Richard Cabesa’s Music Blog

Reckless Kelly has unmistakable energy on stage and great songwriting ability.  So when the band announced that it would record it’s show at La Zona Rosa in Austin, Texas, on March 31, 2006, most fans were excited.  There is also a DVD which was made of this show, but I have yet to see it.  The live CD did not disappoint, and listening to it is just like being there live.  The new CD, called Reckless Kelly Was Here, is a top notch effort from the Austin-based group.

The live CD opens with Sixgun, a song from the 2005 release Wicked Twisted Road. The guitar playing of Willie Braun gives the song a Guns N’ Roses sound.  This a song about a girl who uses him to help rob a bank and then doublecrosses him and takes all the money.  Even through it all, it’s not the money or the guns that he misses, but it’s Sadie.  True true love.  The following track is Castanets. The song is ok, but it has been written many different times in other ways, such as Trace Adkins’ Honky Tonk Bodankodonk, Mel McDaniel’s Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans on, and Jon Christopher Davis’ Honky Tonk Momma Blue Jean Booty Queen.  It’s not a bad song, just not real original.  Motel Cowboy Show, also from the Wicked Twisted CD, is a true story about going to see the 1980s band Motel Cowboy.  The lyrics visualize the scene for the listener, “Where there is drinking, dancing and there’s no place else to go.”  The song has a very pleasant sound to it.  It’s one of Reckless Kelly’s better works.  It’s a good honky tonk song.

I Still Do, an early Reckless Kelly release (Millican, 1998) is the first sign of a true, soft love song with lines like, “Well I guess I must have slipped and let my guard down. But you know you’re always gonna be my girl. And I get turned around and lose direction. Sometimes I forget you’re my whole world.”  This is clearly an early work for Reckless Kelly.  It’s a well-written song, but they are much more refined now.  The fiddle playing of Cody Braun and the tambourine work of David Abeyta works great in the cover of Richard Thompson’s 1952 Vincent Black Lighting.  It’s an interesting song to cover, as it’s not one of my favorites.  Honestly, I’m not sure I remember what the original sounds like, but I like the sound of what Reckless Kelly has done with it.  Seven Nights in Eire, again from the Wicked Twisted Road CD, continues with Abeyta’s tambourine work and Braun’s fiddle play, and the audience reaction shows that the song is popular.  This song has the Irish pub feel to it, and every time I’ve ever heard it, it cracks me up, because I picture a little 3 foot leprachaun dancing around the bar.  Not that it’s happened, but that’s what I envision.

Break My Heart Tonight is a brand new Reckless Kelly song, written by lead singer Willie Braun, and is the first to be released to radio.  And this song is greatness, and I would not be the least bit surprised to see this song top the Texas Music Charts soon.  With lines like “And they say misery loves company. But it damn sure ain’t looking for me. I’ll be alright. I just gotta find someone to break my heart tonight”, how could it not?  Nobody’s Girl is from the 2003 Under the Table, Above the Sun CD.  The song was written by Willie Braun with his brother Mickey, from Mickey and the Motorcars.  I love the beat of the song, and it tells a telling story about a girl who’s daddy left her as a child.  That tragedy has scarred her for life and she won’t open her heart to anybody, hence “nobody’s girl”.  Reckless Kelly mixes in Hey Say May with a cover of the legendary Freddy Fender’s humorous Guacamole.  What more can be said about this dope-smoking song?  It’s just a funny song, and the band covers it well.

Vancouver, also from the 2003 Under the Table, Above the Sun CD, is another song written by Willie Braun.  The song is full of emotion, and not the usual Reckless Kelly sound.  The song starts out with “When the sun went down, you were sitting under someone else’s sunset, and I wasn’t around. You were wishing that I was the guy that you’d just met, and I was probably stumbling down some back street alley in Amsterdam,” and pretty much grabs you from there. I get a big kick out of the lyrics to the new song Wiggles and Ritalin, which has a kicking beat to it.  And this line especially cracks me up “let’s put on some Scooby Doo and roll a couple dooby doos.”  It’s the second pot smoking song, along with Guacamole, saluting the joys of getting high.  Wild Western Windblown Band, penned by Bruce Hauser and recorded previously on Reckless Kelly’s Live at the Stubbs CD in 2000, is a popular song with the group’s fans.  I think it’s the sound more than the lyrics that make it popular.  It’s about the roadlife of a country band.  Not bad, but not great.  Baby’s Gone Blues, from the 1998 Millican release, is another example of how far Reckless Kelly has progressed musically.  This song, while decent musically, is not a well written song.  There work since the Millican release has been consistenly better.

