’s bands. More poppy than rocky, this band had some decent single success, and enjoyed a nice run in the early 70’s, but still come up on the list of underrated because of how they’ve been forgotten. This band made sing-along music with signature harmonies, and some nearly-novelty hooks that you couldn’t get out of your head. “Joy To The World”, “Black and White”, “Shambala”, “Celebrate”. Once you heard ‘em, you were singing those hooks all day long. Many a summer day in 1973 I rode around my small Minnesota hometown howling…”ah…ah…oo….oooo….oo…oo…oo…yeah…on the road to Shambala”. This was pre-walkman days, folks, but it didn’t stop me, or my buddies for that matter, from crooning while biking, which I believe is now a misdemeanor.

Led by the three-headed lead singing combination of Danny Hutton, Corey Wells, and Chuck Negron, the band could do many styles of music, and would just go with whichever vocalist was more suited to a song when it came to deciding lead and background parts. They seemed to be a true team.  The band could be soft and gentle, or loud and rowdy, sometimes (”Never Been To Spain”) in the same 3 minute song.

They performed songs from legendary writers like Hoyt Axton and Paul Williams (”Just An Old Fashioned Love Song”) and even Randy Newman (”Mama Told Me Not To Come”). A band with this many single hits, and some solid albums like “Naturally”, “Harmony” and “Hard Labor” should be better remembered today. I wish radio would play more of their stuff.

Underrated, part 4-7

Today’s underrated bands and acts, just gonna list ‘em without going to much into detail:

The Derailers

These guys should’ve gotten a bunch of airplay outside of Texas these past few years, but haven’t. It’s a band that can channel Buck Owens, the Everly Brothers, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles, and make it all sound so very hip, cool, and modern today. Texas radio embraces them, the rest of the country radio programmers across the land, thanks mostly to idiot consultants, don’t play their stuff. Whenever I played it, I got calls. “Who are those guys?”, “Wow, that’s great stuff, play it more!” 

Charlie Robison

See above, same story. This guy is one of America’s great storytellers, in the mold of John Hiatt and Gus Van Zandt and even Tom T. Hall. The guy can flat write a song. He can cook (”Barlight”), honky tonk (”You’re Not The Best”), he can longingly ache for a return to his roots (”My Hometown”) and he can be Funny with a capital “F” (”Sunset Boulevard”). Every one of those songs, by the way, are on one of the finest albums ever recorded, “Life Of The Party”. Charlie’s music can’t be pigeonholed. Some is country, some is folk, some is rock, some is TexMex, some is bluesy, but one thing it all is: Deserving to much more commercially successful than it has been. Again, blame country radio consultants.  

If you see it in a store, BUY it, you’ll thank me. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll tap your toes, you’ll close your eyes and see incredible pictures he paints with his words. Charlie is married to Emily Robison (Dixie Chicks) and a lot of his stuff is produced by Lloyd Maines (Natalie’s Dad), a Texas legend.

Jack Ingram

Jack is just now getting some major notice and airplay, with a couple of recent fantastic singles like “Love You” and “Whereever You Are” and his cover of “Lips Of An Angel”, which is better than Hinder’s original. But Jack has been making great music for quite a few years, and yes, just like the Derailers and Charlie Robison, little notice has been given to it outside of Texas, and yes, it’s the blame of country radio consultants.

I got turned onto Jack’s music when I got a copy of “Hey You” (1999) including the fabulous “Barbie Doll” and “Mustang Burn”. In 2002, he came out with “Electric”, another gem. Jack is a great live performer, who as I said is just now getting his due. He got a big break last year when Sheryl Crow took him out as her opening act, and this year he’s touring with Brad Paisley, which will further expose him to a more mainstream country audience. He deserves it. He still likes to play some smaller venues like roadhouses, if you ever see him, make him play “Barbie Doll”. Awesome.

BoDeans

Out of Wisconsin, formed in 1983, I’ve always liked the music these guys put out. “She’s A Runaway” should have been a huge, huge Top 40 hit back in 1986, and the followup “Fadeaway” deserved more attention than it got.

