Richard Cabesa’s Music Blog

The first track on the album, called The Last Country Song, which is in the classic style of Jason Boland and the Stragglers.  I felt based on the title that this song would be a song about the end of traditional country music.  But the song is about the passing of something else.  It’s the passing of a generation and a way of life.

The title track The Bourbon Legend follows.  This song is seemingly an autobiographical look into the life of the singer, who by the way sounds more and more like Waylon Jennings with every release.   The first single released to radio was the crowd favorite No One Left To Blame.  This song was a hit on Texas radio, climbing to the top of the Texas Music Charts.  I absolutely love the song.  The momentum is lost on the next track.  Jesus & Ruger is probably my least favorite song on the album, but I’m really not sure why.  It isn’t a badly written song, and Boland sounds great as always, but something about the song just doesn’t catch me.  Every once in a while a song is like that, and this is one of them.   The current radio song is the love song Up and Gone.  The first few times I listened to this song, I wasn’t completely sold on it.  But it has grown on me, and has become one of my favorites.  The song is very well written, and Boland sounds very much like Waylon in this song.  In fact, if you close your eyes and listen closely, you would think it is Waylon.  This song is on the fast track to #1 on the Texas Music Chart.  Baby That’s Just Me is a cleverly written song.  I’m not sure of the quality of it, but I like lines like “I’ve gone crazy one cent at a time, I slipped and fell on my pride.”  The outlaw in Boland shines in Can’t Tell If I Drink.  This song will be hard pressed to ever find it’s way to mainstream country radio stations.  The lyrics are way too rebellious for the Rascal Flats listeners:  “Can’t tell if I drink because she bitches, or she bitches because I drink.”   Lonely By Choice is a song clouded in mystery.   The song could go in several different directions.  Which one I’m not sure of, but I like the song.  It has a nice rhythm to it and it’s well written.   Rattlesnakes, which Boland co-wrote with Bob Childers is another song that will never make it to the radio listener.  It’s a song about rattlesnakes, painted ladies, and cocaine -  three of the evils that no man should get involved with.  I can see this song becoming a fan favorite though, as it is as rough as Boland’s outlaw persona.  Time in Hell is a “whoa is me” song without sounding downtrodden and defeated.  It’s about hoping for something good, because he’s been through so much bad.  It’s a desperation song without sounding desperate.  The lyrics say it so well: “So put me on the red-eye flight, and let me find the sun; I’m not the first, won’t be the last, and all it takes is one; just take me far from this place, where the Garden of Eden fell; cuz I’m bound to go to Heaven, I’ve done spent my time in hell”. Boland doesn’t usually include many love songs, but Everyday Life is the second such song on this album, following Up and Gone.   It’s a good closer to this outstanding piece of work.

This album is vintage Jason Boland.  All Straggler fans will love this album.  I’ve always felt that Jason Boland was somebody you have to see live to appreciate.  I still feel that way, but that should not discourage you from getting this album.  And by all accounts, Boland is one of the nicest and fan friendliest guys in the business.  Do yourself the favor and get out and see him and the Stragglers.  You will be doing them a favor also, as they seem to thoroughly enjoy performing live in front of their screaming fans.  Success hasn’t changed Jason Boland and he is well on the way to becoming more than just the Bourbon Legend.