Tony Tost's America

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Welcome to Tony Tost's America. My name is Tony Tost, and this is my America.

Set 1

"Parchman Farm Blues," Bobbie Gentry
"Another Man Done Gone," Johnny Cash with Anita Carter
"No Time to Cry," Merle Haggard
"Mammy's Boogie," Les Paul and Mary Ford
"Highplains Jamboree," Terry Allen

Tony Tost takes a ride across a mythic geography, from one ear to the other.

Set 2

"El Paso City," Marty Robbins
"Friday Night Blues," John Conlee
"Rose Colored Glasses," JD Crowe & the New South (vocals: Keith Whitley)
"Saw Mill Man," Cast King

George C. Scott addresses and provokes a weary, war loving nation.

Set 3

"Dark as a Dungeon," Merle Travis
"Albert Erving," Porter Wagoner
"Train of Love," Bob Dylan
"Mr. Bojangles," George Burns

Tony Tost: "Say goodnight, America." America: "Goodnight, America."

Set 4

"Queen of the Coast," Laura Cantrell
"The Hyphen," John Wayne
"Werewolf," Cat Power
"Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls?," Blind Alfred Reed
"Strange Things Are Happening Every Day," Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Tony Tost takes a detour into brotherly love (nothing sounds better than blood on blood).

Set 5

"Bury Me on the Lonesome Prairie," The Delmore Brothers
"The Dying Boy's Prayer," The Blue Sky Boys
"I Wish It Had Been a Dream," The Louvin Brothers
"East Virginia Blues," The Stanley Brothers
"I Wonder if I Care as Much," The Everly Brothers

Download this episode (72 min)   

Welcome to Tony Tost’s America. My name is Tony Tost, and this is my America.

Set 1:

The Delmore Brothers, “’Dis Train”
Bob Dylan, “Blind Willie McTell”
Wilmoth Houdini, “Uncle Jo Gimmie Mo’!”
Jimmie Rodgers, “Gambling Bar Room Blues”
Slim Gaillard, “Slim’s Jam”

Tony Tost moves armies across a map of the imagination with a wave of his hand.

Set 2:

The Carter Family, “Single Girl Married Girl”
Jimmy Murphy, “Mother Where Is Your Daughter Tonight”
Bobbie Gentry, “Fancy”
Skeets Tolbert, “Those Draftin’ Blues”
JB Lenoir, “I’m in Korea”
Pete Seeger & the Almanac Singers, “Ballad of October 16”

Tony Tost reads from Colin Escott’s Good Rockin’ Tonight.

Set 3:

Charlie Feathers, “Can’t Hardly Stand It”
James Luther Dickinson, “Dixie Fried”
Tami Lynn, “Mojo Hannah”
Jerry Lee Lewis, “The Crawdad Song”

Tony Tost finds a place for the dearly departed in his America, considers statuary and song.

Set 4:

Billy Lee Riley, “Trouble Bound”
Stoney Edwards, “Poor Folks Stick Together”
Richard Pryor, “Bicentennial Nigger”
Sister Albertha Lewis Harris, “Mean Old Jews Who Crucified My Lord”

Tony Tost fires people he doesn’t even know.

Set 5:

Abner Jay, “I’m So Depressed”
Son House, “Fo’ Clock Blues”
George Jones, “Take Me Back to Tulsa”
Hank Williams Jr, “Ballad of Hank”

Download this episode (76 min)   

Everyone get on the bus. Bring a weapon, a barnyard animal, and a few good lines. We're gonna save our souls tonight.

Welcome to Tony Tost's America. My name is Tony Tost, and this is my America:

Set 1

Big Maybelle, “Ocean of Tears”
Billie Jo Spears, “Get Behind Me Satan and Push”
Leonard Cohen, “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On”
Carl Story, “You Don’t Love God (If You Don’t Love Your Neighbor)”

(Tony Tost is authorized by the soul saving station to perform such duties consistent with his special advisory position)

Set 2

Johnny Burnette Trio, “The Train Kept A-Rollin’”
Jerry Lee Lewis, “Honey Hush”
Billy Lee Riley, “Saturday Night Fish Fry”
The Blenders, “Don’t Fuck Around With Love”

(Tony Tost explains: America leads a life of allegory; its works are comments upon it)

Set 3

Sister Wynona Carr, “Dragnet for Jesus”
Skeets McDonald, “The Tattooed Lady”
John Anderson, “Tokyo, Oklahoma”
The Rio Rockers, “Mexicali Baby”
Little Walter & Baby Face Leroy, “Rollin’ & Tumblin’ (Part 1)

(Charles Manson discusses doors, perfection, and conditioning.)

Set 4

John Phillips, “She’s Just 14”
Tanya Tucker, “Blood Red and Going Down”
David Allan Coe, “Death Row”
Bob Dylan, “Man Gave Names to All the Animals”
Slim Gaillard, “Fuck Off (The Dirty Rooster)”

(By the touch of America's wand, divine troublemakers are transformed into porcine stone figurines)

Set 5

Memphis Minnie, “Ma Rainey”
Robert Gordon, “It’s In the Bottle”
Sisters of Saint Francis, “In Heaven There Is No Beer”
Sonic Recycling Program, “I’m Fucked Up, I’ve Got Problems, and I’m Dangerous”
Charles Manson, “Arkansas”

(At the nethermost core of Tony Tost, and at the underside of his America, lay novelty, terror, and the transcendence of good taste)

Set 6

Robert Mitchum, “The Ballad of Thunder Road”
The Blue Sky Boys, “I Wish I Had Never Seen Sunshine”
Judy Lynn, “The Calm Before the Storm”
Scott Walker, “The Lady Came From Baltimore”

Download this episode (71 min)   

A guided tour through the frightful and transcendent rhythm of a strange nation transcribing its blood onto tape.

Welcome to Tony Tost’s America.

My name is Tony Tost, and this is my America:

Set 1:

Alligator Wine, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Quiet Whiskey, Wynonie Harris
Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-o-Dee, Jerry Lee Lewis
Lead Me On, Paul “Wine” Jones

(Tony Tost composes comments at the point of utterance, trusting)

Set 2:

Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Chuck Berry
Merle’s Farewell to Elvis, Merle Haggard
Jesus Walked That Lonesome Valley, Million Dollar Quartet
Will the Circle Be Unbroken, The Staple Singers
Tiger Man, Rufus Thomas
Run Johnny Run, Jimmie Driftwood

(Tony Tost verbally encourages America, urges fellowship)

Set 3:

A Soldier of the Cross, Zion Travelers
I’m Lonesome, Ernie Chaffin
Do Lord Remember Me, Evangelist Sister Rosetta Winn
Hobo Flats, Mel Brown
Don’t Turn Your Heater Down, Steve Cropper, Pops Staples, & Albert King

(Tony Tost admonishes America to come and take its losses like a lamb)

Set 4:

A Apolitical Blues, Little Feat
Devil in a Sleeping Bag, Willie Nelson
I’ve Lived So Fast and Hard, Porter Wagoner
Ramblin’ Man, Del Shannon
Mansion on the Hill, Vernon Oxford
TV Mama, Frantics Four

(Tony Tost wishes America luck and loyalty and long goodbyes)

Set 5:

Ain’t No Tellin’, Mississippi John Hurt
Moonshine Blues, Bob Dylan
When Will This Ever End, Don Gibson and Los Indios Tabajaras
One More Time, Billy Lee Riley
Man We Had a Party, Wanda Jackson

Thank you for visiting Tony Tost’s America.