Pat Green

One Liner: One of the biggest Texas country names out there back in the 90's.

Wikipedia Genre: Country
Home: San Antonio/Lubbock/Austin

Saturday

Thoughts:  This will be fun.  I'm not sure I have ever really thought all that hard about Pat Green and what he means to me, before right now.

A million years ago, but I guess more recently than that since I am about to talk about the Internet, a college campus needed to have a computer lab (or 50 of them), so that the students could have access to computers.  They weren't in everyone's pockets or in every student's backpack like today.  When I started at college, they gave us our first e-mail address, which was a wild and new thing, and told us how we could communicate with students at like 20 other schools.  I still remember that my first e-mail was to a friend who had ended up at the Air Force Academy, because they were one of the few other available schools.

Anyway, we would spent evening time in the computer lab, working on papers, researching things (although the research power of the Internet back then was miniscule compared to now).  And socializing - the computer lab wasn't like the rest of the library where silence was the rule.  it was a large-ish room of sterile desks and chairs, all extremely functional and nothing built for show.  Kind of like the workspace in that Severance show.  But anyway, I have this strangely clear memory of a night in the computer lab in the mid-90's when Dee Buchanan first played me a Pat Green song.  

Dee was a fraternity brother, and was originally from Lubbock.  So, he proudly called me over to his desktop and handed me some humongous headphones, saying that he had heard this guy from Tech who was really good.  He played me "Dancehall Dreamer" from the 1995 album of the same name, and I was hooked in.  He sounds young, rough at the edges, but like he truly believes that things are someday going to go his way.  Good stuff.

But apart from my own experiences, my guy grew up in Waco and then moved to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech.  While he was there, he started playing bars and clubs around Lubbock and releasing independent albums like 1995's Dancehall Dreamer and 1997's George's Bar.  Around 1997, he decided to go for it with music, and had the good fortune of getting spotted by Willie, who took him on tour and then added him to the July 4 Picnic lineup.  He was soon selling out every show and got a Miller Lite sponsorship (still without any major label support).  One thing that I love about those old albums, are the covers of top-tier songs.  He covers Townes Van Zandt, Joe Ely, and John Prine, among his own great originals.  Which is sweet.  He later did an album of all covers, with Cory Morrow, called Songs We Wish We'd Written.

However popular those little indie releases were though, it wasn't until he signed with the big label and put out 2001's Three Days that he finally got his first legit hit - "Carry On."  8.8 million streams as of now.

Pat Green's voice is much better than I recalled.  I think a few days of listening to Wyatt Flores and Sam Barber has me thinking that these singer-songwriter guys don't have the chops. But he's got a solid range and warm tone that I enjoy.  "Three Days" also got some good radio play, as did "Texas On My Mind" and "Take Me Out to a Dancehall."  it is funny to go back through all of these albums - I owned all of the old ones on CD, but I haven't thought about them in forever!  "Rusty Old American Dream" (a David Wilcox cover) is freaking great!  So is "Down to the River" or "Galleywinter" or "West Texas Holiday"!  This rules!

But I'm burying the lede a little bit here, because all of those old independent releases and scrappy little tunes were blown away when he released 2003's Wave on Wave.  The title track to that one crushes anything else in his catalog with 45.6 million streams.

I'm sure it helps that he's a good looking, down-to-earth seeming guy.  But that tune walks a really good line between love song and potential Christian tune.  If you replace the "she" lines in there with he or Jesus, it would nail it.  Or at least I've always considered it to be that way.  I just listened to a Story Behind the Song for this, and his answer was unfulfilling - he just said "yes, this song is about whatever you think it is."  I also love the song because it reminds me of good times, for whatever reason, it has been the official song of a long-standing reunion of guys I went to school with, and so every year when we get together, that is the first song blasted from the bluetooth speaker and it makes several more appearances the longer the drinks flow.  Great singalong tune.

For a while he lived in Tarrytown, right by the house where one of my best friends grew up, and so it took on a mythical quality in my head, of the potential possibility to actually see Pat Green in the flesh.  Never did.  No clue if he still has that house.

Unbeknownst to me, Pat has continued to release albums.  2004's Lucky Ones, 2006's Cannonball, 2009's What I'm For were big label albums that apparently did mediocre and got Green branded as a sellout.  "CMT questioned the album as reaching for the "uninspired pop sound of today’s Nashville," with songs "starting to sound too much alike" and "crossing the line into Nashville pop" and perhaps not "honest and natural.""  Ouch.  When CMT is accusing you of turning pop, that has to sting.  So, he left his big label, moved back to Texas, and went back to releasing action on his own.  2015's Home has his biggest track since the olden days, with the Lyle Lovett duet called "Girls from Texas."  4.1 million streams.

