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Juarez

by Terry Allen

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    + The definitive, deluxe edition of the art-country classic: produced in collaboration with the artist; remastered from the original analog tapes; the first reissue on vinyl; the first to feature the original artwork (including accompanying lithographs); and first to contextualize the album within Allen’s 50-year art practice.
    + Virgin vinyl LP, with expanded, heavy-duty tip-on gatefold jacket, printed inner sleeve, download code, and 24 pp. book with related artwork, lyrics, and essays by Dave Hickey, Dave Alvin, and Brendan Greaves.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Juarez via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $28 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    + CD edition features scale replica gatefold jacket, inner sleeve, and 48pp. book.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Juarez via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $16 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    + Bundle both physical formats for a discounted price.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Juarez via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $42 USD

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    All orders also include PDF liner note booklet and artwork photos.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Button/Pin/Patch

    Smoke the dummy (that's Bob the Dummy to you) with Terry to commemorate our reissue of his 1980 album. Enhance any lapel with irreverent style and grace. This exquisite artifact measures 1.5" in diameter, with a durable steel pin-back. The text on the rim reads: TERRY ALLEN & THE PANHANDLE MYSTERY BAND / SMOKIN THE DUMMY.

    In a typewritten 1981 letter to his friend and mentor H.C. Westermann (reproduced in the reissue liner notes), Terry writes:

    MY KID BUKKA GOT A CHARLIE MCCARTHY DOLL FOR CHRISTMAS ONE YEAR WHEN HE MADE UP HIS MIND HE WAS GOING TO BE A VENTRILOQUIST. HE IMMEDIATELY PAINTED IT UP TO LOOK LIKE A VAMPIRE ... AND I JUST AS IMMEDIATELY PUT ON A PAIR OF JO HARVEY'S SUNGLASSES AND THE SLEAZIEST JACKET I COULD FIND (western slime) AND SAT FOR FAMILY PHOTOS ... ANYWAY, I BLEW RINGS OF SMOKE ON THE DUMMY AND BUKKA SAID I WAS SMOKIN THE DUMMY.

    I GUESS IT RANG SOME KIND OF DEMENTED BELL …

    The fabulous and brilliant Jo Harvey Allen took the photo, which appears as part of the album cover triptych.

    Perceptive fashionistas will recognize this as the third installment in our grand tradition of apparel featuring hirsute smoking men.

    Western slime!
    ... more
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $3 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 8 Terry Allen releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Cowboy and the Stranger, Gonna California, Bloodlines, Smokin the Dummy, Just Like Moby Dick, Pedal Steal + Four Corners, Lubbock (on everything), and Juarez. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $57.60 USD or more (20% OFF)

     

  • Terry Allen T-shirt: "Today's Rainbow is Tomorrow's Tamale."
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    N.B. THESE SHIRTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLY VIA OUR WEBSITE: paradiseofbachelors.com/shop/pobmerch-004/

    We print these shirts in small, limited batches, so reserve yours today.

    Today's rainbow is tomorrow's tamale.

    Is there any more potent and perfect koan? Not for our money here at PoB. In celebration of our deluxe, definitive reissues of Terry Allen's "Juarez" (1975, PoB-26) and "Lubbock (on everything)" (1979, PoB-27), we are proud to present the Terry Allen Tamale T-shirt—as far as we know, the first such item to exist in the wold, and long overdue—featuring the immortal line from Juarez and the cover of that abiding masterpiece of music and visual art on the front, with the PoB logo tastefully deployed on the back.

    Available in White or Slate, sizes XS through XL, these 100% cotton, fine jersey short-sleeved t-shirts (Los Angeles Apparel or BELLA+CANVAS) are screenprinted by hand by the eco-friendly Philadelphia outfit Print Natural, in a limited edition. Perceptive fashionistas will recognize this as the second installment in our grand tradition of apparel featuring hirsute smoking men.

    www.paradiseofbachelors.com/terry-allen
    terryallen.bandcamp.com
    ... more

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  • Terry Allen and the Panhandle Mystery Band: Smokin the Dummy Shirt
    T-Shirt/Shirt

    N.B. FOR NOW, THESE SHIRTS ARE AVAILABLE ONLY VIA OUR WEBSITE: paradiseofbachelors.com/shop/pobmerch-004/

    “Pink and Black is comin’ back” … in the glorious form of a SMOKIN-hot Terry Allen shirt, the newest addition to our collection of Terry couture and our fourth smoke-themed apparel design. Light it up!