The title track from the Wicked Twisted Road is a nice melancholy, accoustic song about the struggles of life, and making tough choices and facing the results of making bad decisions.  The line “My first love was an angry painful song.  I wanted one so bad I went and did everything wrong.  A lesson in reality would come before too long. Yeah, my first love was an angry painful song.”  Each verse of the song starts and ends with the same line.  For some reason, I like that part of it.  It’s catchy.  One of Reckless Kelly’s most popular songs is Crazy Eddie’s Last Hurrah from the 2000 The Day CD.  It’s an upbeat song about killing an ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.  I guess it could be a little controversial, but it’s a definite party song live.  During the end of the song, Willie Braun introduces the band to good audience reaction.  Reckless Kelly closes out the live part of the CD with a cover of the Beattles Revolution.  It’s a good closer to the live show, except that it goes on forever - to the tune of almost 10 minutes!

There’s two extra studio tracks at the end of the CD - Break My Heart Tonight and Wiggles & Ritalin.  Reckless Kelly’s music has continued to get better and grown over the years.  It’s still a hard blend of roots rock and honky-tonk.  I’ve read several accounts that say they are inconsistent with their music.  But I think that as a good thing.  It shows their versatility as they are capable of pulling off both.  Listen to their live CD Reckless Kelly Was Here and you’ll know what I mean.  Their live show is even more entertaining - I recommend checking them out if you’ve never seen them.
 

Fans have been waiting for months for the release of Deryl Dodd’s Full Circle CD.  It’s now less than a month away, and I’ve had a sneak peak at this incredible piece of work.  The album opens with the upbeat shuffle Wearin’ A Hole, which has a distinctive Dwight Yoakum sound and Dodd pulls it off with style.  It’s songs like this that make people love honky tonk music and it should fill up dance floors and become a fan favorite.  Dodd sounds as good as he ever has on this one and I love the beat of this song.  It’s followed with the George Strait-like Thanks To The Man.  This isn’t what you would think when you first see the title.   I was thinking The Man.   But this is very country!  Only in country music can you sing a song thanking another man for breaking a girl’s heart.  Great stuff!   The first release from the album is I’m Not Home Right Now.  While it took me a couple of listens to warm up to it, it’s really a stong, heart wrenching song, similar to Outside Looking In from the Stronger Proof album.  “I’m here in this house, but I’m not home right now.”   Obviously a true story about a heartache in Dodd’s life, anybody who has had a broken heart and found themselves thinking about the past, can relate to this song.  This will be one of those that the women love, and the guys hate.   

Business picks up on Into Outlaw.    Dodd didn’t write this one, but asking for “a shout ya’ll” is definitely him.  And any reference to an eight track tape in a country song makes me think of my Dad listening to Willie Nelson when I was a kid.  The six degrees of separation from Willie Nelson to Deryl Dodd is good enough for me!  Plus the song has great attitude and could very well become one of  his signature songs, right alongside That’s How I Got To Memphis, Pearl Snaps, and Honky Tonk Champagne.  Hopefully it will be released to radio next.   In That’s The Stuff, Dodd teams up with longtime friend Jack Ingram, one of the hot commodities in country music right now.  The combination works brilliantly.  The two are similar enough but sound different enough to make the song work.  And it happens to be a well written song too and it’s great musically.  When I first heard Feels Like Home, I thought it was a decent song but not very good.   But after listening closely to it a couple of times, I like the song, and it’s a pleasant listen. 

