This is the sixth part in my series of favorite records.

When I lived in Nashville from 1982-85, one of my favorite musicians was John Scott Sherrill. I saw him and his band many times at the Goldrush and other local watering holes. While he is one of the most successful songwriters in Nashville, I can find very little John Scott Sherrill the performer’s music on CD, or even LP (occasionally you can find some 45 promos on eBay). The one recording that is available is the only record by Billy Hill, a band he was in in the late 80s with fellow Nashville great Bob DiPiero and some of Nashville’s other legendary songwriters and session players.

The Album, I Am Just a Rebel is a virtual clinic of real country music songwriting and playing. Too Much Month at the End of the Money is the kind of songwriting that would have been a huge hit had it been recorded by one of Nashville’s marketed stars. Just in Case You Want to Know is a bluesy country tear jerker that you can imagine playing on the jukebox while you drink away your sorrows. One of the best and most unusual covers ever is a countrified version of the Four Tops’ Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch. You’ve got to hear it to believe it, but it works. My favorite song on the record is either the beautifully forlorn Drive on By or the country-rocker Rollin’ Dice.

There’s great writing and great playing on this record. It’s pretty obscure, but fortunately it’s available at Amazon and perhaps elsewhere.

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This is the fifth part in my series of favorite records.

I still remember the first time I heard a Bill Morrissey song. It was Handsome Molly on KPFT in Houston. The songwriting was incredible and his voice was unique. I bought Standing Eight, the album that song was on, the first chance I got. I quickly discovered one of my favorite songwriters.

Bill writes songs that sound like a chapter from a dark, narrative novel- sort of like Cormac McCarthy set to music. In fact, Bill later wrote a very good novel called Edson, which I also recommend.

In addition to Handsome Molly, there are 13 other songs on this record and each of them tells a story of love won or lost, without a hint of melodrama. I had a friend once who could tell a story about folding laundry and make it an edge of your seat experience- Bill Morrissey writes songs like that. Songs about life experiences that everyone shares. He is the best I’ve ever heard at turning a musical phrase.

All of the songs on this record are excellent, so it’s hard to pick out highlights, but I’d have to single out Up on the C.P Line and These Cold Fingers (one of the saddest songs ever) as my favorites, along with Handsome Molly.

If you want to hear new folk music done the right way, this is the album to start with.

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This is the fourth part in my series of favorite records. The list so far is here.

One of my favorite country rock bands is The Amazing Rhythm Aces. Led by a fantastic singer and songwriter, Russell Smith (a neighbor of my sister in Tennessee), they put out 6 excellent records in a row between 1975 and 1981.

The last of these is the double live album Full House, Aces High. This limited release album was recorded by the band as a sort of farewell to their fans (the band later reunited) and for years was pretty hard to find. I have the LP and later bought a CD-R copy from one of the band members. Now this gem of a record has been released on CD.

From the first note of The End is Not in Sight through the last note of I’m Gonna Miss You (Like the Devil) this record captures the best of the country by country rock sound. Highlights include a bluesy version of Just Between Me and You and the Wall (You’re a Fool), the best version of Dancing the Night Away and my favorite drinking song ever, Amazing Grace (Used to be Her Favorite Song). King of the Cowboys is dedicated to John Wayne (“my hero” according to Russell Smith) and could be a bookend for Guy Clark’s Desperados Waiting on a Train.

This record has been criticized some for a bad mix and record pops (the CD was probably recorded as a needle-drop), but I hear none of those problems. The mix sounds perfect to me, especially the keyboard track, which is an integral part of the sound. The occasional needle pop only adds to the authentic experience of hearing this band at the top of its game during a time when LPs still ruled.

There is not a bad track on this record. If you like good country/country rock, you will love this record.

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This is the third part in my series of favorite records.

I’ve talked about the Allman Brothers before, and I’m about to do it again. They put out a lot of great records that combined blues, rock, jazz and country into an excellent sound that serves as the voice of the New South to me and many others who grew up in the South during the 60s and 70s. They have at least four records that could make my list of all-time favorite records.

But I’m going to pick Live at Fillmore East. I love Brothers and Sisters just as much, but I’ve already praised that record. At Fillmore East starts off with the single greatest slide guitar riff ever put on vinyl- Duane Allman’s lead off on Statesboro Blues. Next is a rocking cover of Done Somebody Wrong, an Elmore James song. The defining cover of Stormy Monday follows. You Don’t Love Me is a 20 minute jam that would be the best song on about any other live album. The last two songs, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Whipping Post deliver the knock out punch that understandably became the highlight of the Allman’s excellent live shows.

When I want to introduce someone to good music, particularly blues or southern rock, this is the album I start with. It’s hard to call anything perfect, but Tom Dowd‘s production work on this album is perfect. I have listened to this record hundreds of times and I never get tired of it. A masterpiece performance by the best blues band ever.

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As we meander through my vast record collection, we are done with the numbers and now move into the letters. Because records are indexed on my music server under the artists’ first name, we’ll use the same convention here.

