Night Light

Back to the Honky Tonks

A few years back I roped some great session guys into doing a Democratic Party benefit in Santa Barbara.   The organizers wanted a musical theme built around winning back traditionally Republican states and districts, so I called the "band" the Red State Wranglers.  We didn't rehearse or do anything else that drastic -- just slammed out some tunes as if we were playing in a honky-tonk.

I'm not naming any of the players because I don't want them to have to live this down.  Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" was a little chaotic, since I forgot what I was singing partway through.  Annoyed the bass player no end.  Bob Wills' "Faded Love," because it's Bob Wills.  Charlie Walker's "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" was written by the great Harlan Howard.   Conway Twitty's "Hello Darlin'" - well, don't you get points for sheer nerve?  

Then there was Merle, whose songs should never be covered because you're only demonstrating you're not Merle.  But I've sung this song in bars since I was too young to drink in them, so how could I not?

Wranglers - Crazy Arms

Wranglers - Faded Love

Wranglers - Pick Me Up On Your Way Down

Wranglers - Hello Darlin'

Wranglers - I'm A Lonesome Fugitive

That 70's Show

Cheryl Ann from Richard (RJ) Eskow on Vimeo.

I came across a video somebody shot on a little handheld video camera a few years back.  It's of me sitting in with my friend Dave Philp's band, UK punk legends The Automatics, in an LA club.  This is a song I wrote and did with my own band thirty years ago or so.  It's what we all sounded like circa 1977.  It's about a follower of my old band - a person who, come to think of it, may or may not have been real.

I was overweight and recovering from a bad flu when sthis was recorded.  I remember feeling like a boxer who took on a bout way past his prime just so he could take a dive in the last round.

But then, who doesn't feel that way sometimes?  By the next week I was fine.

Tear-Shaped Car

Words and lyrics © 2008 R. Eskow

I recorded this song demo a little while back and never posted it.  With the great Michael Starr on fiddle, bass, and percussion.  I played some guitar and organ that's in the background for padding.

I can't remember the backup singer's name.  I only met her the one time. 

I gues they'd call it 'alt.country,' although that's a designation I've never fully understood.   Anyway, here it is:

a song for the libby verdict

"The Monkey's Gone, But the Organ Grinder Keeps On Playing"

Here's the acoustic version of a tune I've been working on as part of the RCEG Records CD I'm doing.  I've been holding it for the Libby trial since I felt it would be relevant, at least to a guilty verdict. 

I recorded it with Michael Belfer (Sleepers, Tuxedomoon, Black Lab) producing, with help from David Bianco (on elec piano and guitar - he's produced, engineered, or mixed everbody). 

Michael and David work in a new studio out in the N. Hollywood/Sunland area.  Great vintage instruments, so I put the Hammond B-3 on it.  (Well, I couldn't let it just sit there.)

A Hymn for the Rest of Us, of Whatever Faith

My "Christian hymn for the rest of us" is now online at the Huffington Post. It's here, too:

 

01-I Wish More Christians Loved Jesus

 

(lyrics & music by R. Eskow; except "Amazing Grace," p.d.)

A little background:

One early chapter in my music career took place when I was taken in and given shelter by relatives on the Christian side of my family, at 19 or so. You haven't really heard Christian hymns until you uncle from Brownsville plays them all night on the electric organ in the living room. 

I found myself, a Bar-Mitrzvahed ex-punk rocker from New York, playing bass or guitar at Southern Baptist revivals in California's central valley. That gave me more than the typical Northeasterner's familiarity with songs like "Victory in Jesus" and "I've Got A Mansion Over the Hilltop."

So when it came time to think about not only taking America back, but taking Jesus back, from the so-called "Christian Right," I wrote something in the style of those revivals. 

Why "take Jesus back"? Well, because there are lots of evangelicals and other Christians who are politically open-minded, or -- as Zack Exley points out -- even "revolutionary."

And you don't have to be a Christian, or even believe in God, to respect what Jesus had to say, or to know what a different country this would be if more Christians really listened to him. 

The serious side of this song are dedicated to Christian-inspired heroes like Tom Fox, who really try to live by Christian ideals.

And the rest of it? Well, that's for people like the only other two living organisms on this recording -- Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. (My sidemen.) There's also a "hidden bonus track" at the end, featuring Jerry and Pat talking about 9/11 with what seems like sympathy -- for the terrorists. It seemed appropriate to play America's best-known hymn, "Amazing Grace," as they talked -- but as a blues.