The Troubled Troubador (EP)
Encyclopedia
The Troubled Troubador is a 7" EP
by punk rock
singer/songwriter and performance artist GG Allin
, on which Allin takes a deliberate excursion into country music
.
A longtime fan of Hank Williams Sr. to the point where he had long adapted a similar lifestyle, The Troubled Troubador' s roots originated when Allin, while making some song demos, sat down and proceeded to improvise, on the spot, the song that became "When I Die". Overtly pleased with how well the song turned out, Allin refined the song and wrote down the lyrics to the final version, and recorded it, along with three other similar songs, on a four-track cassette machine with Allin singing and playing acoustic rhythm guitar while friend and collaborator Mark Sheehan played acoustic slide guitar
.
With the songs completed, Allin and Sheehan did a quick mixdown of the recording, which Allin later put aside, feeling that at the time, no one would ever release it. Then came Allin's sudden arrest and extradition to Michigan
on charges of felonious assault.
Mountain Records
founder and president Stewart Brodian made contact with Allin in prison via Allin's Oak Lawn, Illinois
post office box
. Mountain Records usually recorded and released Brodian's own solo acoustic work, and Brodian was interested in working with Allin on something. The two factors spurred GG to suggest releasing a recording of his acoustic material on Mountain. Brodian, after hearing a tape of the sessions, immediately agreed.
Allin and Brodian began communicating regularly through both mail and via collect phone calls Allin would make from prison. Excited about the material, Brodian immediately arranged to have 1,500 copies of the EP pressed up. Brodian was only able to fit three songs onto the record, so the song "Kissing The Flames" was left out.
The first pressing of the EP consisted of 500 red vinyl records and 1,000 black vinyl. The entire red vinyl pressing, and the first 500 copies of the black vinyl version, featured a label that adapted some of Allin's line drawings and envelope art, as well as a hand-drawn version of the Mountain Records logo. The remaining 500 copies were pressed using a standard Mountain Records label. All but 25 copies of the red vinyl and 25 of the black vinyl were sold by December 1990, a sales figure that both amazed Allin (since he didn't think his fans would accept such a musical left turn from him) and made him very pleased, given his pride in how the recordings came out.
"When I Die" would be heard as the closing song on the GG Allin documentary Hated: GG Allin And The Murder Junkies
.
"Sitting In This Room" is actually the second version of this early GG acoustic song. A demo version, recorded in the mid-80's, was released on the Doctrine Of Mayhem compilation earlier in 1990.
With the EP selling out, plus Allin's death in 1993, demand for the original EP spurred Brodian to compile the EP, along with its lone outtake and some other related material, into the Troubled Troubador
CD in 1996.
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
by punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
singer/songwriter and performance artist GG Allin
GG Allin
Kevin Michael "GG" Allin was an American punk rock singer-songwriter, who performed and recorded with many groups during his career. GG Allin is perhaps best remembered for his notorious live performances, which often featured transgressive acts, including coprophagia, self-mutilation, and...
, on which Allin takes a deliberate excursion into country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
.
A longtime fan of Hank Williams Sr. to the point where he had long adapted a similar lifestyle, The Troubled Troubador
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
.
With the songs completed, Allin and Sheehan did a quick mixdown of the recording, which Allin later put aside, feeling that at the time, no one would ever release it. Then came Allin's sudden arrest and extradition to Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
on charges of felonious assault.
Mountain Records
Mountain Records
Mountain Records is a record label started in Cape Town, South Africa in 1980 by Patrick Lee-Thorp.The record label produces mostly South African music and is known as the home of Cape Jazz recordings, having issued a number of albums by such names as Basil Coetzee, Robbie Jansen, Jonathan Butler,...
founder and president Stewart Brodian made contact with Allin in prison via Allin's Oak Lawn, Illinois
Oak Lawn, Illinois
Oak Lawn is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 55,245 at the 2000 census.Oak Lawn is a suburb of the city of Chicago, located southwest of the city...
post office box
Post Office box
A post-office box or Post Office box is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office station....
. Mountain Records usually recorded and released Brodian's own solo acoustic work, and Brodian was interested in working with Allin on something. The two factors spurred GG to suggest releasing a recording of his acoustic material on Mountain. Brodian, after hearing a tape of the sessions, immediately agreed.
Allin and Brodian began communicating regularly through both mail and via collect phone calls Allin would make from prison. Excited about the material, Brodian immediately arranged to have 1,500 copies of the EP pressed up. Brodian was only able to fit three songs onto the record, so the song "Kissing The Flames" was left out.
The first pressing of the EP consisted of 500 red vinyl records and 1,000 black vinyl. The entire red vinyl pressing, and the first 500 copies of the black vinyl version, featured a label that adapted some of Allin's line drawings and envelope art, as well as a hand-drawn version of the Mountain Records logo. The remaining 500 copies were pressed using a standard Mountain Records label. All but 25 copies of the red vinyl and 25 of the black vinyl were sold by December 1990, a sales figure that both amazed Allin (since he didn't think his fans would accept such a musical left turn from him) and made him very pleased, given his pride in how the recordings came out.
"When I Die" would be heard as the closing song on the GG Allin documentary Hated: GG Allin And The Murder Junkies
Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies
Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies is a 1994 documentary directed by Todd Phillips about the life of GG Allin, a punk rock musician who died from a heroin overdose in 1993...
.
"Sitting In This Room" is actually the second version of this early GG acoustic song. A demo version, recorded in the mid-80's, was released on the Doctrine Of Mayhem compilation earlier in 1990.
With the EP selling out, plus Allin's death in 1993, demand for the original EP spurred Brodian to compile the EP, along with its lone outtake and some other related material, into the Troubled Troubador
The Troubled Troubador
The Troubled Troubador is a posthumous expanded compact disc edition of punk rock singer-songwriter and musician GG Allin's original 1990 7" EP of the same name....
CD in 1996.