News from A Little Farther West

Song of the Week 24: Ridin' The Wind

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 16:44:52 GMT

This instrumental, “Ridin’ The Wind,” is the second biggest hit from British band the Tornados. It originally was produced by Joe Meek and written by rhythm guitarist George Bellamy in 1963. The record predated and influenced the ‘spaghetti western’ work of Ennio Morricone in the ‘Dollars Trilogy.’ George Bellamy is still living and is the father of Matt Bellamy, the leader of the rock band Muse. Muse’s “Knights Of Cydonia” is considered to be a tribute both to George and to Joe.

A Little Farther West’s version of “Ridin’ The Wind” slows the song to a gentle gallop and foregoes the multiple key changes of the original for one whole tone modulation near the end. What comes through is the strong melody line and the understandable influence of both the song and first recording.

This makes 24 “Songs of the Week” … half of our recorded output to date. It’s time to take a break and a little rest before we embark on a new album for release next year. We will pick up the weekly focus sometime in the future. Thanks for listening.

Song of the Week 23: (Katie And The) Navajo Rug

Tue, 04 Sep 2018 13:25:59 GMT

A Colorado diner, a short-order cook, a waitress, an old boss, a stuffed bear, and a Navajo rug on the wall … it all adds up to one of the most endearing songs ever about ‘the road not taken.’ Co-written by western songwriters Ian Tyson (“Someday Soon”) and Tom Russell (“Tonight We Ride”), this song debuted on Tyson’s 1986 album “Cowboyography,” with later covers by Russell and Jerry Jeff Walker also popular.

Our wistful version from our 2014 album “A Little Farther West” is one of our most requested songs live. Tom Russell explains online the kitchen call “whiskey toast” is really just “rye toast” (most likely from Tex Ritter’s hit “Rye Whiskey”). And older Navajo rugs (pre-1900) were most often dyed with indigo (blue) and cochineal (red) colors. Our contributions are the descending and ascending chords in the verse, moving the last line of each verse down a third, and repeating the opening verse at the end of the song.

Song of the Week 22: It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:01:33 GMT

What a hoot! Our version of this song is a mash-up of “Honky Tonk,” the 1956 instrumental hit by Bill Doggett, and the original 1951 recording by Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters.

It was written by Mason City, Iowa’s Meredith Willson prior to his Broadway and motion picture success with “The Music Man.” For that musical he also wrote “‘Til There Was You” which the Beatles recorded on their first album. (In fact, Paul McCartney’s MPL Communications owns the publishing to all of Willson’s catalogue, including “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.”)

No doubt every boy of that era could identify with wanting “... a pair of Hopalong (Cassidy) boots and a (cap) pistol that shoots …” Today the song still ranks in the Top 20 on Billboard magazine’s Holiday Top 100 chart.

“Honky Tonk, Parts 1 & 2,” of course, is one of the biggest-selling instrumentals of all time. I was privileged to hear organist Bill Doggett perform it at the Pittsford Tavern outside Rochester, New York and to chat with saxophonist (and co-writer) Clifford Scott at a performance in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. The iconic guitar part originally was played by Billy Butler.

Song of the Week 21: The Wayward Wind

Tue, 21 Aug 2018 13:55:29 GMT

Another song from the Western Writers of America’s Top 100 Western Songs, “The Wayward Wind” was composed by Stanley Lebowsky with lyrics by Herb Newman. The biggest recordings were by Tex Ritter and Gogi Grant in 1956, but versions are documented by Jimmy Young, Shirley Bassey, Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent, The Beatles, Patsy Cline, Frank Ifield, Sylvia, Neil Young, and more.

Our cover version relies mostly on the Gogi Grant arrangement but replacing strings and horns with guitar and organ. It adheres to our feeling that “if it wasn’t included in a western movie, it should have been.”

Song of the Week 20: Apache

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 14:04:36 GMT

The 1954 western motion picture “Apache” starring Burt Lancaster was the inspiration for English songwriter Jerry Lordan to compose this song in 1959. Guitarist Bert Weedon released the first recording in early 1960 with little success. Later that year, Lordan was opening act for legendary British band The Shadows and suggested they record it. They did with their distinctive echo and hand vibrato sound and it became one of their biggest hits … reaching No. 1 in Europe, but not charting in the U.S.