Fine.  Nothing all that special, feels like a lazy song to just list states and a stereotype about each one.  I've gone through this 2015 album and the new 2022 album a few times, and they're fine.  Nothing in them really grabs me by the ears, just window dressing music.  I relistened to the Songs We Wish We'd Written though, and it is still great.

Definitely excited to try to catch this one.  Haven't seen him live in literal decades.

Ella Langley

One Liner: Relatively straight-forward Nashville country

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country and Country Rock
Home: Nashville (via Hope Hull, Alabama)

Sunday

Thoughts:  My instant thought it that this is a pretty straight-forward new country/Nashville product.  Lots of rock and roll guitars, a pretty voice and pretty face, generally generic lyrics about drinkin' whiskey and being a dream girl for a country boy.  But then when I cycled back through the tunes a couple more times, while there are some tropes in here, there are also some lyrics that nail real feelings and are more appealing than first blush.

She taught herself guitar using her grandfather's hand-me-down guitar, learning covers and trying it out at weddings and restaurants.  She ended up going to Auburn, where she kept at it, gigging around and trying to make a go of it, until she relocated to Nashville.  She used the pandemic time to write songs and create a social media following, which appears to have worked.  Since the world has opened back up, she's opened for Cody Johnson and Jamey Johnson, among others, and got to perform her debut at the Grand Ole Opry this year.

Her first single was in 2021, but the next year saw her two biggest singles.  The first of those was released on April Fools, 2022, and I think has some solid lines.  "Damn You" with 22.1 million.

Like, that starts out sounding like a lot of other tunes in the new Nashville genre, but then the chorus rings so true that I forgive it. "and what time that tequila would be nothing but ice" is the bit that nails it to me.  But, without those sharp lyrics here and there, this is otherwise a pretty generic country rock lover's lament.  Fine.  The other big track was released October 28, 2022, and really digs in to the generic tropes - even with the song title.  "Country Boy's Dream Girl," 24.7 million streams.

Red Dirt Road?  Check!  George Jones?  Check!  Sweet Tea?  Check!  Faded Jeans?  Check!  Back Porch?  Check!  I don't like that one nearly so much as I like the other.  But it is not terrible.  Just a little trite to me.  

She finally released an album (although at 8 songs and 25 minutes, that may be an EP) called Excuse the Mess, and it includes that last song.  She also features on a solid song by Tanner Usrey, who was at ACL this year, called "Beautiful Lies."  She almost sounds like Kacey on that.  And I kind of like "Paint the Town Blue."  I'm not in love with any of this, but relatively good for country music.

Wyatt Flores

One Liner: The Zach Bryan tree has many branches, but this guy is excellent

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country, Americana, Folk
Home: Nashville (via Stillwater, Oklahoma)

Sunday

Thoughts:  This guy is great.  His photo on Spotify makes him look like a 14 year old who currently plays safety on JV football for the Eldorado Eagles or something, but he sounds like a road-tested vet with a fun band.  He's in that same vein of the Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan path that has been blazed in the last few years, a guy writing good songs and blasting them out over minimal accompaniment.  But he sounds like he might actually have a producer back there helping him out, unlike the ZB path of releasing everything that he's thought of instantly.  But he's only 22, so lots to learn and do before he gets locked into any one pattern.

His first single on Spotify is 2021's "Travelin' kid," so he hasn't been at it terribly long.  According to at least one bio, that song arose from stories his dad told him about being the drummer in a Red Dirt country band.  I haven't been able to figure out what band though.  He grew up in Stillwater, home of Okie State, and also the home of Garth Brooks and Cross Canadian Ragweed.  So, he appears to come by a country-style honestly.

His top tune, by a mile, is a 2022 single called "Please Don't Go," with 67.3 million streams.

The start is so basic, but even when the band comes in, they keep it really clean.  Focus stays on his voice and the lyrics.  After that one, he released some other singles, but only one album to his credit so far - 2023's Life Lessons.  The top track from that disc is "Holes" with 3.2 million streams.

Starts out like a Lord Huron song.  Lovely stuff.  Like, really a beautiful song.  A lot of road-weary songs on that album - you can tell that he is writing about the experience of touring and coming up.  "Wildcat" is a freaking phenomenal song.  It has no streams, and yet it made me laugh out loud when I just now first heard it.  Funny stuff and definitely fun attitude.  "Break My Bones" cracks me up because it sounds like a kid's first attempt at a rock song, where that kid was raised on Creed and Nickelback.  RIFFAGE!  "Way Back Home" makes me think of the Garth song "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)"  "Write in Stone" has some great banjo-laced lamentations.  I'm going to provide you with one more song, because it keeps popping back up in my head - "West of Tulsa" with 1.6 million streams - and you get a real video!

