Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee

Today's featured song is either about a drink called "spodi" or it's the basis for the drink's name. It's not entirely clear whether the song or the drink name came first. Spodi is a party drink prepared in a large bucket with liquor and fruit (not unlike Jerry Jeff Walker's recipe for sangria).

Stick McGee (brother of bluesman Brownie McGee) recorded the original version of the song in 1947, but it did not become a hit until Stick re-recorded it for Atlantic Records in 1949. Notably, Stick's 1949 recording of Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee for Atlantic Records was the first major hit for that legendary label.

Over the years there have been many covers, probably most notably by Jerry Lee Lewis. I've always really liked Lightnin' Hopkins' loose bluesy cover and the Malcolm Yelvington version is fantastic (click on his name to learn more about it).

Stick McGee - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee (buy album)

Malcolm Yelvington – Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee (buy album)

Jerry Lee Lewis - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee (buy album)

Sid King & The Five Strings – Drinkin' Wine Spoli-Oli (buy album)

Lightnin' Hopkins – Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee (buy album)

And now—for the fourth time on this blog—here's that sangria song I was talking about before. It's brilliant, but of course you already know that:

Jerry Jeff Walker – Sangria Wine (buy album)

Tonight's selections should be enjoyed with a big bowl of spodi, or at least a nice cool pitcher of sangria.

20 Essential "Alt" Country Albums of the 1970s, Part 1 of 2

STWOF Mix #1:
01. Jerry Jeff Walker - Sangria Wine (0:00)
02. Terry Allen - Amarillo Highway (4:12)
03. Willie Nelson – Devil In A Sleepin’ Bag (7:58)
04. Billy Joe Shaver – Old Five & Dimers Like Me (10:36)
05. Waylon Jennings – Honky Tonk Heroes (13:15)
06. The Flatlanders – Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown (16:45)
07. Guy Clark – L.A. Freeway (19:23)
08. Joe Ely – Honky Tonk Masquerade (24:15)
09. Doug Sahm – Faded Love (27:59)
10. Butch Hancock – West Texas Waltz (31:55)

Welcome to my first podcast! I hope you like (or can tolerate) the new format. You'll notice that I am taking baby steps. No talking on this podcast, just ten great tracks in a row. Makes a heck of a mix tape.

The theme is Essential "Alt" Country Albums of the 1970s. In terms of artistic merit and musical diversity, country music really came into its own in the 1970s. The epicenter of that development was Texas. While the term "alt-country" wasn't invented until the 1990's when groups like Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown made their mark, the country music coming out of Texas in the 1970's was every bit as "alternative." Alt-country before alt-country was cool. To get a good feel for similar releases from the same era, check out Joe Sixpack's list of 1970's Hillbilly & Outlaw Albums.

The ten albums featured below are one-half of what I would consider to be the 20 essential country, or better yet "alt-country," LPs of the 1970s. (The rest will be presented in STWOF podcast #2.) These are not listed in any particular order, except that I included all Texas artists in the first installment. The only ground rule I followed in making my list was to limit inclusion to one selection per artist. I also left off the more mainstream country artists of the time, even though some are quite deserving. (Remember: Willie and Waylon were "outlaws").

If you like the music featured on this site, then you will LOVE these records, all of which come with the highest possible STWOF seal of approval. If you are looking for a way to stimulate our economy, you couldn't do any better than dropping a few bucks on these classics.

Jerry Jeff Walker – Viva Terlingua (1973)


This one is a ton of fun. Great mood.

AMG Review
Featured Song: Sangria Wine
(buy album)

Terry Allen – Lubbock (On Everything) (1979)


A lost gem from an eclectic and underrated artist.

AMG Review
Featured Song: Amarillo Highway
(buy album)

Willie Nelson – Shotgun Willie (1973)


Willie had a few other LPs in the running for this list, especially Red-Headed Stranger, but in the end something told me to go with this one.

AMG Review
Featured Song: Devil In A Sleepin’ Bag
(buy album)

Billy Joe Shaver – Old Five And Dimers Like Me (1973)


Billy Joe's debut is a Texas tour de force.

AMG Review
Featured Song: Old Five & Dimers Like Me
(buy album)

Waylon Jennings – Honky Tonk Heroes (1973)

A surprisingly close call between this landmark album and Waylon's other masterpiece, Dreaming My Dreams, but HTH just can't be denied. One of my all-time favorite records of any era or genre.

AMG Review
Featured Song: Honky Tonk Heroes
(buy album)

The Flatlanders – More A Legend Than A Band (1972)

This one's definitely a desert island disc for me, though it probably would play better on a barren plain. Legendary is no exaggeration for this collection from Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock. Recorded in 1972 and only released on 8-track for a limited run until this reissue in 1990.

