An Interview With Road Less Travelled: Jeff Parker and Anne McKennon

Some of the staff here at Monahan's Song of the Week were engaged in a little travel out of Jacksonville's International Airport (JIA,)  a few weeks ago. JIA was recently rated one of the nicest airports in the U.S. Hard not to believe that when you walk in to the terminal and can hear a duo like Road Less Travelled. We caught a set and proceeded to interview them. As their website points out, they are a Jacksonville, acoustic collaboration of Jeff Parker and Anne McKennon.  Their debut CD, "Treading Live" is self-recorded and available at performances.  Both singer-songwriters and life-long musicians, Jeff and Anne traveled different paths to get here.  Jeff brings strong experience on guitar, mandolin and vocals with an interest in flat and finger picking and improvisational work, particularly in folk and bluegrass.  Anne delivers rapid flexibility on 7 flutes and vocals with time spent in classical, Celtic and folk genres. 

Jeff: What was the first song you learned on guitar?

That would be "Rocky Raccoon" by the Beatles taught to me by my good friend Doug Abrahamson. It was the first song I played in a concert 1 year after I learned it at my brothers graduation ceremony along with "Cowgirl In The Sand" by Neil Young.

Anne: What was the first song you ever performed live?

In folk music, it was the flute lead on "Moondance" by Van Morrison.  I played it with the host band at an open mic & landed my first job in a band.

Both: How did you come up with your name Road Less Traveled?

Jeff: That was Anne's great idea. 

Anne: It is an adaptation of part of "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost "...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

Both: What was the coolest venue you ever played together?

Jeff:  I say Culhane's Irish Pub... What say you?

Anne: Toss-up between Culhane's & Meehan's.  Both have friendly charm & audiences interested in music.  Culhane's has a great stage.  Meehan's is in historic St. Augustine.

Both: What advice would you give someone who is just now starting to write and perform in North Florida?

Jeff: Thats a tough one...... Ummmm get an agent.   Don't sell yourself short. Copyright your material as soon as possible.  Do short sets at first so you don't wear yourself out.  

Anne: Pay attention - the live music environment is changing constantly.  Listen to your audience, your venues and above all, your own instincts.  Add tenacity and the copyright office.

Both: Who are your greatest influences?

Jeff:  Neil Young, Eagles, Jackson Browne, Pink Floyd, Loggins and Messina, James Taylor, John Denver, Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins, Bluegrass, folk, some country it's a long list and I might as well throw in there John McGloughlin and Santana. 

Anne: Bach/Telemann/Baroque Era, The Chieftans, Paul Simon, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Brightman, Cole Porter & Mary Ellen Potter (flute teacher in high school).

Both: You have a CD out called "Treading Live", what are your favorite cuts from that?        

Jeff: Brothers Keeper and Parkers Jig/McKennon's Reply and Promise.

Anne: Brother's Keeper & Sherwood Lullaby (for my nieces)

Road Less Traveled

Jeff Parker & Anne McKennon

Email: RLTSound@yahoo.com

Website: www.RLTSound.com

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Renato Carosone: "Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano (You Want to be Americano)" (1956)

Welcome to left field, where this song comes from. This brilliant parody song jumps at the speed of light and was written and recorded in 1956! Rock and roll was in it's infancy and here is a guy in Italy already incorporating the term into his lyrics. 

Renato Carosone was born in Naples in 1920 and left Italy to play in North Africa during World War II. He was a popular act but on returning to Italy, was an unknown and had to start all over again. He formed a band that grew and shrank before it gelled. By that time he teamed up with lyricist Nicola Salerno to try to win a radio contest, and the rest was history.

As the story goes, Salerno brought Carosone three sets of words. Carosone looked ant them and grabbed one. He immediately decided to create a Boogie-woogie song out of it, and 15 minutes later it was done. "Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano" would be a huge hit.

You'd like to be an American,
'merican, 'merican
listen to me, is it worth?
you want to be trendy
but if you drink "whiskey and soda"
and then you have a long hangover
You dance rock 'n' roll
you play baseball
but who gives you the money to buy Camels?
your mother's bag!


The video rocks! The drummer mugs the whole time, Carosone plays the piano like butter, there is a Boogie- woogie mandolin lead with a ocarina, and the sax player adds a clarinet at the same time! 

The song would be covered by Sophia Loren in the movies and countless covers have been performed since.  Perhaps the most recent was with Jude law singing it in "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

A notable cover was by Brian Setzer and his orchestra from the album Dirty Boogie , which several staff members saw live.


We are including the Carosone original and Setzer's version for your enjoyment.

Carosone would abruptly retire in 1960, shocking his fans. He would go back on tour in the 1970's and toured another 20 years. He would pass away in 2001.

Mi piacerebbe visitare l'Italia un giorno di questi!