Rock and roll intro, a little more of the "I'm on the road and it's hard" stuff, but I really think the chorus is good stuff.  "Makes me wanna be somebody to somebody else" is a solid line.  I can absolutely hear the crowd ROARING along to "or maybe she's just here because I sang some fuckin' song."  And then those soaring "oh oh oh" bits at the end will be something huge too.  I really enjoy that one.

This is a good artist.  I'm excited to turn some people on to this one.

Hank WIlliams Jr.

One Liner: Godfather-level, one of the top country stars of all time.

Wikipedia Genre: Country rock, southern rock, outlaw country, blues rock, rock and roll
Home: Nashville (via Shreveport, LA)

Sunday

Thoughts:  I mean.  Come on.  This guy is a stone-cold stud of the country world.  How bad ass that we'll get to see him play.  I'm pumped.

When it comes to Outlaw Country, who is on your Mount Rushmore?  For me, the immediate answer that go on there are Willie, Cash, Waylon, and Hank Jr.  He may have some more traditional country songs, and come from country royalty lineage, but he also has songs named "Tired of Being Johnny B. Good" and "Stoned at the Jukebox" and "O.D.'d in Denver" and "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound."  Those were not the traditional country tropes in the 70's.  Out of curiousity, I looked up what else was going on in country in 1979 when "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound" came out.  The hits are by soft-rock ass country folks like Kenny Rogers, the Bellamy Brothers, and Crystal Gayle.  The number one song of the year was a love song by Anne Murray.  Although, the "Devil Went Down to Georgia" was also released that year, for full disclosure.

So, let's dig in to the biography for a moment before we get to the tunes.  Born in 1949 (!!!) meaning he's way older than I figured.  His real name is Randall Hank Williams, but he goes by both Hank Williams Jr. and Bocephus.  The Bocephus nickname comes from the name of a ventriloquist dummy made popular at the Opry, which is a weird one for sure.  He is the son of Hank Williams, who is one of the most influential and significant American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, writing classics like "Move It On Over," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin'," "Cold Cold Heart," "Jambalaya," "Kaw-Liga," and other top hits that have been covered by everyone.  And yet he died at the age of 29 after being fired from the Grand Ole Opry while in the grips of an alcohol and painkiller addiction.  Sounds like he was not a swell guy during his short life, but he sure wrote some top notch songs.  

So, his dad dies when he is like 4, which couldn't have been all that wonderful.  According to one account, major stars like Cash and Haggard came to the house over the years and taught him music, and so when he was an eight year old he was already on stage singing his father's tunes.  By 14 he was on the Ed Sullivan Show singing his dad's songs.  He later rebelled against that and moved to Alabama, joining up with folks like Waylon and Charlie Daniels to hone a more rock-centered country sound.  All of that almost got derailed entirely when he fell while hiking Ajax Peak, in Montana, and broke everything.  He spent two years re-learning how to talk and sing, including 17 surgeries on his skull and face.  This is, in part, why his signature look now is a huge beard, sunglasses, and cowboy hat.

His discography on Spotify is weird - it starts with a 1964 album with Connie Francis that is them covering country classics.  And then the next three albums appear to be greatest hits, which would be a weird thing to release before you have released any real albums.  So there must be some record label beef thing where we can't see his early releases on here because Scooter Braun owns the masters or something.  RELEASE HANK'S VERSION!  But yeah, his Wikipedia shows that he released some 13 albums in the 60's and 17 in the 70's, and seems to show that some of those supposed greatest hits albums were just albums that have been rebranded now.  I dunno.  It's a mess.  He's still releasing tunes too, including the unfortunately named Rich White Honky Blues from 2022.

But we are looking for a hit-filled set here, not some deep cut festival.  He's got those hits in spades.  Let's get in to it.  "A Country Boy Can Survive" is the top track, with 149.1 million streams.

"I'd love to spit some Beechnut in that dude's eye" is a top notch lyric.  Also, good to know that people were trying to talk about how you couldn't go downtown without getting murdered even back in 1981!  Second biggest streamer is one I like more - "Family Tradition" with 145.6 million.

Good tale about breaking away from the traditional sound of his father.  Does everyone else yell "to get drunk" and "to get stoned" during the chorus?  Or was that something local?

Of course, he is in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Piles of other awards.  Several Emmys.  Several CMT awards.  Entertainer of the Year from the Academy of Country Music.  Several Grammys.  Entertainer of the Year from the CMAs.  He's the man.  

Surprisingly, "Dinosaur" is the next big streamer with 78 million.  A bunch of other tunes would seem like better candidates for his stream counts - "Whiskey Bent," "If Heaven Ain't A Lot Like Dixie," "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight," "All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)," "Weatherman," "There's a Tear in My Beer," or "Country State of Mind" would have more, but this track from 1980's Habits Old And New is the winner.

