{"id":827,"date":"2016-04-24T07:00:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=827"},"modified":"2023-10-03T19:29:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T23:29:12","slug":"anybody-going-san-antone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Is Anybody Going to San Antone\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tkMTCAXHFSg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>My love affair with Texas roots music began in the Cambridge Public Library. The main branch of the library was located in the open space between the two high schools, Rindge Tech and Cambridge High and Latin, and if you had a note from a teacher saying that you had no classes, you could use it during school hours. I spent some time browsing in the stacks, but mostly took advantage of the fabulous <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-830 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg?resize=122%2C163&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"f_1210_gallery-image_28989\" width=\"122\" height=\"163\" \/>record collection. The music librarian, a tall, quiet jazz enthusiast named Ken Williams (who I recently learned was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ebony.com\/photos\/life\/the-coolest-black-family-in-america-no-19-the-hunterwilliamses#axzz44UDmYSLw\">a pioneering activist against Apartheid<\/a>), had assembled a relatively small but wonderful assortment of LPs, and there were a couple of turntables where you could listen to them, and I spent hours and days and weeks sitting with a pair of old gray headphones on my ears, getting an education. Among other treasures, that&#8217;s where I discovered <em>Guitars of Africa<\/em>, with Jean-Bosco Mwenda&#8217;s &#8220;Masanga&#8221; (I have an earlier post about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/masanga\/\">studying with him in the Congo<\/a>),\u00a0 and one of the albums that forever shaped my musical taste, <em>Doug Sahm and Band<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t begin to describe how unlikely and unusual that album was in the mid-1970s. We&#8217;ve since had forty years of &#8220;roots music&#8221; and &#8220;Americana,&#8221; and all of us are a<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-831 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-SEALED-Vintage-1973-Lp.jpg?resize=260%2C258\" alt=\"DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-SEALED-Vintage-1973-Lp\" width=\"260\" height=\"258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-SEALED-Vintage-1973-Lp.jpg?w=260&amp;ssl=1 260w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-SEALED-Vintage-1973-Lp.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px\" \/>t least glancingly aware of Tex-Mex accordion, and bluegrass, and traditional fiddling, and classic R&amp;B, and blues, and New Orleans music, and roots rock, and have heard bands that attempt various fusions of those styles. But back then no one had ever attempted a fusion even vaguely comparable to Sahm&#8217;s, and no one before or since has assembled a comparable band. Jerry Wexler, at the height of his powers at Atlantic Records, had decided Doug was the quintessential American musician, and between them they assembled&#8230; well, let&#8217;s put it this way: Bob Dylan, then in his hermit period, came out of the shadows to sing harmony, contribute a new song, and play occasional harmonica; Flaco Jimenez was on accordion; Dr. John was on piano; David &#8220;Fathead&#8221; Newman was there from the Ray Charles band on tenor sax; David <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-834\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-back-300x220.jpg?resize=300%2C220\" alt=\"DOUG-SAHM-And-Band back\" width=\"300\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-back.jpg?resize=300%2C220&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-back.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Bromberg played dobro; Charlie McCoy played steel; Andy Statman was on mandolin; Kenny Kosek was on fiddle&#8230; and of course there was Doug, on fiddle and electric guitar and vocals, and his Texas buddies, Augie Meyers and Jack Barber&#8230; there were a few others, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n<p>As for the songs, they ranged from T-Bone Walker to the Delmore Brothers, to&#8230; I&#8217;m going to stop now, because you should just check it out, though I should mention that Sahm had a couple of his own well-written songs on there as well.<\/p>\n<p>I listened to that LP over and over, probably wore out the library&#8217;s copy, and then, because the American record-buying public inexplicably failed to share my tastes, I found a copy in a cut-out bin and wore that out as well. But, oddly enough, I only learned one song off it, Doug&#8217;s version of this Charley Pride hit, which he leads off on twin fiddles with Kosek, after shouting, &#8220;This is a song about my home town!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I still have that intro etched in my brain, along with the horn chart from &#8220;Dealer&#8217;s Blues,&#8221; and have made some attempt to capture it on guitar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A heartfelt tribute to Doug Sahm, Texas roots music, and the Cambridge Public Library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm) - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A heartfelt tribute to Doug Sahm, his all-time all-star southern roots music band, and the Cambridge Public Library.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A heartfelt tribute to Doug Sahm, his all-time all-star southern roots music band, and the Cambridge Public Library.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-24T11:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-03T23:29:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-back.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"293\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm)\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-24T11:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-03T23:29:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":575,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/\",\"name\":\"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-24T11:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-03T23:29:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"A heartfelt tribute to Doug Sahm, his all-time all-star southern roots music band, and the Cambridge Public Library.