This is the eighth part in my series of favorite records.
I remember one night back in the mid-nineties I was channel surfing and came across a guy I didn’t recognize singing an awesome country song. That guy was Bob Woodruff and I promptly went online and bought the perfect country record.
Dreams & Saturday Nights is that record. Like a lot of guys who do alt. country (myself included) Bob comes from a rock and roll background and a place far away from Nashville, having played in rock bands while growing up in New York. This record is about the best mix of country/alt. country (being country with harder rock edge, as opposed to the other way around like most alt. country) I’ve ever heard.
Hard Liquor, Cold Women, Warm Beer is a perfect country song. The title track is a fine restless drinking song that will sound like a soundtrack for anyone who went to college in the South in the 70s or 80s (and maybe even thereafter). That the song references Neil Young, Marvin Gaye and Patsy Cline in the same line tells me that Bob listened to the same broad selection of music that I did growing up.
All of the other songs on this record are absolutely great. The music alternately makes you want to chug a beer, dance or cry. Great writing and fine playing. I wish Bob would do another record. To my knowledge, he only has two albums out- this one and the follw up from 1997.
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