Sadly, starting to sound more familiar as I age.  Maybe that is why people are still streaming it!

His version of "Can't You See" is lovely.  The new disc of blues, despite the terrible name, is actually pretty good, and reveals that his voice is still strong.  It is actually wild, he literally sounds like he is an old black dude feeling the classic blues - he apparently uses an alter ego called Thunderhead Hawkins when he is singing the blues.  Which is some funny stuff.  Also, looks like this was produced by Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys, so Hank joins the long list of people making cool throwback stuff with Auerbach.

One neat anecdote to show that even the classics can't always avoid stepping in a cow pile: "In an October 3, 2011, interview with Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends, Williams discussed a June golf game where President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner had teamed against Vice President Joe Biden and Ohio Governor John Kasich, saying the match was "one of the biggest political mistakes ever". When asked why the golf game troubled him, Williams stated, "Come on. That'd be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu ... in the shape this country is in?" He also said that the President and Vice President were "the enemy" and compared them to "the Three Stooges". Later, anchor Gretchen Carlson said to him, "You used the name of one of the most hated people in all of the world to describe, I think, the president." Williams replied, "Well, that is true. But I'm telling you like it is." As a result of his statements, ESPN dropped Williams' opening song from its Monday Night Football broadcast of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus the Indianapolis Colts and replaced it with the national anthem."  Wow.

So, of course.  Absolutely.  You need to see this.  Even if he goes on a racist rant or calls Joe Biden the Great Satan.  You still need this in your memories.

Quick Hits, Vol. 329 (Queens of the Stone Age, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, The Baseball Project, Portugal. The Man)

I needed a break from the country music of the Two Step Inn for a hot minute, so I dipped into some of the rock and roll waiting for me in my queue...

Queens of the Stone Age - In Times New Roman...  I take no pleasure in reporting this to you, but this is not an especially interesting album.  I love QOTSA, and think some of their albums are perfect (or close to perfect - Songs for the Deaf is my favorite for sure, except for that damn "Six Shooter" song).  They have a swagger added to their rock and roll, a heavy swinging dick metronome to their funky groove, and I love it.  But sadly, nothing on this album is especially great.  It is exactly the kind of music the last album was covered in, but there's no hit on here.  I don't hear anything on here that just begs to be added to the radio rotation, but every other album has had two to three bangers like that.  "Paper Machete" is getting radio play, but I just don't hear it as a vital track that will still be in the rotation the way that "No One Knows" or "I Sat By the Ocean" or "The Way You Use To Do" still are.  I wonder if I need to try this one in my car for a few days... I did that (I may have written the part above a month ago, not sure) and it is definitely better that way, but still, it's not chock full of action.  I was sad to be missing the show this weekend, but less-so now.  "Paper Machete" and "Emotion Sickness" are neck and neck as the top tracks, each with 11.6 million, but Machete has the slight lead.

The normal swaggering guitar and cocky power, a rambling, staccato guitar solo, with lyrics vaguely about someone being a fake prick (might be about his ex-wife).  Yeah, I like it just fine, but it isn't nearly as sticky as the past albums.  I normally try not to read other reviews so that mine is unbiased, but just out of curiosity I checked Pitchfork.  They give it a 6.8 and say it is their angriest and heaviest record in years.  I'll probably keep listening, but not because it's necessary.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Eart and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation.  WTF guys.  I know y'all release like 9 albums a year, but that title is too much.  Listening to this album in the shower the other day, I had a great idea.  Instead of vaguely inscrutable lyrics about some stupid spirit animal or whatever they are going on about, what if you took a tight group of heavy rock songs and then recited truly great food recipes over them?  No more "Oh, holy frontier art unbound / Thee kiss thy god, I kisseth ground" weird shit, and instead you get someone yelling about "slice the onion / nice and thin / need a full cup / now brown them!"  This is an excellent idea and someday I will be very rich.  Anyway, this is another album of these dudes creating exquisitely tasty melodic riffage underneath some more weird lyrics.  But nothing in it sticks in the slightest.  Just a fever dream of thrash and doom and then its over.  The top track is "Gila Monster," with 6.3 million streams.

GILA! GILA! GILA!  woooooooooooo!  High tone stuff there.  I dig the backing tune though, sufficiently complex and melodic while still rocking.  But yeah, this disc can go back.

The Baseball Project - Grand Salami Time!  This one had me geeked up because, if you are a reader of this blog, you know that REM is my favorite band.  And this "alternative rock supergroup" enjoys the presence of Peter Buck from REM, so I thought maybe it would be a way to keep a little of my REM love alive.  Not so much, but it is still kinda funny.  The songs have some sort of baseball-themed lyrical thing going on - homer runs, getting the yips, being a journeyman player, Shohei Ohtani, the guy who either walks, strikes out, or hits a homer, the Disco Demolition night, the Fantasy Baseball Widow, etc.  Kinda cute and clever, but the tunes themselves feel very dads-in-a-garage-bashing-it-out, so it doesn't really get me going.  "Journeyman" may be the best actual song on here, with a little more production.  It has 18k streams.

