Robert Earl Keen: ACL Live at the Moody Theater: 12/18/24

I literally told someone the other day that I had no shows coming up, and here I am on a three show bender.  

Before I talk about this particular show, I have to tell about the last time we went to one of Robert Earl's holiday shows.  Because it makes me laugh, at the expense of my lovely wife.  Some friends hit us up about going to see the REK Holiday show, and my wife was very excited.  She loves the holidays and really loves to jam Christmas music throughout the whole season.  Like, when we hit the road after Thanksgiving lunch, and my scrooge ass will allow it, she's got the radio cranking out some Nat King Cole.  So, with that in mind, she was psyched about a show of Robert Earl King singing all of the classics, and was really looking forward to a carol sing-along.  

What we did not know is that this was just a regular ass REK show, where he would be certain to play "Merry Christmas from the Family" and probably "Feliz Navidad," but that otherwise we were just going to hear the normal stuff.  She was soooooo sad.  I loved it though!  Haha.

So, you may remember from my last post about REK, we got to go see one of his "final" shows when he was "for sure" "totally" retiring from touring "forever."  And so, we spent more than we should, and got there super early to squeeze up to the stage, and hung on every song choice and lyric.  Now, like everyone else before him, he "just missed seeing his people so darned much" and he's back out on the road.  He looks awful too - whatever medical malady is keeping him stuck in his chair has made him skinny as hell and walking like Earl Campbell.

BUT, you never went to see Robert Earl Keen because you wanted someone to dance around or sing like Josh Groban.  You went to hear him bleat out some of the greatest songs ever written.  And he freaking delivered in spades.  "Gringo Honeymoon," "Feelin' Good Again," and "Dreadful Selfish Crime" were all in the first handful of songs, and they sounded glorious.  "I'm Comin' Home" and "Corpus Christi Bay" were great, and of course we got "Road Goes On Forever" and "Merry Christmas from the Family" for everyone to yell along with, as they should.  He also played THREE Christmas songs, not including the weird little campfire jam session his band did while he went offstage to get a handjob.

Three tiny quibbles:

• "I Gotta Go" sucks.  That song is dumb as crap, and it feels like he just realized that people would like to sing the title of it over and over, so he just filled in some crap around it.
• The crowd was yakking it up THE WHOLE TIME and it was very annoying.  I don't need people to treat it like a violin concerto at Carnegie Hall or anything, but it was really distracting when quiet moments were happening on stage to hear the roar of folks chatting it up.
• He randomly changed some words, but purposefully.  He missed some lines as well, which I guess is just old age or whatever, but like in "I'm Goin' to Town," instead of "Saturday night" he kept singing that its a "beautiful night."  It doesn't really matter, but it just bugged me.  Those aren't the damn words!

Totally recommend the show though.  Definitely a fun part of the Christmas season.  I would have loved it to have been even longer!

Les Savy Fav: Mohawk: 12/14/24

This was an entirely unexpected show.  A friend from out of town pinged me on Saturday morning with the offer of a free ticket.  In a strange confluence of events, he was flying in from France, where he had been for work, planning to hit this show by some hipster Brooklyn weirdos who are not French at all (despite the name).  Buncha Rhode Island School of Design dudes being odd for the fun of it.  They have never been on my radar at all, but he sent me some stuff about them and it was interesting enough to go for it.

As you can see in that video, the lead singer is super freaking intense.  He spent half the show in the crowd, bopping around and tangling his microphone cord all over everyone.  I got to touch him a few times, which I'm sure was a thrilling experience for him, and I helped untangle his cord a time or two (if you know what I mean).  The tunes were fun, a little more post-hardcore/arty stuff than just straight indie, and yet their music has appeared in lots of random places - True Blood, College Hoops 2K video game, Grand Theft Auto 4, NHL 2k8?  Eclectic list.  That song above was featured in the True Blood episode, and the episode was even named after it.  Was a little like a noisier, more abrasive Strokes.  It was a good time, even if I don't think that I will be adding their studio albums to my rotation.

