In which Ginger Baldy revisits Roy Orbison and Friends at the Black & White Night.

1. I Got A Rocket In My Pocket - Jimmy Lloyd

2. Riding In My Car - NRBQ

3. Thieves - She & Him

4. Train Train - The Count Bishops

5. He Will Break Your Heart - Kane & Abel

6. He Will Break Your Heart - Jerry Butler

7. Too Hurt To Cry, Too Much In Love To Say Goodbye - The Darnells

8. Laughing Boy - Mary Wells

9. Death Letter - The Alexis Korner Skiffle Group (This month’s death song)

10. Jim Dandy - LaVern Baker

11. Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison (This month’s earworm)

12. Miss Chatelaine - k d lang

13. Third Rate Romance - The Amazing Rhythm Aces

14. Go Back - Crabby Appleton

Theme song: Small Town Talk - Bobby Charles

And I know, and you know too That a love like ours is terrible news

Thieves - She & Him (written by Zooey Deschanel from the album "Volume 2" 2010)

This next link is to the terrific TV performance of Son House performing Death Letter Blues on his National Resonator guitar in 1968:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4QamCLNnmE

This half hour program is worth watching in its entirety, but just for Son House’s Death letter Blues scroll forwards 3 mins 50 seconds.

Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black & White Night

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3C8JueuPAfPhlH1Q2v9DSuUzRPiVS2vJ

This page features videos of individual songs from this not to be missed concert and a 4 minute behind-the-scenes chat with guests. Oh Pretty Woman is included. Check out James Burton’s astonishing guitar solo.

Just Released! It’s the second CD in Ace Records’ series Black America Sings the Beatles - Black America sings Lennon, McCartney & Harrison, and Johnny Corsair is giving it away in his Bright Lights Big City podcast. Go, listen in and win that album. Somebody will win it. It should be you!

https://johnnycorsair9.podbean.com/

This month eight of the twelve tracks on Small Town Talk can be found on our favourite record label, ACE Records:

https://www.acerecords.co.uk/

Any comments, queries about Small Town Talk's podcast can be fired off to:

smalltowntalktalk@gmail.com

Episode 55 Illustration: The magnificent Roy Orbison, inspired by The Black & White Night (see above)

In which Ginger Baldy’s mates, Keith and Matt rescue Small Town Talk’s studio after the storm.

1. Cavern Stomp - The Big Three

2. Some Other Guy - Richie Barrett

3. Don’t Turn Around - The Merseybeats

4. Blue Girl - The Bruisers (This month’s death song)

5. Sorrow - The Merseys

6. Everything’s Alright - The Mojos

7. Maybe - The Chantels

8. Come Softly To Me - Richard Barrett with The Chantels

9. Dancing In The Street - Martha & The Vandellas (This month’s earworm)

10. Slow Down (You’ve Got A Friend) - Hal

11. Poor Boy - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

12. Poor Boy - The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

13. Sleeping Pills - Nick Waterhouse

14. Take Your Love And Run - Barbara Lynn

15. She’s A Heartbreaker - Gene Pitney

16. Dixie Women -The Newports

Theme song: Small Town Talk - Bobby Charles

This month, just two lines from Hal’s ‘Slow Down (You’ve Got A Friend)’

You're not alone

We're right by your side

Hal (2004)

Point of interest:

The Chantels were the third US girl group to achieve nationwide success following the Teen Queens and the Bobbettes. Into the charts

If you haven’t already, then check out JD McPherson’s new album, Nite Owls at:

https://www.jdmcpherson.com/

Johnny Corsair is giving away a great prize this month, a brand new Ace CD., ‘Come Together: Black America Sings Lennon & McCartney’. Listen in to Bright Lights Big City and win that album.

https://johnnycorsair9.podbean.com/

This month, ten of the sixteen tracks on Small Town Talk can be found on our favourite record label, ACE Records.

I don’t have it, simply because most of the tracks exist as singles in our vaults, but check out Ace's “Bowie Heard Them Here First” It’s a great piece of research and feat of licensing to get all these tracks compiled:

https://www.acerecords.co.uk/bowie-heard-them-here-first

- and then check out the rest of Ace's catalogue.