I Won’t Run is my personal favorite from the CD.  It was written by Dodd’s ex-wife Jennifer Hicks and it fits his sound.  This song should become a motivational song for people who feel like giving up and quitting.  I absolutely love the song.  Solid Ground isn’t one that you go looking for, but it’s not a bad song.  I’m kind of stuck in the middle on this one.  I can’t figure out how much or how little I really like it.  The lyrics are very powerful though and illustrates how love can heal the deepest of pains.  The beat is what doesn’t pull me to it.  But each time I listen to it, I like it more.  Years ago Dodd released Only ‘Cause You’re Lonely on his self titled Deryl Dodd album.  He has re-released it on this album.  My first thought when I saw that was “why”?  It never was one of my favorite songs of his.  However, he has done something different with it.  I always liked what the song was saying, just not the sound.  Now it has both.  The redo has been done well, and Dodd even sounds a bit like Dwight Yoakum again on this one – a definite plus.   Once in awhile, Dodd drifts to the Gospel side, which can be very enjoyable.  He did this on the Pearl Snaps album with Where the River Runs, and I loved it.  Someone Is Waiting definitely is Dodd going spiritual.  I’m not sure everybody appreciates this sound of his the way I do.  This song shows Dodd’s greatness.  This song can be a great love song if you want to think of Someone as a women.  But at the same time, that Someone isn’t a woman, it’s God.   One day, I would like to hear Dodd play an entire gospel album like Alan Jackson did recently.   I heard Dodd play Songs Of The Family on a radio talk show last summer and I immediately fell in love with it.  I like the fact that family is so important to him, and the beat of the song is wonderful.  It probably won’t be a radio hit, but it’s one of my favorites on this album. 

Deryl Dodd has produced some fine work over the years, and I have maintained for awhile now that Pearl Snaps was his best album to date.  Well no longer.  Full Circle is clearly his best work.  This album takes the best of Dodd and it puts it all into one.  I’ve always been amazed at Dodd’s songwriting and his voice continues to get better with age.  It’s amazing to me that he is not a household name in the country music scene.  But perhaps this album provides the answer to that.  He sings about being into outlaw, family, God, and the stuff that he’s made of.  The stuff he’s made of is that he’s true to himself and to his roots.  And while, he may have to play the Nashville game a little bit to land a record deal (Dualtone), there’s no corporate BS in Deryl Dodd.  There are no image consultants to create a bogus public image to help sell CDs.  There’s a reason Dodd is so popular in his home state.  He’s one of us.  We can relate to him.  Thanks for the music Deryl.  Keep it coming.  Great job!    

When I sat down to listen to Wade Bowen’s Lost Hotel CD, I had only heard of one of his songs - the hit God Bless This Town.  Having listened to the entire album, I came away feeling that Bowen might have a pretty good future in the business.  His raspy voice has a charming sound and his songwriting is excellent.  Bowen wrote or co-wrote 11 of the 13 tracks on this album, which shows he can write.  He sometimes focuses too much on breakup songs.  If he can branch out a little and in some cases add some pop to his music, I think he’ll be fine.

Lost Hotel starts off with God Bless This Town.  This song went to #1 on the Texas Music Charts, and anybody who has ever lived in a small town will feel what this song is all about.  Everybody wants to get out, but then again, so many stay because they are secure there.  Bowen does a lot of writing with fellow artist Brandon Rhyder, and they co-wrote One Step Closer.  This is a song that deals with a relationship that’s falling apart.  The first line “my windshield’s cracked, just like my heart” is a catchy lyric for me, and I really enjoy this song.  Walking Along The Fenceline is another co-written by Rhyder and has a good beat to it, but doesn’t really say much.  At first I wasn’t sure what the purpose of the song is really or what the message is.  I think it’s about not rushing life and trying to make things happen and just living life as it comes.  It’s not a complete waste, but he has many better songs.

Resurrection is a song Bowen co-wrote with Bleu Edmondson.  It’s a nasty little break up song.  It’s has a nice edge to it - kind of the “up your’s, I’m over you now and I’m back to living” kind of break up song.  There’s a strong feel of revenge in the lyrics.  Interesting writing on this song too, in that the chorus is exactly three words long.  I really like this song.  Perfect Silence is a nice little love song that Bowen co-wrote with Matt Powel.  Bowen wrote this song about his wife and it could very well be a radio hit.  It has the sound that radio seems to be looking for.  “I love to dream about you and how quiet you love to be; Girl you’re perfect silence is perfect to me” is an awesome line, and the song is beautiful.  Lay It All On You, co-written by Randy Rogers, is yet another losing in love song, which is almost an overkill theme of this album.  In this one he talks about always taking the girl back and giving her one more chance, yet he’s out wanting everybody to believe it’s the last time, but the reality is that he knows it’s not.

