Hayes Carll "KMAG YOYO"

"You're gonna love this track," a friend told me. "It's like a modern day 'Subterranean Homesick Blues.'"

He was right. I love the track. Actually, that's underselling it. I LOVE the track, with a Capital L-O-V-E.

So I was going to write about it here, and I went a-lookin' for it on Youtube.

I found the strangest damn thing.

Check out the video below, of Hayes Carll on the Fox Business Channel. His screen presence is nearly crowded out by Stock ticker crawls and graphics screaming about tax hikes and such, while Carll and his band boogie through his acid-washed tale of war gone wrong, drugs gone wrong and government gone wrong.

In its day, Dylan and songs like "Subterranean Homesick Blues" were the counter-culture at its most subversive.

And my brief, initial reaction to this video was "Jesus H Christ on a Popsicle stick, has Hayes sold out to The Man?!?"

My second thought was "Holy Shit, this waaay more subversive than Dylan in an alley with cue cards."

Did the execs at Fox Business know any of the lyrics to this song before they let him play it? ("Sample: I ain't no genius but I know it wasn't right, eatin' uppers in the morning and LSD at night")

Did they know what "KMAG YOYO" is an acronym for? (Kiss My Ass Guys, You're On Your Own)

Has anyone on Fox ever mocked Neil Armstrong, promised to swear on the Koran and join the Peace Corps. On FOX?!?

A first I thought the Corporate America had co-opted the Counter Culture. But I think, in this case, the counter-culture subverted The Man.

Totally. Frickin'. Awesome.





This video plays parts of the album version (which is tighter than the above live version) and includes lyrics on the screen. Interviews with Hayes are intercut.


Mr. Dylan doesn't let you embed videos, but his site has the original "Subterranean Homesick Blues" video.

Finally, I interviewed Hayes Carll a bunch of years ago.

He played a few amazing cuts for us, live and acoustic.

Find it in the mvyradio archives.

Jack Logan “New Used Car And A Plate Of Bar-B-Que”

Hitting Random on the iTunes list . . .

One of the parts of the job that seems like it would be easy, but causes much gnashing of teeth, is the process of naming something.

Back 5 or 6 years ago, we were tasked with naming the station’s 20th Anniversary Concert. We tracked through literally hundreds of names, trying to come up with the right name. While we DID end up going with a name, to me, it never felt right, and history seems to have forgotten it (though I have not forgotten MY best suggestion “mvyradio’s Jamie and Jon-athon, featuring Jamie Cullum and Jonatha Brooke”---I also remember that no one else was sold on my idea).

It’s easy to come up with a lousy name. But then you are stuck with it.

For all their creativity, do you think the best they could REALLY do was “Monsters Of Folk”?

Our guiding principle since then, has been to name things that clearly explain what it is. Sometimes it’s not glamorous or clever, but even a person who’s never listened to mvyradio probably knows what’s going to happen on The Blues At 8, Live Acoustic And Cover Tunes and The Morning Moviequote.

There is a bit of blunt clarity in a name that is not “Subterranean Homesick Blues” or “Also Sprach Zarathustra” or “Untitled.”

“New Used Car And A Plate Of Bar-B-Que” pretty much says what you’re going to get right in the title. Jack Logan is no slouch at songs, or song titles. This track is from his debut called “Bulk.” When he was discovered, his label asked him to send some of the songs he’d been writing, while working up to making a first record. He sent over 600. “Bulk” collects the first, best 44.

Great backstory. Great songwriter. Great title-maker.

Hear a clip of “New Used Car And A Plate Of Bar-B-Que” on iTunes

For no apparent reason, see Jack Logan on Space Ghost.

Buy the Jack Logan album used, for ONE PENNY!!!