Arthur Alexander: "You Better Move On" (1961)

You might think you'd better go
Now, I'm gettin' mighty mad
You've asked me to give up
The only love I've ever had
Maybe I would, oh, but I love her so
Never gonna let her go
You better move on
(You better move on)

Arthur Alexander wrote several of our favorite songs and this is one of them. Born in Alabama in 1940, he would have an early hit with "You Better Move On" which was recorded in a small studio in Muscle Shoals. The song became a R & B hit in 1961 and made it to #24 on the pop chart as well. The song features a classic bass intro., with his voice coming in behind it with a no nonsense fell. He projects a vocal that seems fragile but serious, like he is hurt but very prepared to provide a beat down if you don't "move on."

Alexander would go on to write songs for Elvis, The Beatles, Tina Turner, Otis Redding and Jerry Lee Lewis. Most notably, he wrote Anna (Go to Him) and had a R & B hit with that song as well, but most people think it was written by Lennon/McCartney as they performed a brilliant version of it as the Beatles.

You Better Move On would be covered by no less than 12 entertainers ranging from Dean Martin to Alan Merrill.

 

Alexander's career floundered between the late 1970's and 1993. He would drive a bus to make ends meet. He put a band together after being inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, but would die of a heart attack shortly thereafter.

According to Wikipedia, he was the only artist to have his songs covered by The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

We include his original of course, but also submit Willie "Mink" Deville's amazing version for your approval.

Tyrone Davis: "Turn Back the Hands of Time" (1970)

Jack Daniels was having problems in his relationship. He partnered with Bonnie Thompson and this song was the result. Daniels had written another of Tyrone Davis' his "Can I Change my Mind" in 1968.

As for singer Tyrone Davis, he was born Tyrone Fettson. Like many, many performers, he was born in Mississippi, but wound up in Chicago. He would wind up as chauffer for blues great Freddie King and also sang in clubs where he was discovered. His first records released as Tyrone the Wonder Boy did not do well, but he hit it big with his next label and changed his name to Davis at the suggestion of producer Carl Davis (very creative of him).
Tyrone would release 25 singles and 32 albums in his career, but no song for him was as successful as "Turn Back the Hands of Time." The song would sit two weeks at number one on the R & B charts and hit number three on the pop charts as well. The record would go gold the same year.


The song grabs you right away with the opening riff of base, which turns out to be the hook, along with the backing vocals saying "If I could turn back the hands of Time."

Oh darling I'm so lonely without you
Can't sleep at night always think about you
But if I had the chance to start all over
I would be wishing today on a four leaf clover
And leaving you with the last thing on my mind
If I could turn back the hands of time
Tyrone would have a successful career doing live performances. He had a stroke in 2004 and passed away in 2005 at the age of 66.

Hank Penny: "Bloodshot Eyes" (1950) Wynonie Harris (1951)

We love this song. Written by Hank Penny, it is the granddaddy to the like themed "You Done Tore Your Playhouse Down Again" by King Biscuit Boy, posted here in August of 2012.

Hank Penny had a Texas/country swing pedigree and wrote three hits before leading a band in Las Vegas. He was part of Spade Cooley's band that was hugely popular before Spade was arrested for murdering his wife for seeing Roy Rogers on the side. But we digress...

As fun as Hank's version was, Wynonie Harris took it to a different level. His gruff and more citified version was a big hit and was perhaps one of the first songs to bridge racism due to the songs popularity in the U.S. and Caribbean.

So I guess our little romance has finally simmered down

You should join the circus, you make a real good clown
Your eyes look like a road map, I'm scared to smell your breath
You better shut your peepers before you bleed to death

Don't roll those bloodshot eyes at me
I can tell you've been out on a spree
Well it's plain that you're lyin'
When you say that you've been cryin'
Don't roll those bloodshot eyes at me
Don't roll those bloodshot eyes at me

Wynonie Harris would have a string of single hits from 1946 to 1952. After that he fell on tough times before recording some sides for Chess records in the early 60's. He would play the Apollo Theater in 1967 with Big Joe Turner, Jimmy Witherspoon, and T-Bone Walker.

He died in 1969.

Hank Penny's song and what Wynonie Harris did with it led to an incalculable number of covers of "Bloodshot Eyes" over the years. 

We are including Penny's original version followed by the Wynonie Harris version (note the differences in presentation). Followed by two staff picks. A '70's version by Asleep at the Wheel which is true to the original and a big band version by Pat Benatar off of her thoroughly underrated album True Love.

NRBQ: "Ridin' in My Car" (1977)

All Hopped Up was NRBQ's fourth album (and first with drummer Tom Ardolino, solidifying a lineup that would last for close to 20 years. It would be one of 32 album releases over their long career. Not only is the title track "Ridin in My Car" an underrated song, the entire band may be the most underrated in history.

