DateFebruary 16, 2011
Miracler
Fritz Eifrig
Location
Chicago
'Member Fritz?
He blasted on to the Pop Miracle scene with his pop-pop-popular Pop Rocks of April '09, prompting sentiments like "Mexican Cheerleader—excellent band name!" and "Excellent mix and probably the sunniest intro I've read in these here parts. Damn!" and receiving heavy rotation at 3MPM HQ.
One thing about Fritz, though, is he's a zagger. Just when you can maybe predict what might be coming next, you get a mix like today's, fantastically fresh and decidedly void of all things The National. Just for this week.
Liner Notes from FE
Hot licks, cold steel, and truckers' favorites: songs of heartbreak, drunkenness, and cruelty.
1) A real weirdo. It was between this track and the original of 'Take This Job and Shove It', but I really like the postmodernism on this one.
2) The great Buck Owens, live at Carnegie Hall. The guitar break is short but just knocks me out.
3) I got hipped to Lefty Frizzell via a short aside on a Garcia/Grisman/Rice record. Terrific honky-tonk stuff, although this one's not too peppy.
4) A old weeper from before she was a plastic surgery disaster. With Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris from the beautiful "Trio" album.
5) I originally knew this from Tony Rice's version (which is well worth your time too) but Mr. Reed's quite the picker himself.
6) His Wikipedia entry compares his vocal style to Lux Interior which really amuses me for some reason.
7) A pretty straight cover but still miles better than Cash's 'Girl from the North Country' (imo).
8) Cosmic American music. Cheating always ends badly but one only learns that through experience. I had intended to use the version from the Avalon Ballroom 4/6/69 but it's more than a minute longer and with the new restrictions I couldn't spare it. It is a great version though and now available in an official version.
9) Never, ever fails to make me tear up. The way his voice catches on the third verse is so beautiful.
10) Merle's way, way under-rated if you ask me. This could have been the theme song of my early 20s.
11) Another appearance by the wonderful Emmylou, because, why not? Could have been the theme for my late 20s.
12) Solid advice, fellas. The theme song for my 30s.
13) This version is very different than the Webb Pierce one but I love the rawness and wild desperation of his voice.
14) Kinda twisted. I like the fatalism and strangely flat affect of the whole thing.
15) Definitely twisted. Just a great, great vocal.
16) I am not a religious man by any stretch of the imagination, but some of my favorite music is made by True Believers.
PS- Mrs. Fritz wanted to make it clear that it's not her on the "cover."
Mix is up; USE SAME NEW PASSWORD FROM LAST WEEK FOR NEXT 3 MONTHS; REMINDER IS IN YOUR EMAIL. See you back here or on our members-only Facebook page soon.
Until next week,
XOK
19 comments:
Great stuff. Love me some Paycheck and the pickin' of Jerry Reed. Coe always always reminds me of the patrons of the Zeitgeist (SF bar). Thanks for the great mix.
Ok, for all the liner notes could you add something about the cover art, other then the "not Mrs. Fritz" disclaimer.
Big thanks for Waylon's cover of "Don't think twice", "Long Haired Redneck", and yes, Ted Hawkins !
Last song, especially lovely.
got alot of tasteful jamaican music from mr fritz & i don't like most country music but i like most of this. hypothesis: mr fritz has good taste in music. thanks for sharing, man!
Sure do like that lower, George Jones-ish register Willie uses on the "Family Bible."
"The Dark End of The Street" -- wow. Cryin' shame that Parsons feller didn't get to make more music.
Hearing "Rosewood Casket" inspired a little family critique of Dolly Parton. The household 13 year-old now gets her better. No need for anyone to wait until Dolly's past 70 and Jack White's retooling her credentials. But yeah, I can remember being that age and thinking Haggard and Owens were way too hick to even consider. Getting old isn't always a bad thing.
Thanks for the country-fried soul, Fritz.
Shit that was fun! Well played, sir.
JM- I think it kinda speaks for itself, no? In my pretend life that's Lynette Scutarino, painter, NYU drop-out, and the free-spirited barmaid who for 16 tumultuous weeks in the late 80s passionately tended to my broken heart with Jim Beam, organic mescaline and seemingly endless sexual congress before running off to Sonora with an Australian ostrich farmer.
Thanks, all, for the kind comments!
My dad's side of the family comes from Montana, so I suspect that I have a strong-yet-mostly-latent love of country music. I really liked this mix -- thanks!
She looks like a really fun girl! I knew I needed to know more. Thanks for posting!
Real good real country, Fritz. Yeah, they're lengthy, but the FBB Avalon discs are excellent. Love the Charlie Feathers and Two More Bottles of Wine -Gram would've sounded great singing with her on that.
As a hostess, I'm thrilled that someone has gone down the unpaved country road here. And as a Miracler, I'm glad it was you to do it.
Sam's right, Fritz—you've got pretty much universally great taste in music! And Sam, you don't even know what his Plan B mix was. A whole other spectrum, to say the least. Maybe we can put that one up as a bonus mix one day.
Thanks for the fabulously themed and compiled mix, Fritz. Not a sour note in the twangy bunch.
XOK
Aw, shucks! Thanks, Kelly. "Universally great" might be over-stating things just a tad as my Yes collection will attest.
DL: That would have been a great track indeed!
Wow, you're friends with Lynette Scutarino too?
This is like the "You don't like* country music? Really? Let me make you a mix." mix that I've always wanted/needed without knowing it.
Thanks.
* "don't like" is too strong. But I've always needed a C&W curator to help me out.
2011 is soo the year of country for me. i was already leaning that way in late '10, the band has decided to explore some different geetar, friends are considering moving to Austin, and shit I just want to get along with my father more. This might just seal the deal. Thanks Partner!
Every once in a while I'll pause on a country music station or CMT and quickly move on. I really want to be able to include it in my musical repertoire, but can't get into it.
Well, when I hear a mix like this, I remember that it's not the genre, it's the artists that I'm hearing that I don't particularly care for.
If all country were like this mix I'd be a cowboy-boot-, Wrangler-jean-, huge-belt-buckle-, ten-gallon-hat-wearing, Bud-long-neck-drinkin shit kicker!! Yeehaw!!
Wait, so Ryan Adams got all that from somewhere? ;) Really enjoyed a good country mix from someone who obviously knows the genre.
This was really nice. I know there's a lot of great old country out there but it's so hard to sift through a genre I know little about to find the good stuff. This is all good stuff.
I laughed a lot. And being a Spaniard, ie not too well versed in country, I learned a lot. I learnt a lot too.
I'm afraid maybe my mother in law was quite horrified to see the artwork on my laptop screen. Oh well :-)
Glad to see 3MPM getting countrified. Dig hearing Johnny Paycheck sing about killing like it's something on his grocery list.
Post a Comment