This CD under development Will be available on CD. Retail orders: Random Factors 3754 W 170th St Torrance, CA, USA 90504-1204 This is a compilation CD taken from my early recordings in the 1970s "Live At Funny Fellows" and "Arizona Road Song." At the time, I was the "house band" at a little sandwich shop on 19th Avenue and Bethany Home Road here in Phoenix called "Funny Fellows Sandwich Joynt." I got a telephone call one afternoon from somebody who had gotten my name from somewhere, and who wanted to know if I'd be interested in playing at a place they were opening up in Northwest Phoenix. I expressed interest, and then they floored me by asking if I'd come out and show them how I wanted their back room to be set up for music. Needless to say, the chance of doing it "my way" was too good to pass up, and I was off at the speed of light. We called the back room "JB's Back Porch," served great sandwiches, beer and wine, and ribs to kill for. The owners, Bob Rosen and Eddie Sheer, were willing to advertise, offered me realistic pay, and said they'd keep out of my way in the music side of the biz. I was in Heaven! Well, within a couple of months of opening, we had a serious hit on our hands. I was playing four nights a week, hosting an open mic on Wednesday nights, and having the time of my life. It became the longest running single act in the same room EVER in Phoenix, and I don't think any other local one-man-show has broken my record yet. We signed initially for a two week run, but I was there for well over a decade! On weekends I'd load about a gazillion musical instruments into my car and hang 'em up, or put them on stands, all around me on the stage and usually play all of them during the night. It wasn't just a "place to play," it was a genuine phenomenon. I got written up in all sorts of magazines, both local and national, had a weekly radio show on KDKB, got invited to be a regular on a local Emmy-Award winning TV show called "Wallace and Ladmo," and made a slew of friends among the regulars hanging around the "Back Porch." Folks would bring in their guests from out of town to see the crazy man, and I even appeared with the Phoenix Symphony one night. The "New Times" ( it was a real "underground paper" then ) regularly gave us rave reviews, as did the daily papers. Heady stuff! Folks would bring in odd stringed instruments for me to identify them .... and to challenge me to play something on 'em. The walls were flat black, with (initially) hi-res type portraits of famous folksingers painted on them. This got a little tiring and distracting, so we repainted in flat black, and then I started hanging stuff on the walls ... anything interesting I might find, with posters and what-not. Pretty soon, the regulars would bring in stuff to hang on the walls, and the ceiling .... we even had a practice bomb suspended up there, with a baby doll riding it. I put an aircraft warning buzzer inside it, and a flashing red light on the nose, and wired it up so I could set both off from the stage. Made a lot of first-timers jump that way! Lots of memories .... Archie The Invisible Dog, the Scary Naked Lady, the lady who flashed me (and she was buck nekkid too) while I was on stage one Halloween night, the couple who asked if they could be married there between sets one Saturday night (they were, too!), Lois the Lusty Waitress, watching drunks try to pick up the nailed-down nickel on a corner of the stage, Austin Brooks and I jamming until he broke the hairs right off his fiddle bow, the Phoenix police officer ( a good friend of mine ) who walked thru the back room, in full uniform, playing his bagpipes and then walked out the back door to his patrol car (that had all the lights flashing merrily away) and driving off, packing up one night in about ten minutes to get to the hospital bed of another friend of mine with Phoenix PD who had been hurt, not saying anything about the occasional celebrity in the audience .... Lord, it was fun and good times indeed! Funny Fellows finally went the way of all flesh, and a bar now occupies it's place. I sometimes dream of having a place like that of my own, even still. It was special. Musically, I' ve matured a lot since then, but this is a nice look at my own past. Enjoy! Arizona Road Song (12:20 © copyright 1977 W.J. Bethancourt III) Sample MP3 Sometimes I get in a good, crazy mood and let my mouth run off on it's own. This is an example of what happens then ........ this is a little dated, but still funny. Full of stupid puns. The reference to Dolan Ellis is to our "Arizona's Official Balladeer." Nice guy, used to be with the New Christy Minstrels, and I poke fun at him a lot. Saddle Up Your Horse (2:40 © copyright 1977 W.J. Bethancourt III) This is a Zen Hawg Song. It's a Zen Hawg song because there ain't no hawgs in it. Never did figure out a rhyme for "aardvark." Old Cane Press: (3:33) (Bob Johnson, BMI) Way back yonder in the late 1960's, Meryl Mills, Jeff Gilkinson, Doug Haywood and I had a bluegrass band called "Ma Tucker's Sympathetic String Band." I guess you could call it one of the first "progressive bluegrass" bands, because Meryl made us do some pop stuff, and Doug was a closet rock star anyway. Jeff used to sing this, but I never got the words off him. Several years later, I asked a buddy of mine in Denver, Jack Davis, to keep his ears open for the song. He heard a guy singing it in David Ferretta's music shop and got the words from him. As it tuned out, the guy was Jeff Gilkinson, who had just joined "The Dillards." It really is a small world! Doug wound up playing with Jackson Browne, Bobbi Gentry and Mason Williams, but I don't know what happened to Meryl. Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Down (2:70 PD) This is one of those songs that have a lot of verses to 'em, and many of those verses are not suitable for polite company. I tried to keep this version pretty clean. Talkin' Guitar Blues: Earnest Tubb Word Song: (6:45) W.J. Bethancourt III © 1986 Some very nice people gave me the basic words to this one on a typewritten sheet several years ago. I only found out for sure that it was written by Mr. Tubb when David Holt performed it on his TV show "Fire On The Mountain." The "Word Song" parts kind of grew out of my letting my poor, tired brain run overtime one evening. I get a lot of requests for this one. Corrina Corrina: (4:51) Traditional Just a nice tradtional blues done "Anglo" style on the Weissenborn Hawaiian guitar. I don't play a lot of blues as a general rule, but this one I've always liked. It's dedicated to the late Bill Compton, who did more for music in Phoenix than anybody. Up On The Mountain (2:00 © copyright 1977 W.J. Bethancourt III) Sample MP3 I wrote this one while I was living in Lost Angeles, wandering the streets of Hollywierd and having a good time. I dunno what it means, if anything. 'Nuther Dog Leatherwing Bat (5:80 PD) A pretty strange little banjo tune with some stranger words. This is the traditional version of my song "Celtic Circle Dance." I guess this arrangment started something percolating in my brain. Old Monk Daniels/Sand Mountain Holler (5:70 © Jim Conner, new words Traditional) Clawhammer banjo at lightspeed, and a lot of fun to play. There's not much to say about Jim other than he's the best damn clawhammer banjo player in the world and a good friend. Peace of Mind (3:60 © 1974 Dan Glenn) Sample MP3 Dan Glenn ("Igor") is one of the best slap-bass players I have ever heard, and a true Southern Gentleman, except when he's fooling around with owls. He's pretty looney at times. This is an absolutely beautiful set of words. Old Red Cat (3:14) W.J. Bethancourt III © 1986 This one is for the red-head I live with, and in memory of Llyan, a very delightful and crazy Abyssinian cat who helped me thru some rough times. The "old grey hound" mentioned was Seanna, my first Irish Wolfhound. I sprung this on Cher one night out of the clear blue. Not much else to say about it that the song doesn't say better. The instrument being used is an original Washburn parlor guitar, model 1897. Amazing Grace (1:70 PD) MP3 The definitive hymn. Everyone knows it and I figured this was a good way to end this recording. Credits: Arizona Road Song Recorded at Chaton Recordings, Paradise Valley, Arizona. Engineer: Ed Ravenscroft Producer: Ed Ravenscroft All instruments and voices by Joe Bethancourt ..... We used the Martin D12-20S, the Sitar, the Ome XXX banjo, Harold the Dog, Mouthbow, Bicycle Horn, Martin mandolin, Tama Renaissance 6-string guitar (a scary creature indeed!), various percussion, Tambourine, Guild F-50Bl 6-string guitar, Guild F412 12-string guitar, Wind, Wind Chimes and Big Creaky Door. And yeah, there's too much reverb, but we live and learn! Credits: Old Red Cat Recorded live at Funny Fellows Sandwich Joynt, Phoenix, AZ Engineer: John Benson Producer: Bob Croft This one was a little heavy on the effects, but it was a live nightclub performance, so .......