Townes Van Zandt, Hank Williams, and Desmond Dekker start your Twangy year.

Viking Twang Episode 72, January 5, 2016

Good morning, welcome to Viking Twang Episode 72. My name is Randy Black; here for the first Viking Twang of 2016 and Winter Term. Hope you’re not too frozen.

Two legendary singers and songwriters passed away on New Years Day: Townes Van Zandt in 1997 at the age of 52 from a cardiac arrhythmia attributed to a fall and his drinking, and Hank Williams in 1953, aged 29, while being driving between shows. We’re going to play music from both of them. In between, we’ll have a set from the great Jamaican ska and reggae singer Desmond Dekker. Here’s Townes to start.

1 – Turkey Red; W.C. Beck & the Portland Country Underground.
2 – Two Hands; The opening track from the second of two albums he released in 1972, High, Low, and In Between.
3 – I’ll Be Here in the Morning. Townes recorded this twice – for his first album, 1968’s For The Sake of a Song, then this version from 1969’s self-titled album.
4 – Mr. Gold and Mr. Mudd; from High, Low, and In Between.
5 – Delta Momma Blues; the title track from a 1971 album.
6 – Billy, Boney and Ma; from his 1995 album, No Deeper Blue.
7 – Waiting Around to Die; another track recorded on both For The Sake of the Song and Townes Van Zandt.

Desmond Dekker was one of Jamaica’s earliest ska and reggae stars, starting out with his first hit in 1963 and culminating in the top ten hit “Israelites” in 1968. We’ll start with his first hit record, from 1963.

8 – Honor Your Mother And Father.
9 – Rude Boy Train; from 1967.
10 – My Precious World (The Man); From 1968, the B-side of Israelites.
11 – Fu Manchu; Also from 1968; a song about the tough life in West Kingston’s Shantytown.
12 – Intensified Festival 1968, written about Jamaica’s Independence Festival.
13 – Israelites. His biggest hit, from 1968. He originally recorded this as “Poor Me, Israelites,” about a half-Christian, half-Rasta religious sect. But it was deemed by the BBC as “too rough” for British ears, so it was remixed into this version.

Sometime on the morning of Jan. 1, 1953, Hank Williams slipped away while being driven between gigs in Tennessee and Ohio. He was the superstar of his generation.

14 – Introduction; From a Mother’s Best Flour radio show.
15 – I’m A Long Gone Daddy; from November, 1947.
16 – The Blues Come Around; also from November, 1947.
17 – A Mansion On The Hill; that’s from 1948.
18 – Nobody’s Lonesome For Me; From August, 1950.
19 – Twang Theme; The Countrypolitans.

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