The United States (pt.4 R-Z)

Jason Rapert ~ Current far right Tea Party Republican member of the Arkansas State House who has made a name for himself with his total anti-abortion stands and inflammatory racist rhetoric, may be a total hate filled nutjob but he is is also an fine Old Time Fiddle player.

JASON RAPERT ~ "I'VE GOT THE HOLY GHOST";


Martha Reeves ~ Singer for the Motown group Martha & The Vandellas with such classic hits as "Dancing In The Street", "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and "Nowhere To Run" later served a couple of terms on Detroit City Council as a Democrat until 2009.

MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS ~ "DANCING IN THE STREET";


Condoleeza Rice ~ The U.S. Secretary of State from 2000-08 and who briefly flirted with possible Presidential runs in 2008, 2012 & 2016 was also known as a talented classically trained pianist who sometimes performed at White House during her tenure. Afterwords she also played at various charity events with the likes of Aretha Franklin and Yo Yo Ma.

CONDOLEEZA RICE & JENNY OAKES BARBER ~ "AMAZING GRACE";


Tex Ritter ~ Cowboy singer and actor from the 1920's to the 1950's with hits like "Goodbye Old Paint","Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin" and "Remember the Alamo" and a series of movies. Also the father of actor John Ritter. Followed in the footsteps of Roy Acuff by running as a moderate Republican for Senator of Tennessee in 1970 only to loose the nomination.

TEX RITTER ~ "HIGH NOON";



Dana Rohrabacher; A longtime Texas Republican Congressman is pro-pot but otherwise right wing anti-environment, pro-gun, pro-Putin nutjob who also fancies himself a folk singer. Which really shouldn't be encouraged. He was finally defeated in 2018 and hasn't been heard from since.

DANA ROHRABACHER;


John Russell; An independent congressional candidate in Florida who was also an part time musician who took "I Can See Clearly Now" as his campaign song. He lost.

JOHN RUSSELL ~ "I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW";


Bernie Sanders; in 1987 while he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders recorded an album of folk tunes about which his wikipedia page tactfully points out "Sanders was not skilled at singing" which is somewhat of an understatement.

BERNIE SANDERS ~ "WE SHALL OVERCOME";


Eugene Schmitz ~ Mayor of San Francisco from 1902-07. A professional concert violinist and conductor who headed the Musician's Union, he ran at the head of the new Union Labor Party and surprisingly won election as mayor. Called "Handsome Gene", the urbane, elegant Schmitz used his performing experience to his advantage on the campaign trail winning over voters with his ability to give speeches from memory and project his trained voice without the use of microphones, unlike his bland opponents. Unfortunately while he was personally popular he was also unlucky and was saddled with dealing with the great San Fransico Earthquake in 1905. His administration was also notoriously corrupt, which might have gone unnoticed if not for the funds for rebuilding after the earth quake that went missing and he was impeached and arrested in 1907 and sent to prison. Acquitted on appeal in 1908 and again in 1912 he ran for mayor again in 1915 and 1919, losing both times while still getting a respectable number of votes. He did get elected to the Board of Supervisors however from 1921-25 and died, still popular, in 1928.

Carl Schurz ~ Missouri senator and one of the founders of the liberal wing of the Republican Party from 1868 to his death in 1906. Schurz was also a classically trained pianist who sometimes entertained at the White House often accompanied by President Rutherford Hayes, his wife Lucy and Vice President Wheeler who were tee-totaling amateur hymn singers.

Steven Seagal ~ The famously wooden star of 1980's & 90's martial arts movies later became a famously loony star of far-right conspiracy theories which basically the only thing that gets him press coverage now. As his film career petered out in the 2000's starred in his own reality TV series (of course) which included an invitation from notorious far-right Arizona sheriff and future felon Joe Arpio on a raid to an alleged cockfighting inn which he got to drive a tank through the suspect’s gate; 115 roosters and a pet puppy were apparently killed in the process. He would later campaign for Arpio's reelection as well as Trump's (of course) and considered running for Governor of Arizona in 2014 but begged off. A huge Putin fanboy (because of course he is) he has spent so much time campaigning for Putin that he was banned from the Ukraine and in 2017 Putin named him Special Ambassador to he USA although Putin doesn't seem to actually need one since he already has one in the White House. Arizona has a senate seat up in 2020 and no word on if Seagal will jump in this time but that would be fun. Did I mention he also has a Dad Rock band that apparently popular in Russia? Because why not? If you look closely at this vid you will note that he is barely actually playing here.

STEVEN SEAGAL ~ "DUST MY BROOM";


Joe Scarborough ~ A Florida Republican Congressman from 1995 to 2000and current Never-Trumper host on MSNBC's morning show also has a Dad Rock band which is at least better than Steven Seagal's. No word on their popularity in Russia.

JOE SCARBOROUGH ~ "MYSTIFIED";


Alek Skarlatos ~ Republican Congressional camdidate for a district in Oregon was previously a contestant on "Dancing With The Stars" where he finished third.

Andy Starr ~ An eccentric 1950s rockabilly and country journeyman from Arkansas who turned to God in later years and became a preacher, he also made a unsuccessful run for the Idaho State House in 1974. Failing this he set his sights on the presidency in 1976 again in 1992 against fellow Arkansan and musician Bill Clinton with even less success.

ANDY STARR ~ "OLD DEACON JONES";



Jimmy Swan ~ A 1940's and 50's Honky Tonk singer from Alabama who had played wiht Hank Williams and Hank Locklin as well as solo recordings scoring a few hits. He was also a radio DJ until he retired from the music business in the late 1960's and involved himself in right wing politics in Mississippi. Running as for Sheriff of Hattiesburg and then Governor losing both times.

