Howdy Glenn and International Submarine Band releases
A new retrospective focusing on the works of 1970s Black country artist Howdy Glenn leads off this week’s Ear Bliss. Glenn’s dream was to be the 2nd coming of country great Charley Pride and while he did possess plenty of talent enjoying some moderate success on a regional basis, it was not to be. I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn gathers together for the first time the complete works of the country singer from various sources including all eight of his singles for Warner Brothers Records along with half a dozen newly-mixed, previously unissued tracks from the Warner vaults and an outtake from his Fire Records sessions. It is joined by a reissue of what is arguably the seminal album of the country rock movement, Safe at Home from the short-lived International Submarine Band. Released in 1968 and the lone album to be released by the band, it was co-founded and fronted by the artist many claim as the daddy of the country rock subgenre, the late Gram Parsons. Let’s get to it.
Howdy Glenn
I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn Omnivore Recordings
As he told Sepia Magazine in a mid-1970s interview, the California-based country singer Howdy Glenn wanted to be the “second black man to make it big in country music.” Glenn was referring to the great and trailblazing Charley Pride who many can say defied the odds in becoming one of the biggest hitmakers in the predominantly white country music market.
Whereas Glenn never come close to scaling such heights, as the new 23-track retrospective collection I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn proves, he certainly had the talent and especially the voice, to hit the big time. From the opening moments of the lead-off song and title track to the collection, it is obvious to the ears that Glenn was one smooth operator when it came to singing a country song. “I Can Almost See Houston” was one of only a few high water marks in Glenn’s decade-or-so long career, one in which he balanced his full-time job as a firefighter in Southern California with one behind a microphone crooning out songs with his energetic and smooth voice.
Glenn was one of a short list of Black country performers from the 1960s and ‘70s following in the footsteps of the aforementioned true trailblazer of the genre, Pride.
Dubbed “The Singing Fireman” by Warner Brothers Records for whom Glenn had a relatively short-lived career, the origins of his “side job” as a country singer can be traced to a talent contest at a local country bar in the Inglewood, California area where he resided. At the encouragement of his firefighter buddies who’d hear Glenn singing country songs around the station and thought he had some talent, he won the contest singing Tom T. Hall’s “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine.” Glenn would win another country music talent show held at the Hollywood Palladium soon after with the prize an audition with Capitol Records. Higher profile club appearances would follow along with his first record for a small area label, a single featuring “I Can Almost See Houston” on the A-side. It would become a Top 10 hit in several regional markets and garner Glenn the 1975 Most Promising Male Vocalist award from the California Country & Western Music Association. Glenn would move onto several other regional labels with moderate success over the next few years.
His big break would come thanks to a performance at the Academy of Country Music’s general meeting in 1977 where he’d win over the crowd leading to a recording contract with the country music division of Warner Brothers Records. Several singles would follow the second of which, a cover of Willie Nelson’s “Touch Me,” would spend multiple weeks on the Billboard country charts and lead to Glenn’s nomination for the Top New Male Vocalist by the ACM. As often happens, success did not extend beyond those few early singles for Warner’s and Glenn’s career would fade away by the early 1980s.
I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn
presents the entire recorded works from the overlooked Glenn from his early small label recordings to his singles for Warner Brothers to his final stop on his own (and appropriately named) Fire Records. Most valuable is Grammy nominee Scott B. Bomar’s in-depth liner notes which provide a deep dive into Glenn’s career, not to mention a brief examination of Black artists in country music. Visit www.omnivorerecordings.com.
International Submarine Band
Safe at Home
Sundazed Records
The legend of the godfather of country rock, the late Gram Parsons, begins in earnest with the International Submarine Band. Named for a band in a 1930s Our Gang comedy (The International
Silver String Submarine Band for you Little Rascals devotees out there!), it is a group Parsons founded with a guitar player named John Nuese while a student at Harvard. It is Nuese who is said to have influenced the country rock direction of the band.
Parsons wouldn’t even last a semester in Cambridge before relocating to New York City where the band, for all intents and purposes, began.
A few singles were recorded while in New York, not to mention an unreleased album which has gone lost. The lone formal album for the band, called Safe at Home, was made in 1967 on Lee Hazelwood’s LHI label and by the time of its release in the spring of ‘68, Parsons had moved on and the International Submarine Band was no more.
