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Out now in May 2023 ‘Western Imaginarium’ A New Release from Otis Slim Sundown

Otis Slim Sundown has released a 7-track EP entitled ‘Western Imaginarium’. It contains a diverse range of original tunes. Some are instrumentals and some are vocal-lead. Titles of tunes are ‘Western Matinee’, ‘Please Mr Banker’,’High Country’, ‘Bakersfield’, ‘Just a Stone’s Throw Away (from Loving You)’, ‘Muddy Slide’ and ‘Desert Plaguescape’. One can listen to tunes for free and purchase downloads (either individual tracks or the 7-track EP) via Bandcamp. https://otisslimsundown.bandcamp.com/album/western-imaginarium

Review of “Western Imaginarium”

David in Melbourne said:

I always play music during breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings and my choices have to be “balanced”, given Ann and I have  different tastes in music. Yesterday morning I thought it appropriate to play on your CD. I loved it!!!!!!!

My earliest recollection of things country and western was the Saturday afternoon movie matinees my older brother and I would attend in Townsville in the very early 1960’s when invariably the main attraction was a cowboy movie. They featured beautiful horses, magnificent saddles, lots of action and the guys in the white hats always won. As the 1960’s rolled on, television replaced the movies and Roy Rogers and Trigger, The Lone Ranger and Tonto and Cisco and Pancho galloped across our black and white screens. Probably my first conscious recollection of country music was in the basement of the dormitory block when I went to boarding school in 1966.

An integral component of the atmosphere, apart from smelly sports gear and rotting fruit in lockers was country music coming from a few transistor radios, owned by what I perceived to be a few of the more wealthy boarders. The local radio station was 4GR in Toowoomba and the song that I distinctly recall was Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”. The years rolled by but I always retained an affinity for and deep love of country music…

While there are many highlights during my weekly trips to Tallarook to ride my horse, not the least is that I play my music in the car both up and back. The travel time of 1.25 hours enables me to play one CD completely and start another. The return journey sees the completion of the second CD and sometimes a third Cd as well!

So what do I play weekly to and from Tallarook?

A selection includes (in no order of priority).: Emmy Lou Harris – two songs in particular: “From Boulder to Birmingham” and “Queen of the Silver Dollar”. The Highwaymen – two CDs: “The Essential Highwaymen” and “Highwayman 2”; I love anything they sing !. Willie Nelson – several CDs including : “Stardust”, “Legend: The Very Best of Willie Nelson”; I love his version of “Seven Spanish Angels” sung as duet with Ray Charles. Johnny Cash – several CDs including : “Johnny Cash at San Quentin”; it was recorded live and while some of the comments between songs are slightly muffled, they are fantastic. The Flying Emus – “The Collection 1984 – 1990”; particularly their version of “I Just Want To Dance With You” written by John Prine There are others but I’m sure this gives you an idea.

I love your nom de plume!!! I was given one a few years ago when I was given an incredible saddle, hand crafted by a guy from Warwick in Queensland called Anthony (Tony) Gifford. When talking to him, because we live in Toorak, he christened me the “Toorak Cowboy” ! He recalled the Sky Hooks song and that was the only other reference to Toorak that he knew of. Hence it stuck!!!

Rest assured “Western Imaginarium” will join the Tallarook playlist from time to time from now on. On first hearing, I was particularly taken with song 5 : “Just a Stone’s Throw Away” !

The Story Behind Western Imaginarium

As young boys and girls in the late 1950s and very early 1960s a treat for us was going to the Saturday afternoon movies. In my case, I went to the Mayfair theatre in Sandringham Road in Auckland, New Zealand. Kids would whoop, yell and roll Jaffas down the aisles to the accompaniment of the western shorts and serials that were depicted on the screen. It was all shoot-outs, panoramic chases, wagon trains, Cowboys and Indians, and iconic and heroic figures such as Zorro, Roy Rogers and Trigger, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, The Lone Ranger, Silver and Tonto.

At the same time there was the emerging dominance of instrumental music often with a strong western feel so typical of early recordings of The Shadows and to some extent The Ventures.

The mid-1960s witnessed the emergence of the Italian ‘spaghetti’ Westerns directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. The dramatic scores of Ennio Morricone featured the twanging guitar and whistling of Alessandro Alessandroni against a background of orchestras comprised of conventional and unconventional instruments.

These combined influences are reflected in the tunes “Western Matinee” and “High Country” on “Western Imaginarium”.

The next influence was the dustbowl novels and of depression-era America exemplified in movies like the Grapes of Wrath – a Steinbeckian vista of people escaping their ruined farms in Oklahoma and moving to California in a search of a better life. The songs of Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Rodgers and Blind Alfred Reed characterise and this and were carried on in the early recordings of Ry Cooder.

The Bakersfield sounds of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos and Merle Haggard and the Strangers were a later influence. With a harder driving sound than the sounds emanating from Nashville the tunes often had a rockier sound and key influential guitarists were Don Rich and Roy Nichols. Also key, were the truck- driving songs of Dave Dudley and Red Simpson. These influences are reflected in the song “Just a Stone’s Throw Away (from Loving You)”.

The final tracks Muddy Slide and Desert Plaguescape are more impressionistic of dystopian landscapes caused by humankind, natural and climate-caused disasters that increasingly threaten the planet.

Sickness Blues (Henry Jackson)

Woke early in the dawning, with a catch in my throat

When I tried to speak, I just squeezed out a croak

Oh I’m feeling so bad, I must have the Spanish flu’

Last week I detected, a lump in my side

I rushed off for testing, they said it was benign

But I don’t believe ‘em, I want it verified

I said doctor, doctor, don’t spare me the news

What’s your diagnosis, got no time to lose

It’s my own opinion, that I have the sickness blues

Had difficulty breathing, now I’ve got nosebleeds

I’m really frightened, that I’ve got TB

But the x-rays showed my lungs were clear

My heart is pounding and I have chest pain

Do I have thrombosis or other heart complaints

But the ECG was normal, but I was not relieved

I said doctor, doctor, don’t hold back on the news

What’s your diagnosis, got no time to lose

It’s my private opinion, that I have the sickness blues

Doctor said look, I’ve got to be straight

There’s no debating you’re in fine physical shape

Hypo-chon-dria-s-is, is its proper name

Doctor, doctor, thank you for that news

I’m pleased to hear, that that’s my disease

And I don’t have, the sickness blues