“Closer To Free”, a single from 1993, was the theme from Party of Five, so chances are you’ve heard BoDeans music, but that was not their best work.  If you want to save time and just hear the main body of their work, I’ve seen a 17-song collection called “Slash And Burn” that pretty much covers the band’s talents.

Underrated, Part 3

These are getting too long, this one and future critiques will be shorter. I hope.

Underrated: Bachman-Turner Overdrive

When I was voice tracking a shift for The Eagle about a year and a half ago, it was a running joke between Scott Robbins, Rick Hirschmann and me that BTO was the “Greatest Band of all time!” I used to say it, somewhat tongue in cheek, every time I played one of their tunes during my shift. I love the band’s driving style, the unforgettable guitar-riffs, the kind of straight ahead rock that makes your foot push harder on the gas pedal, and absolutely FORCES you to turn the Pioneer underdash 8-track player up to it’s loudest possible setting so the gold and black TSX-9’s in the back window can let all their power be unleashed upon the interior of your ‘68 LeMans. Ah, good times. But I digress.

Turns out I was half serious with the whole “greatest band” thing. While I acknowledge they probably weren’t the “greatest of all time”, I will say that the band is VERY underrated and among my personal favorites.  And it IS quite possible that they made on of the greatest single rock songs of all time, if not THE definitive rock anthem…”Takin’ Care of Business”.

Several of their best and most well known songs became anthems. Sports teams all over America use “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” and “Let It Ride”, as well as the afore mentioned “TCB” to fire up fans and teams. Heck, none other than the King himself, Elvis Presley, once called the band to Memphis to ask their permission, that’s right, the King ASKED, to use “TCB” as his personal motto, and he had a medallion made with those letters that hung around his neck.

Rock and Roll was king in the 70’s, the truly great and entertaining bands ruled the earth. Many got the due they deserved, BTO didn’t, in my opinion.

Band founder Randy Bachman was previously a key cog in the Canadian band “Guess Who”, co-writing most of their big hits with Burton Cummings. Randy split and took his brothers Rob and Tim out on the road as “BraveBelt”, along with friend Chad Allen, and they had some minor Canadian success. But it wasn’t until Randy added C.F. “Fred” Turner and they changed the name to Bachman-Turner Overdrive (while reading the truckin’ magazine “Overdrive” at an all-night truck stop cafe), that they started making serious noise.  Tim Bachman was also replaced by guitarist Blair Thornton, and the lineup of Randy, Robbie on drums, Blair and Fred (doing most of the familiar growling vocals) was the band’s most successful.

 The first album, “Bachman Turner Overdrive” (1972) features as it’s best cuts couple of obscure now, but still-killer songs: The straight ahead driving rocker “Gimme Your Money, Please”, and the jazzy “Blue Collar” which features an incredibly tight and slick guitar solo from Randy Bachman.

“BTO II” (1973), with “Let It Ride” and “TCB” has it’s highs (like those two monsters) and a few that show the band wasn’t quite there yet. Then c ame “Not Fragile” (1974) featuring the band at it’s peak, and quite possibly one of the top albums of all time…not a bad cut in the bunch.

Like many bands, the label wanted more, they wanted it now, to strike while the iron was hot, and the group quickly put together “Four Wheel Drive” in 1975, which had “Hey You” as it’s signature hit, but the rest of the album wasn’t much more than rejected songs from “Not Fragile”, and it went quickly downhill from there.

They released albums with original music like “Head On”, “Freeways”, and “Rock and Roll Nights” between 1976 and 1979, with different players on occasion, but no longer achieved American chart success. Since then, many “greatest hits” packages have come out, but the best one is one I recently found called “BTO: Gold”, a two-disc set that has all the hits, plus over 25 other BTO songs from their career, including a BraveBelt cut.

Yes, the band didn’t have a long peak, and that is probably  what kept them from legendary status and getting the accolades they deserve. But for three years and three great albums, they were the best for this then-junior high kid in Minnesota.  And think about the disposable crap that is called rock today…what bands out there have even had the longevity to do THREE great albums, let alone three albums  period.

