No Place For Me b/w Lumberjack
scum stats: estimated 300 copies pressed, supposedly 3-5 known in collections
Gotta say I was pretty wowed to find out that Willie Nelson's first record came out of Vancouver, Washington. Not Texas? Not Nashville? I'd known that Loretta Lynn's career had started in the Pacific Northwest, but I thought that was an anomaly, not something that had any parallels.
Kinda goes without saying that this single is hard to find. Rumor has it that the disc wasn't even available for purchase back when it was made in 1957. Supposedly people had to write in to the radio station KVAN where Willie was a DJ at the time (Vancouver which is right across the river from Portland, Oregon) and say how much they loved the record and then a copy would be mailed to them.
Damn...doesn't that just sound crazy thinking about? It certainly doesn't happen like that any more.
The a-side "No Place For Me" feels like a pretty solid, of-the-era country tune, Willie's voice rich and sonorous and strengthened by reverb, buoyed by picky guitar and with some fiddle buried deep in the mix. Before you know it, the damn thing is over in less time than it takes for me to microwave popcorn. That feels a little bit strange, could be good or bad depending on your mood or the day I suppose.
The flip is written by another DJ at KVAN at the time, Leon Payne, supposedly written about a local timber faller named Ray Norris. The stop-and-go, gas-and-brakes chug of this song feels pretty remarkable and noteworthy. The verse vocals presented largely without any accompaniment, the heavy-breathing intro and outro...just feels like there's something beyond the "old hat" vibe that most independent, Starday-pressend country singles from this time. Almost bordering on spoken jazz, Ken Nordine vibes. Heady stuff for '57, at least for me looking back 65 years later.
While it might be absolutely NO indication of what Willie would do come the rest of his career, man, first records with tales like this behind them just get me excited. Good times and good vibes.
Thank you Ben for sharing your stories and music you come across. That was beautiful. as I sit out here as the light starts to fade and the leaves are full on the trees rustling in a slight breeze that brushes gently across my face. that was the perfect song to close my eyes and listen to in this moment.
Super solid find!
Thanks for sharing! There’s something about early country that pulls the listener into the world created by the singer and the song. For some reason it always shocks me to hear early recordings of artists with iconic voices, as it seems they were born with the warble that made them famous, while the rest of us are left to croak near the pond. And thanks for the indirect reminder to give Johnny Cash’s “Ride This Train” a listen, as it has a great cover of “Lumberjack” on it. One of his classic albums where he interjects his epic storytelling between each song. Cheers and have a great weekend!
Thats pretty incredible
wow!
It’s me, the Edmonton loser from the last record of the week comment section (Ben I hope you saw it, if not please refer to the last record of the week comments or just wait long enough until I start crying my cowboy tears about the Edmonton show I never got to go to again in these comments). Here to tell more stories. Unlike last weeks under the great white northern lights tour story (I get emotional talking about it, turns my co-workers off everytime), this weeks story is about oasis. In 2016 I was going to the now defunct Pemberton music festival in the beautiful pemberton valley of British Columbia… im trying my hardest not to start singing our national anthem… Anyways, the final day of the festival Noel Gallagher was playing a set before closing act Pearl jam. Nice. So the day before I’m at the festival seeing the various acts in a t-shirt because the summer sun was beating down. I saw various artist including a slightly unknown (at the time) comedian named Eric Andre. I didn’t know who he was so naturally I didn’t understand if he was bombing or just unwell but for 30 mins he insulted the small audience that gathered and every once and a while would threaten to pull his genitals out. In hindsight, genius. At the time, strange as shit. So the night comes to an end with a massive rainstorm. A hot summer day turned into a Canadian mountain rainstorm that lasted hours. With the thought of how upset my mom would get at me for being in the rain with just a t-shirt I made my way to the bus barns to get a shuttle back to whistler where I was staying. But anyone who has been to a music festival know, shuttles home are jancky as hell. I stood in that line up for 3 hours in the dark as the canadian mountain rain slowly eroded my immune system’s ability to even heal a paper cut. At one point I watched one of the festival employees scream into his radio “we need to get him home!”… was that about me? Do I look that unwell?
I awake the next morning with Covid-19. That’s right I got Covid-19 back in 2016. Patient Pemberton. I pull myself together and start freebasing DayQuil on a bench in the village of whistler. I’ll do anything to see Noel Gallagher and Pearl jam. In the middle of my attempts to get well I look up and Noel Gallagher is standing in front of me with his manager who looks like a shittier version of Noel Gallagher. I can’t believe it. My luck has turned around. So I think quickly. What do I do. Just let him be? Say hi, introduce myself and leave? Do the ultimate lame move of asking for a selfie? I take another hit of DayQuil to calm my nerves. Finally a thought prevails and I say quietly to myself “tell him you’re gonna go to the show later today and ask him if he would consider playing married with children. Besides he wrote wonderwall, how bad can he be?”. I rub my eyes, stand up, stumble towards him, and with the power of DayQuil feeling like little zaps of lightning on my tongue I tell him that im going to the show and if he would consider playing my favourite song. Noel Gallagher from oasis looked at me in my flu glazed eyes and said “fuck off you daft cunt” and then proceeded to take 15 steps the opposite direction so he could do whatever he was doing but just further away from me. At that point I went back to my bench, continued to freebase my DayQuil and waited for Eric Andre to show up so he could take a piss on my shoes.
I just want to finish this story by saying I’m not mad at all about any of the events. The festival employees and shuttle drivers all did their best, lots of fuckups happen at festivals. No ones fault. Noel Gallagher is still one of my favourite artists and being told to fuck off by him is pretty much what any real oasis fan would want to be told by him. And getting Covid-19 in 2016 wasn’t that bad. I only piss and shit myself everyday for about 7 days straight. The high flying birds were great and Pearl jam was amazing.
Last thing then I’ll take my bullshit elsewhere, is Jack doing to do an Edmonton Alberta show on the next leg of the tour or am I going to have to fly somewhere to catch the flu and have Liam Gallagher slap my mother before I can see a show?