    Designed by Terry himself with Noel Waggener, the shirts, featuring Bob the Dummy, commemorate our reissue of Smokin the Dummy (PoB-065) as well as the occasion of Panhandle Mystery Band’s annual performance at the Paramount Theatre in Austin on January 28, 2023.

    Available in both breezy short-sleeved and cozy long-sleeved styles, in sizes XS through 2XL, these 100% cotton BELLA+CANVAS shirts are screen-printed by hand by eco-friendly Philadelphia shop Print Natural, in, appropriately, the color Natural, for a subtle but accurate nicotine-stain tint.

    Quantities, as always, are limited, so get your SMOKIN shirt today. Don’t be a dummy.

    Sportin’ these new shirts, as the song goes, “Yeah … we’ll both be cool.”
    ... more

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  • Terry Allen and the Panhandle Mystery Band: "There Oughta Be a Law Against Sunny Southern California" Bumper Sticker

    Put some illegal vibrations on that bumper, and show the open road how you truly feel about SoCal. A ferocious full-band reprise of "There Oughta Be a Law Against Sunny Southern California," originally released on Terry Allen's immortal 1975 debut album Juarez, appears on 1983's Bloodlines—you can buy our deluxe reissues of both records here.

    Printed on thick, durable vinyl this 3" x 11.5" bumper sticker is resistant to scratches, sun, and water. (It's probably not resistant to switchblades, however; the fabulous Jo Harvey Allen brought the one pictured back from Tijuana; you can also find it on the back cover of Bloodlines.)

    The song itself recounts a larcenous and murderous episode of Allen's multidisciplinary JUAREZ body of work, starring its antiheros, the Juarez-born pachuco Jabo and the bruja Chic Blundie. Don't get it twisted.

    THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW AGAINST SUNNY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

    chorus: WELL I’M GOIN BACK
    GOIN HOME AGAIN
    YEAH I’M GOIN BACK
    TO MY OWN AGAIN
    YEAH I’M GOIN BACK
    AHHH TO MY HOME TOWN
    THE ONE THAT PUT ME OUT
    THE ONE THAT LAID ME DOWN

    WELL I WIRED UP A CAR IN EAST FONTANA
    I WAS A’HEADED FOR SAN BERDU
    AHHH MY MIDNIGHT OIL
    IT WAS ON THE BOIL
    AN BOY I WAS A’BARREL’N THROUGH
    THEN I TOOK A TURN
    BUT I HIT THE CURB
    AN SPUN OFF THE CENTER LANE
    AN WHEN I HEARD THE CRASH
    WELL I STOMPED THE GAS
    AND I WAS BARREL’N THROUGH AGAIN

    I LEAVE A FEW PEOPLE DEAD
    BUT I GOT OPEN ROAD AHEAD
    YEAH
    I LEAVE A FEW PEOPLE DEAD
    BUT I GOT OPEN ROAD AHEAD

    AN I REMEMBER THE COP
    WITH HIS SLICKED-BACK HAIR
    WHEN HE TOLD ME
    TO GET OUT A’HERE
    AN I REMEMBER THE JUDGE
    WITH HIS GOLD PLATED MOUTH
    HE SAID “GO LIVE IN THE NORTH
    YOU GOTTA DIE DOWN SOUTH”

    YOU GONNA DIE DOWN SOUTH

    chorus

    I WENT FLYIN THROUGH SOUTH SAN BERDU
    WITH MY MIND ON EAST L.A.
    WHERE MY PACHUCO QUEEN
    SHE’S COOKIN RE-FRIED BEANS
    AN SHE’S WAITIN FOR ME TODAY
    YEAH STOPPED ON OFF AT THE LIQUOR STORE
    MADE EVERY BODY LAY DOWN ON THE FLOOR
    TOOK ALL THEIR WHISKEY
    TOOK ALL THEIR BREAD
    THEN SHOT OUT THEIR LIGHTS
    JUST BEFORE I FLED

    YEAH
    I LEAVE A FEW PEOPLE DEAD
    BUT I GOT OPEN ROAD AHEAD
    YEAH
    I LEAVE A FEW PEOPLE DEAD
    BUT I GOT OPEN ROAD AHEAD