I can let this go, but it is a fun little album.  Man, I really wish that R.E.M. still existed...

Portugal. The Man - Chris Black Changed My Life.  The new disc is really good.  The second song ("Grim Generation") feels like they went back to the well of the 60's groooooovy-baby sound to see if they could tap back into that zone of their mega-hit.  It's not quite that catchy, but it is definitely a tight earworm that is very snappy.  And then the most streamed song is one that I have already heard a good number of times (in part because it was on a Taco Bell commercial that played during sports things this year) but also because it interpolates Coolio's "1,2,3,4 (Sumpin' New) (which he could have stolen from something else, I dunno) and at least one line follows the same vocal patterns as Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" (about 1:00 in).  13.5 million streams for "Dummy".

Hahahahaha  That video is unhinged and awesome.  WTF.  Catchy song for sure.  The track with Unknown Mortal Orchestra on here is good as well.  Solid album.  Ends up that I just like this band, apparently.  Most of the tunes have a much lower stream count, like a million or so.

And if you are wondering about the album name, I did too: "We lost a very dear friend of ours on May 19, 2019. It shook us to our core. Chris was one of those people who was like glue; he brought everyone together. His passing really messed with us. The band was in shambles and this record is the first time I feel I made a complete record; a complete thought about our world crumbling around us and the journey back. While it is a very personal journey, I feel like everyone has a Chris Black in their life; at least I hope that everyone has a Chris Black in their life. That one friend who has a way of making everything right and making everything fun. The one who keeps you in check when you go off course and is always there to celebrate the good times and to support you in the bad times. Chris Black Changed My Life."  So, that might explain some of the gap in their output.

Megan Moroney

One Liner: Georgia sorority girl whose biggest hit is about wearing the wrong school's colors

Wikipedia Genre: Country
Home: Savannah, GA (now Nashville)

Sunday

Thoughts:  I just reminded myself how to spell her name by saying "moron" out loud.  So, I've got that going for me.  Sort of reminds me of Kacey Musgraves without the top tier lyrics and a little bit more gravel in her voice.  She actually says in one article that Musgraves was her inspiration to start writing music.

She started singing while a student at the University of Georgia (pretty sure this is the third person on this poster who went to UGA) when she got to open for something named Chase Rice.  She also "interned" for someone in Sugarland - not sure how you "intern" for a singer, but whatever, it helped open some doors for her once she moved to Nashville.  Her first big hit became viral, in part, because she was spotted wearing a Tennessee Volunteers shirt that supposedly belonged to mega-star Morgan Wallen, leading to speculation that they were dating, and blowing the song up.  The track popped up into the charts, and she got signed to Arista Nashville.  She later got to perform the track on ESPN's College Game Day, and the streaming numbers went off the charts.  "Tennessee Orange" has 158.6 million streams.

Clever tune for sure - taking advantage of the insanity of college sports fandom and tying it in to falling in love.

I like this paragraph as an explainer of her past: "Moroney played her first gig while she was a student at UGA, warming up a crowd for country singer Chase Rice, whom she’d met at a philanthropy event for her sorority. Afterwards, “Chase was like, ‘You don’t even need to go to college — just come to Nashville,’” she remembers with a laugh. “I told my parents he said I was ready, and they were like, ‘That’s cute.’” She completed her degree, which involved an internship with Kristian Bush of Atlanta’s hitmaking Sugarland, before moving to country music’s capital, where she initially supported herself as an influencer hawking CBD gummies and “hair products that kind of worked” on Instagram."  haha.  Sounda about right.

"I'm Not Pretty" is a solid tune, going through how she knows that an ex's new girlfriend is scrolling her Instagram and cutting her down.  Likely 100% true, which makes it a good set of lyrics.  That one has 33.6 million streams (actually, up to 35.5 since I started this post a week ago - blowing up!).  It is a good example of how she is making traditional-sounding tunes, but with modern themes.

Another really well-done song.  My brain doesn't want me to like her - too picture-perfect and put-together, and yet these are well-done tunes.  Feels like she might be a star in the making that you can see now before she blows up.

The Castellows

One Liner: Three sisters harmonizing a song about the dirt road where they grew up.

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country
Home: Nashville (via Georgetown, GA)

Saturday

Thoughts:  There is a great little town on the Llano River called Castell.  We took a family vacation out there many years ago, and it is that type of river frontage where it never gets terribly deep, but you get lots of little pockets of water to lounge in and cool off.  Lovely.  Also, lots of water moccasins, which was less lovely.  Oh, and there is a cool little general store there that serves dope barbeque.  Anyway, that is what I thought of when I saw this band name, I was hoping that they were from Castell.  However, from their picture, I expect that these are three sisters and that is their last name.

