Ghosts in the machine

And the music coming from the box is no mere aural wallpaper, but an integral part of the ancient country and blues atmosphere. If most places keep CD jukeboxes to provide background music over which patrons must scream--such as at the Elm Street Bar, which is loaded with such dreck as the Kiss tribute CD or Stone Temple Pilots or Pearl Jam blasted at top volume--Naomi's is the sort of place that revolves around its jukebox, with patrons propping beers on the glass as they plug the thing full of quarters.

"The workers across the street come in and play the new country stuff, but the regulars play the country oldies," says Tex Edwards, who tends bar during the day. "'Green Onions' [by Booker T. and the MGs] is kinda the most popular song," he says. "It crosses all strata, everybody likes that. We have to have the new country stuff because that's what some people want to hear, but that's for people just stopping by."

Probably the most eclectic vinyl box in town sits at the back of the Stoneleigh P., where a modern-day Rowe/AMI still spins the likes of Edith Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Beethoven (his 5th symphony), Miles Davis (including "All Blues") and Clifton Chenier, Nina Simone (the hard-to-find "Strange Fruit") and Carl Perkins and early Buddy Holly. (A single of Marilyn Monroe breathlessly singing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" was recently swiped.) The machine also holds six CDs, but the Stoneleigh management has wisely decided to keep it free of modern hits, with Alberta Hunter, the Allman Brothers, Joe Ely, Oletta Adams, and an early Austin blues collection filling the few slots.

The Stoneleigh doesn't own the jukebox, but owner Tom Garrison has a deal with the local distributor, Excel, to fill the jukebox with his own singles--as opposed to the way it usually works, with distributors providing new singles and replacing old ones. Garrison owns thousands of 45s, often buying dozens on his various trips to places like Montreal, Paris, and London. He is intensely passionate about his music and his jukebox, which was once featured in an Esquire magazine spread about the 10 best boxes in America, and boasts he's "slightly jealous" of only one other box in America.

"When they told us we could no longer buy 45s, then I really made a concerted effort to keep this going," Garrison says. "I'm old enough to have lived some of this stuff. It's like a needle in the haystack. You go through hundreds of dirty bins to come up with one great record. I've gone to the end of the world to look for this stuff to put on the box and keep in my collection."

Throughout the years, Garrison has assembled other great jukeboxes throughout the country in various bars and restaurants, only to watch as Charlie Parker was replaced by Jackson Browne, Edith Piaf superseded by Fleetwood Mac and other hits of the day. He refuses to switch over entirely to CD--in fact, he's trying to repair a jukebox that plays 78s--but doesn't mind the combination machine that allows for a handful of discs to play alongside old vinyl.

"I do like the fact they combined them, because I can put Robert Johnson or Beau Jocque on there and some other things you can't get on vinyl," he explains. "But I like to hear the scratches on a Caruso song. Caruso needs that clickety-clickety-click. It just adds to it."

When the Art Bar and Blind Lemon expands northward from Deep Ellum with the opening of Your Mother's Hip and Lavaca Cantina, there will be a vinyl jukebox in there that compares well with the boxes of old. Johnny Cash, Slim Harpo, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, B.B. King, Gene Autry, Hank Williams, Freddie King, and more of their ilk will be heard coming from the box, joined by the king (or King, more appropriately) and queen of the jukebox, Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline. (A 1989 survey by the Amusement and Operators Association found "Hound Dog/Don't be Cruel" to be the top jukebox selection of all time, closely followed by "Crazy.")

But one of the finest jukeboxes in town can be found in a place that, without it, would be nothing but a decent enough place to get a plate of sausage and eggs, a cup of coffee, and a pack of smokes at three in the morning. Stuck in between scores of otherwise mediocre singles by the likes of Madonna and Hank Williams, Jr. and Bob Seger are a handful of gems that make the Metro Diner on Gaston Avenue home to a great jukebox--Bobby Bland's rendition of T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday Blues," Junior Walker and the All-Stars ripping through "Shotgun," Chuck Berry's immortal "Maybelline/Roll Over Beethoven," the Coasters' novelty classic "Charlie Brown," even Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Crossfire/Chitlins Con Carne."

But there is one cut that towers above them all--"Muddy Waters Twist," a track by the mighty bluesman that is not available anywhere except on the B-side of "You Shook Me." It's a genuinely rare piece of music, the use of organ and driving dance beat so unlike Muddy's more familiar fare, and you can't get it on any Muddy Waters CD or boxed set or rarities collection. You can't hear it anywhere else in town (that I know of) except at the Metro Diner.