Fusion 45

Fleeing some financial problems and what he called Memphis’ lack of “civic support” for his business, Chips Moman bailed out on Memphis (and the original American Recording Studios) in 1973.

Not long after hitting Atlanta, he headed back to Tennessee  — this time Nashville — where he revived American. Because of his reputation, he immediately landed a gig producing B.J. Thomas‘ Things record (which included (Hey, Won’t You Play A) Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song).

Lucille by Kenny Rogers was recorded at American Nashville, as were Waylon and Willie’s Luckenbach, Texas and Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.

Kenny Rogers - Lucille

Waylon And Willie - Amanda

Waylon And Willie - Luckenbach, Texas

Waylon And Willie - Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys

Before and aft of Willie Nelson on my iPod are Willie Mabon and Wille Nix.

Mabon was the more famous of the two. He recorded the original version of I Don’t Know, made famous later by the Blues Brothers. Mabon’s version was a huge hit for Checker Records in 1952, helped usher in the era of rock and roll on Alan Freed’s early radio shows and was covered by another famed white-guy, Tennessee Ernie Ford. The Belushi version is probably better known to my generation, though, if nothing else than for his treatment of the lyric: “If it’s women that kill me, I don’t mind dying”.

Nix was an itinerant tap dancer and vaudevillian before he taught himself drums and played about the south with the likes of B.B. King and Sonny Boy Williamson. He never stayed in one place long enough to make a lot of records but this recording, from The Chess Story, is still readily available. The version recorded by Big Bill Broonzy is thought to have been a big influence on Led Zeppelin.

Willie Mabon - I Don’t Know

Willie Nix - Truckin’ Little Woman

COMMIT WITH CASH: The Chess Story

There’s a touch of melancholy in the air today. Do you feel it or is it just my office where it’s settled? Too much work. Not enough play. Things seem to be slipping away. (Wait…I’m writing poetry!)

Willie Nelson helps that. I’ve been spending some time with his new album, Moment Of Forever. It has a fun and funky version of Gotta Serve Somebody, a very strange song about a pirate and this one, which lifts the melancholy a bit.

Willie Nelson - Always Now

Photo Credit: This pic was taken by Jason DeCrow for the Associated Press and borrowed from the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a newspaper is the thing you use to brush the crumbs off your table at Starbucks, so they don’t gum up your laptop while you’re reading Google news.

Recorded in dirty distorted stereo at The Buddha Barn, Wednesday night, June 27, 2007

• Stealer’s Wheel - Star (Ferguslie Park, A and M, 1973)
• Tom Waits - Cold Cold Ground (Big Time, Island, 1988)
• George Jones - Lifetime to Regret (Sings the Songs of Leon Payne, Musicor, 1971)
• Loggins and Messina - Back to Georgia (On Stage, Columbia, 1974)
• The Doobie Brothers - Double Dealin’ Floor Flusher (Stampede, Warner Bros., 1975)
• Willie Nelson - Unchained Melody (Stardust, Columbia, 1978)
• Hank Williams - Cold Cold Heart (Single, MGM, 1951)
• Dave Mason - Pearly Queen (Headkeeper, Blue Thumb, 1972)
• Bob Dylan - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (The Times They Are A-Changin’, Columbia, 1964)
• Mark-Almond - Song For You (Mark-Almond, Blue Thumb, 1971)
• Lynn Anderson - No Love At All (No Love At All, Columbia, 1970)
• Pearls Before Swine - Uncle John (One Nation Underground, ESP, 1967)

Fusion 45, No. 33 - The Cat’s Still Away (And I Miss her)