The title track, Lost Hotel, is a song that sings about giving up and about redemption.  It has a real nice sound to it, yet paints a picture of darkness.  The lyrics to this song are so powerful “She abandonded herself into a bottle of pills; Life’s dark highway has finally run out of thrills.”  That’s the giving up part, while “So say a prayer for the weary; Say a prayer for the lost; Say a prayer for the hungry; They’ve all paid the highest cost” is the redemption side of the song.  This is one of my favorites on the album.  It’s All Over Town is, well, take a guess.  I another lost in love song.  Bowen again collaborated Rogers on this song, and it is actually a well written song.  I think I would like it more if it was earlier in the album and I hadn’t already heard the same type of song so many times already.  Handle is a song that can become a real crowd pleaser.  It has that fun barroom sound to it.  The song is for a past love telling her he doesn’t need her, she’s been replaced, and he’s doing better than she is.  I really do like this song.  The one thing that might make it even better would be a more upbeat sound, but it’s fine the way it is too.  Great lyrics in this one.

Broken Reflection is another song about redemption, salvation, and spirituality and asking for forgiveness for his past.  The song isn’t necessarily one of my favorites but it’s very powerful.  Crazy Enough is another pretty good barroom song about living on the wildside.  It’s not a heavy hitter on this album, but it’s not bad.  Lost Control of My Heart is a song about falling in love and how fresh love is in the beginning of a relationship.  I think everybody has felt this before and this song will make you think back to the beginning days of past or current relationships, and regardless of how they may have turned out, you’ll feel good about those first days.

You want creativity in a country song?  How about Mood Ring?  This song is so cleaver.  The lyrics are wonderful, but also funny.  He sings about the woman who he can never please, so he buys her a mood ring so he can get a read on her.  “If it turns black, I should turn back; If it turns red, she likes what I said; If it turns blue, I should leave her alone; If it turns green, she wants me I know.”  And that’s just the chorus.  The song won’t be a radio hit because it’s too long, and does kind of drag on after awhile, but it might be the best song on this CD.  It’s a good way to close it out.

All in all, I think Lost Hotel would be money well spent.  I love Bowen’s voice and his songwriting.  Just a little more versatility and he’ll be in business.  If you have a chance to catch Bowen live then you should do it.  Either way, you should pick up a copy of Lost Hotel.

Next week - CD review for Full Circle by Deryl Dodd.

On Sunday, June 25, I ventured west to the White Elephant Saloon in Ft Worth for the Deryl Dodd benefit show.  Ten bands for ten dollars?  How could I pass that up?  My whole day was booked for this event, and was quite surprised that there were so many people there at 2 in the afternoon.  I thought most people would show up later in the day, but there was a steady flow of people all day. 

Level Route, a nice little band from Paris, Texas opened the event in the Beer Garden, while the Travis Mitchell Band played inside the White Elephant.  Level Route fancies themselves as High Performance Outlaw Country, and they did delivered on that.  I’m not sure what their close was because I was running back and forth between to the two stages, but the last song I heard from them was a cover of Workin’ Man Blues and it was awesome!   I had heard of the Travis Mitchell Band, but had never seen them, but the UT Longhorn was quite entertaining.  Texas Girls is a pretty cool song, as is Bitter.  I think I need to see them again when I can focus on them and I’m not in and out. 

