UFOs, recreational suicide, and Texas kitsch, in song.

July 22, 2015 2:40 PM

I had this album in the early 90s that featured a woman singing songs about committing recreational suicide, being abducted by UFOs, and Elvis, and I remember really adoring it. But now age and senility have caught up with me, and I have no idea who this woman was. Help?

It was kind of folky, kind of country, kind of swingy, but beyond that I don't remember much; just that it was very quirky and charming. I first heard one of the songs on KCMU (before it became KEXP) in Seattle, and went right out and bought the CD. My Google-fu is failing me, and I cannot for the life of me remember any more details about this, but I'd really like to hear it again.

Feel free to just throw names out - seriously, anything you think might be it will at the very least be fun to research. And thanks.

posted by Pecinpah to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

This might be totally wrong, but my first thought was Wall of Voodoo "Mexican Radio"
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 3:29 PM on July 22, 2015

Could it be a female cover of "Elvis is Everywhere" by Mojo Nixon?
posted by nicebookrack at 3:48 PM on July 22, 2015

Also, why do you mention Texas kitsch in the title? Did the song mention Texas, or was the singer from Texas?

You could try dropping a note to the magazine Texas Monthly, which enjoys publishing tidbits on obscure Texana. If there's a song about Texas, SOMEONE at Texas Monthly knows someone who knows someone who knows it.
posted by nicebookrack at 3:55 PM on July 22, 2015

Kathy McCarty?
posted by oceanview at 4:10 PM on July 22, 2015

Although I can't remember these particular songs, what about Christine Lavin?
posted by frumiousb at 5:09 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

Early '90s, folk/country/swing, quirky and charming brings to mind Meryn Cadell, but I am not familiar enough with the catalog (I only owned Angel Food for Thought) to know if those specific subjects are song material. Or Jill Sobule, maybe?
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:16 PM on July 22, 2015

If you don't remember a song about a guy killing cattle with a bolt gun it's probably not Poor Little Critter in the Road by The Knitters, Exene Cervenka of X's side project, but you will probably like The Knitters.
posted by MsMolly at 6:36 PM on July 22, 2015

Pretty sure this is wrong... but maybe Ray Stevens? There's an Elvis/UFO song, some Texas stuff... and I have no idea about the recreational suicide, but I wouldn't put anything past him.
posted by stormyteal at 7:24 PM on July 22, 2015

Response by poster: All these suggestions are really great - thank you all - but unfortunately they aren't the person/album I was looking for :(

nicebookrack, I put 'Texas Kitsch' in the title because the album was kind of kitsch-y, and (as I recall) the songs were set in Texas. I'll write that magazine - thank for the tip!

MsMolly; whoa....the Knitters. Cool stuff!
posted by Pecinpah at 1:08 PM on July 23, 2015

Have you tried this list of songs referencing Elvis?
posted by PeriDoe at 12:20 AM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Oh, MAN - I can't believe I didn't think of that! Great idea, PeriDoe, but unfortunately fruitless in this case. It looks like a lot of big names on that list, and I think the album/singer I'm looking for was pretty under the radar; probably not enough of a heavy-hitter for such illustrious company.

Hey, if I ever track this album down though, I'll get to add something to Wikipedia!
posted by Pecinpah at 10:32 AM on July 27, 2015

Oh darn, that's frustrating when Google gives no results. Good luck! :)
posted by PeriDoe at 2:25 AM on July 28, 2015