Paerish: Spiderhouse Ballroom: 12/11/24

I have been waiting to see these dudes for almost a decade.  Many years ago, a baseball writer who I followed sent out a newsletter/e-mail thing that I would devotedly read each week.  This writer was great in part because he didn't just stick to baseball.  He also talked about music, and board games, and books, and other random ephemera.  Which made it significantly more fun to read his stuff.  He turned me on to the Beths!  And he also brought up this band, a little quartet from France, who make a very appealing sound like a post-grunge rock and roll band.  You'd never know they were French.

Definitely guitar-forward, but catchy as all hell.  Anyway, I follow them on Instagram and so I saw an announcement when they were going to come to Austin.  I talked a friend into going with me, and it was all set.

I'm sure I have been to a smaller show before, but if so, I can't recall it.  At one point, I glanced around and counted that there were 27 people total in the room.  Which made me terribly sad.  That these guys had flown all the way over to Texas to play their asses off, and no one was even there to hear it.  I thoroughly enjoyed hearing them play it all live, but just never could shake the feeling of sadness I had for them.  Maybe they didn't care and were totally fine with it, but my mind couldn't quit worrying over their feelings at looking out at an empty room of a handful of folks politely bobbing their heads along with the tunes.  Too bad, really.  I like their new album a lot too!

Kaitlin Butts (2025)

One Liner: Excellent story-telling Americana

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'd call this Americana

Home: Nashville (but originally from Tulsa, OK)

Saturday.

Thoughts:  I ran across her one time several years ago, when I was listening to an album by Flatland Cavalry.  She was featured on that album, and I was kind of enamored with her name.  "The hit on here is the one featuring the excellently named Kaitlin Butts.  Who is either an heir to the HEB fortune and therefore it makes sense that she kept that surname, or was hoping for the old Beavis and Butthead crowd to find her and push her into stardom, or has a fantastic seat.  I'm going to imagine it's number 2.  Huh huh, cool.  Butts."  She also came through Two Step in 2023.

She's not on Wikipedia, but she is mentioned in the Flatland Cavalry post because she is married to the vocalist for the band, which was formed in Lubbock in 2012.  That post says that she is a frequent collaborator with the band and an "oft-seen part of their live shows."  And you can tell, because both of the top songs on Spotify for her are Flatland songs on which she is featured.  So we should expect her on stage with them at the Fest!

I've pretty much just let these songs play for the past two days.  I really like her stuff.  Good lyrics, strong voice, fine instrumentation.  It all sounds really good, like a more Americana version of Kacey Musgraves.  "blood" is an excellent song, that she does two ways in her Spotify, a regular version with full accompaniment, and then a stripped-down version.  Lot of soul in there.  That is the top song from her 2022 album - What Else Can She Do - 1.9 million streams.  This is the stripped version.

Just a killer set of lyrics about trying to measure up to your family and the things you do for your blood.  Makes me think of the way my sister-in-law treats my wife, and then the way my wife hides her feelings about it.  Really good.  She also does a cover of Leadbelly's "in the pines" that is pretty killer.  "It Won't Always Be This Way" is another well-composed tune about tough times.

3 albums.  2015's Same Hell, Different Devil, 2022's What Else Can She Do, and 2024's Roadrunner!  She also released an EP in 2022 called Sad Yeehaw Sessions, where that stripped-down "blood" is from, that also includes a cover of Miley Cyrus's "Angels Like You" that sounds really good.  Her top single, of her solo stuff and not including the Flatland tunes, is a 2021 single called "Marfa Lights," with 5.6 million streams.

(1) nice tune.  (2) I was really hoping for a real video that would have been set in Marfa.  (3) that highway on the cover looks nothing like Highway 90.  Have you ever seen the Marfa lights?  They're pretty damn cool.  I've seen them a few times, and even with really good binoculars, I have no clue what is going on out there.  And her analogy is pretty good - "I'll chase you around, low and high, we're just out of reach, we're just out of sight."

The new album has been out since June, and doesn't appear to have just a ton of traction just yet.  Only four songs have more than 100k streams.  And the top one thus far is pretty funny - "Hunt You Down" with 646k streams.

