Country Universe – A Country Music Blog

Texas Country

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Stuck in my car stereo over the last couple of weeks has been a CD loaded with tunes from some of my favorite Texas-affiliated artists.  I’m a big fan of the singer-songwriter, old school and raggedy rock styles of country music, and Texas excels at all three. So any time I need a break from the current “Nashville sound,” I like to check in with Texas and see what they’re up to. Invariably, it’s more colorful and interesting.

I can’ t call myself an expert on Texas country by any stretch of the imagination and my education is nowhere remotely near complete (hint: feel free to recommend), but I do sense that it’s a style of music, or perhaps a musical sensibility, that is extremely important to maintain.  Texas artists exude a certain spirit of creativity and sense of individuality that is sorely lacking elsewhere in country music.  And in my opinion, great music and great artists only flourish in settings where both of those are encouraged.

Here’s a sampling of the songs I’m currently listening to:

• “Dallas,” Jimmie Dale Gilmore
• “Snowin’ on Raton,” Townes Van Zandt
• “West Texas Waltz,” Joe Ely
• “Greenville,” Lucinda Williams
• “Tortured Tangled Hearts,” Dixie Chicks
• “Transcendental Blues (Live in Austin),” Steve Earle
• “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” Willie Nelson
• “Treat Me Like a Saturday Night,” The Flatlanders
• “Bourbon Legend,” Jason Boland & The Stragglers
• “Jesus Was a Capricorn,” Kris Kristofferson
• “Angry All The Time,” Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis
• “What I Deserve,” Kelly Willis
• “Old Five and Dimers,” Billie Joe Shaver
• “Heartbreaker’s Hall of Fame,” Sunny Sweeney
• “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” Waylon Jennings

What are some of your favorite Texas country tunes?

Leeann Ward’s Top Ten Albums of 2008

Saturday, December 27th, 2008

#10

The SteelDrivers, The SteelDrivers

Chris Stapleton’s voice just blows me away. As Lee Ann Womack has recently observed, he sings like a real man. He takes Travis Tritt’s soulfulness to a whole new level. With incredible harmonies and terrific songs not limited to “Blue Side of the Mountain” and “Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey”, this is a strong project that certainly stood out in 2008.

#9

Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Comal County Blue

I love Boland’s folk-tinged country voice, which sings these memorable fiddle laden melodies to great affect. While the lyrics can be abstract at times, they still manage to feel meaningful. I’ve come to realize that what ultimately appeals to me about this album is the fact that it reminds me of good nineties country music, which is the era that drew me to this genre in the first place.

#8

Darrell Scott, Modern Hymns

My admiration for Darrell Scott is unending. I, of course, love his voice, but I especially love his thoughtful songwriting. “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” just floors me every time I hear it. In this project, however, he chose to cover some of his favorite songs that he classifies as modern hymns. Unsurprisingly, these choices turn out to be as interesting as his own compositions, which simply confirms that his talent is inspired by tasteful writing equal to his own.

#7

Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song

Admittedly, nothing about this album is warm or pretty. Johnson’s vocals are harsh and the songs are mostly darker than we’re accustomed to hearing in country music these days. Along with the outlaw tinged productions, these factors are the fundamental elements of this great album.

#6

Peter Cooper, Mission Door

While the melodies on his first album, Mission Door, are enough to draw you in, it is Peter Cooper’s provocative and insightful lyrics which catch you by surprise on this folk infused, steel guitar laden album. Cooper either wrote or co-wrote ten out of the twelve tracks that explores such weighty topics as racism and poverty. He enlists the help of Nanci Griffith and Todd Snider, his two favorite singers, on the album’s stand out title track, along with recording his own mellower version of “Thin Wild Mercury”, which he co-wrote with Todd Snider for Snider’s The Devil You Know album.

The best and most powerful song on the album, however, is “715 (For Hank Aaron), a song that discusses the duality of Aaron being a revered baseball player and an oppressed black man. This grossly ignored album that sounds like a mix of Darrell Scott and Todd Snider, with lots of steel guitar thrown in for good measure, is one of the year’s most intriguing albums.

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Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Comal County Blue

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Jason Boland & The Stragglers
Comal County Blue

Jason Boland and the Stragglers are unaware of it, but we’ve spent a lot of quality car time together over the years. We’ve sung some amazing duets, ditched a few speeding tickets and generally had a fantastic time. So, of course, as soon as I received their latest album, Comal County Blue, I headed straight for the car and hit the highway. (Honestly, this review only took me this long to write, because I didn’t want to take the CD out of my car stereo. But, better late than never…)

The first song on the album sets the tone of the album musically, if not lyrically. “Sons and Daughters of Dixie” is a gentle rocker with a definite groove and well-placed instrumental solos. The significance of the song’s lyrics, however, only reveals itself upon repeated listens. This is surprising given that Boland’s lyrics rebuking the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina are anything but subtle: “The one thing I can’t stomach/Is how the hill watched it bleed/You bet they’d sang a different tune if a flood had hit D.C.” While the song ultimately speaks to the determination and strength of the people affected by Katrina, the impact of the song would have been greatly enhanced by a vocal and arrangement to match the biting lyrics.

The album’s sweet spot, which comes three songs in, is easily the title track, “Comal County Blue.” As soon as I heard it, I leaned over in my car and pushed repeat. Then I contemplated swinging a right and taking Interstate 8 due east. Within 15 minutes, I could have been driving through one of the great deserts of the southwest and headed towards Texas. The chugging pace and soaring fiddle of the song—which recounts a contemplative trip (either figuratively or literally) from the singer’s residence (“I have a harmless habit of being fine wherever I am”) up north to Austin (where he “paid a due”), visiting old memories and friends along the way—nearly demanded it. It comes as no surprise that this song, which manages to be universal at the same time it speaks to specific people and places, currently sits atop of the Texas Music Chart.

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