Gone to the Bend...

HERMANITAS RODRIGUEZ- Alma Vacia (Elena E-1005)
(This is actually the second time the sisters have popped up here. Dig around to find a better number by them. According to the liner notes they were based out of Del Rio/Acuna, though Elena was a southside Odessa label and probably the most prolific chicano label in West Texas. While "Empty Soul" is the title, my soul is anything BUT empty right now.)

I'm headed for that Bend in the Rio...

The 6 at Maria Elena's in Santa Elena, Mexico

Me and a housemate read an article about Boquillas, Mexico in a Texas Monthly back in the spring of 1996 and needed to go. We found four more travelers- all in all a group that wouldn't have actually spent time all together on a normal school weekend- and set off on the Thursday before Good Friday. Save the following two years, '97 and '98, the same 6- or Brave 6 as we like to refer to ourselves- have been doing the Bend once a year ever since. The most that have traveled without the total sum has been 4. But it only counts for the history when it's all 6. And we never have added a 7th, though people have asked.

A View of the Chisos from the Roy's Peak Corral, Easter '96

In the 9 trips since, we've created some damned nice traditions and memories. Steak night. Dutch oven peach cobbler. Midnight cigars at the hot springs down on the Rio. Climbing where people don't think to climb or wouldn't bother, and sometimes getting stuck there. Trips INTO Mariscal Mntn. Rapelling from the Alto Relex pour-off. Pre-9/11 there were tiny tacos in Boquillas and plate lunches at Maria Elenas in Santa Elena. We even accidently jumped an X-Terra across a dry creek bed on Old Ore Road. Some amazing memories are wrapped up in that place. And more are coming.

Looking South towards Mexico from Emory Peak

For our upcoming 10th trip we're looking a bit heavy... a climb up Lost Mine Peak (not trail), an assault on the Mesa de Anguila (that monsterous looking thing that makes up the US side of Santa Elena) via Bruja Canyon, and we'll wrap it all up with a trip to this spot which is a rare treat unless you know somebody which one of the 6 is fortunate to do. Feel like a boastful, giddy little kid.

Shrouded Chisos from Grapevine Hills Road

The Stomp will be back in a couple of weeks, provided Westex don't get stuck. And for what it may be worth, a grain of sand type thing, rangers do not like to hear stories about how you jumped stuff in a four wheeled vehicle.

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One of the region's treasures is Victor, the Singing Mexican of Boquillas Canyon...

Though not a Westie, Robert Earl Keen's "Gringo's Honeymoon" was the inspiration for the Boquillas story we read in Texas Monthly.

Carmen Martin w/ Frank Trevino, San Angelo

Runnin' a concurrent thing this time around... a chick rocker here at the 'Stomp and ANOTHER chick rocker over at Diggin' It!!! So make sure ya' dig 'em both!


CARMEN MARTIN W/ THE FRANK TREVINO COMBO- Bouncing Heart (Carmay 100)

I'll be brief.

Rocker with wiggledy-wobbledy geetar. And a bit of a bounce.

The Frank Trevino Combo seems to have been a society dance combo- black ties and such- based on a googleable mention, so possibly a bit out of character with this release. Or perhaps not as I've also seen Frank listed as guitarist on an Askel label lp.

Early 60s.

Durwood Haddock, Kermit

This post goes out to now n' again Westie Little Danny who runs the top-notch Office Naps. He's been diggin' some dark and odd country sounds as of late...

DURWOOD HADDOCK- Blackland Road (Cimarron 712)

Durwood Haddock aka Durwood Dailey first hit west Texas in the 1950s working with Tiny Colbert in Odessa and Eddie "Release Me" Miller in Lamesa. It was the association with Miller that would produce Durwood's biggest hit, "There She Goes". You'll probably not remember Durwood's name as a performer either, unless your recall his Top 20 hit "Big Night At My House" on United Artists. The never-tiring Durwood always found bigger success placing his compositions with other artists including Patsy Cline and Carl Smith.

