Speedbump's Corner...
-
The Inspiration for "Left Turn..."
There's An Old Watermill is a Milton Brown song, and there is no better way to start than to acknowledge one of the two Founding Fathers of Western Swing. The second tune is a melancholy song that Tommy Duncan had out called Worried Over You. The Irving Berlin classic, I'm Puttin All My Eggs In One Basket, was made popular by Fred Astaire and was recorded by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Our version is a sonic tribute to Milton Brown's ground-breaking steel guitarist, Bob Dunn, who also played trombone. On our recording you will hear the interplay between my steel and Brian s trombone, as well as the great piano work of Barrelhouse Bob Emmert. Next you will hear the lovely Jordon Ripley, the Coconino Rose, singing And the Angels Sing, a folk-tune that Ziggy Elman introduced to American audiences with the words by Johnny Mercer. I got the inspiration to cover it from the recording make by the Texas Songbird, Leon Huff.The great Cindy Walker wrote The Thingamajig, and Johnnie Lee Wills and His Boys recorded it for RCA. You will hear Stan asking the questions and giving me the answers in this anthem to old men and forgetfulness. We often have conversations just like this. When we do Kay Kyser's hit Playmate, featuring vocals by Alison Rosner, the "Rose of Ruidoso", we hear echoes of the Flinthill Boys Western Swing Band that played this song in their territory straddling the Kansas/Oklahoma line before and during the war. Wayne Shrubsail is an all-around instrumentalist, and you hear him playing piano on some of these sides, and doing the lead vocal on the Tex Williams/Merle Travis classic, Smoke, Smoke, Smoke.Twenty years ago Wayne and I started the band that became the Curios after he left, but he always has a chair with us whenever he wants to play plectrum banjo or sing Tater Pie.
I am singing on another Tex Williams standard that sprang from his work with Spade Cooley, Crazy Cause I Love You. I want to note that our fabulous drummer, Tom, plays like Ferris Coursy on this one to give us a sound reminiscent of Red Foley at his swingiest. Most of All is one of the many brilliantly-crafted Hank Thompson songs we do. I Love You More And More Everyday is a song written by Slim Willet, in his idiosyncratic style, that Hoyle and Jody Nix both covered.You will hear Jordan and her talented singer/guitarist husband, Byron, on the old Tennessee Ernie Ford/Kay Starr duet, I'll Never Be Free, and you will also hear them back me on my original conscience song, Do No Harm. That is Byron playing lead guitar, as well as the Albuquerque piano legend, Larry Freedman, on a Curio staple, Roadside Rag. We do the Sunshine Boys' Deep Elm, Merl Lindsay s instrumental theme, Water Baby, and my own instrumental Speedbump's Bounce. We close out with Where Shall I Go? done by Dick Reinhart and Johnny Bond, among others. Where shall I go?, is a good question. Before I wind up in Steel Guitar Heaven (listen to Ry Cooder's description of a multi-necked afterlife), I hope that I will go on to play with my bandmates the many fun, complicated, simple and swinging songs that are the sonic match to the Hi Lo Country I love.
Bueno Bye -Johnny "Speedbump" Feldman
THE CURIO COWBOYS WESTERN SWING BAND ISSUES A “TICKET TO ALBUQUERK”
John leads the band, playing steel guitar, electric mandolin, and fiddle, as well as vocals. Wayne has returned to play banjo, guitar and piano. Barrelhouse Bob Emmert plays keyboards. Stan Burg plays rhythm guitar. Bass man Jay Rosenblum and drummer Tom Walker round out the rhythm section. Cowgirl vocalist Alison Rosner, the Rose of Ruidoso, lead guitar player Art Maya, fiddle players Deborah Stambaugh and Fiddlin’ Doc Gonzales, and Jim Roeber on clarinet help round out the front line. Doc leads his own group in northern New Mexico. Brian Finegan has joined the band on trumpet, trombone and sax. Brian spent 30 years as a working musician in New Orleans before his move to New Mexico.
Many great musicians have taken a seat with the band, and the Curios are particularly pleased to have played recently with the legendary Hardrock Gunter, a treat for all involved!
The Curios are a souvenir of the roadside west, and when you hear them at a dance, on record, or live on the radio, you know that you will be hearing what the Southwest sounded like when Western Swing was the thing. Very few things in our world are the authentic item; treat yourself to the real thing and enjoy the Curio Cowboys!
CLICK HERE to read a recent review of Ticket to Albuquerk by renown music critic Heath Kirk.