Tag Archives: Doug McDaniel

The McDaniel Bros. Band @ Carries (Spring, ’78)

12 Mar

The playlist below is four songs by The McDaniel Brothers Band, recorded Spring of 1978, at Carries, a late night roadhouse located out in the county between Carbondale and Murphysboro. Carries closed at 4 AM and the bands played from something like 11:30 PM to 3:30 AM. The songs were recorded live on a two track reel to reel. Considering, the tape’s sound quality was okay. Only, starting with the fourth song, the vocal level got drastically lower. So I’m including the first three songs, and one of the later songs. The vocals on it are pretty low, but we liked to jam out on a song sometimes, and I wanted an example included.

I got the tape from Tawl Paul a little after my wife Dorothy and I moved back to Carbondale from Chicago. We saw him at PKs, and he said, “Hey, man, I been meaning to tell you. I got this old tape. I don’t how I ended up with it, but I think it’s The McDaniel Brothers Band.”

I was pretty sure which tape he meant, cause I only I remember us taping one gig. Turned out it was the tape I was thinking of. Tawl Paul only had one tape, but two reel to reel tapes were recorded that night. I’d sure like to get my hands on the other one.

The guys in the band were John Zurek on drums, Rick Stoncious on bass, Doug McDaniel on rhythm guitar and vocals, Kent Mcdaniel (me) on lead guitar, and Gary Victorene on pedal steel. Here’s the songs.

 

Much thanks to Jim Foerster of The Mole Hole Studio, for getting the most out of those two track tapes in digital form.

 

mcdaniel bros band

L-R  John Zurek, Rick Stoncious, Doug McDaniel, Kent McDaniel, Gary Victorene

 

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Big Jim

26 Jul

b.l.u.e.s.Posting “Big Jim” here, a song we just recorded. It’s blues. To give it a listen, click on the link below this paragraph.  The lyrics are under the recording, and there’s a paragraph below them about how I happened to write the song.

 

BIG JIM

FOLKS CALL HIM BIG JIM

HE’S GOOD TO ROCK ALL NIGHT

FOLKS CALL HIM BIG JIM

LORD, HE WAS BORN TO ROCK ALL NIGHT

ALL HE’S GOT IS THEM THERE BAD BLUES

HE SINGS ‘EM WITH ALL HIS MIGHT

HE GREW UP ON THE SOUTH SIDE

IT WAS TOO COLD TO HIM ROUND THERE

THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO

IT WAS TOO COLD TO HIM ROUND THERE

NOW HE LIVES IN JACKSON COUNTY

IT’S HIS HOME, HE DOES DECLARE

THEY GAVE JIM A GUN

AND SENT HIM OFF TO FIGHT

SENT HIM OFF TO NAM

TO BE PART OF THAT THERE FIGHT

THINGS THAT HE SAW THERE

STILL COME BACK TO HIM IN THE NIGHT

THE BLUES AND JACK DANIELS

ARE MUCH OK BY HIM

SINGIN’ THE BLUES AND OLE JACK DANIELS

ARE MUCH OK BY HIM

WHEN THE BAND’S IN THE ZONE

HE’S ALL DOWN WITH THE JAM

REPEAT FIRST VERSE

This New Years Eve my wife Dorothy and I went down to Cumberland State Park in Eastern Kentucky by the Tennessee border. They have a New Years Eve dance there every year and it’s a good one. New Years Day, we were riding back on Highway 61, which winds through miles and miles of farmland, woods, and little towns, and the lyrics to “Big Jim” came to me. We decided to stop in Indianapolis and spend the night; I wrote the lyrics down on some paper that was in our hotel room. When we got back to Chicago, I tossed the lyrics on my desk. Around March I decided to put them to music, and we recorded it this July. Don’t know why I move ahead on projects at the speed of glacier, I just do.

I’d like to dedicate this one to Tawl Pawl, Billy Desmond, and Big Larry. Long may they rock.  And to the memory of my brother Doug and the memory of Big Twist.

“Big Jim” copyright 2015 by Donald Kent McDaniel

A Super Reverb

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Dance Till Morning Light

19 Aug

I’m uploading video of “Dance Till Morning Light,” kind of a  roots rock ballad played with just an acoustic guitar. It was recorded August 4, 2014 at The Acoustic Explosion show at Silvies on Chicago’s north side. The lyrics are below the video.

 

DANCE TILL MORNING LIGHT

WELL YOU WALK THROUGH THE NIGHT

YOU FEEL ALL RIGHT

THOUGH NOTHING IS REALLY REAL

YOU GET AROUND

YOU’RE GETTIN DOWN

YOU’RE SO HIGH THAT YOU HARDLY FEEL

YOU BEEN UP AND DOWN THE STRIP

YOU KNOW THE TRIP

JUST ONE BIG HAPPY CROWD

YEAH, YOU’RE LOOKING FOR LOVE BUT CAN’T TALK ABOVE

THE MUSIC WE PLAY SO LOUD

CHORUS:

SO JUST DANCE CHILDREN DANCE

THIS SOFT ELECTRIC NIGHT

DANCE, DANCE TILL MORNING LIGHT

WELL YOUR LOCAL ROCK STARS

AND OWNERS OF THE BARS

LOVE TO SEE YOU OUT TONIGHT

GO ON, FEED YOUR HEAD

KNOCK YOURSELVES DEAD

YOUR MONEY’S GOOD HERE, IT’S ALL RIGHT

ACROSS THE ROOM

THROUGH THE GLOOM

SOMEBODY CATCHES YOUR EYE

SO YOU WALK THEIR WAY

WHAT CAN YOU SAY?

YOU’RE BOTH REAL HIGH

CHORUS

Here’s how I happened to write this one: When the world was young and I was at SIU, I played in bands on the weekends. After I got out of mcdaniel bros bandschool, rather than face getting a job, I just went from playing two nights a week to playing six or seven. We were known to sometimes work fifteen gigs in fourteen days. (Being young is wonderful.) It was fun, I want you to know. Plus, the last three years I did it, I played with my brother Doug in The McDaniel Brothers Band. I’m gladder than I can tell you to have spent that much time with Doug and made that much good music with him. It makes up for a lot.

After around seven years of all that, though, the kids in college bars started to look like junior high schoolers to me, and I figured it was time to get out. Which I did. That last summer I was playing, I wrote “Dance Till Morning Light.” Weirdly enough, I’d never played it out before a recent show at The Acoustic Explosion. I don’t know why that was, but I’m glad I finally did. Now I’m going to have to get around to recording the song, I guess.

Here a shot from the show  at The Acoustic Explosion.

@ silvies

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