AMG Review
Featured Song: Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown
(buy album)

Guy Clark – Old No. 1 (1975)

Guy is one of the great Texas songwriters. His debut is chock full of classics.

AMG Review
Featured Song: L.A. Freeway
(buy album)

Joe Ely – Honky Tonk Masquerade (1978)

Joe Ely was born to be a country singer. Even if he had wanted to be a dentist or an accountant, his voice would have compelled him to switch careers. When you hear him, you hear country. This album is probably his best.

AMG Review
Featured Song: Honky Tonk Masquerade
(buy album for cheap!)

Doug Sahm – Doug Sahm and Band (1973)

This album, which is as much blues as it is country, just feels like Texas. (That's why I picked a Bob Wills song to feature.) For more about Doug Sahm, check out The Adios Lounge.

AMG Review
Featured Song: Faded Love
(buy album)

Butch Hancock - West Texas Waltzes & Dust-Blown Tractor Tunes (1978)

Here is the "roughest" voice of The Flatlanders accompanied only by harmonica and guitar. Very Woody Guthrie-esque. Maybe the least accessible of today's features, but definitely worth checking out.

AMG Review
Featured Song: West Texas Waltz
(buy album)

Any guesses on the other 10 albums? (Hint: The next batch is a bit folkier and not all from Texas.)

Favorite Country Artist Results, Nos. 40-31

The Father of Bluegrass just barely made it into the Top 40...

31. Tammy Wynette
32. Roseanne Cash
33. Kris Kristofferson
34. Jerry Jeff Walker
35. Randy Travis
36. John Hartford
37. The Flatlanders
38. Ray Charles
39. Jason & The Scorchers
40. Bill Monroe

If you couldn’t tell by the last two featured songs, I’m in a Texas mood this week.

Today’s featured Texan is the one and only Jerry Jeff Walker (from New York). One of the reasons I picked Jerry Jeff for today is because fellow Texan Ray Wylie Hubbard (from Oklahoma) did not make the Top 60. Here’s Walker performing the Hubbard-penned indictment of all those mothers who raised their sons so well:

Jerry Jeff Walker – Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother (buy album)

This song is available on Jerry Jeff’s must-own live album Viva Terlingua.

M is for the Mudflaps you give me for my pickup truck
O is for the Oil I put on my hair
T is for T-bird
H is for Haggard
E is for Eggs, and
R is for REDNECK!

Jerry Jeff Walker - Sangria Wine

Here's a blast from the (recent) past. This post originally appeared a few months ago when my little blog's audience basically consisted of my mom, my sister, friends Dave, Kris, Greta, Brendan at The Rising Storm, and Terry at Fits and Starts. I'm re-posting now in case you missed it the first time around.

It's organic and it comes from the vine;
It's also legal and it gets you so high....

What I'm talking about, of course, is sangria. One of the best inventions of humankind. Today's assignment is to make yourself some delicious sangria. To get started you need to locate your copy of Jerry Jeff Walker's album "Viva Terlingua!" and spin track 3 repeatedly. In case you don't yet own the whole wonderful record, check this out: Sangria Wine (buy album). An all-time great.

Anyway, Jerry Jeff's recipe (taken from the lyrics of the song) requires mixing the following ingredients in whatever amounts suit your fancy:

- Start with some wine
- Get some apples and brandy and sugar just fine
- Add sparkling Burgandy wine (huh? more wine?)
- Everclear is added sometimes (especially in Texas on Saturday night)
- Lemons and Limes

There you have it. For another, slightly more complicated mixture (which will require you to obtain a red apricot and split a strawberry into exactly three pieces), check in with Martha Stewart here.

And now for a word about Jerry Jeff Walker. He's probably best known for writing the 1970's hit "Mr. Bojangles." But in my mind his greatest achievement was becoming a key part of the Austin, Texas outlaw country movement. Viva Terlingua is a great introduction to this genre. See AMG review here. It was recorded live in 1973 at a virtual ghost town called Luckenbach, Texas -- a locale made famous four years later by fellow-outlaw Waylon Jennings' song Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) (buy album). In fact, one of the verses in Waylon's song (the last one, sung with Willie Nelson) mentions "Jerry Jeff's train songs."

Another one of my all time favorite Jerry Jeff songs is the irreverant Pissin’ In The Wind (buy album), which describes one way to end a Saturday night sangria party.

And now for a genre shift: All of this semi-rowdy country music brings to mind the Replacements' 3rd album, Hootenanny--especially this track: Treatment Bound (buy album). While not really a country album in any way, shape, or form, Hootenanny hits a lot of the same tones as JJW. And the album Hootenanny also contains one of the world's great rock songs, "Color Me Impressed," which will be fodder for another post...