(Just off the Town Square, safe from Blackland Road)

In the late 1957 Durwood would find himself working at KERB in Kermit. Durwood would also record for Hank Harral's Caprock label and D as Durwood Daily at this time. One of the D releases included the dark, hard-edged "East Dallas Dagger", mimicked here in "Blackland Road." By 1962 Durwood was done with radio and began to focus on performing and running his own label, Eagle. In 1965 Haddock signed on with Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Cimarron Records for a pair of Tommy Allsup produced singles.

"Blackland Road" mines a tale of deceit all too familiar in country music... loyalty to the lover or loyalty to the betrothed. One man lies dead, and one awaits the same having lost out due to impassioned action. Eddie Noack told a similar tale in his "Barbara Joy" on K-Ark (hear it HERE), but Eddie being Eddie the song just feels shocking. There is distance here, the use of a gallow taking it from this time and place leaving just sorrowed shadows.

Durwood would move to Phoenix and then on to Nashville, recording and writing along the way. There would be another Tommy Allsup production, this time a Metromedia remake of Willie Nelson's "I've Gotta Get Drunk", which had been recorded some time earlier by Tommy's pal Joe Carson for Liberty. Believe Tommy played geetar on that one. And that gives me an idea for a Diggin' It / LoneStarStomp crossblog affair.

Anyhow...

For more details on Durwood's busy life check here.

Billy Walker, Whiteface

BILLY WALKER- I've Got Leavin' On My Mind (Columbia 21531 )

Billy Walker was born in little ol' Ralls, Texas in 1929. Not much to the little town a piece east o' Lubbock. It's a cotton community. It didn't hold much for the large Walker clan. The death of Billy's mother, the depression, and foreclosure on the family's farm forced the elder Walker to split the family up. It's just a wee bit heartbreaking to read about 6-year old Billy watching his father walk away as he left him at an orphanage in Waco. Even more heartbreaking to read about the abusive conditions Billy and his brothers would live through for the next few years.

Thing's eventually turned around for Billy's dad and the family was pulled back together in another small farming community to the west of Lubbock, Whiteface. A guitar, a dime from dad for a Gene Autry flick, and a chance encounter at a local cafe with Eldon Shamblin of the Texas Playboys put Billy- to parahphrase his dad- on a path to hell. There would be stints hitchiking to radio shows in Clovis and, later, Abilene. A radio show in San Angelo as well. And even back to Waco where Billy got in with one of the greatest of the Hanks- Hank Thompson, which eventually got him signed up with the Big D Jamboree. It was here that he adapted the masked Travelin' Texan persona. (Not sure if he is the Billie Walker who wrote and performed as part of the Travelin' Texans for D, cutting the sublime "Beatin' On the Bars" in mid 1959).
While working out of the Louisiana Hayride over in Shreveport Billy got in with Elvis Presley and is actually responsible for the initial Presley swing through West Texas in January of 1955. (handbill HERE.) Just over a month later Elvis would return to West Texas again, this time with Buddy and Bob opening up the show on the Lubbock leg of the tour.

People like to talk about a Billy Walker and Buddy Holly connection. For a long time it was that Buddy played guitar on Billy's "Viva La Matador". Or Buddy helped with backing vocals on the Dean Beard/Slim Willet penned flip "On My Mind Again" . ( Heck, Country Standard Time seems to think that Billy was supposed to be on the plane that crashed and killed Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper!) Billy's mind was never quite clear on the subject, but he did finally settle on Buddy participating in the vocals for "On My Mind Again".

"I've Got Leavin' On My Mind" was produced in Nashville and released 1956 (Thanks AB... see comments). Though it features terrific backing in the form of especially sharp guitar leads from A-Teamer Grady Martin and hard boppin' beat, Billy's vocal is a bit deadpan. Rough and ragged to be sure, and few years off from the sweetness that is the Norman Petty produced "Viva La Matador".