Following Level Route in the Beer Garden was Zane Lewis, and man is this guy good!  Zane is another I hadn’t see before, but knew some of his songs, including the hit This Town.  In an event that was put together for Mr Dodd, Zane carried the stage like the man himself.  I Hate To See Her Go and Beer Drinkin’ Women are crowd pleasers.  It was obvious the people there had seen him before because they ate up his show.  I wish I had seen more of it.  King Cone played the inside stage around 4:00.  I missed part of his show because I was watching Mr Lewis, and since I have seen King many times, I wasn’t in a great hurry.  But I did make it inside to hear Ask Me To Stay and Folsom Prison Blues.  An older fan jumped on stage with King and played harmonica and sounded great.  King himself enjoyed this and told the elder statesmen “I don’t know who you are, but I like it.  I wish you were my grandpa.”  It fell right in line with the feel of the day since everybody was here for a good cause. 
Back in the Beer Garden, Michael Klien took the stage.  He’s another I had seen before, but it had been awhile.  He too was very enjoyable.  I guess Stamp of Fate is his signiture song, or at least the most popular, but It Won’t Be Me is a good song too.  He also played his latest single Stayin Young, which I think could make song noise on the Texas Music Charts.  3 Ring Rodeo, led by Jon Magill, lined up next on the inside stage.  Unfortunately, I had to get something to eat around this time so I missed a lot of their show, but Don’t Send The Invitation If You Don’t Want To Party is just a kick ass song.  They also performed a cover of Mr Dodd’s That’s How I Got To Memphis, which they probably should have avoided.  But Mr Magill and Mr Dodd apparently go back a ways, and being as this was Mr Dodd’s benefit, we’ll cut them some slack. 

By the time I finished eating, Spur 503 was already started up on the Beer Garden Stage.  These guys were really enjoyable.  I honestly don’t know any of their songs, but I liked what I heard.  It makes me want to find out more about them and see them again.  The fact that they are from the Sherman/Denison area gives them a few bonus points too.  Ed Burleson, also from Denison, was scheduled to play the inside stage at 7:00 but didn’t show up.  This was very disappointing to a lot of us, but we assumed he probably got too drunk to drive over.  Since he wasn’t there, I went back outside to see more of Spur 503.  I really like their sound. 

Tommy Alverson was next on the Beer Garden stage and the Texas legend delivered.  Ray Wylie Hubbard even showed up and played a little bit with him.  Somebody mentioned that 3 Ring Rodeo was back on stage in the inside, so I hustled back over to catch some of them, but they finished up shortly after, so I didn’t see much again.  So back I went to the outside.  Mr Alverson was, well, Mr Alverson.  And the audience loved him.  When he sang Una Mas Cerveza, he got great audience response and participation.  Mr Dodd surprised all and showed up to play with Mr Alverson.  Mr Alverson joked with Mr Dodd when he was using his guitar, “be careful with my guitar.  Don’t let it get stolen or something”, which got a good laugh out of everybody.  Mr Dodd sang One Ride In Vegas and his latest single I’m Not Home Right Now. 

Jamie Richards was on the inside stage to close the show.  He too was very entertaining and played several hits including They’ve Never Been To Texas and Last Time Till The Next Time.  The event turned into a huge party when Mr Richards, Mr Dodd, and Mr Alverson all sang together on stage.  They took turns singing each others songs and looked to thoroughly enjoy themselves.

Several artists from around the state and country who didn’t play at the event donated merchandise to be raffled/auctioned off.  I can’t remember them all, but I’ll try.  Cooder Graw, Wade Bowen, Darren Kolzelsky, Martina McBride, Sonny Burgess, Micky and The Motorcars, Max Stallings, Cory Morrow, Randy Rogers Band, Jordan Micozkie, Roger Creager, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Eli Young Band, Robert Earl Keen, Radney Foster, No Justice, Andy Griggs, and Gary P Nunn.  There were probably more, but I can’t remember.  Poor David’s Pub in Dallas also donated a $100 gift certificate and Billy Bob’s donated Willie Nelson 4th of July tickets.  Items that were auctioned off were a Pearl Snap Shirt and Tony Lama Boots (after all, this was a Deryl Dodd benefit), a women’s leather jacket, some signed Cowboy Hats, Autographed Guitar by Neal McCoy, Autographed Guitar by Little Texas, and an Autographed Guitar by everybody that performed at this event.

