MEREDITH JENKS
Zephaniah OHora is a fixture of the Brooklyn Country Music scene. His fantastic, self-released debut album This Highway is a nod to Merle Haggard, Marty Robbins, and Red Simpson with a decidedly New York bent.
He stopped by the Tennessee Border Show to talk about his record, his influences, and some of his favorite country tunes. Listen below and find the full July 30th edition of the Tennessee Border Show here.
KURT MARKUS. ROGER RESSMEYER/CORBIS
Nat Hentoff's blurb on the back of Lost Highway: Journeys and Arrivals of American Musicians sums up Peter Guralnick's work in 20 words or so, "Indispensable...The chapter on Merle Haggard is as if Chekhov had filed a report from Harrah's in Lake Tahoe."
The Chekovian Haggard chapter to which he refers took place in 1978 in Merle's suite at the Lake Tahoe casino. Haggard's marriage to Bonnie Owens was dissolving. He needed her signature on some divorce papers so he could marry his other back-up singer, Leona Williams. Hentoff's connection between Guralnick's fly-on-the-wall style and Chekhov's aptitude for perception and subtext is on the mark.
The late Hentoff called Guralnick a "national resource." He's a GRAMMY-winner, an acclaimed author, and a genuine Merle Haggard fan. We spoke earlier this month for WKCR's Merle Haggard Memorial Broadcast & Birthday Celebration. The interview originally aired April 6, 2017.
JESSICA FEY
The story goes that Will Oldham's first performance some 25 years ago included a cover of Merle Haggard's "It's Not Love (But it's Not Bad.)" Merle Haggard's music figures prominently in Oldham's work as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. His 2007 take on "The Way I Am" introduced Merle to a new audience of music-lovers, including yours truly. Next month will see the release of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's full-fledged Merle Haggard tribute album, Best Troubador. (Check out the video for bonus track "Mama Tried" here.)
Will Oldham spoke with me last week about Hag and the new album for WKCR's Merle Haggard Memorial Broadcast & Birthday Celebration. Our conversation originally aired April 6, 2017.
In the 1960s, two geo-sonic philosophies dominated country music: the smooth Countrypolitan productions pouring fourth from Nashville, and the jagged twang of the Bakersfield sound charging out of California. Billy Sherrill and Buck Owens sat at either end of the Country Music Spectrum. And somewhere on a whole 'nother level perched Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan, the pioneering duo behind the perfectly weird 1970 hit "Tennessee Bird Walk."
The Jack & Misty Sound grew out of the South Florida bar and club scene of the mid-60s. Their first regional hit was the loungy, spacy instrumental "Gemini." Though removed from the Nashville Establishment in almost every way, Jack & Misty were hired as independent producers for now-forgotten-up-and-comers like Hank Malcolm. Once in Nashville, they signed a recording contract of their own, and it wasn't long before "Tennessee Bird Walk" earned them a Grammy nomination and a #1 country single.
Jack & Misty toured extensively in the 1970s and 80s hitting honky tonks in every state but Hawaii. Now making their home in central Florida, they continue to record, remaster, and rerelease their growing 40-plus year catalog.
Jack was kind enough to speak with me for a recent episode of The Tennessee Border Show on WKCR-FM New York. Tune in for Jack's take on Joe DiMaggio, and Richard Nixon's piano chops.