Foxes AND Hounds
A loose collection of whatnot.
1. “To simply call The Sundowners a country-western trio is to diminish their free-swinging landscape of long-neck bottles, neon lights and bright ideas,” Jon Langford wrote for Bloodshot Records in 2004.
“They held court in several downtown Chicago honky tonks from 1959 to 1989 and provide a direct, important historical road map of Country’s Northward wanderings – away from the mountains and plains and hollers and towards the factories and jobs. They took their name from a 1960 Robert Mitchum film and learned more than 15,000 songs, playing about 7,000 songs annually.”
We were moved to revisit this history when we saw that buckybadger84 had uploaded this video to YouTube this morning:
Taken from a Chicago Public Access broadcast originally recorded at The Chicago Country Music Festival July 2, 1992. The studio version of “Dreamin’ Cowboy” was found on The Sundowners’ self-titled album, and was issued as a single b/w “Ghost Riders In The Sky.” Written by Guy Lawrence. The Sundowners were Don Walls, Curt Delaney and Bob Boyd.
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Walls was the last surviving member of the band until he died of heart failure in Mount Prospect last year.
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Also from buckybadger84:
There are hundreds of bands who have used, or are currently using, the moniker “The Sundowners.” When you mention that name in the Chicago area, these are the guys who held the name for 40+ years. Taken from a Chicago Public Access broadcast originally recorded at The Chicago Country Music Festival July 2, 1992. Here the boys cover Lefty Frizzell’s “She’s Gone, Gone, Gone.”
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Also:
Joel Daly, ABC7’s very own, did indeed sit in with The Sundowners on many a occasion. There was even a live album recorded at The Rosemont Horizon as Joel Daley & The Sundowners. I’d have to check but there may be a 45 release of them together as well. This show had the band backing Patsy Montana, but they started out the set by themselves.
2. Also spotted on the YouTube page of buckybadger84, the Flaming Lips at the Aragon on July 8, 2011. You may recall that the Lips recorded their own version of Dark Side of the Moon in 2009.
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3. Also this week, retrorocker uploaded this 1983 Michael Jackson promo for Appletree Records in Rockford.
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4. Bloodshot Signs Luke Winslow-King.
“Luke initially caught our ear with his unique style, emerging from the ashes of Delta blues, New Orleans traditional jazz, ragtime, and pre-war American folksong,” Bloodshot says. “After being transfixed watching Luke and singer/washboard player Esther Rose perform gorgeous duets at a noisy college bar in Chicago we were straight up hooked.”
Here’s a taste.
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5. Andre Williams at the Hideout.
“He’s a chameleon, a survivor and a hustler,” Bloodshot says. “He’s the fox AND the hound.” And he’s playing the Hideout on December 8, the label has announced. Here’s his artist page. And here’s a little taste.
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See also: The Year In Bloodshot Records.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on November 29, 2012