In late 1960, jazz guitarist Jorgen Ingmann from Denmark released his cover version, which reached No. 2 on the U.S. charts in 1961. That is the version U.S. guitarists heard and emulated. The song has become one the most recorded instrumentals of all time, influencing nearly every guitarist of a generation, from Nokie Edwards to Peter Frampton to Jeff Beck to Kenny Vaughan. George Harrison related that the Beatles even used to play it in the clubs of Hamburg, Germany before they achieved success.

A Little Farther West recorded “Apache” because of its legendary history and because it sounds like it’s from a movie western, even though it isn’t. It’s on our second album, “Mountain Storm.”

Song of the Week 19: Just As The Sun Went Down

Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:23:51 GMT

Arkansas native Luther G. Presley (1887-1974), the writer of “Just As The Sun Went Down,” wrote more than 1000 gospel songs including “When The Saints Go Marching In” and “I’d Rather Have Jesus.” He was a graduate of the University of Arkansas music department in Fayetteville and afterward taught music for several years. He gravitated to music publishing and spent most of his life as a song administrator with the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company from 1930 until his death.

“Just As The Sun Went Down” has become a staple of southern gospel quartets with the best-known version recorded by The Kingsmen Quartet. Later, bluegrass gospel groups began performing the song with a definitive version released by vocalist-guitarist James King. The simple melody and vivid description of the Crucifixion is translated in our “western” style on our “God Must Be A Cowboy” album.

Song of the Week 18: Remember Me (When The Candlelights Are Gleaming)

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 13:40:32 GMT

Scott Wiseman wrote this song in 1939 and he and his singing partner and wife Lulu Belle released it in 1940. Its inspiration was a vintage cup and saucer that was a family memento of his dad’s and mom’s courtship. The sentimental value of this item was so great, that the children were not allowed to touch it. Scott was touched by it, however, and during a bout of homesickness, wrote a song based on the lettering on the cup, which read “Remember Me”. The song is about a pair of star-crossed lovers who separate with the those words and then drift apart forever. With each subsequent verse, the phrase becomes more and more bittersweet.

The best-known recording of the song is by T. Texas Tyler around 1949. That record influenced versions by Bob Dylan in the early 1960’s and the one most music fans know by Willie Nelson on his “Red-Headed Stranger” album in 1975. A Little Farther West recorded it last year on our “Mountain Storm” album because it is one of Susie’s favorite songs ever. Then just this year John Prine (with Kathy Mattea) released it on his “Tree Of Forgiveness” album that topped the Americana music chart.

Song of the Week 17: (Someday) I'm Gonna Ride

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 12:47:58 GMT

Our friend Barry Ward in Eureka, Kansas wrote and recorded this song for his “West of Dodge” CD. He is a former “Male Performer of the Year” for our International Western Music Association. We first heard Barry perform it live at the IWMA annual convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is a powerful piece of modern western songwriting that fit in well on our “Mountain Storm” album. I believe A Little Farther West is the first act to cover a Barry Ward song.

Song of the Week 16: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 12:34:26 GMT

Galloping out of our Christmas album comes “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”! This instrumental is quintessential A Little Farther West. It is replete with the 1960’s sounds of pulsating low string tremolo guitar, warbling Vox continental combo organ, and shimmering reverb. If ever there is a Christmas-themed western movie, this recording should be in it!

Song of the Week 15: Just Like Christmas

Tue, 10 Jul 2018 14:03:16 GMT

OK, let’s keep Christmas in July going.

This song, “Just Like Christmas,” is written by one of my favorite songwriters, Charlottesville, Virginia’s Adrienne Young. I was fortunate enough to hear Adrienne perform two different times at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas.

She recorded this song with Hot Rize’s Tim O’Brien as a gift to her fan club members a few years back. Although she seemingly has retired from touring these days, Adrienne graciously sent me a copy of “Just Like Christmas” when I emailed her and told her we hoped to record it.

A possible Christmas classic!

Song of the Week 14: Christmas On The Line

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 13:23:00 GMT

It’s fitting that we are showcasing “Christmas On The Line” in July because it was 24 years ago this month in 1994 that Susie and I first heard the writer of the song Michael Martin Murphey sing it in Branson, MO.

Murphey first recorded the song with Riders In The Sky on his 1991 album, “Cowboy Christmas”. The idea behind it is that the cowboy has to work Christmas Eve riding the fence line, with nothing man-made to remind him that it’s Christmas. So he makes do with the wind through the pines, a low hanging star, snow-laden mountains, and jingling spurs. The odd juxtaposition of his loneliness and his joy in seeing the Christmas story in nature is perfectly paired with a hauntingly beautiful melody.

