Even within the tiny novelty niche of yodeling Hawaiian Steel guitarists, Tex Carman stood out. Record companies sold his music under a country canopy, but it only subscribed to the signifier in a loose sense. Claiming Cherokee blood, Carman further bucked the cowboy code by cross-dressing as an Indian. His stylistic tastes were equally idiosyncratic mixing hulas, railroad songs, rags and polkas into repertoire that refused fealty to any single idiom. This handy Revenant compilation gathers a cross-section of his work for the Capitol and 4 Star labels along with a three-song air shot for the U.S. Airforce’s “Country Music Time” (ca. 1957). Carman’s crazy stage persona and boundless enthusiasm deflects some of the glaringly dubious aspects of his technique, including a sense of rhythm that could kindly be described as “distinctive”. He was a self-professed expert at imitating locomotives, cannon fire, bugles and drum corps on his guitar and examples abound of his skill at crafting aural facsimiles of these and other sound effects. “The Artillery Song” with its staccato guitar strums and bizarre jangly breaks sounds downright cracked. His singing suggests a weird crossbreeding of Uncle Dave Macon and Bascom Lamar Lunsford, with a reedy wizened inflection that sounds aged beyond his years. “The Stutter Song” tosses the P.C. handbook in the trash heap as Carman imitates the titular impediment both vocally and on frets with aplomb. “Hillbilly Hula” finds him blending Cherokee and Polynesian patois into an incomprehensible war whoop all his own. A fair bit of surface crackle coats the earlier sides, but the later Capitol selections sound clean as a whistle. Carman’s unabashed kookiness is something I find inspiring every time I spin this disc.
Posted by derek on August 27, 2006 4:30 PMOh man....
Tex's playing is so wacked out. Cowboy music from the planet zong....
Posted by: Dohol at August 27, 2006 6:20 PMThere are some videos of Tex, including one of him doing Hillbilly Hula, up on Youtube:
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=tex+carman&search=Search
Posted by: Lore at August 28, 2006 5:25 AMI love this one. However, my wife won't let me play it when she's at home.
Posted by: clay fink at August 28, 2006 7:06 AMAwesome vid, Lore, thanks! And thanks for the write-up, Derek--I'll be looking for this.
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at August 28, 2006 7:40 AMhardly a novelty, Derek.
how in Halimoku are you?
Posted by: al at August 28, 2006 10:22 AMThanks for those videos, Adam. I didn’t even think to check Youtube for Tex footage. That site is positively encyclopedic. I’ve been grooving on this completely unrelated jam of late:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYf776NsE9s
Namor, are you on dry land again? If so, shoot me a dispatch. I’m hardpressed to think of other yodeling Hawaiian Steel guitarists. Cliff Carlisle might qualify, but who are some others?
Posted by: derek at August 28, 2006 7:36 PMD, yeah, I'm back for a while, but pretty much in and out for the rest of the year.
All I'm saying is a niche that small hardly has room for novelty, unless the consumer treats it that way.
Posted by: al at August 30, 2006 10:29 PMLet’s touch base before you get underway again. I’ve got some Q’s for you.
Word on the niche/novelty distinction. I was actually treating the entire niche as a novelty. Tex certainly built up the novelty side of his act (what with lyrics sung in Cherokee, head-dresses & the like).
Posted by: derek at August 31, 2006 6:23 AMI was just listening to a CD that was a recreation of an old Minstrel Show. I was real excited to listen to it but I found the performers taking it all too seriously. They were definitely hesitant to go full-on with the vocals and it just killed the music. I think it was done in the mid 80s. They researched the old sheet music, etc, but I couldn´t imagine myself ever listening to it at home. Just too bland for me. I know some people have a hard time with these novelty performers as mere kitsch but I always had a soft spot for them. I just love the fun they bring to the music. I can´t speak specifically about Carman but I was thinking of Mickey Katz or Homer and Jethro. Probably my introductions to Klezmer and Country respectively. There is always a time when I want to hear something just flat-out stupid.
Posted by: Ted at August 31, 2006 1:09 PMIn spite of his off key, out of time music, and just plain bad singing, I think Tex Carman is one of the most outstanding entertainers of the 20th century. He had a way of captuing an audience with personality alone. He was certainly a one of a kind artist. His records sold too!!
Gary
Posted by: Gary at November 29, 2006 8:30 AMI forgot to mention, you can listen to some of Carman's music by paying a visit to my site at http://www.garyscountry.com
Gary
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