Classic country sound, with lyrics that shift from cutesy lovey tropes right into murderous jealousy warnings.  Reminds me of my father-in-law meeting with me to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage.  As he leaked tears from behind his big aviator sunglasses, he let me know that if I hurt his little girl he would hunt me down and kill me.  Good times!  This pretty delivery is much nicer!

Dig it.  I'd love to see her play.

Quick Hits, Vol. 350 (Cage the Elephant, Avett Brothers, Ghostface Killah, Willie Nelson)

Cage the Elephant - Neon Pill.  I am very surprised that these guys have not been back to ACL recently.  2016 was their last appearance, but they very much seem like the right band to show up in the Foster the People-type slot.  This album is reliably great.  I sort of forget about this band as an entity overall, but then I hear these tunes (or the old ones) and am like - oh yeah, this is one of the better current rock and roll bands out there.  Super hooky, catchy, danceable, fun rock and roll goodness.  They came through town not that long ago on the tour for this album and I hadn't really heard this disc much, so I didn't think about it.  Now, I am wishing I would have gone.  This disc has that poppy, upbeat rock, but also dives into some of that Beatles-ey ballad stuff that these sorts of bands can veer into at times.  Looking at "Out Loud" while I write that last bit, and "Over Your Shoulder" a little bit too.  The top song is the title track, with 18.3 million streams.

No clue WTF that song is trying to say though.  Sort of a longing song about his love, but what is the double-cross or the hit and run?  Dammit.  Going to make me research and stuff.  Oh wow.  Apparently, lead singer Matt Schutz says that he was prescribed a medication that put him into a psychosis without him even realizing it (thus the hit and run and being double-crossed by a pill).  At one point, he was arrested for gun possession in NYC while under the influence of this pill (thus the loaded gun bit).  Crazy!  Autobiographical, while just sounding like a random collection of cool-sounding words!  "Rainbow" and "Ball and Chain" are both fun tracks too.  This album is tasty if you like catchy, slick rock and roll.  I hope they come to ACL next year!

Avett Brothers - The Avett Brothers.  The crazy thing about listening to this album now is that when I saw their ACL taping a month or two ago, I figured that a lot of these songs were old ones from prior albums.  They sound classic, and so I had no idea that these were new tracks that I hadn't even heard before on the studio album.  The opener of "Never Apart," which includes a little vocal harmonizing thing at the start, has a heartbreaking beauty, but then that segues right in to "Love of a Girl," which really is a blast of Old 97's-ish or Spoon-ish rock and roll that is deeply fun and a little unhinged.  "Cheap Coffee" was a highlight at the live show and I still love it - just a really well-written tune.  "Love of a Girl" is the top streamer with only 1.2 million.  That disappoints me.

Has the pace of We Didn't Start the Fire at first.  Great harmonies, as well as a fun pace.  "Country Kid" is a good story song.  This is a good disc - keeps me interested in what they have in store next.

Ghostface Killah - Set the Tone (Guns & Roses).  Uneven album, but while listening yesterday it dawned on me that Ghostface may be a top five rapper for me who is still making good tunes right now.  The problem with this disc is that there is too much singing/R&B-guest-crap on it, and so the back half of the album is almost unlistenable for me.  But on the front half, he just goes for full Wu Tang spicy action with tracks with Jim Jones, Method Man, Nas, Raekwon, and Kanye.  Great, classic beats, with good lyrics.  But then, after Skit 2, it becomes all of this sing-song crap.  I can't say that I didn't laugh with the chorus of "Plan B," a song about how a lady's pregnancy is going to mess up his life so she needs to get a Plan B pill.  But to me the only good stuff on here is on the front half.  Maybe that is the reason for the parenthetical album name - maybe I only like the "Guns" half...  Top streamer is the one with Kanye West - "No Face" has 14.1 million streams.

Ye is just annoying, is my main takeaway from that track.  Because that beat is cool and classic and hard, but then Ye just farts around in there doing his usual crapola.  I just think that 'Face sounds freaking cool - kinda like he's mad but also kinda like he thinks its funny.  I dig his whole vibe, even if this disc isn't a winner.