This is the title song of A Little Farther West’s 2017 Christmas album.

Song of the Week 13: This Moment Was Waiting For Me

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 15:42:18 GMT

Guitarist Duane Eddy released this song as an instrumental in 1986. Written and produced by Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne, the tune was named “Theme For Something Really Important” by Beatle George Harrison who played on the session.

I wrote these lyrics and renamed it “This Moment Was Waiting For Me”, keeping the same concept of being ready for something. I envision it being used in association with the Olympic games.

Song of the Week 12: Sweet Amarillo

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 12:48:34 GMT

The 1973 movie western “Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid” was the genesis of this song, lauded as one of the Top 25 country songs of 2014 by Rolling Stone magazine. Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who scored and starred in the film, recorded it in February of 1973, but the song didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie. Backup singer on the session, Donna Weiss, added new lyrics to it, performing the song on Dylan’s Rolling Thunder tours in the mid 1970’s.

Another song from the same 1973 recording sessions, “Rock Me Mama”, was reworked by old-time music group Old Crow Medicine Show, retitled “Wagon Wheel”, and released in 2004. When a cover of their version by Darius Rucker reached Number 1 on the U.S. country charts in 2014, Dylan sent Old Crow the track “Sweet Amarillo” to see if they could work their magic again. They did and it was released on their 2014 album “Remedy” which hit No. 1 on the U.S. Americana music charts.

That is why “Sweet Amarillo”, with a more than 40-year evolution, has its composers listed as Bob Dylan, Donna Weiss, and Ketch Secor and Critter Fuqua, both of Old Crow. A Little Farther West’s version debuted on our second album “Mountain Storm” in 2017.

Song of the Week 11: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 13:20:16 GMT

Our new Christmas album was released only two weeks before last Christmas, so are we ready for Christmas 2018! We thought there would be interest come Fall, but as it turned out, some of our Christmas songs are always near the top of our YouTube and Spotify playlists right now. So for everyone who likes Christmas anytime of year, here is a sample.
Our version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is primarily an instrumental with vocals on one verse. We were influenced by The Ventures' rendition featuring the late Nokie Edwards on lead guitar. We both borrowed heavily from the original James Bond theme composed by Monty Norman and arranged by John Barry for the 1962 film "Dr. No". Merry Christmas!

Song of the Week 10: I Fought The Law

Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:38:52 GMT

“I Fought The Law”, one of the most recognized and recorded songs of all time, has deep roots in West Texas and New Mexico. Lubbock-area singer-songwriter Sonny Curtis wrote the song in 1959 around the time he joined Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets following Buddy’s untimely death in February of that year. Sonny had been Holly’s good friend and the lead guitarist in Buddy’s pre-Crickets band The Three Tunes, but had left to tour with several national acts prior to The Crickets’ success. Recorded by the band at Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, NM and released on the 1960 album “In Style With The Crickets”, the song wasn’t a hit but did become a repertoire staple of guitar bands throughout the Southwest. One of them, El Paso’s The Bobby Fuller Four, recorded the song in California in 1965 with legendary producer Bob Keane for his Mustang Records. That version went on to become one of the biggest selling records of 1966.

Our recording of “I Fought The Law” appears on our first album, A Little Farther West. We were primarily influenced by the Bobby Fuller version, but incorporated elements of several of the dozens of subsequent cover recordings as well, especially one by The Ventures and Duane Eddy. Sonny Curtis went on to write Bobby Vee’s “More Than I Can Say”, The Everly Brothers’ “Walk Right Back”, Keith Whitley’s “I’m No Stranger To The Rain”, and the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme, “Love Is All Around” (on which he was also the lead vocalist).

Song of the Week 09: I'll Fly Away

Tue, 29 May 2018 14:23:27 GMT

Albert E. Brumley came up with the idea for this song while picking cotton on his father's farm in Rock Island, OK southwest of Ft. Smith, AR. It was written in 1929, first published in 1932, and gained popularity in the 1940’s. The best known early recording was released by The Chuck Wagon Gang in 1948. In 2000 the song, sung by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch, was featured in the best selling “O Brother Where Art Thou” movie soundtrack.