Buddy Knox, Canyon

BUDDY KNOX W/ THE ORCHIDS- Party Doll (Triple-D G80W-797)

One of the greats from West Texas. Supposedly this Buddy wrote this simple rockabilly tune while lounging about in the hay. Originally pressed by Chester Oliver out of Seminole and his Blue Moon publishing in very late '56, then pressed again shortly after with Oliver and Son credits as seen here. "Party Doll" went big fast. By February of '57 the record was on a sprand spankin' new label called Roulette. First gold rock n' roll record, right? #2 on the charts. Don Lanier's guitar break was so simple and soooo catchy. Not the last time that someone in Clovis would use a box to keep time. Jimmy Bowen's flip side, the unsettling "I'm Stickin' With You", got its own release on Roulette record #1 and racked up a #14 spot on the charts. Two more production hits for Norman Petty. Boys were on tv. In the movies. Not too shabby for a couple of college kids from West Texas.

Kitchen Cinq, Amarillo

KITCHEN CINQ- If You Think (LHI 17005)

Ripped from the headlines- or comments section- of Devil Dick's great The Devil's Music blawg thang :

"My name is Johnny Stark and I was the founding member of The Kitchen Cinq. We began as The Illusions in Amarillo, Texas.In 1963 we released a single under the Dot label with two ballads, Secrets of Love and Don't put me down.The next year Ray Ruff wanted us to release a single for his RUFF Record label, a Beatles cover Run For Your Life backed by an original written by Mark Creamer and myself, Please Come Back To Me.We were called The Y'alls on that record. I never did care for the name but what the hell. In 66 I talked the band into moving to California where an old DJ friend Tom Thacker and another friend Red Steagal were working. They got us an audition with Lee Hazelwood and he signed us to his LHI Record label.We released 5 singles and the album Everything But...The Kitchen Cinq during the next year. We made three national tours between 66 and 67. I left the band and toured with J. Frank Wilson, Them and others. Mark Creamer, Jim Parker and I met up again in L.A. and under the name and album direction I suggested we signed with Jimmy Bowen's AMOS Records and released the ARMAGEDDON album. Decca Records who was the distributor for AMOS thought that the name of the album and band as well as the message of the lyrics was too heavy so they didn't put much of an effort into promoting the band. Again I left and toured with Sonny & Cher on their comeback Las Vegas vision as well as Them, Ike & Tina Turner,Sam & Dave and I recorded with many greats like Ry Cooder, Billy Preston,The Blues Image, The Friends of Distinction,JD Souther, Glen Frey and others. By the way Dallas Smith was the Bassist for The Kitchen Cinq, Dale Gardner was the co-lead vocalist with me. I wrote and sang the lead on DETERMINATION and sang the lead on the Buffy St. Marie tune."

There's also an interview that Mike Dugo of 60sgaragebands.com did with Cinq'er Jim Parker that goes even deeper mentioning a Tommy Allsup produced single on Coral as the Illusions prior to the highly prized Ya'lls disc on Ruff. Read the full interview HERE at Hans Kesteloo's amazing Beyond the Beat Generation website.

Moon Pie Daince Band, El Paso

THE MOON PIE DAINCE BAND - Blow My Blues Away, Enchanted Mesa (from Enchanted Mesa, Goldust LPS-174)

Getting their start in the early 70s this ever evolving country-edge'd band recorded a couple of albums and at least one single and continue on to this day for the odd reunion now and again. 1978's Enchanted Mesa, released on Emit Brooks' Goldust label out of Las Cruces, found the group going country, but holding onto the twin guitar sound of the early 70s... a late rural rock sound.

In 1974 a feller caught glimpse of what he reported as a UFO over Enchanted Mesa just outside of Grants, New Mexico. While the song is not any sort of tribute to flying saucers it is a tribute to the Enchanted Mesa itself. Or perhaps just a tribute to that desert mythos... the sound of dawn or the wind, a cool breeze on naked feet draped off the edge of one's camping chair after a long day's hike, millions of stars wrapped in the milky way or the drifting smoke from an ol' la Gloria.

So... the Moon Pie. Two sides here, one a bit more rockin' the other a bit more open feeling. Not sure who all was a member of the group at the time of this recording, but do know that Dalton Powell became a member sometime around the release and still plays with the group today. You know Dalton... drummed for that Bobby Fuller guy.

Head over to the excellent El Paso Musicians (Past & Present) blog to see a few pictures of the Daincers spanning the past 30 years...

(dusk from a camera phone moving at 70
mph just outside of Sterling City, Texas )