As my roommates and anyone else who knew me in college will gladly attest, from 1978-1982 was the middle of my “Al Green Phase.” I had such a jones for Al that for most of 1981 I hardly listened to anything else. I pretty much wore out all his pre-1976 records, but Call Me, from 1973, was and remains my favorite.

It starts out with the most soulful title track, which just may be the best boy longs for girl song ever. Next is the mellow, groove-filled Have You Been Making Out OK. It’s hard to describe what a hip, sad, cool, wistful vibe this song has. Stand Up puts a funky horn arrangement to an empowerment message. There are two excellent country covers- Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry and Willie’s Funny How Time Slips Away, the latter being my definitive version of the song. My two favorite songs are at the end of the record. You Ought to Be with Me, is a theme song for every guy who ever courted a girl. Jesus is Waiting is so funky that you have to pay attention to the words to remember that it’s a gospel number.

Oh, and by the way, there’s another top ten hit that I didn’t even mention- Here I Am (Come and Take Me).

The songs are all excellent, but what makes this my favorite Al Green record is the tight arrangements and excellent playing. Great guitar and horns (by the renowned Menphis Horns) throughout. And I don’t know what Al paid the drummer on these sessions (Booker T and the MGs drummer, Al Jackson, who also played on many of Otis Redding’s records, including Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay), but it wasn’t enough. This record is a clinic on how a drummer can be understated and still chase the melody. There is no song on which the drumming is front and center, but there is no song on which you don’t tap along with the beat.

I had an old Marantz stereo and speakers in my room in our apartment back then (Broadmoor Apartments, Winston-Salem, NC). I’d sit in this orange garage sale chair I had and listen to Al for hours and hours.

A great record by a master of soul.

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As those of you who listen to Rancho Radio know, I like all sorts of music. I have spent more money on music than I ever did on whiskey and women combined. At the moment I have 26,138 songs on my music server. I bought 8 track tapes, I bought LPs, I bought cassettes and I buy CDs. I listen to everything from country, to rock, to blues and everything in between. I’ve played in bands and I’ve listened to bands. I’ve written country, rock and blues songs. Basically, music has been the one constant passion in my life. Others come and go, but music has been there as long as I can remember.

So I decided it would be fun to identify, list and discuss my all-time favorite records, and here’s how I am going to do it. I’ll work through my music library from A to Z, listing and discussing my favorite records. I don’t know how many records will be on the list when I finish, but I am shooting for between 50 and 75.

So without further adieu, the first record on the list.

5 Chinese Brothers are/were a five piece alternative country band based in New York. Their music is on the folk rock side of the alternative country spectrum. All of their records are very good, but their first one, Singer, Songwriter, Beggarman, Thief is my favorite. By the time this record was released in 1992, the band (who are neither Chinese nor brothers) had been playing together for 10 years. The quality of the songwriting and the playing shows it.

If I Ain’t Falling, the lead off track, is an unapologetic rocker about the need to find your own path, even if there are wrong turns along the way:

“You’re getting bored when you’re living fast
You can only be sure when your time is past
A well laid plan is all right if
You’re a dying man or a working stiff.”

Baltimore is an accordion driven, almost Cajun influenced number about the loss and rediscovery of a hometown. She’s a Waitress is the first fine example of the band’s Loudon Wainwright-like ability to make songs that are equally funny and affecting. Who hasn’t fallen for a waitress at some point? I certainly have my own waitress story.

Don’t Regret is a stripped down ode to the moment:

“Please don’t promise to be true
With words that you’ll forget
You don’t need to believe in me
When all you know is that I haven’t hurt you yet
Don’t know about tomorrow so just let tomorrow be
Don’t regret, don’t regret.”

I could go into great detail about the virtues of every other song on the record, such as the hilarious ode to Paul Cezanne. In sum, this is one of those rare albums that have no average songs on it. Every song on this record is at least very, very good and most are excellent.

This record is a fine start to my list.

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I’ve been listening to the new Dwight Yoakam CD. I have heard a lot of records in my life (trust me). When I hear one now that jumps into my Top 50 all-time, that’s a rare and exciting thing. This one is Top 20 after two listens. If you like music at all, you simply have to own this CD.

It is country music the way real country people (that’s country folk- not the suits that have ruined mainstream country music) like it. It rocks from the first note through the last. It makes me want to turn up the stereo in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time.

There is not a good song on the record. There are 12 excellent ones.

I have pretty much lost interest in Ryan Adams since he dismantled Whiskeytown, one of my all-time favorite bands, and started releasing rock and roll albums weekly and alternative country records never. Just when I had written him off, someone tells me to listen to Cold Roses, his new one. This is one fine record and I am happy to hear him make this kind of music again. It’s in heavy rotation at Rancho DeNada. Ryan and the much under appreciated Dave Marr of the far too obscure Star Room Boys are two of my favorite songwriters.

Jim Hoehn, a friend of mine from Wisconsin, has released a new CD. It’s called Deadline Penitentiary, and is a fine record. Check out Jim’s page at Jim Hoehn.Com , and listen to clips from the CD at CDBaby. You owe it to yourself to listen to Ozzie Osbourne Barbershop Quartet. It’s a great song on a fine record. Check it out.