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg?fit=122%2C163&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg?fit=122%2C163&ssl=1\",\"width\":122,\"height\":163},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/anybody-going-san-antone\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"description\":\"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\",\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"width\":70,\"height\":85,\"caption\":\"Elijah Wald\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"A heartfelt tribute to Doug Sahm, his all-time all-star southern roots music band, and the Cambridge Public Library.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","og_description":"A heartfelt tribute to Doug Sahm, his all-time all-star southern roots music band, and the Cambridge Public Library.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/","og_site_name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","article_published_time":"2016-04-24T11:00:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-03T23:29:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":293,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DOUG-SAHM-And-Band-back.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elijah Wald","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ElijahWald","twitter_site":"@ElijahWald","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elijah Wald","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/"},"author":{"name":"Elijah Wald","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"headline":"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm)","datePublished":"2016-04-24T11:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-03T23:29:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/"},"wordCount":575,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/","name":"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-24T11:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-03T23:29:12+00:00","description":"A heartfelt tribute to Doug Sahm, his all-time all-star southern roots music band, and the Cambridge Public Library.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg?fit=122%2C163&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/f_1210_gallery-image_28989.jpg?fit=122%2C163&ssl=1","width":122,"height":163},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/anybody-going-san-antone\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Anybody Going to San Antone (Doug Sahm)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/","name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9","name":"Elijah Wald","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","width":70,"height":85,"caption":"Elijah Wald"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/masanga\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":0},"title":"Masanga (Jean-Bosco Mwenda)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"December 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was in high school, I spent hundreds of hours at the public library, which was between the two high schools (Rindge Tech and Cambridge High & Latin), listening to records. Thanks to the music librarian, Ken Williams, that library had a terrific collection of jazz, blues, international and\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/masanga\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Boscos-lyric-to-Masanga.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2007,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/brand-new-tennessee-waltz\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":1},"title":"Brand New Tennessee Waltz (Jesse Winchester)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"August 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember knowing in a vague sort of way that this was by Jesse Winchester, but I didn't know anything more about him and don't have any memory of hearing him sing it, or indeed of hearing anyone sing it. I obviously must have heard it somewhere -- most likely\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Sing out (Jesse Winchester)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sing-out-Jesse-Winchester-e1471702922808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3498,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/hell-have-to-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":2},"title":"He&#8217;ll Have to Go (Ry Cooder\/Jim Reeves)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"March 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a month or so hitchhiking around Scotland in the summer of 1989, partly because I was headed to Africa and wanted to familiarize myself with the work of Jim Reeves. I'd heard that Reeves was hugely popular in both places, but all I knew of his music was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Ry-Cooder-LP.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2230,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/texas-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":3},"title":"Texas Blues (Bill Morrissey)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"December 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is another song I did at that Passim Coffeehouse show in March 1983. I had just got my first mention in the Boston Globe, where Jeff McLaughlin called me \"a superb fingerpicker and distinctive singer\" -- \"distinctive\" being a word reviewers use when they're aware of problems but trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"jeff-mclaughlin","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Jeff-McLaughlin-196x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3801,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/me-and-billy\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":4},"title":"Me and Billy the Kid (Joe Ely)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"June 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I've already written about my introduction to Joe Ely and my affection for his work, and I'm happy to revisit the subject, because I owe him a lot. Beyond the great songs I learned off his records, and the records themselves, it was a whole attitude toward music. Along with\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ely-Liberty-Lunch-297x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2975,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/honky-tonk-heroes\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":5},"title":"Honky Tonk Heroes (Waylon Jennings)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"July 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I owe this song and my further acquaintance with Waylon's ouevre -- and much else -- to Peter Guralnick. I first became tangentially aware of Peter when I got into blues as a kid and my mother mentioned that Dr. Guralnick's son wrote about blues. Dr. Guralnick had removed her\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Peter-Guralnick-Lost-Highway-193x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4874,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/4874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}