Well folks here is the conclusion to my Nashville Boogie Vintage Weekend series of articles. I do have one side article coming soon on this event. I want to thank Jason Galaz and Muddy Roots for everything they do for my website and for music in general and I look forward to being in Cookeville this year.
I had personal business to attend to and I had to leave the hotel for a few hours but I got back Saturday in enough time to catch some of the mid afternoon festivities. I got ready to get back to being serious and covering the rest of the music, when I returned I noticed the main stage schedule was a little behind. I wasn’t worried because BY GOD Rockabilly Legend Johnny Powers was next! Now this man has my attention because he is the first white male musician to have ever signed with Motown Records and hold a contract with Sun Records simultaneously. He has also been inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and has accomplished more accolades as well.
He absolutely commanded the stage to do his dirty work up there rocking the place apart with his opening song ‘Rock Rock” and “Crazy Over You”. I was in admiration of his demeanor he had the stance and poise of a true Legend and I could tell he truly lived the life and walked the walk. The man has history that spans many decades and I studied him for quite some time before coming to the Boogie.
His next song was called “Mean Mistreater” and it was a pretty rocking song that I enjoyed. “Waiting For You” was another really good one I enjoyed his mid-set and this set was really good vocally as well. “With Your Love With Your Kiss” was next, this was a truly awesome time I had with some great friends. And as he barreled into a song called “treat Me Right” he played one more before going into the song he is most famous for called “Long Blonde Hair”. It dates back to the 1950’s when he developed his stage name from someone seeing him eating a Powerhouse candy bar. He closed his set with “Have I Told You Lately” also performed by Loretta Lynn and more.
Then…after all that I found myself In the Pines Woody Pines that is. I have had this band on my radar as well for many months and I finally saw them, see THIS is why I love music festivals! This was another of my top acts of the whole festival EXACTLY the thing I want out of a band right now this was a fresh different twist to an OLD ragtime swing band. They also recently signed with Muddy Roots Records and I bought that album and it’s a DAMN GOOD album, they played one song in particular off it I liked “Walking Stick” it is just a really good jamming song.
They opened their set with “Long Gone” before they played “Walking Stick”. I LOVE THIS ALBUM and I’m telling you Muddy Roots is taking the music industry by STORM with festivals and recordings and many more great products. In fact right now as I finish this article I’ll be releasing the lineup for the Spring Weekender which goes on next weekend.
They continued their excellent set with a Hank Sr. song called “I Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind” and I was an instant fan of theirs, yes I would travel out to Nashville or Southern Illinois for this band. VERY quality music and well written lyrics and just a good old fashioned JAM like their next song called “Red Rocking Chair”. They then played a song called “New Nashville Boogie” which I thought might have been a Nashville Boogie anthem sort of. Now their next song was another of my favorites they play called “Anything For Love”.
“Black Rat Rag” was another song off their latest album that was a really good jam and I RAN out to the merch table to get their latest CD and other items. I was loading up with stickers for my kitchen fridge (I have a small one in my living room). They closed their set with a medley of “Chew Bacco Rag” and a old song called “Who Do You Love” and I’m not sure what other song the medley had thrown into it as I was busy visiting with the sound man.
It was beginning to get late and I was getting tired I had a lot of mentally tired from my afternoon and I knew I had an hour to get home, but I was so excited to see Country Legend and Rockabilly Legend Larry Collins. Now Larry is known for his tenure with his family in the 1950’s. Always playing a double neck guitar since I can remember they blazed a Rockabilly trail across the world before he wrote some of Country Music’s most famous songs for artists like Tanya Tucker. In fact one of the first songs I recognized right away was a song she cut in 1980 called “Pecos Promenade” and it was officially debuted on the movie “Smokey And The Bandit”. It reached number 10 on the charts and the remarkable thing about it was it is off a live album before it was cut on a studio album.
He then took us on a short ride back to his roots by playing a WILD instrumental called “Hurricane”. He had a remarkable band backing him up on this set, hell I would have payed for just this set alone I was VERY impressed with his show. He then went right into an old hit of his called “Rock Bop Baby”. I have been studying Larry Collins pretty close the last few weeks and I’m getting to appreciate him even more now. In fact I have a more deeper love and respect for Rockabilly now than I did when I came, not trying to put the genre down I just have more knowledge of the genre now.
However one song that I always have enjoyed was one of his other mega hit that Tanya Tucker recorded called “Delta Dawn” which was off the 1972 album of the same name, it was also cut by Helen Reddy in 1973. That song had the entire place going NUTS in the main ballroom. One of his nicknames in the music industry was “Flying Fingers”. Even in his age he navigated that guitar in a Roy Clark fashion just putting out all sorts of sounds on it. I noticed all sorts of influences in his montage of music, I noticed a little Chet Atkins. And he closed his set with a song that was recorded by David Frizzell and Shelly West back when they were doing duet albums together. It debuted in 1981 and also debuted during the Clint Eastwood classic movie “Every Which Way But Loose”. It remained on the number one spot for a week and was one their most successful hits for the duo.
The final band I covered for this festival was another west coast Rockabilly Legendary band called The Paladins. They are self described as “West Coast Jump Blues”.
I really enjoyed their set tonight and even though some of their set was hard to hear the vocals the instrumentals were absolutely crazy good. The first song I recognized in their set was in the middle of their set called “Tore Up From The Floor Up”. As I was preparing to wrap up my day and get home to rest they played one called “You’re The One” before going into a long and really awesome song called “Big Mary’s”.
They brought out Rockabilly Legend Rosie Flores and she performed “Cock It Back And Blow My Blues Away” with the band. I tell you what they had the whole place going nuts, Rosie was slotted to perform the next day at the Johnny Cash Museum and sadly I had to miss that part of the festival. I had so much to catch up on at home I was unable to make it. This was the end for me folks and as they played ‘Get Rhythm” I was leaving for the night and got to stop and say goodbye to Mr. Jason because I probably not get to see him until Cookeville Muddy Roots Festival. I hope with all my heart you enjoyed my coverage of this festival, I have had confirmation that it WILL take place in 2016 at the Opryland Hotel..I have no confirmed dates.
