“…shield…blanket of love…”

Yes!

Has Townsman 2000 Man been away from the Halls of Rock for longer than usual, or have I been so busy myself that I haven’t noticed his always-welcome presence? I hope all is well with 2K and that he’s resting on some faraway beach. In the meantime, some disgusting excerpts from a forthcoming tell-all by Milner‘s jailbait shotgun passenger, Mackenzie Phillips, reminded me of the following delivery by 2K, in response to an earlier thread he posted. These solo Papa John tracks creeped people out too. Enjoy!

This post initially appeared 1/23/08.

You asked for it!

By request. I can’t believe you guys don’t think this is as bad as I do. I’m gonna take a shower now.

John Phillips, “Zulu Warrior”

Those who know me well know that my father passed away a few years ago. Those of you who know me *really* well know that my pop was — in addition to being the man with the best phone manners on the planet — a genuine musical talent, able to pick up just about any good musical thang being laid down, and proficient on many instruments. A man of Tom Dowd-ian spirit *and* talent, and a man to whom I have always been proud to claim kinship.

Anyhow, when sweet, talented Conrad drifted off this mortal coil three years ago, he left me a wonderful instrument: his 1959 Gibson Southern Jumbo acoustic guitar, purchased while he was in the Air Force and under the sway of righteous folkies like Pete Seeger.

The Gibson “SJ” is a peculiar animal: round-shouldered, but not one of those fey little 3/4-sized acoustics you see today’s folkies delicately plucking away on. It’s a full-sized instrument, meant to be strummed, HARD — but it’s not engineered to provide big, booming bass and twinkle-twinkle high-end like the acoustics in favor these days. No, it’s a throw-back to an era when there was a market for high-quality *folk* instruments; ones that could be heard banging away on the opposite end of the fire house or the church hall an’ meetin’ room. All mid-range and bang-whang-a-lang — that’s the Gibson Southern Jumbo.

(Actually, if you want to hear a 1950s Gibson Southern Jumbo in action, listen to the early Everly Brothers hits. Before they could afford the big, Everly-namesake Gibson rock star acoustics with the fancy inlays — like you see on their publicity stills from the day — they played the Appalachian yeoman’s guitar, the Southern Jumbo… and *that’s* what you hear on most of their hit records.)

Anyhow: I sat down this evening with Papa’s old guitar, just bashin’ away, and I noticed that there were certain chord voicings that just sounded *amazing* on the old Jumbo. In particular, a good, old-fashioned E major raises the hair on the back of my neck. A7 sounds pretty good, too. In any case, as I went through all my “cowboy chords,” I found myself playing a song that not only sounded great on Papa’s old Southern Jumbo, but that was a big favorite of his, too: “My Sweet Lord,” by you-know-who. (Extra nerd demerits for reminding me and everybody else who supposedly *really* wrote that number. Who fucking cares?!)

This got me thinking: man, how many “rock spirituals” are there? And how many of them are actually *good*? I know we often correct each other ’round here, insisting that we remember all the proud, prodigiously talented and deeply influential African-American artists that laid the groundwork for all the pimply-faced white kids whose music we seem to disproportionately prefer — but I suppose I’m actually playing a bit of a “race card” in asking this question. I’m looking for “spiritual” songs that you might have heard on FM rock radio back in the day — or just songs of a deeply spiritual bent that don’t share that sunday-go-to-church-meetin’-and-git-sanctified vibe that we all love, but that most of our fave White bands actually suck at.

Is there one that tops “My Sweet Lord”? I’m just askin’.

I look forward to your responses… and I know Papa’s curious, too. Actually, I’m betting he knows the answer to this one already, where he’s at these days.

HVB

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Eddy Grant’s 60’s London Combo The Equals.

If you’ve never heard that one, maybe you’ve heard a cover of this one:
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