CHICKEN TRUCK
Cicero's Basement Bar, St. Louis, MO
March 11, 1987
*From the Doug Morris Archives*

Source: soundboard cassette master
Transfer (2007): Nakamichi 700ii (azimuth adjusted) > Tascam DA-20 (A:D conversion only) > M-Audio Audiophile USB > PC > Wavelab 5.0 > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > TLH > FLAC (level 8)

Taped by Doug Morris
Transferred by mrpember

01- Idiot�s Revenge (first part cut)
02- Sunday Sports
03- Has Anybody Heard About Donna?
04- Welfare Mothers [Neil Young cover]
05- Queen of the World
06- When the Cheatin� Comes Home
07- Manhattan Countryside
08- Trailer Mama
09- Radar Gun
10- Perfect Far Away (Brian solo)
11- Drag My Butt (Brian solo)*
12- intro
13- Wave That Flag (Brian solo)*
14- "Ode to Bass Fishing" (poetry reading by Bob)
15- Teenage Pussy
16- You Are My Sunshine [Jimmie Davis cover]
17- Coffee Monkey (cut, tape flip)
18- Long Time Coming (?)
19- Every Kinda Everything
20- Swingin� Doors [Merle Haggard cover]
21- "Party Mannish Boy" >
22- Party Man (with I Drink Stag, This Notes For You, T-Bone)
23- Cortez the Killer [Neil Young cover]

* has a few random bursts of static

Lineup:
Brian Henneman: guitar, vocals
Bob Parr: bass, vocals
Tom Parr: guitar
Mark Ortmann: drums

NOTES

Doug Morris was a legendary St. Louis character, taper, late night DJ on community radio station KDHX (his show was called High Anxiety), and man-about-town. After Doug passed away his voluminous cassette collection went to his brother Gary, who very generously made it available to a few of us in 2006. Gary recently passed away as well, which reminded us that it is well past time to get some of Doug's recordings out for folks to enjoy.

Chicken Truck existed from (I think) 1985 to 1990, and was basically the original lineup of the Bottle Rockets with a different bass player, Bob Parr. Bob also wrote and sang several songs that would become Bottle Rockets classics (e.g., "Radar Gun," "Waiting on a Train"). Like their good friends Uncle Tupelo, they lived on the far outskirts of the St. Louis metro area but their home base was Cicero's Basement Bar in the Delmar Loop. The story is that the guys in Uncle Tupelo got them their first show at Cicero's, which likely was around the time of this show since if the date written on the tape and on Doug's list is to believed this was 3 months before Uncle Tupelo's first show under that name. I assume that the "Mike" that Brian talks about before they start "Cortez the Killer" is Uncle Tupelo drummer Mike Heidorn.

Most of these songs will be familiar to Bottle Rockets fans as they were included on their first two albums. The multiple songwriters in Chicken Truck, including their friend Scott Taylor, had a big creative burst in the mid-80s and they released their creatively named "90 Minute Tape" cassette release in 1986 which included many of the best-loved Bottle Rockets songs, a full seven year before that band existed. There are also a few songs here that I've not heard anywhere else, I'm tempted to talk about them but better to just listen for yourself.

The master cassette in Doug's collection was recorded on only one channel with very low levels. There was also a ton of tape hiss, which was multiplied substantially when I raised the volume, it was basically buried in hiss. I used the noise reduction feature in Wavelab to reduce the hiss, and though I listened carefully at the time I may have been a bit too heavy-handed with it, but at this point it is what it is. It sounds a lot better than the master cassete, I assure you.

To my knowledge the only other Chicken Truck live recording that has circulated was from Off Broadway in St. Louis on August 15, 1990, which was technically a reunion show since they had already broken up. So this show pushes back the clock on live recordings of Brian and company by more than 3 years.

Enjoy,

mrpember, November 2020