    AN I REMEMBER THE BITCH
    WHOSE BLACK TONGUE LIED
    WHEN SHE TOLD ME
    SHE’S DIS-SATISFIED
    AN I REMEMBER HER DADDY
    BIG AS A TRUCK
    HE SAID “FUCK WITH ME BOY
    IF YOU WANT TO FUCK”

    YEAH, FUCK WITH ME BOY
    IF YOU WANT TO FUCK

    chorus

    SO THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW
    AGAINST SUNNY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
    YEAH THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW
    AGAINST PUTTIN THE DEVIL
    BEHIND THE WHEEL …
    CAUSE AS LONG AS YOU PEOPLE ARE GONNA SANCTION SUCH AN EVIL
    WELL I’M GONNA TURN YOUR ASPHALT
    BACK INTO BRIMSTONE
    YEAH YOU GOD DAMNED BET
    I WILL
    ... more

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  • Terry Allen T-shirt: "Just Like Moby Dick"
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    Just Like Moby Dick.

    Our second Terry Allen t-shirt, the cetacean sequel to "Today's Rainbow Is Tomorrow's Tamale," features—for the first time ever, as far as anyone remembers—an original drawing by Terry himself, of a sperm whale triumvirate, scarred and freshly harpooned "Just Like Moby Dick," to commemorate the masterly 2020 Panhandle Mystery Band album of the same title.

    Screenprinted by hand, in two oceanic blues, by our eco-friendly focused friends at Print Natural in Philadelphia, these 100% cotton, pre-shrunk, fine jersey short-sleeved t-shirts (BELLA+CANVAS) are available in Vintage White—slightly off-white, the true Mellvillian Whiteness of the Whale hue—sizes XS through XL, in a very limited edition.

    Wear while listening to the Panhandle Mystery Band, partying in any port of call with Queequeg and Tashtego, and keep sailin' on through.

    www.paradiseofbachelors.com/terry-allen
    www.paradiseofbachelors.com/pob-055
    terryallen.bandcamp.com/album/just-like-moby-dick
    ... more

    Sold Out

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about

Album page: www.paradiseofbachelors.com/shop/pob-026
Artist page: www.paradiseofbachelors.com/terry-allen
Other options: lnk.to/PoB26

ALBUM ABSTRACT

Legendary Texan artist Terry Allen occupies a unique position straddling the frontiers of country music and visual art; he has worked with everyone from Guy Clark to David Byrne to Lucinda Williams, and his artwork resides in museums worldwide. Widely celebrated as a masterpiece—arguably the greatest concept album of all time—his spare, haunting 1975 debut LP Juarez is a violent, fractured tale of the chthonic American Southwest and borderlands. Produced in collaboration with the artist and meticulously remastered from the original analog tapes, this is the definitive edition of the art-country classic: the first reissue on vinyl; the first to feature the originally intended artwork (including the art prints that accompanied the first edition); and the first to contextualize the album within Allen’s fifty-year art practice.

ALBUM NARRATIVE

Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place. And that is what was to be found here. The corrido. The tale. And like all corridos it ultimately told one story only, for there is only one to tell.

— Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing

Juarez is not just an album, at least not in any ordinary sense of the word. Songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen describes it instead as a “haunting.” For nearly five decades, Juarez has served as the elusive, enigmatic axis mundi of his artistic and musical practices. Never discrete or static, the Juarez mythos continually accretes a growing constellation of new meanings, mutations, and manifestations, defying linearity and finality, appearing as drawings, constructions, songs, prints, installations, texts, a screenplay, a musical theater piece (co-written with David Byrne), a one-woman stage play, and an NPR radio play (both starring his wife, the actor and writer Jo Harvey Allen).

