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.

Hayes Carll "Grateful For Christmas"

Around the middle of last week, I started to see Facebook Status complaints about the unwelcome early arrival of Christmas music.

Maybe you heard your first song of the season through the P.A. system in the supermarket.

Maybe it caught you off-guard while you were on hold.

Or maybe, the record labels sent you a free MP3 to pass on to your blog readers.

Okay, that last one may be a bit specific.

I interviewed Hayes Carll a few years ago, and was impressed with his ability to be tender, melancholy and hilarious, without ever really changing his delivery or tone.

I wasn't necessarily psyched to listen to a Christmas song during the first week of November, but I put it on, along with some other newly received tracks. And about midway through the song, I found myself laughing out loud.

So, yeah, it's early. But this one is worth it.

It's available as a free download from Hayes' site. (Right click the link to download)

He tells a couple of stories, before starting the song: