LIVE IN THE HIGHWAY 'TIL I DIE
 

SIDE ONE

1. Clarence Carter, "The Feeling is Right," Snatching it Back: The Best of Clarence Carter [1969](1992)
2. Clarence Carter, "All Messed Up," That's What Your Love Means to Me (1976)
3. Aretha Franklin, "Son of a Preacher Man," A Natural Woman and Other Hits [1967](1997)
4. Solomon Burke, "A Change is Gonna Come," A Change is Gonna Come (1986)
5.Stevie Wonder, "You Haven't Done Nothin'," Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974)
6. King Curtis, "Memphis Soul Stew," Soul Serenade (1970)
7. King Curtis, "Ode to Billy Joe," Soul Serenade (1970)
8. The Allman Brothers Band, "You Don't Love Me /Soul Serenade" Dreams Boxset [1971] (1989)
9. Steve Earle, (with Emmy Lou Harris), "Taneytown," El Corazon (1997)
10. Charlie Poole with the North Carolina Ramblers, "Coon from Tennessee," (1927)

SIDE TWO
1. Chuck Jackson, "Any Day Now," The Best of Chuck Jackson [1966?](1991)
2. Chuck Jackson, "Getting Ready for a Heartbreak," [1966?] (1991)
3. Solomon Burke, "Lucky," King of Rock and Soul [1979] (1986)
4. Angela Strehli (with Don Covay), "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um," Blonde and Blue (1993)
5. Angela Strehli, "Go On ," Blonde and Blue (1993)
6. Van Morrison, "In the Beginning: Astral Weeks," Astral Weeks (1968)
7. Nic Jones, "Fishing for the Humpback Whale," Penguin Eggs (1980)
8. Jesse Colin Young, "Black Eyed Susan," Soul Of a City Boy (1964)
9. Jesse Colin Young, "Same Old Man," Soul Of a City Boy (1964)
10. Duane Allman, "Going Down Slow," Dreams Boxset [1969] (1989)
11. Steve Earle,"Fort Worth Blues," El Corazon (1997)

King Curtis was my childhood hero because Duane Allman said he was a hero, and with solos like his, you had to believe him. And what a tight band! They follow each other like a jazz sextet. Soul Serenade was not just a song, it was a soul anthem for the general audience.
Aretha sang and Stevie Wonder played, boy, man.
Solomon Burke with Sam Cooke's version of Old Man River.
Solomon loves Mary, Solomon loves Mary, and your brother, too.
Remembering those 1960s strings on Lucky and Ode to Billy Joe.
(Clarence Carter's All Mess'd Up is Bill Clinton's song and Angela Strehli's Go On is Hillary's Diamonds and Rust response.)
Duane Allman remembering King Curtis with Soul Serenade.
Steve Earle remembering Charlie Poole's Coon from Tennessee
in Taneytown (Taneytown, Maryland, that is).
Why not live in the highway? Just get out of textile town, play the banjo, drink and talk to girls.
The tune was originally titled, "I'm Goin to Live Anyhow, Till I Die," (1901). It didn't have Poole's grim but sweetly-sung second verse. All the "yes" in Poole--the first Elvis-- and in his rhythm, can't cut the "no" of his lyrics. It's as hopeless as drinking coke to cut the sausage grease (thanks for that image, Jeff!).
Chuck Jackson? Is he the same one who supposedly learned to sing in Jerry Butler's singing school on the south side?
I heard Angela Strehli in Wheaton, Maryland; she had just passed through Tornado Alley, the week after Clarence Carter.
Wherever Balinor is, here's to Nic Jones and Scotland and whiskey.
Just listen to Jesse Collin Young doing Black-Eyed Susan and Same Old Man (of Holy Modal Rounder fame).
Or Duane Allman doing an old Champion Jack Dupree tune?
How can there be a home, highway or otherwise, for those who, back as a young child, didn't do the things they should?

Jordan am a Hard Road Productions
Bloomington, Illinois 2000