Yep.  Ellie, Powell, and Lily are sisters from Georgetown, Georgia (hey, and they're going to play in Georgetown, Texas!).  They grew up in the same house where their dad was raised, and they were homeschooled.  Ellie and Powell are two-thirds of a set of triplets, but the third member is a dude who is not part of the band.  Which, you know, seems kind of rude.  Poor guy.  Lily is the odd woman out, being 18 months younger than the rest of the clan.  They have one original song, which was released in October 2023, and shockingly over a million Instagram followers (I say that tongue in cheek, as they are beautiful young women).  They're moved to Nashville and are all in on the musical journey now.  Strange talent alert - one can speak and sign in Korean, one can fly planes, and one has her artificial insemination certificate (for cows).

Here is the track - "No. 7 Road" - with 219k streams.

Cute.  I like the banjo, and the down-home lyrics.  I'd love to hear more to see what else they have, because that one seems a little raw.  Like, what were the Chicks called before they became the Dixie Chicks?  Like that debut album that was a little simple and unpolished.  They also cover Levon Helm's "Hurricane" in a Spotify single.

I had a thought while in the shower the other day, and no, not like that, but that young artists like this are no longer putting information about themselves into writing the way that old people used to do.  Now, they are reaching their audience through video and socials.  Which is weird for me because I am old, but it made me search and I found this background video.  Which is totally weird to me, but I guess makes sense to the younger generation.

This video looks like they have been kidnapped and are being forced to sing a song by their captors or else face death or dismemberment.  

Funny thing.  The comments to that video, which look like comments on many of their videos, are things like:

• "You girls have a future in music. PLEASE don’t let it ruin you. Stay simple, stay country."
• "You guys are awsome. dont let the music industry corrupt your values."
• "I hope they will stick to wholesome, classy songs and not let the music industry turn them into sex starlets."
• "Beautiful sound. Dont loose it."
• "I wish you the best of luck and be careful of the dirtbag producers and vampires in the music industry."  

WTF, man.  What is the expectation there?  Just out of curiosity, I looks up a Zach Top video to see what the comments there were like.  See the difference:

• "Recently discovered Zach.  I think I may have a new favorite country singer!"
• "Zach is a real one. Hell of a singer, hell of a picker, and his live versions are no different than the record! Hoping to catch a concert soon!"
• "Love your voice and music your gonna save traditional country music"
• "This was awesome man keep doing what your doing"

Is this just a normal sexist thing?  I went way down in the Zach Top comments, and never down in there is there a comment about how he needs to be careful and not screw up his sound or his values.  So strange.

Hard to make any definitive pronouncements based upon one studio song, but it's promising?  I love some good banjo!  I JUST HOPE THEY DON'T SCREW IT UP BY HAVING SEXUAL RELATIONS OR SPEAKING THEIR MIND!!!

Colter Wall

One Liner: Classic, old-school western sound from a 28 year old Canadian.

Wikipedia Genre: Western, country, folk
Home: Saskatchewan

Saturday

Thoughts:  I'm really liking this stuff.  I had a period, about 25 years ago by now, when I lived in Dallas and listened almost exclusively to The Range, a radio station up there that played all the Texas Country and Americana that you could stand.  Great stuff.  Bruce Robison, Guy Clark, Chris Knight, Dixie Chicks, Willie, Charlie Robison, Pat Green, Marty Robbins, BR549, Bob Wills, Two Tons of Steel, Haggard, Waylon, Dale Watson, and many more.  It was great.  Around that same time, I remember becoming obsessed with two other artists - I don't know if that was because of The Range or otherwise, but the cowboy tales of Chris LeDoux and the smooth, top-notch songwriting of Don Williams.  Both of those dudes are top tier when it comes to writing a song. But The Range also got me on a tear with what I'd call Campfire Cowboy tunes - the kind of music you could imagine a tired cowboy singing around the fire while drinking his burnt coffee and staring up at the stars.  The absolute king of those songs, in my opinion, is Don Edwards.  Sadly, he has passed away, so we won't be getting him at the Festival any time soon, but he is rad.  His duet with Nancy Griffith on "Night Rider's Lament" is lovely, but that whole Best Of compilation that they released right about then, in 1998, was my freaking jam.

Anyway, I bring that up because this dude is right there in that same wheelhouse.  He's doing yodels.  He's doing classic story songs.  He's doing a waltz about running cattle.  His voice is gruff and gravelly like he literally just came out of the dusty trail.  I love it.