Any comments, queries about Small Town Talk's podcast can be fired off to:

smalltowntalktalk@gmail.com

Episode 55 Illustration: What friends are for - Jim Dandy (and Matt) to the Rescue.

In which Ginger Baldy suffers the weather in Small Town Talk’s collapsing studio and keeps his big mouth firmly shut.

1. Rockin’ Bones - Ronnie Dawson (The Blond Bomber) 1959

2. Somebody Told You - Irma Thomas 1962

3. Desdemona - John’s Children 1967 (Marc Bolan second vocalist - obviously!)

4. Just A Little Bit - Tiny Topsy 1959

5. Daddy Daddy - Richard Berry 1954

6. Daddy Daddy - Ruth Brown 1952

7. Pneumonia - Joe Tex 1956

8. Come In the Morning - Moby Grape 1967

9. It’s Gonna Work Out Fine - Ike & Tina Turner 1961

10. You’re Losing Me - Barbara Lynn 1968

11. His Last Summer - The Barracudas 1980 (This month’s death song)

12. Suspended Animation - Rachel Sweet 1978

13. It’s Raining - J. D. McPherson 2023 (The Warm Covers vinyl album compiled for Record Store Day)

14. Home Home Home - Pokey LaFarge 2024

15. Devil In His Heart - The Donays 1962

16. I’m Calling You - The Cactus Blossoms 2019

17. Only The Lonely - Roy Orbison 1960 (This month’s earworm)

18. You’ve Got Your Good Thing Down - Sir Douglas Quintet (mid sixties)

19. Choo Choo Ch’Boogie - Louis Jordan 1946

Theme song: Small Town Talk - Bobby Charles

You reach your destination, but alas and alack

You need some compensation to get back in the black

You take a morning paper from the top of the stack

And read the situations from the front to the back

The only job that's open needs a man with a knack

So put it right back in the rack, Jack

From ‘Choo Choo Ch’Boogie’ - Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five - 1946

Written by Denver Darling, Milton Gabler and Vaughn Horton.

Every line of every verse in this clever song ends in a word that rhymes with Jack.

A few notes this episode to compensate for the lack of song introductions.

Track 7: Pneumonia - Joe Tex. On the label the writing credits go to Joe Tex, but this song is clearly a facsimile of Little Willie John’s ‘Fever’, written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell under his songwriting alias of John Davenport.

Track 8: Come In The Morning - written by Bob Mosley and the terrific B side of Hey Grandma (see episode 29) It was one of 5 Moby Grape singles released simultaneously, a move that backfired and contributed to the band’s downfall.

Track 14: Home Home Home - Pokey LaFarge - written and originally recorded by Ken Boothe in 1967 and produced by Clement "Coxone" Dodd. Pokey's version is from his new album "Rhumba Country"

Track 15: Famously recorded by the Beatles on their second album ‘With The Beatles’ and sung by George Harrison. The Donays’ original was the flipside of their only single ‘Bad Boy’ and was never a hit either in the States or the UK. Small Town Talk played Bad Boy in our Two Songs, One Title feature in episode 18, Oct 2021.

Track 16: I’m Calling You - The Cactus Blossoms - for Andrea who cemented the idea of Two Songs, One Title and since she loves the Everlys she will probably like this!

Track 18: You’ve Got Your Good Thing Down - Sir Douglas Quintet. Only released later on several compilation albums, but recorded by producer Huey Meaux, The Crazy Cajun, for Tribe records sometime in the mid sixties. In my book Doug Sahm can do no wrong.

Check out JD McPherson’s new album, Nite Owls at:

https://www.jdmcpherson.com/

He and I play similar old soul and R&B, but Johnny Corsair dares to play contemporary R&B so if you wanna be down with the kids get over to Bright Lights Big City where the lights get brighter every time you click the switch:

https://johnnycorsair9.podbean.com/

Our favourite record label, ACE Records: - and they are British; go check them out, you can find all the above tracks from Richard Berry, Ike & Tina Turner, Barbara Lynn, and The Donays on Ace CD’s

https://www.acerecords.co.uk/

Any comments, queries, complaints, or anything relating to Small Town Talk's podcast can be fired off to:

smalltowntalkrecords@gmail.com

Episode 54 Illustration: Ginger Baldy flits back to the 40's to hear the sound of the Clickety Clack.