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And I thought I’d sleep through Texas, but I woke up in Illinois
And the car in the lane next to me was driven by a little boy
And he flashed a smile at me then he drove straight off the road
Smacked an overpass, I watched his car explode
And when she wakes me from my delirium
I know I’m no longer fun
For her
Ronnie Fauss does a fantastic cover of my favorite song of one of my all-time favorite bands.
(via Twang Nation)
Turned north just south of Arkansas
I consume most of my music via Rancho Radio, my hand-curated, publicly available Spotify playlist. But sometimes I want to tune into to another source, and let it play while I’m working, or sitting on the back porch. Fortunately for me, the best radio station on the planet is just down Highway 290 a ways, in Austin.
Sun Radio, solar powered Americana. From Austin. In Texas. USA.
Fortunately for you, you can listen to this fine music from anywhere, via the magic of the internets. You can also play Sun Radio through your Sonos (search for Sun Radio via TuneIn, and look for the logo).
Tangled, by Brent Best, formerly of Slobberbone. From the fantastic Your Dog, Champ.
And The Bird Hunters, from the Turnpike Troubadours’ self titled record.
Those of us who grew up out in the country, bird hunting with our dads, uncles and friends, behind legendary Pointers who now occupy dusty frames on our favorite walls will have a hard time not getting a little misty-eyed over the old bird dog named Jim and the Belgium-made Browning, like those many of us inherited from people we idolized.
Li’l Cap’n Travis. From Austin, in Texas, the greatest state in the union.
“Named after the son of a redneck who used to rent party barges at a onetime job of drummer Mandon Maloney, Austin’s Li’l Cap’n Travis mixes and matches seemingly disconnected genres into an unimaginable yet highly listenable whole. Their sound is Americana at it’s purest, from Brian Wilson and Jimmy Webb to the Flaming Lips and Wilco.”
Everybody has songs that serve as the soundtrack to parts of their lives. I’ve got a lot and one of them is Steve Forbert’s Romeo’s Tune from 1979. That song will forever remind me of my sophomore year of college, including a road trip to Orlando for the 1979 Tangerine Bowl.
“Bring me southern kisses from your room.” Yep.
I’ve heard most of his records and seen him live a time or two. So it’s always news when Steve does another record. He’s about to release his 16th studio album, Compromised, on November 6, 2015. Recorded in Woodstock and Cape Cod, it was produced by Forbert along with John Simon, who produced Jackrabbit Slim, the excellent 1979 record that included Romeo’s Tune.
I received a review copy of the title track, and it’s pure Forbert. An excellent song that sounds a bit like a look backwards at the ups and downs we’ve all had in the decades since 1979.
Compromised collaborators include bassist Joey Spampinato (NRBQ), drummer Lou Cataldo (The Freeze), pianist/trumpeter Kami Lyle, and keyboardist Robbie Kondor, the latter of whom played on Forbert’s classic 1978 debut, Alive on Arrival. “I recorded with the band that did the Arrival and Jackrabbit anniversary tours with me in 2013 and 2014,” Forbert says, “where we played those albums in their entireties. It just seemed natural to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to rehearse for this tour — but let’s record an album together, too.’ And it was great reconnecting with John Simon again after all this time.”
Look for a full review as soon as I get my hands on a complete copy.
Here’s a music video of a song Bob Clay and I wrote a few years ago.