Willie Nelson - Last Leaf on the Tree.  Oh Willie.  How are you still doing this?  I mean, by now, you know not to expect much in the vocals department, as even the low-level of singing he became famous with is reduced even further.  The fascinating thing to me is that he still sounds really good on the guitar.  Trigger is still strong.  Most of these tracks are covers, which is interesting.  He does a rad cover of Beck's "Lost Cause" on here and he's picking and strumming just like he always has (even while his voice is just one step above speaking).  He does a touching cover of the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??" that is really beautiful.  That song rules on multiple levels, and I also for some reason love the fact that it has two question marks.  But like the title song, it feels like he is singing about his own death when he says "do you realize / that everyone you know someday will die."  Just one of the best sets of lyrics that has ever been collected. "Wheels" sounds like some weirdo experimental Peter Gabriel song, and was written by his song Micah.  The title track (a Tom Waits tune) is the top streamer with 617k streams.

Pretty damned sad.  If you think about all of the people he has lost over the years, watching every one of his contemporaries die, and his sister, and so many others.  He's still hanging on, flipping Autumn the bird and smoking a joint.  Kinda bums me out to listen to this tune.  But I do like the line that if they cut the tree down, he'll show back up in a song.  I guess keep spinning this while he's making more!

Hudson Westbrook (2025)

One Liner:  Solid young country fella, reminds me of Wyatt Flores

Wikipedia Genre: no Wikipedia, but country.

Home: I think Stephenville, Texas

Saturday.

Thoughts:  He was just here at ACL in 2024, so I already wrote him up.  Also, I wandered over to his stage at one point to check it out for a minute.  The group stood there for about a song and a half before we unanimously figured there had to be something better to see.

He reminds me a lot of that Wyatt Flores guy, where he has a sort of whininess to his vocal tone, but still sounds pretty badass.  He's only got five songs, so he has been a hard one to just set and forget while I get work done, I keep looking up and being like "yeah, man, Johnny Walker and all that damn."  His top song is more laid back rock and less country, and I like it.  "Take It Slow" has 8.1 million streams.

Still a little country rock flavor, but just more towards the rock end of that spectrum than his other four songs.  Here is one of his 2024 singles - "5 to 9" with 6.6 million streams.

Shooting a video must be so weird.  "I need you to strum your guitar in these nine different stations all around this cattle pen, and I'll film you singing the song in all nine places, so that I can do five hundred million cuts and create the actual video."  I honestly like the tune.  It is pretty generic country pablum, but it has me bopping along and wanting to sing the chorus.  His tune called "Two Way Drive" is apparently a TikTok hit with millions of views.

One article I read mentioned that he is a Texan, but I am not finding much true background on the guy.  He is a current Texas Tech student.  That is freaking dope as hell.  I want to be a college kid who is about to get to go on stage at a big ass festival!  He might be from Stephenville?  Dunno.  Seems like a wild thing, but hopefully he gets load of success.  I'd also like to note that my daughter got a pic with him at ACL and was excited.  So, I've got that going for me.

The Panhandlers

One Liner: A mediangroup making seriously great Texas-centric country tunes

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but country, Americana, red-dirt
Home: West Texas

Sunday

Thoughts:  This is actually pretty great.  What do you call a supergroup that isn't made of big stars?  Like, The Highwaymen are a clearcut mega supergroup - Willie, Cash, Waylon, and Kris.  You don't even need full names to know who they are.  The Flatlanders aren't so big, but you've still likely heard of these dudes if you are in to Texas music: Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock.  So, this one is Josh Abbott, John Baumann, William Clark Green, and Cleto Cordero.  In the band's own bio on their own website, it describes that last one as "Flatland Calvary's Cleto Cordero."  If you are having to be described as a member of the band you are in, then you are not part of a supergroup.  I have heard of Josh Abbott, but I don't know his music.  I like William Clark Green - he came to ACL like a decade ago.  Never heard of Baumann or Cordero.  It's a ModestGroup!  A MiddlingGroup?  MedianGroup.  We need to get a focus group together.