Underrated, Part 2

The Mavericks

The genius of Raul Malo and The Mavericks has long been underappreciated by some and totally unappreciated by idiotic country radio consultants.

This band, like the Kentucky Headhunters, can do anything, but the stuff I like the best is their retro-sounding straight ahead country, particularly on their masterpiece CD “What A Crying Shame” (1994). 

That CD featured the title cut, still one of the best country songs of all time, for my money, and the peppy “There Goes My Heart”, one of those songs with a sad story disguised by uptempo, finger snapping, danceable music. Not that I’m a big dancer, but I’m a helluva finger snapper.

Malo’s vocals are very much reminiscent of Roy Orbison, and his range is incredible. The band followed up “What A Crying Shame” with “Music For All Occasions” just one year later, which featured another great uptempo country rocker, “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down”. Yet another sad story hidden by a fast paced, bright sound. For that song, the band had the great Flaco Jiminez (Texas Tornados) come in a lay down an accordian track, as only Flaco could do. If you are a fan of Tex-Mex, as I am, Flaco is a God.

These two CD’s are the ones you need to have if you want to hear what The Mavericks are all about, as they are the award-winning standard bearers for the group, which won CMA’s twice for best vocal group, and a Grammy during the time those two CD’s were hot. But just like the Headhunters, as soon as the awards were won, country radio turned their back on them. I don’t know why this continually happens (Highway 101, Pirates of the Mississippi, and Alison Krauss and Union Station immediately come to mind as bands that win awards and immediately get ignored by country consultants), but it is simply true that if you’re not a solo hat act like and your name isn’t Tim, Kenny, Toby, Alan, or George, you don’t get played consistently on country radio right now…but that’s another story.

During this time, the band’s lineup was it’s strongest, with Malo handling the vocals, Paul Deakin owning the drums, Robert Reynolds on bass, and Nick Kane playing some of the cleanest guitar solos you could ask for.  Also during this time, Reynolds was married to Trisha Yearwood, and she contributed backing vocals and a couple of duets on these two CD’s, including a cover of Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s “Something Stupid”.  Malo and Yearwood’s version, it goes without saying, was a tad better than Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman, although Nicole actually did a decent job on that one.

After those two CD’s, the band branched out into more than just country (why not, country radio wasn’t playing their stuff anyway) and in 1998 they came out with the wild “Trampoline”. It’s not my cup of tea, it’s not as good as the previous two discs, but Malo wanted to show his abilities in other forms of music and I can appreciate it for what it is.

The band split after that, just as a live album was released (”It’s Now, It’s Live” - 1999). Another live album was recently released, called “Mavericks Live In Austin, TX”, (2004) which is just a greatest hits package done in a concert, and it’s pretty good.

Malo got Reynolds and Deakin back together, joined by new guitarist Eddie Perez, in 2003 for an album called simply “The Mavericks” (not to be confused with their debut album from 1990 called “Mavericks”), and it was also pretty darn good stuff, back to retro and mainstream country, and Malo still showing his singing chops.

I found another early Mavericks gem, “From Hell To Paradise” (1992), pre-Nick Kane, but a fine album, and actually the album that featured their first chart single - a cover of Hank Williams’ “Hey, Good Lookin’”. That song introduced country audiences to The Mavericks, and the CD I mentioned above, “What A Crying Shame”, is the one that really put them on the map.

Malo is now behind the scenes, and has been working with Rick Trevino for the past few years. Malo is of Cuban descent, Trevino is of Mexican heritage and sounds just like Raul when he wails. It’s the exact same scenario as when Paul McCartney used Beatle-esque material to bring Badfinger to prominence.

Grab “What A Crying Shame”, and see what country radio COULD and SHOULD sound like today when they play an “oldie” in between all the new stuff.

New feature: Underrated bands

Over the next few days, I’m going to post my list of the 10 most underrated bands/singers, not in any particular order. At the end, I might rank ‘em, but I’m just going to post them for now.

The Kentucky Headhunters

These guys burst onto the scene in 1989 with “Pickin’ On Nashville”, a collection of originals (like “Dumas Walker”) recorded in all seriousness, and a few cover songs, like “Oh, Lonesome Me” and “Walk Softly” that were just recorded for fun/to fill the album. Never did they expect to win a CMA for Top New Group AND a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Group right out of the box.