It was a long day, but well worth it.  And it just goes to show what good people live in Texas and how tight knit the Texas Music Industry is.  For as many people to give up a free Sunday and/or merchandise to help a fellow man, shows how great Texas is and how popular Deryl Dodd is amongst his peers.  Great job by Texas Nites Entertainment, the White Elephant, and 95.9 The Ranch in putting this thing together.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be reviewing Wade Bowen’s Lost Hotel CD and Deryl Dodd’s Full Circle CD.  Check Back.  Till next time…

I have absolutely loved Radney Foster’s work going back to his days in the 1980s as part of Foster and Lloyd.  He hasn’t missed a beat as a solo artist either.  The Del Rio, Texas native’s latest release is This World We Live In.  The album’s opener is Drunk On Love and it has the Bob Dylan bluesy sound to it, yet still has the honky tonk sound we’ve come to expect from Foster.  The relation of the power of alcohol and the power of love is interesting.   Very good song, and the line “flying high on a stone cold rush” is awesome. And you gotta love the “been before the porcelain throne” line.  Sarah Buxton singing backup gives it an interesting twist.  Buxton also sings on Sweet and Wild and gives it an added touch.  The song is about the newness of a relationship.  I think everybody likes how new love feels and can relate to this song.  Kindness of Strangers is pure greatness.  The song is a story about a hooker saving a man who has lost it and is at the end of the line.  I find this line, “letting go even though the heartache’s all you trust” to be very powerful.  Foster is such a great song writer, and singing about finding redemption from a hooker, is good stuff.   

Big Idea is a great, upbeat song and is one of the highlights of the album.  This song cracks me up.  The lyrics are Foster at his best.  “Hey darlin’ I wanna make things perfectly clear.  Now if we could put our heads together we could change the world forever”.  haha  How does he come up with this stuff?  To me Half of My Mistakes is clearly the best song on the album.  It’s a ballad about gaining wisdom from your mistakes.  I love the line “half of the good things in my life, came from half of my mistakes.”  Great stuff.  Kim Richey providing background vocals is a nice touch as well.  New Zip Code is so cliche’ but Foster makes it work.  It’s not a highlight of the album by any means, but it’s passable.  It’s actually kinda funny after listening to it a couple of times.

Another ballad is I Won’t Lie To You, with somebody singing background vocals, but I can’t really tell who it is.  I like it though.  The song is about how love can cure all, including the pitfalls of today’s world.  Prove Me Right is currently playing on radio, but really isn’t that great of song, I guess because the opener gives it the feel of a goofy drunk song.  Also, it sounds like a Toby Keith type song, which isn’t really bad, it’s just not Foster.  The song itself is actually about hope in love and believing in it, which is definitely better than how it opens.  I like the song, and it’s a good radio song, but it’s not one of the better songs on the album.  Fools The Dream is right up there with Half of My Mistakes as the best on the album.  The cleverness with which this song is written shows Foster’s greatness as a songwriter.  Most people will be able to relate to this song, as I think almost everybody has been a relationship that you know is destined for failure.  Kim Richey sings backup, which again, is really nice.  One of my favorite lines from any move is “If you want big rewards, then you gotta take big risk” from Summer Catch.  Never Gonna Fly is basically saying the same thing with different words.  The song is co-written by fellow Texas singer/songwriter Jack Ingram, which is definitely a good thing. 

Overall, this album was a bit of a letdown. While it does contain the typical Radney Foster greatness that we’ve come to expect, there are some songs on this collection that make you scratch your head and ask what was he thinking.  It’s a pretty good album, but based on previous Foster albums, I’ve come to expect a lot more.

Rarely is there a time when a star of the Joe Nichols’ magnitude plays a place the size of Cowboy’s Arlington.  But such was the case last Friday night, and as expected, the house was packed.  Nichols came right out of the shoot with Brokenheartsville and continued from there.

Nichols continued playing hit songs, including Size Matters and Cool To Be A Fool.  He also included a song on his most recent CD that has not been released to radio, I’ll Wait For You.  My guess is that this will be the next radio release.  It’s not much of a concert song though, and the audience seemed a bit disinterested.  He followed that up with a dedication to the late Buck Owens.  However, he could have at least sang something we had heard of.  I’m not sure what Buck Owens song that was.  But props to Nichols for mentioning the little known fact that Buck is from Sherman, Texas.

The show picked up a little bit when Nichols broke into some cover songs.  His version of Whiskey River sounded almost as much like Willie Nelson than Willie himself.  A little Hank Jr and David Allan Coe followed.  David Allan Coe music in a Texas honky tonk bar is always a good thing, and a sure bet to get the crowd back into the show.  Once Nichols had his audience back, he kept it the rest of the night.  He followed with The Impossible and What’s A Guy Gotta Do.  The Impossible is really a powerful song and sometimes gets forgotten about when talking about Joe Nichols tunes, but it may be his best to date. 