Funny enough, he's from Saskatchewan, Canada.  His father was a politician who served as the premier of Saskatchewan.  He went to the hilariously named University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.  Sounds like something Bugs Bunny would say.  But he paused his studies once he thought he might be able to make a go of it at music.

Strangely, I reviewed his first EP back in 2017, and yet I have no recollection of it at all.  Too much music in my head, I suppose.  Here is what I said back then: "Colter Wall - Imaginary Appalachia.  No Spotify bio available, and I don't recall how this guy came to my attention.  Might have been through a cousin-in-law who was telling me about some good new music.  Dude brings Johnny Cash to mind, if Cash had made the soundtrack for the show Justified.  He's Canadian, which is an interesting twist to the listening experience, because I don't think I ever would have guessed that.  The runaway hit on Spotify is "Sleeping on the Blacktop" with 1.3 million streams [now up to an impressive 188 million, in part because of being featured in Yellowstone].

Apparently this song was on the Hell or High Water soundtrack, which makes sense like my Justified reference does.  Hard scrabble Texan bank robbers or Kentuckian drug runners, not too much difference really.  His voice is seriously a trip.  His youthful appearance makes it seem like he'd sound like a kid, but then his voice is all gravel and Marlboro Reds and Old Grandad whiskey.  I like it.  I'm looking forward to the full album later this year."  The other big streamer from that album is "The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie," with 98.9 million.

After that 2017 EP, he's released four more great albums.  2017's Colter Wall (produced by Dave Cobb), 2018's Songs of the Plain, 2020's Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs (quite a title!), and then 2023's Little Songs.  In my opinion, all killer, no filler.  I could just let these albums wash over me for days.  I'm about to go out to West Texas for a few days, and I can tell you what will be playing as I sit on the front porch of the log house and watch the stars come out.

Other top streamers for you to check out:
"Cowpoke," from WS&WOPS, with 58.8 million streams.

The power of the harmonica, combined with the lonesome wail of the pedal steel, is just so good.  And then the yodeling little laments.  Love it.  The top track from the 2017 album features Tyler Childers long before that was a household name.  62 million streams for "Fraulein."

Cover song of an old school track from the '50's, but they crush it.  Those harmonies are strong.  Lovely version of a song that's been handled by everyone from Townes to Willie.  According to the Wikipedia, this song takes its melody from Woody Guthrie's song "Oklahoma Hills."  I might need a deep dive into Woody some day...  How about the top track from the new disc - that would be "Corralling the Blues," with 8.6 million streams.

I sort of respect that there are zero music videos created for these songs.  Just straight up classic country music without any modern fuss or muss.  Lyrically, he explores what it is like to survive in the hardscrabble west in a way that most country music has left behind.  I am very curious to know what this guy is really like, right now.  His music makes it seem like he should be an 80 year old living out his last days on his Wyoming spread, and yet he's freaking 28.  He's probably eating avocado toast in a hip Nashville coffee shop right now.  

Well, actually, I found an article about his home life, and he's doing exactly what I wanted him to be doing. "It’s an early summer afternoon in the southwest corner of Saskatchewan. Singer-songwriter Colter Wall sits on the bed of his F-350 in the middle of the Canadian prairie at his ranch, the Rafter CW, where he runs a yearling cattle operation. There is a daunting pile of scrap posts next to him (“I inherited them with the place,” he says with a chuckle), several drought-resistant Caragana trees edging the property, and a nice set of steel corrals with a loading chute set in the back."  Awesome.  It sounds like he really, actually ranches that land, and then records and performs when he can fit it in to that schedule.  Love to hear it.  That is an excellent article, by the way, if you want to dig further in to this guy.

Love it.  I'm in.

Drake Milligan (2024)

One Liner: Rockin' country with a young ex-Elvis impersonator.

Wikipedia Genre: Country (but it's got a real rock bent to it!)

Home: Nashville (but originally Mansfield, TX)

Saturday.

Thoughts:  This dude was here last year.  I guess C3 can't get enough!

Remember that Whiplash movie with the abusive drum teacher and Miles Teller as the abused pupil?  Good movie overall, but there was something weird to me about the juxtaposition of Teller's looks and his role in that movie.  It just didn't click.  And the same thought crossed my mind when I saw the pictures of this fella, crossed with his deep, smooth voice.

I mean, look at this pretty fella.  And then his voice is creamy smooth baritone out of nowhere.  I actually dig it, I just had a weird expectation about what he was going to sound like, based on that photo.

He first rose to fame by portraying Elvis in a CMT series called Sun Records, and then after that he appeared on both American Idol and America's Got Talent.  He had performed as an Elvis impersonator in his hometown of Mansfield, Texas (up by Fort Worth), auditioned for the role in the TV show, and ended up having to move to Nashville for the part when he was still in high school.  After that, he went on American Idol in 2018, but dropped out to focus on his music for a while.  In 2022, he went onto America's Got Talent and ended up finishing third.