"I'll Fly Away" is believed to be the most recorded gospel song of all time. It appears in many hymnals and is often performed at funerals and bluegrass festivals. Brumley has been described as the "pre-eminent gospel songwriter" of the 20th century with over 600 songs published. His other popular songs include "Jesus, Hold My Hand", "Turn Your Radio On", "I'll Meet You in the Morning", “He Set Me Free”, and "This World Is Not My Home". He died in 1977.

When I first arrived in Branson, MO in 1989, The Brumley Show featuring several family members was going strong. The show was headed up by Albert’s son Tom, a noted steel guitarist who played with Buck Owens and Ricky Nelson. Tom Brumley died in 2009.

A Little Farther West’s instrumental version of “I’ll Fly Away” is the first cut of our gospel album, “God Must Be A Cowboy”. I felt the song’s strong melody line was a good match for our single-string western guitar leads. The rhythm groove comes from one I heard as a kid when my Uncle Bob was the drum major for the Sardinia, NY Drum & Bugle Corp. I spoke with him by phone several months ago … he’s 93. I can still picture his wonderful dance moves at small town parades.

Song of the Week 08: Mountain Storm

Tue, 22 May 2018 17:14:38 GMT

When A Little Farther West was opening act for western music artist Michael Martin Murphey several years back, he performed this song “Mountain Storm” in concert. In the audience I turned to Susie and said, “That’s a song for us!” It happened the song, co-written by Michael and his son Ryan, was quite recent, appearing on his 2013 album “Red River Drifter.”

The essence of the song is that in true love, hard times mostly are of short duration (akin to the quickness of a rain storm in the mountains) and it’s best to delay in immediately responding to perceived transgressions. It truly is a “modern western” song and very well-written.

Instead of the fiddle part in the original, I played it on tremolo guitar and included rain storm sound effects in the introduction and the ending. “Mountain Storm” is the title song of our second album.

Song of the Week 07: A Little Farther West

Tue, 15 May 2018 13:12:14 GMT

Susie discovered this song when we lived at Canyon Lake, Texas. Americana music radio programmer Mattson Rainer at KNBT-FM New Braunfels regularly was playing the original recording by legendary Texas singer-songwriter Walt Wilkins.

We like the the quintessential American idea that things will be better by relocating a little farther west. Susie believes that the “west” in the song is really heaven. We did attend a performance by Walt Wilkins at Gruene Hall, the oldest dancehall in Texas, and heard him play it live. He has recorded the song on two of his albums, “Fire Honey & Angels” and “A Good Ramble.”

When we started performing as a duo, we recorded it and we’re really happy with the way it turned out. So we named our group and our first album A Little Farther West after the song.

Song of the Week 06: They Call The Wind Mariah

Mon, 07 May 2018 23:13:17 GMT

Ranked in the Top 20 of the Top 100 Western songs of all time, “They Call The Wind Mariah,” with lyrics written by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, was featured in their 1951 Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon. The story, set in the mid-19th century period of the California Gold Rush, explores the loneliness of members of a predominately male mining camp.

The roots of the song derive from Storm, a popular 1941 novel by George Rippey Stewart, in which he named the protagonist tempest Maria (with the middle syllable pronounced “rye.”) The success of Stewart's novel was one factor that motivated U.S. military meteorologists to start the early 1940’s practice of giving women's names to storms in the Pacific and in 1953 a similar system of using women's names adopted for North Atlantic storms. (Men's names were incorporated in 1979,) The novel and its impact on meteorology inspired Lerner and Lowe to write the song for their play, and like Stewart, they too gave a wind storm the name (and pronunciation) of Maria.

The cowboy/folk feel of the song made it an immediate hit, primarily through Vaughn Monroe’s recorded version in 1951. Numerous recordings appeared throughout the 1950’s, with the most notable being The Kingston Trio’s 1959 rendition on their first album. In 1969 the Hollywood motion picture of Paint Your Wagon was released starring Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg (with Harve Presnell singing the iconic song.)

A Little Farther West’s version is primarily “no frills” with the exception of the addition of lead guitar and an ending featuring a major seventh chord. Grammy-winning vocalist Mariah Carey was named after the song.

