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The Other E.T. : Ultra Hot Picking From The Ernest Tubb Show
03.27.2010
11:24 pm
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Wonderfully raw clips from The Ernest Tubb Show circa mid-60’s via my pal Jeff Copas, music aficionado and bassist of Sixteen Deluxe

...but my family has some deep country roots - I’m distantly related to Cowboy Copas (a Grand Ol Opry vet, who died in the plane crash with Patsy Cline), and my grandparents were Dust Bowl refugees, transplanted Texans who lived in the not-yet Silicon Valley, and country music was always playing in their house, a double-wide mobile home on the edge of some fruit orchards in San Jose, which seemed mostly rural then.

They had “Sunday Morning Coming Down” painted on the tire cover on the back of their Econoline van, in tribute to Johnny Cash, who they considered to be a Great American (he was). For relatively successful and somewhat urbane ex-hillbillies like them, Ernest Tubb was like a crazy old uncle that you love but are slightly embarrassed by, because he was just a little *too* country, and reminded them a little too much of the hard life they worked so hard to escape.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’d never heard of Leon Rhodes before tonight, because it’s obvious he’s one of the greatest guitarists to ever draw breath, but I’d say these two clips make a persuasive argument that the Texas Troubadours, at least around this era, were far more in line with the sophisticated Bob Wills/Western swing branch of country (jazz for honkies, essentially) than the humorous, podunk novelty tunes Tubb is more commonly associated with (rightly or wrongly). Rhodes’ delayed guitar effects, combined with his jazzy runs, makes me imagine Jerry Garcia, zonked on Owsley somewhere circa ‘66, catching this on television and exclaiming “oh, wow, man!”. And those green hats? Decidedly psychedelic.

 
I gasped out loud when the background singers first appeared in the below clip. Not to mention Willie Nelson. Copas again : “Ah, the casual elegance of a thirty-something Willie Nelson: wardrobe by J.C. Penney, hair by Brylcreem, and talent bursting at the seams.” Great stuff !
 

Posted by Brad Laner
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03.27.2010
11:24 pm
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