Bras and panties filled the stage when Nichols performed Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.  This song is good enough as it is, but what a great live song.  I was hoping to hear a couple of cover songs that Nichols has on his new III CD, Should I Go Home Or Should I Go Crazy (Gene Watson) and My Old Friend The Blues (Steve Earle), but he didn’t do them.  That was my only disappointment of the night. 

I found the show entertaining and I felt Nichols was smooth on stage.  However, a colleague felt the show sucked and that he couldn’t keep his audience.  For the most part I have to disagree, even though, he did lose it a little bit in the middle of the show when he steered off from his own music.  But overall, I felt it was money well spent, and will definitely go see him again.

King Cone and Brandon Bush entertained Saturday afternoon at The Garage in Denton, as part of the Fry Street Fair.  I attended, but really didn’t know what to expect.  I had never heard of this Fry Street Fair.  I had seen King Cone play once before, and Brandon Bush I had never seen. 

I made the trek to Denton to see King Cone play and he didn’t dissappoint.  The thing that I have noticed about King is that his personality overrides whatever flaws that his music may have.  It’s not that the music is bad at all, but it ’s a different mix and it’s sometimes confusing on what he wants his sound to be.  Or perhaps he wants it to be everything to reach a broader audience.  At any rate, he played some newer material that I hadn’t heard before from his new CD.  Go With Me was actually on a previous CD and was redone with a little funk, as he would say.  And my favorite off the new CD Hanging On The Vine.  My favorite King Cone song is Ask Me To Stay, which he played twice, so that in itself made it worth the trip.  Being this was a Fair, bands were rolling in and out, so King only played for an hour, but his audience interaction is that of a seasoned veteran.  He’s obviously comfortable on stage and has a commanding presence that will help him go places in this industry.

Since there was still beer to be drank, I decided to stay and watch Brandon Bush too.  This is not Brandon Bush, the piano player.  This Brandon Bush I honestly had never heard of.  This was an acoustic show and was quite entertaining.  Bush has a good sense of humor and played off that several times in the show.  He played some original music telling stories of high school and college experiences, but maybe relied too much on cover tunes.  However, he did very well on some, including Jason Boland’s My Baby Loves Me When I’m Stoned and Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road, but struck out trying to cover Cross Canadian Ragweed.  Without knowing much about Brandon Bush, I’d say he is in his young 20’s at most, so he has time to work on his craft.  He has the stage presence already, so he has a start on most who would never have the balls to get on stage in the first place.   One word of advice to the young Mr. Bush:  Play your music, and rely less on everybody else’s.

As for the Fry Street Fair.  Wow!  Somebody remind me of this thing when it rolls around next year.  It’s been along time since I saw so many scantily dressed women.  Well, ok, maybe they were girls.  Oh to be 20 years old again.  Until next time, take care everybody.

When Deryl Dodd hits the stage, fans of all kinds show up.  Last Saturday night at Cowboys Arlington was no exception.  Dodd’s voice sounded fresh and as great as ever as he played several of his popular hits and some material from his new CD to be released June 27. 

Deryl’s shows at Cowboys Arlington are always some of his more entertaining shows.  Even Joe Nichols stopped by for this show, coming over from Ft. Worth after his afternoon performance in the stockyards.  Deryl opened the show with one of my favorites, 13MWZ.  Deryl’s crowd covers all ages, genders, and personalities, and undoutedly, some of them don’t even know what 13MWZs are, but the song is still enjoyable to them.  Hit after hit followed, including Pearl Snaps, Love or Something Like It, John Roland Woods, Sundown, and Drinkin’ About You.

Watching a Deryl Dodd show is like watching a Willie Nelson show.  If you’ve been to several artist’s shows, then you know what I’m talking about.  There isn’t a whole lot of idle time on stage and pompous self promotion.  Deryl rolls from one song to the next, just as Willie does.  He did take a few minutes, like he always does, to introduce his band, The Homesick Cowboys.