Herein Juarez inhabits the ur-corrido sonic artifact, a cycle of fifteen songs and recited poems—austere, atmospheric, cinematic—as recorded over the course of a few mornings at San Francisco’s venerable Wally Heider Studio in 1974. Its stately, minimal arrangements—Allen on piano and vocals, with guitarists Peter Kaukonen (Link Wray, Jefferson Airplane, Black Kangaroo) and Greg Douglas (Van Morrison, Peter Rowan, Steve Miller Band)—belie its sinister, mongrel strangeness, its anxious hilarity, its casual alloy of spirituality and profanity, its uncanny enormity as story. Originally released in 1975 by print workshop Landfall Press in an edition of fifty, with a set of nine lithographs (reproduced in full for the first time in the reissue’s extensive book), the record encompasses both conceptual corrido and cosmic cartography, song and séance, at once hermetic and wide-open. In these fifty-two minutes, geographies, climates, and spectral bodies collide and elide, dragged and fate-flung across the parched Southwest, over mesas and arroyos and through the abraded lens of colonial history, throwing dust, shedding blood, and further blurring the already arbitrary, and forever contested, boundaries of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

As described in one of the periodic narrative “dialogue” interludes spoken by Allen, Juarez recounts a deceptively “simple story”: a bleak journey, told in nonlinear terms, from Southern California through Colorado and into the Texas-Mexico borderlands. Like many cross-country road trips, it’s as harrowing as it is humorous, often within the margins of a single song or even an isolated line. The action revolves around two couples and their fateful—or arbitrary—murderous meeting in Cortez, Colorado. Sailor, on leave from the Navy, meets Spanish Alice, a prostitute, in a Tijuana bar; they get married and honeymoon in a mountain trailer park in Cortez. Meanwhile, on a crime spree detour, pachuco antihero Jabo and the witchy “rock-writer” Chic Blundie drive North from L.A. to Cortez on their way South to Jabo’s hometown of Ciudad Juarez (until recently the homicide capital of the world). Only one couple emerges from the bloody trailer, escaping across the New Mexican desert to Juarez, where they part, assuming (or absorbing?) new identities.

Terry Allen is no stranger to the ramifications of border-crossing—it’s something he’s been doing both literally and figuratively, geographically and professionally, for his entire adult life. A native West Texan who now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico—he hails from Lubbock, also home to Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, and the Flatlanders—Allen occupies a unique position straddling the disparate worlds of country music and visual art. We’re not sure that you could say the same about anyone else, ever, and certainly not with the same level of aplomb, acclaim, and success—not to mention the same biting, self-effacing sense of humor about it all.

Allen’s artwork resides in the collections of the Met, MoMA, the Hirshhorn, and Los Angeles’ MoCA and LACMA, among many other institutions, and has been exhibited internationally at Documenta and the São Paolo, Paris, Sydney, and Whitney Biennales. You can encounter his public commissions across the U.S. He is the recipient of Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships. In the realm of music, in addition to several projects with the aforementioned Byrne, Allen has likewise collaborated closely with Guy Clark, Lloyd Maines (pedal steel master, producer, and father of the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie), and the Flatlanders (Butch Hancock, Joe Ely, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore). His songs have been covered, recorded, and championed by the likes of Dave Alvin, Laurie Anderson, Bobby Bare, Ryan Bingham, Don Everly, Jason Isbell, Robert Earl Keen, Little Feat, Ricky Nelson, Peter Rowan, Doug Sahm, Sturgill Simpson, and Lucinda Williams.

Forty years later, Juarez is widely regarded as Allen’s first masterpiece, timelessly relevant, resonating with works of film and literature as much as other music, recalling the existential violence of Terrence Malick’s Badlands (1973) and informing successors like David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990), Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy (1992-98), and Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 (2004).

Paradise of Bachelors will reissue Terry Allen’s critically acclaimed 1979 double album Lubbock (on everything), the follow-up to Juarez, later in 2016.

+ The definitive, deluxe edition of the art-country classic: produced in collaboration with the artist; remastered from the original analog tapes; the first reissue on vinyl; the first to feature the original artwork (including accompanying lithographs); and first to contextualize the album within Allen’s 50-year art practice.

+ Available on virgin vinyl as an LP, with expanded, heavy-duty tip-on gatefold jacket, printed inner sleeve, download code, and 24 pp. book with related artwork, lyrics, and essays by Dave Hickey, Dave Alvin, and Brendan Greaves.

+ CD edition features scale replica gatefold jacket, inner sleeve, and 48pp. book.

credits

released May 20, 2016

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Terry Allen Santa Fe, New Mexico

Legendary Texan artist Terry Allen occupies a unique position straddling the frontiers of country music and conceptual art; he has worked with everyone from Guy Clark to David Byrne to Lucinda Williams to Bruce Nauman, and his artwork resides in museums worldwide.
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