JIMMY SWAN ~ "HONKY TONKIN";


Jill Stein; Like a few other politicians Green Party leader Stein had a folk music background, but showing a bit more commitment, as well as having more free time, she had an actual serious band called Somebody's Sister which recorded four albums and was twice a finalist in "Musician Magazine's" Best Unsigned Bands contest.

JILL STEIN ~ "PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER";


Glen Hearst Taylor ~ Idaho senator from 1945 to 1951, a liberal-populist Democrat and also Vice Presidential candidate for the Progressive Party in 1948 (against Harry Truman), later unsuccessful in reelection runs. He began as a touring preacher and country western folk singer known as the Singing Cowboy. As a politician he brought his guitar to speeches and sang left wing folk songs. Although he performed on radio he never recorded. Ironically he is one of the inspirations for the fictional right wing character "Bob Roberts" which would have appalled him.

Bobby Lee Trammell ~ An Arkansas Wildman rockabilly singer from the 1950's left a series of minor hits (including "The Arkansas Twist") along with an even longer series of trashed stages, motel rooms, and at least one radio station which got him banned from California. He also dared to get into a brawl with Jerry Lee Lewis of all people which resulted in The Killer's piano being turned to kindling just before a gig. Not surprisingly this sort of thing got him blacklisted from all but the most small town stages and radio stations in the south and cost him his record deal. He would continue to record for small independent labels and was even offered a distro deal by Warners which he turned down in a typical burst of self-destructive pique, he had previously walked out on a possible deal with Sun Records. He would continue to slog away as a country artist for years but his days as a possible rock start were over by 1961. In later years Trammell would sober up enough to run for the Arkansas State House and amazingly won and served from 1997 to 2006. He died in 2008.

BOBBY LEE TRAMMELL ~ "SHIRLEY LEE";


Harry S Truman ~ President from 1945 to 1952; in spite of his homespun image he had formal piano training as a child and was a good amateur player who had once dreamed of a career in music.

HARRY S TRUMAN - PERTILLO DUET;


John Tyler ~ President in the 1840's played the violin as well

Jimmy Walker ~ Mayor of New York during the 1920's Jazz Age; known as Dandy Jim, Beau James and The Night Mayor due to his love of night clubbing and partying. In his previous life he had been a sports journalist, vaudeville song and dance man and Tin Pan Alley song plugger who wrote the hit song "Will You Love Me in December (As You Do In May)?" which became his theme song. His two terms in office accomplished some good works in building infrastructure, parks and keeping transit fares down but ended when he fled town to escape indictment in various scandals. He later returned and remained a popular figure in New York night life.

HARRY MCDONOUGH & THE ELYSIAN SINGERS ~ "WILL YOU LOVE ME IN DECEMBER (AS YOU DO IN MAY)" (WRITTEN BY JIMMY WALKER);


Joe Walsh ~ The former Eagles and solo guitarist ran a joke campaign for President of The USA in 1980 even though he was not actually old enough to assume the office according to the constitution. His campaign included a promise to change the national anthem to his own hit "Life's Been Good To Me So Far" and a promise of free gas for everyone. Surprisingly he still lost. In 1992 he declared his candidacy again, this time he set his sights lower and campaigned for VICE President, and still lost.

JOE WALSH ~ "ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY";


Don Ward ~ The sound guy for a Colorado Metal band Driven By Turmoil and Libertarian Party candidate for Congress on a paltform of Free Speech, Pro Choice, Legal Weed and Fuck The Establishment and whose campaign essentially consisted of telling people to vote for him at the band's shows. He ended up getting almost 4% of the vote and in the event the results left the Democrats winning by one percent leaving the GOP crying foul and blaming Satan who could not be reached for comment.

Kanye West ~ On-Again-Off-On-Again MAGA-Head announced he was running for President in 2020 in what he admitted was a transparent attempt to lure blac and young voters away from Joe Biden and elect Trump. He has been openly supported by the Trump campaign which has ran signature campiagns to get on the ballot but has failed in most states with allegations of using fake signatures and filing late paperwork and bizzare rambling press confrences. In 2023 he announced he would run again and reportedly asked Donald Trump, yes that Donald Trump, to be his running mate. In spite of Trump having already announced his own intention to run for the Presidency himself. That went about as well as might be expected. Then Kanye (who has also changed his name to Ye because why not?) kicked off his campaign, if we can call it that, by going on a couple of podcasts to talk abput his love of Adolph Hitler. Yes that Adolph Hitler. That also went abut as well as could be expected.

KANYE WEST ~ "I LOVE IT";


Larry West ~ A 22 year old aspiring thrash metal musician and graphic artist who ran as a candidate for mayor of Philadelphia in 2007 and got a fair amount of press coverage both for his mohawked and pierced appearance as well as for the fact that his young age actually disqualified him to run for mayor at all, forcing him to run as a write in candidate after he was unable to raise the funds to challenge the law in court. Has said he will probably run again and maintains a website.

Woodrow Wilson ~ The American President from 1912 to 1920 and before that Governor of New Jersey was a bookish intellectual with a fine classical education who also played the violin. He also liked to sing and at Princeton University and he became a tenor in the then prestigious Princeton Glee Club.

Frank Zappa ~ The king of post-psychedelic art-rock was largely apolitical in the 1960's being critical both of the government and war and the hippie drug scene. However he became more involved with politics after in opposing Tipper Gore's P.M.R.C. and he considered running for office. He was also a popular figure in the Eastern European intelligentsia like Czechoslovakia's Havel who invited him to become a consultant on trade, culture and tourism. However the American state dept. put pressure on Havel to rescind to appointment, Havel made Zappa a Cultural Attache instead. Zappa died of cancer not long afterwards.

A YOUNG FRANK ZAPPA DOES SOME AVANT GARDE SILLINESS ON THE STEVE ALLAN SHOW;