Deryl tried out some material from his new Full Circle CD, including it’s first release, I’m Not Home Right Now.  The song will be released to radio on April 17, and should be another hit.  It’s a lovesick ballad, obviously written during a low point in Dodd’s life.  It’s a song that I think everybody can relate to you.  You hear Deryl sing this song, and you feel his pain, as it takes your back to a time in your own life when you were at that low point.  And we’ve all been there.  Another song from the new album is actually an older song recycled, It’s Only Cause You’re Lonely.  This song was previously recorded on his 1998 self titled Deryl Dodd CD.  It’s a more upbeat song about being the transitional guy for a girl.  And yes, we’ve all been there too.

Deryl also performed a couple of cover songs.  One being Ricky Skaggs’ Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’.  I’m not a huge Skaggs fan, even though I do like his work, so I may be in the minority on this, but Deryl does this song better.  Another cover was George Strait’s Unwound.  It takes some stones to try to cover George Strait, but Deryl does it very well.

Of course, no Deryl Dodd show would be complete with out fan favorites Things Are Fixin’ To Get Real Good, A Bitter End, and his signature That’s How I Got To Memphis.  There were probably some other songs played, but by the end of the show, the alcohol was kicking in and I just can’t remember.  And the excitement of meeting Joe Nichols clouded my recollection as well.  Once again, look for Full Circle on June 27, and listen for I’m Not Home Right Now on April 17.  You’ll like it.

That’s it for this week.  I’ll be doing another CD review soon, so check back.  And if you have a CD you would like to have reviewed, let me know, and we’ll check it out.  See ya next time.

Growing up in a small town, albeit not so small anymore, it was always pretty cool to have somebody famous from your city.  In Sherman, Texas, we didn’t have many such people.  Our neighbors to the north, Denison, had President Dwight Eisenhower.  Bohnam had Sam Rayburn.  Tiny Tioga had Sam Rayburn’s funeral, as well as staking claim as the birthplace of Gene Autry.  But we had Buck Owens.  The Buckaroo.  Mr. Hee Haw. 

That’s right!  Every week we watched one of the most popular shows in the United States.  And the start of the show was from our hometown.  Sure, not many people knew that.  It was more accepted that he was from Bakersfield, California.  But we knew better.  Hwy 82 in Sherman is even named Buck Owens Highway.  The stars of the show came and went, but Buck was the star among stars.   Grandpa Jones.  Stringbean.  Minnie Pearl.  Junior Samples. 

Guest stars were common as Hee Haw was the place to be.  Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings.  You name ‘em.  They were there.  The list of legends goes on.  They all made appearances.  But it was Buck’s show.  There he was each week with his red, white, and blue guitar.  Even George Strait and Alan Jackson could be seen on Hee Haw.  But we still tuned in to see Buck.

The funny thing is that it wasn’t until much later that I realized he was a star singer.  We thought of him as a TV star, not a singer.  But Buck did have twenty number one hits on Billboard’s country music charts.  Several of his songs have been recorded by others, but never like Buck could do them.  I didn’t grow to appreciate Buck’s music until Dwight Yoakam arrived on the scene in the mid 1980’s.  Dwight quickly became one of my favorite country artists.  And when he re-recorded Buck’s hit “Streets of Bakersfield” in 1988 as a duet with Buck, it became Buck’s first #1 hit since the early 1970’s.  That’s really when I became a Buck Owens fan. 

I was in the front row at the Tarrant County Convention Center for a Dwight and Buck concert in 1989 and it was to this day, one of the best shows I have ever witnessed.  Buck was better than advertised.  It’s unfortunate that I didn’t fully understand his greatness until I was twenty years old.  However, it was fortunate that he lived another 17 years after that so that those of us who didn’t know, could understand.

Buck Owens influence on country music is timeless.  And his influence on Texas country music lives on.  I could go on and on about the songs that have Buck’s influence, but one in particular stands out.  Ed Burleson has a song with the lines “I wrote this song myself, and it’s all Buck’ed up.”  That symbolizes Buck’s influence.  Witty, quircky, yet poignant.

That’s Buck Owens, American icon.  Texas treasure.  Sherman’s own.  I was saddened Saturday to hear of his passing.  But I was thankful that it wasn’t 17 years earlier.  I was thankful that I didn’t miss out on the greatness of the Buckaroo. 

God Bless Buck Owens.