Song of the Week 05: The Wayfaring Stranger

Tue, 01 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

"The Wayfaring Stranger" is a well-known American folk and gospel song likely originating in the early 1800’s about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it in 2009 as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

Atlanta music publisher Charles Davis Tillman was responsible for publicizing the lyrics, derived from the publications Bever's Christian Songster (1858) together with two additional stanzas from Taylor's Revival Hymns & Plantation Melodies (1882), and popularizing them in combination with the minor key tune derived from various African-American and Appalachian melodies. The result is so hauntingly striking and memorable that the tune and words have been widely recognized since Tillman published it in his Revival songbook (1891).

The Wayfaring Stranger is featured on A Little Farther West’s gospel album, “God Must Be A Cowboy.” We listened to a number of renditions, notably by Burl Ives, Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, and the Quebe Sisters, to fashion our version.

Song of the Week 04: The Western Star (Telstar)

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

I’m a big fan of well-crafted instrumentals like the ones that charted from the 1950’s through the 1970’s. A Little Farther West tries to include several on each of our albums.

“The Western Star” aka “Telstar” first was written and produced by London wunderkind Joe Meek in August of 1962. The previous month had marked the launch of the Telstar communications satellite and Meek sought to capitalize on the event with this instrumental by his group The Tornados. The record was a huge success worldwide selling over five million copies and hitting No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in December of 1962.

The Tornados’ subsequent releases never surpassed their initial accomplishment and Joe Meek succumbed to suicide in 1967. One member of the group, rhythm guitarist George Bellamy, is the father of Matt Bellamy, frontman for the Grammy-winning rock trio Muse.

I long have felt the song had a “western” movie feel and a very strong melody that would fit our low-string tremolo guitar treatment. So “Telstar” became “The Western Star” and leads off our first album “A Little Farther West.”

Song of the Week 03: God Must Be A Cowboy

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

“God Must Be a Cowboy" was written and first recorded by singer-songwriter Dan Seals in January 1984 and went on to become a top 10 hit that year on the Billboard country singles chart. He was the younger brother of Jim Seals of the duo Seals and Crofts who wrote and recorded the hits “Summer Breeze” and “Diamond Girl.” Dan first gained fame as "England Dan," one half of the duo England Dan & John Ford Coley who hit with “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” and “Nights Are Forever Without You.”

After that duo disbanded, Dan began a solo career in country music, having success with “Bop,” “Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold,” and “Meet Me In Montana” (with Marie Osmond). His extended family included Troy Seals, the co-writer of “Seven Spanish Angels” and “Lost In The Fifties Tonight,” and Brady Seals of the group Little Texas, the co-writer of “God Blessed Texas.” Dan Seals died of cancer in 2009.

I’ve loved “God Must Be A Cowboy” since its popularity in the mid-1980’s and always hoped to eventually record it. A Little Farther West’s version of the song is the title cut from our first gospel album released in September of 2017.

Song of the Week 02: Ghost Riders In The Sky

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

n 2009, the members of the Western Writers of America named “Ghost Riders In The Sky” as No 1 on their list of the top 100 western songs of all time. The writer of the song, Arizona’s Stan Jones, a National Parks Service ranger in Death Valley, released the first recording of it in June of 1948. The following year, 1949, versions were released by Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, and Vaughn Monroe (whose recording reached No. 1 on the charts and was named the No. 1 record of that year.) Gene Autry’s motion picture “Riders In The Sky,” loosely based on the song, was released along with his recorded version in August of 1949.

The story has similarities to the centuries-old northern European myth of the “Wild Hunt” popularized in an 1835 book by German folklorist Jakob Grimm. The tune has similarities to the 1870’s Irish folk song “Spancil Hill” and the Civil War era’s “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” But Jones’ composition was the first to combine those with the American west and the cowboy and he maintained he was told the story as a boy by an older cowboy friend.

We listened to dozens of both instrumental and vocal versions by artists as diverse as The Ramrods, The Ventures, The Sons Of The Pioneers, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Michael Martin Murphey, and Riders In The Sky to craft our recording of it. It was released in October 2014 on our first album, “A Little Farther West.”

Song of the Week 01: Rhapsidio Sangre De Cristo

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

“Rhapsidio Sangre de Cristo” is an instrumental written by Marty Stuart. He and his band performed it on the RFD-TV network on June 7, 2014 and also on the Bill Gaither Music DVD “The Gospel Music of Marty Stuart.” The song is named for the mountain range in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado and the name translates as “the blood of Christ.” Our version is featured on our second CD, “Mountain Storm.” We sought to capture the Southwest vibe of Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, NM, home of iconic instrumental groups The Fireballs and The String-A-Longs.