Whereas it did not sell well at the time, it is regarded by many as the first country rock album and the beginning of that movement. It also offered a glimpse of what was to come from Parsons with his influential work with both The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as his two solo longplayers from the early 1970s before his death in 1973.
While devoid of twang, his voice dripped with the kind of the emotional tone and style of a classic country singer. The album’s recent reissue by Sundazed Records comes in two formats, LP and CD. The all-analog LP reissue features the original 10 songs comprising the album as cut from the original mono masters. The CD reissue features the mono version of Safe at Home plus a dozen bonus tracks consisting of remixed “lonesome” versions of the 10 songs featuring Parsons’ charismatic vocals in the forefront, plus several instrumental versions of those same songs. For Parsons fans out there, it is must-have goods. Visit www.sundazed. com.
LIVE SHOTS:
Mid-winter doldrums got you down? Well, some live music may be just the cure. There are plenty of hot and warm sounds happening in the various venues in and around the Ocean State. Beginning in South County, mark those calendars for Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston on February 17 when Steely Dan tribute Hey Nineteen performs and then Bruce Springsteen tribute act Saints in the City on February 18. At The Narragansett Café in Jamestown, The Dick Clarks play your favorites on Friday evening. House favorites Mark Cutler & The Men of Great Courage are at The Ganny on Saturday night. Super
Bowl Sunday finds the Ganny switching to a 1 pm start time for what has been a tradition for years, Sugar Ray Norcia and The Bluetones in performance. In East Greenwich at the Greenwich Odeum, it is Crash Test Dummies with special guest Carleton Stone on February 17. The always busy Pump House Music Works in Peace Dale (164 Kingstown Road) presents its annual Pump House Fundraiser Music Festival this weekend with a full plate of music on tap. Folk music happens on Friday with Man & Wife, Natalie Blue, and
Devin Bender all performing. It’s reggae and rock on Saturday night with The Water Project, Swift Undertow, and Nepotism all on the bill. The fundraiser weekend concludes on Sunday with jazz with a big bill featuring
Dan Moretti, Steve DeConti, Sons of Providence, Tish Adams, Paula Claire & Special Edition, and more. Don’t forget that every Monday night is the Uke jam at the Pump House while Tuesdays are Ole Time jam night and Wednesdays are Lounge night hosted by Matt Fraza. Seaside at The Ocean Mist in Matunuck, it’s a Valentine’s disco party on Friday night. At the Charlestown Rathskeller, the Take It to the Bridge Trio play music for your listening pleasure on Friday night. In Westerly, the Knickerbocker Music Center (35 Railroad Ave), offers up a terrific twin bill on Friday night featuring Say Darling and the Soggy Po Boys. Neal Vitullo & The Vipers hits the Knick stage on Saturday evening. Mark your calendars for March 2 when the acclaimed acoustic duo Watchhouse, formerly known as Mandolin Orange, comes to The United Theatre
in Westerly. To the North,
Confounded Bridge celebrate the music of Led Zeppelin at Chan’s Restaurant in Woonsocket on Friday night. Jeff Pitchell & Texas Flood let the good times flow at Chan’s on Saturday night. Aerosmith tribute band Draw the Line is at the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket on Saturday night. The
Blackstone River Theatre in Cumberland presents contemporary string band Kittel & Co. on Saturday night. A double bill featuring Stefan Couture & the Moondog and Cold Chocolate happens at the Blackstone on February 17. The Met Café in Pawtucket presents Violin River on Saturday night. In Providence downtown at The Strand, it is singer and rapper Lunay on Saturday night.
Askew on Chestnut Street presents an eclectic bill on Friday evening with Muddy Ruckus and Thank God For Science in concert. On Saturday
night, it’s The National Reserve and Smith & Weeden opening. Don’t forget that every Monday at Askew it’s Meatball Mondays and Open Mic with Adam Newell. Finally, Club d’Elf presents its mesmerizing mix of Moroccan traditional music and electronic, dubbed-out funk at The Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River on Friday evening. British guitarist Mike Dawes dazzles at the Narrows on Saturday night. Also, the venerable Tom Rush returns to The Narrows on February 18.
(Dan Ferguson is a freelance music writer and host of The Boudin Barndance, broadcast Thursday nights from 6 – 9 pm on WRIU-FM 90.3.)