I know they never expected it, because band founder Richard Young told me so.

After that initial success, their records got better and better, but got played less and less. Why? Because in the 1990’s country radio became run by a bunch of idiot consultants who don’t know what country is, and it’s only gotten worse in the last seven years. Meanwhile, the Headhunters put out killer CD’s with everything from straight country to blues rock to southern rock to straight ahead rock and roll.

They can play uptempo scorchers, they can write and perform delicious ballads. Richard and brother Fred (the drummer with the tremendous, world class sideburns), their cousins Anthony Kenney (bass) and Greg Martin (absolutely STELLAR guitar player) were the original band. called “Itchy Finger”, in the early 80’s.

Anthony Kenney, from what I can tell, is very shy and private, and also I don’t believe fond of touring. So when the band decided to go for the big time and cut an album, the three remaining members were joined by the Phelps Brothers, Doug and Ricky Lee. It is Ricky Lee who sings on the first album.

They left the band to form their own group, Brother Phelps, in 1992 or so, and had some chart success. But they got Anthony Kenney to come back, and along with Mark Orr, kept on going. Orr was a blues man, so the album they did with him was quite bluesy, and in my opinion their only non-outstanding work. Ricky Lee Phelps decided to go solo, so his brother Doug came back to be the Headhunters lead singer, replacing Orr, and the five albums they’ve made with the five current members have been terrific, and all of them have a little bit different sound, as the band is VERY versatile.

“Songs From The Grass String Ranch” is my personal favorite, and when I told Richard I thought it was the finest album in my CD collection, from front to back, without a weak song, he was geniunely moved. Particularly when he asked to SEE that collection, and I brought my 312-CD case (organized by genre, and alphabetized within genre) into the bus and he went through every page.

“Soul”, from 2003, is very good, but still doesn’t match “Grass String…” for me personally, and “Big Boss Man” (2005) is full of their rollicking and incredible covers. When they do a cover, they don’t stick to the map. They get wacky.

Five excellent musicians, a couple of great writers in the band, unique, strong and distinctive vocals with Richard and with Doug Phelps. What more could you ask for?

And best of all, they are geniunely nice people. Normal guys, who just happen to have wild long retro hair and a tour bus. They love kids, they have plenty of their own, their “party days” are behind them, and they just love making music, live and in studio.

Do yourself a favor, doesn’t matter what kind of music you like or dislike, and find a copy of “Songs From The Grass String Ranch”. If you can’t, I’ll burn you a copy for a small fee, which I will then send to Richard.

Two Minnesota Guys Shine at The Super Bowl

Thank you, Tony Dungy (Minnesota ‘77)! Thanks to Tony, I can actually have a normal next couple of weeks instead of listening to non-stop talk about how wonderful the Bears are.

Note to Bears fans: Your team got throttled. Your team got the chance to be throttled by playing in the lamest NFC ever assembled. The ‘85 Bears would eat these current guys’ lunch. And the ‘06 Colts just did. So thank you Tony Dungy.

Now, when the talk turned to “who is the MVP”? I couldn’t think of one that actually wore a Colt or Bear uniform, the first thought that came to mind was the halftime entertainment.

Yep. Prince (native Minnesotan) was the true MVP of this game…the only individual of the bunch I’d pay to see. Mr. Nelson might indeed be one of the top two or three musical artists of all time, Beethoven and Bach included. And certainly his halftime show was much more entertaining than that game. By far.

A Little Sadness Tonight

This blog is named after a song written by my favorite songwriter and performer, Jeffrey Steele.

My buddy Dan Dermody called me tonight to tell me that Jeffrey and Stephanie’s son Alex, only 13-years old, was killed Sunday in a 4-wheeler accident. I never got the pleasure to meet Alex, but if he was anything like his dad, I would have liked him very, very much.

I feel so bad for Jeffrey, his wife and their three daughters. I know they’ll never forget their young man, and hopefully happy memories can replace the current terrible feelings very soon for all of them.