Here's what the songs on this CD are like:
"One-Liner Notes"
St. Tropez Cowboy Rag: A song inspired by the playboys who hung around the "Voom Voom Room" on the Riviera, where T-Bone pursued his post-graduate degree in Mediterranean Lounge Lizardry.
Belleville: Another great song from France, written by Django
Milwaukee Blues: This song became one of the earliest ragtime string band tunes ever recorded when Charlie Poole put it on wax, so we've put it on photons, and it is temporarily one of the most recent ragtime string band tunes ever recorded.
Villa Rosa: This authentic Venezuelan waltz, featuring Doug on Puerto Rican Quattro, is the theme song to a great spy movie which has yet to be written.
St. James Infirmary: Every so often, we get together with Al Brogdin and Jim Armenti, and form "The Power Wranglers," which looks and sounds like "The Preservation Hall Jazz Band" only younger, and on a lower karmic plane.
Stop Pretending: Bob Wills played this one, so it MUST be a cowboy tune.
The Sun Is Gonna Shine: This tune was written by T-Bone for Francisco, and all the other little folk who bring their parents back to the Black Sheep in Amherst to hear us each week during Sunday brunch.
Django's Castle (Manoir de mes Reves): Another dreamy tune by the Master.
Bei Mir Bis Du Schoen: For a long time, we thought this was a charming Klezmir tune about a handsome cowboy named Schoen, who rides into town, wins the hearts and minds of the common folk, shoots a guy, and rides off into the sunset, but it turns out it's not about that at all, as Benny Goodman figured out back in the '40's.
High Flyer Stomp: This tune would make a great soundtrack for a barroom brawl in an old western, but it was actually written as "Pickin' Around" by jazz greats Eddie Lang and Carl Kress, and later "borrowed" for use as a theme song by a country swing a band, "The High Flyers." We learned this tune by listening to Minneapolis accordionist extraordinaire, Dan Newton.
Under Paris Skies: This may be the best Parisian sidewalk cafe song ever written, and as soon as we have the frequent flier miles, we're gonna go there and play it again.
When the Sun Goes Down: This is a nice old blues tune we like to play at sunset on the Quinnetukut II Riverboat, cruising through French King Gorge, up in Franklin County, Mass.
Back Home Again in Indiana: Satch used this as a warm up tune for years, probably because it runs the musicians through the changes every which way, and it's fun to play when you're only semiconscious. It was a natural for the Wranglers.
The Gypsy Wranglers are:
Doug Tanner, violin, quattro, ukulele, chromatic harmonica, vocals
Terry "T-Bone" Nagel, trombone, Dobro resophonic guitar, toy piano, vocals
Craig Hollingsworth, accordion, vocals
Terry Reed, guitar, vocals
Lynn Lovell, bass, background vocals
Rico Spence, drums
The Power Wranglers are:
Jim Armenti, clarinet
Al Brogdin, cornet
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