One album, 2022's Dallas/Fort Worth, and a handful of songs that bring other songs to my mind.  His big hit is "Sounds Like Something I'd Do," which makes me think of that other country song called "What Was I Thinkin'."  24.3 million streams.

That is a fun tune.  Rock and roll based, with some 90's Nashville flavor in there too.  A little Brooks & Dunn, a little Garth Brooks, and hell, a little Elvis in there too.  I could absolutely see that being a great dance song at a honky tonk.  If you wanted to do some serious two step and whipping your lady over your shoulder and launching her into the air, that is the jam for you right there.  "Bad Day to be a Beer" has some Alan Jackson undertones to it.  "Kiss Goodbye All Night" is cheesy as all get out, but at the same time, it is endearing and sticks in my brain the same way that some of those goofy latter-day George Strait songs do.  "Goin' Down Swingin'" (which features Vince Gill) has some Bob Wills flavor as well as a hint of Dale Watson's "South of Round Rock Texas" in its melody and tempo.  The other most streamed track is "Over Drinkin' Under Thinkin'," with just over 5.6 million spins.

Classic sounding drinking tune.  Referencing Willie, sounding like he's winking when he sings, the whole package.  Again, I could see this being a fantastic song to dance to at a honky tonk.  I'm actually curious about his Elvis performance as well, let's see what we can see.

I know I mentioned it before, but that movie (not this CMT show, the full length movie that came out last year) was crap.  We didn't even finish it.  The part that I enjoyed was the concert footage, which looked a lot better than this.

Strange that I have been giving cheesy stuff like this a roast for the folks from the 90's who originated it, and yet I am ready to give this fella a pass on it, but I have enjoyed listening to this album today.  He even has a Christmas tune!  I'd go see him.

J.R. Carroll

One Liner: Lo-fi singer-songwriter with a folky bent and a good voice

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country, Americana, Folk
Home: Oologah, OK

Sunday

Thoughts:  Another fella making stripped-down Americana/country in the mold of the Zach Bryan folks.  I have been trying to think of who I would have compared these folks to before ZB existed - I guess it is the early Texas country guys like Owen Temple and Jack Ingram.  Funny thing is, if you search this on Google, it just wants to tell you about guys who are like ZB, not explain where his sound originated.  And he's not original, so there has to be a description of what came before him.  Whatever, that took at least three minutes to try to google, and the idiots on the Internet are saying stuff like ZB sounds like Johnny Cash, which is dumb.  More like Woody Guthrie than Cash.

Also, who is the female ZB?  I'm sure people have already noodled through this in their head, but the idea just popped up to me.  Someone like Zarah Jarosz or Sierra Hull are too skilled with their instruments to work.  Lucy Dacus isn't country.  A reddit person said Morgan Wade, but her music is too produced and slick.

Anyway, this guy has a singer-songwriter's voice and very spare accompaniment.  He is apparently from Oologah, Oklahoma, and used to sing in a Pentecostal church there on Sundays before a producer asked him to come work on music.  He released a few tunes on Twitter that got some traction, so he went into the studio and made Long Story Short, his 2020 EP.  He's got one other EP, 2022's Raging in the Dark, and no true albums.  Oklahoma is very well represented in the stripped-down country world these days!

"Stay" is a lovely, super-stripped down gem about a lost love.  1.3 million streams.  Just sounds raw and pained.

But the bigger hit, from that same initial EP, is "Where the Red Fern Grows," with 3.1 million streams.

Another very basic track - I guess he doesn't do much in the way of slick videos for his tunes.  But, I found a quote from him about the background of the song: "My dad is an avid raccoon hunter. When we were kids, we would go back to where he was raised, and he would tell us about how the book, Where the Red Fern Grows, was based around where my dad was raised. I had family in that area who I felt were meant for more than a small town, and I knew I could make this song about believing in them. This one is about a cousin of mine, Rachel, wherein this story she becomes a stadium-filling country singer (but in real life she is a softball player). So, I wrote that for her and for home.”

Earlier, I said he has a singer-songwriter's voice, and I meant that as a slight.  But the more I've listened, the more I have decided that he actually has a pretty solid voice.  He's not Stapleton or anything, but he can hit notes and isn't just speak-singing or anything.  But he and Bryan are apparently friends, all stemming from a time when Carroll posted a list of 30 favorite songs to Twitter, which made its way to Bryan, who pinged Carroll to say that they should hang out.  So now Carroll has appeared on some of Bryan's stuff, and has been in the background of some of Bryan's videos - they're boys.  I wonder if Carroll was even on the stage last year during "Revival"?  That was BADASS, by the way.

Anyway, I'd definitely go check this one out.