
|
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 |
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.