Ernie's El Dorado Pt 21 - United States of America

As this series has progressed we have been increasingly conscious of the big beast that is the music of the USA trundling towards us, and now it has arrived. Hairy, scary, more heads than a hydra and more legs than a millipede, but something we have to grapple with.

This post is both the least and most planned in the series. Least planned because most of the tracks were selected more or less at random. The only criteria were that artists who have appeared previously on the blog were excluded and there should be a range of musical styles. I'll make no claims about it being a representative selection. You cannot possibly represent the breadth of American music in one post.

But simultaneously the most planned because the first and last tracks on the list have been waiting over a year to be used. They are both from the "The Rough Guide To Native America" CD that I found in an Oxfam shop in Bristol during a rain break in #BlogCon25 and bought specifically to use in this post. Alyson and Mr WIIA can vouch for this if necessary.

Our opening act are Pipestone from the Lac Courte Orielles reservation in Wisconsin, and according to the sleevenotes this track "is always a floor-filler at pow-wows". Closing the show in the MAR slot is Casper Loma Da Wa, a member of the Hopi people in Arizona who are famed for performing the ritual snake dance (and skanking it seems).

As for the rest of them, tuck in and see what you make of it. Where the artists have music on Bandcamp I have added a link in their names if you wish to explore further.

"As The Rez Turns" - Pipestone

"Zydeco Sont Pas Sale" - Aldus Roger

"Big Oak Tree" - Herbert Hunter

"Corrido Twelve Heads in a Bag" - The Krayolas

"Dance Hall Girls" - Candye Kane

"Jackie Onassis" - Human Sexual Response

"Midnight Mission" - Carla Olson & The Textones

"Spirit Of The Lord" - The Dynamic Abraham Brothers

"Global Inequalities" - Jayne Cortez

"1800 Rock Suicide" - Gravediggaz

"La Loteria" - Andy Harlow

"Ideal" - Casper Loma Da Wa

 

From a selection of folks who have never appeared here before we are going to the other extreme for the videos. If Last.fm is to be believed these are the five US performers I have listened to most since signing up there in 2008.

Ernie has left the building.