Founded in 1967, NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quartet) sought to fuse everything, from rockabilly to jazz as well as rock and country. They also had a huge sense of humor that is evident in such songs as "Howard Johnson has his Ho-Jo Workin" and "Housekeeping", a song so funny that it may well be featured on this blog in the future.

Known as one of the best live bands ever, it was impossible not to be impressed with their no set approach to shows with Pianist Terry Adams beating his piano to death and always in danger of knocking his microphone over. Al Anderson's hands flew up and down the neck of his guitar and he moved very little compared to Adams. He wrote and sang the song although when we saw them, the vocals were sung by Tom Ardolino.

To our knowledge, the song was never released as a single. The song would be named to the Rolling Stone 50 Best Summer Songs of All Time.

While NRBQ had a rabid cult following, they would record and be dropped again and again by record companies due to poor overall sales.

While "Ridin In My Car" was a simple tale of Summer love lost, most of their material required a sense of humor or a sophisticated ear due to their willingness to experiment and not have a particular theme throughout the albums.

Well, I went to the place
where ev'rybody hangs out
To see what ev'rybody
was talkin' about
and over in the corner
all alone with you
was a boy from last summer
singin' songs to you

but he can't sing like I can sing
Oh, It's so hard
and I still think about you
every time I'm Ridin' in my car

Rock critic Mark Deming:
"Can anyone explain why Al Anderson's wonderful and engagingly heart-tugging "Riding in My Car" wasn't a hit single? All Hopped Up also features a handful of stellar covers, including a jumped-up take on "I Got a Rocket in My Pocket" (Adams' barrelhouse piano truly shines), a swinging version of "Cecilia," and a rollicking ride through Big Joe Turner's "Honey Hush," and the band's loosely tight communication is a fine thing to hear on all cuts. And even the album's token weird one from Adams, "Call Him Off, Rogers" could pass for a serious pop tune if you didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics (about a dog with designs on Adams' arm). Just in case you thought NRBQ had gotten all normal on us, though, the album closes with the most extraordinary version of the theme from "Bonanza" you will ever hear. It's hard to say why anyone would want an entirely serious album from NRBQ, but All Hopped Up is closer than most, and proves their charm and their talent is what makes them great, not their idiosyncratic sense of humor."

Lots of people have covered this song, most notably She and Him in March of 2010, which we are including here. You will want both for your Summer car excursions this year...

Nat King Cole Trio: "I've Got a Way With Women" (1947)

We may never have heard of this song if it were not for Ray Gelato. His cover of this brilliantly lyricized song led us to look back and find that the song was originally recorded as the final track on 1947's Nat King Cole Trio Volume 3. The album was released as a package of three 10' records made out of shellac. There is very little else in way of history on this song other than it was written by Abner Silver, Fred Wise and Roy Alfred. Silver was a productive vaudeville songwriter. Fred Wise wrote Perry Como's "A-You're Adorable". He also wrote many of the songs Elvis sang in his movies.

As for Nat King Cole, he was a legend. Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery Alabama. The family would move to Chicago where he would  learn organ from his mother who played in the same church where Nat's father was minister. He would move to California and was provided a recording contract. 

From the late 40's right trough the first few years of the 1960's, Cole had a string of hits and made a large body of recordings. He had his own television show and appeared in over thirty movies including his first appearance as a piano player in the film classic "Citizen Kane".

He had two failed marriages, the second producing the famous artist Natalie Cole. He would spend time living with Gunilla Hutton who played Billie Jo Bradley in television's Petticoat Junction.  

A major smoker, he believed cigarettes gave him his rich voice and even after being diagnosed with a stomach ulcer, refused to stop. He would die of cancer in 1965.

Cole fought discrimination all his life and helped plan the famous march on Washington as well as being active in the Kennedy campaign.

Back to the song. I've Got a Way With Women" is about a self proclaimed casanova who can't miss with women. The lyrics are genius in their play on words:

Some men wanna be brilliant
Some want a lot of cash
Some have a whim for the social swim
Just so they can make a splash

I have none of these talents
Still I'm doin' ok
Please don't think I'm conceited
When I say...

I've got a way with women
They like my dreamy eyes
I've got a way with women
A casanova in disguise
I've got a way of talkin'
and moonlight walkin'
Girls just can't resist
And when i started flirtin'
I'm always certain
They just can't wait to be kissed

I've got a way with women
But one girl made me fall
And out of all the women
I really loved her best of all
See I was doin' swell
Until she fell for somebodyelse's line
I've got a way with women
But someone got a way with mine

So here it is as performed by Nat King Cole as posted by our staff on YouTube and following that the brilliant cover done in 1998 by Ray Gelato's Giants, off of The Men From UNCLE. An album very worth owning.