Hiss Golden Messenger : Wah-Wah Cowboys, Volume I & 2 : Aquarium Drunkard

I made the first Wah Wah Cowboys mix in 2009– almost ten years ago, which I cannot believe–as a way towards bit of mental calm after my wife and I had our first kid, Elijah, who is now nine years old and sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of hot chocolate; he’ll be as tall as me soon. At the time, I was looking to collect in one place some music that seemed to share a distinct shaggy, swinging aesthetic. The songs on the Wah Wah Cowboys mixes– I made the second one in 2011–are not of the bedsit loner folk variety, but rather are the most grooving cuts on dollar bin (back then, anyway) records by a bunch of also-rans, sweaty, past-their-prime Waylon acolytes, serious cocaine losers, or heads that were too deep or musical for mass consumption. Some of these artists, like Brewer & Shipley or Eddie Rabbitt, actually had successful careers. Others, like Phil Upchurch or Jesse Ed Davis or The Crickets or the great Augie Meyers, were sideguys on a sort of busman’s holiday. I don’t know. All these songs wanted to live together in my house. So they did. Enjoy! – MC Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger)

Mickey Jupp – Cross County
Norman Greenbaum – Petaluma
Lonnie Mack – Florida
Brewer & Shipley – When The Truth Finally Comes
Thomas Jefferson Kaye – The Body Song
Augie Meyers – Ogla Mahula
Gib Guilbeau – Bon Soir Blues
Phil Everly – We’re Running Out
Little Feat – Hamburger Midnight
Mordecai Jones – Scorpio Woman
Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen – Seeds & Stems (Again)
The Crickets – Losin’ Streak
B.W. Stevenson – Jerry’s Bar & Grill
Dennis Linde – Hello, I Am Your Heart
Bonnie & Delaney – Sing My Way Home

Mississippi Charles Bevel – Making a Decision
Sand – Who Ya Tryin’ To Fool?
Ike Turner – Don’t Hold Your Breath
Eddie Rabbitt – Tullahoma Dancing Pizza Man
Danny O’Keefe – I’m Sober Now
McGuinness Flint – Ride My Rainbow
Linda Martell – Color Him Father
Jimmie Spheeris – For Roach
J.J. Cale – Kiss the World Goodbye
David Wiffen – Smoke Rings
Phil Upchurch – Darkness, Darkness
Jesse Ed Davis – Red Dirt Boogie Brother
Michael Chapman :: Another Season Song
Danny Kirwan – Look Around You
Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu, & Rabbit – Yellow House
Compton & Batteau – Homesick Kid

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10 thoughts on “Hiss Golden Messenger :: Wah-Wah Cowboys, Volume I & 2”

What great mixes. In particular, “Hello I Am Your Heart, by Dennis Linde (who also wrote Elvis’ “Burning Love.) A longtime Nashville songwriter who’s 1973 solo album is a neglected classic.
Ogla Mahula – Augie Myers One of my proudes moments when I lived in Austin was meeting Augie Myers. He was/is the king of the Farfisa organ.
Red Dirt Boogie Brother – Jesse Ed Davis He was the guitarist of the moment for about 30 seconds in 1970/71. (He was on the Bangladesh Live album. Had at least one great solo album with a bunch of superstar guests. In the 80’s he toured in Gene Clark’s backup band.
Everyone is going to have their favorites on these mixes and they are all going to be different.

Have really enjoyed MC Taylor for quite some time, Court and Spark Days. Finally got to see him live a few years ago, or maybe last year, and it was great. Phil zone was in fine form as well. I did not realize he was the master mine behind the mix tapes. I played the first one to death and it kept getting better. Tip of the hat………..