No Wikipedia, but I did learn that a lot of people think they have a panhandle.  Alaskan Panhandle, Alabama Panhandle, Connecticut Panhandle, Florida Panhandle, Idaho Panhandle, Maryland Panhandle, Nebraska Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle. Texas Panhandle, Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, and Northern Panhandle of West Virginia.  GTFOH trying to claim two panhandles, West Virginia.  You're lucky we don't just turn you into real Virginia.  I also like that Alabama claims a panhandle, but Mississippi, which is like a little mirror image on the other side, does not give a damn about their little turd of a tail enough to name it.  Also, maybe I don't recall my state shapes, but Nebraska claiming a panhandle for an area that is just marginally smaller than the rest of the state is bullhonkey.  Utah isn't trying to act like they have a panhandle for a similarly sized nub.  Screw you, Nebraska.  Huh, I actually just looked at the shape of West Virginia, and seriously WTF.  That is an awful state shape and it really should just be swallowed up by Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky.

Anyway, I seriously digress.  This is a pretty damn great little band.  They do a very cool job of locating their music, with lots of tunes about West Texas - mentioning all sorts of great little nuggets about that wonderful part of the state.  Cotton, Big Bend, Valentine, the water table, the boll weevil, Midland, rough necks, etc.  I don't love the one where they feel the need to diss Austin for being full of Californians and vegans, but I'll allow it.  The album was produced by Bruce Robison, which already means I approve of the whole thing, and it really has a nice throwback sound and fun.  Like, I freaking love "The Chilton Song."  In part, because it is a fun little jazzy country tune that sounds very nice, but also because a Chilton is a fantastic drink that should get more love in the world.  Pretty sure it is a Lubbock beverage, so this makes sense to rep it on this album.

The mics on that version leave a lot to be desired, but it absolutely makes me want to be in some low-key little bar in Marathon right now, sitting on one of those barstools and sipping a Chilton.  I wonder where that is.  The band hats at the top of the bar have blue and gold colors and a W on them.  Ah, the notes say filmed at the West Table.  "Lubbock's premier restaurant for seasonal upscale dining."  Damn.  I wanted it to be something cool.

Two albums - 2020's The Panhandlers and 2023's Tough Country.  Bits of them make me think of other classic songs - "Tough Country" is a good tune on it's own, but it sort of sounds like they wanted to make another "Levelland."  "West Texas Girl" sort of uses the same chord progressions and tune as John Prince's "Paradise."  I hear classic Pat Green and Jack Ingram in here too.  The top song, by a lot, is a cover called "West Texas in my Eye."  22.6 million streams.

Hey, that's Cathedral Mountain!  I have a lot of pictures of Cathedral Mountain in my phone.  They do a good job of giving each dude a verse, and they sound really good together.  I really love both of these albums - I've just been letting them roll for the past two days and it scratches an old itch that I sort of forgotten that I'd had.  Clever lyrics, referential to a place that I think is cool, with relaxed and pleasant music underneath it all.  I'm in on this one for sure.

Diplo (2025)

One Liner: Electronic kingpin with generally uninteresting songs BUT now he is angling for that sweet country bumpkin cash as well.

Wikipedia Genre: EDM, pop, moombahton; country pop, trap, EDM
Home: L.A.

Saturday.

Thoughts: He was here two years ago for the inaugural Two Step Inn, but on the poster this is advertised as "DIPLO presents Thomas Wesley" so this may be something different.  If you search for that on Spotify, there is actually three albums under that moniker.  2020's Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: Chapter 1 - Snake Oil (Deluxe) is an interesting thing.  Every track features a country (or other) star - Orville Peck, Ernest, Morgan Wallen, Leon Bridges, The Jonas Brothers, Cam, Noah Cyrus, Thomas Rhett with Young Thug?, Zac Brown, etc. - but the tunes themselves are only country adjacent but mainly electronica.

As is mentioned in my bigger Diplo background below, Diplo's true name is Thomas Wesley Pentz.  So, this is some sort of nod to his true identity.  The original song released under this thing was the one with Cam, who has been around ACL in the past.

In all honesty, the Leon Bridges track is really pretty.  But of course, it is the Morgan Wallen track that boasts the mega stream count - "Heartless" has 649.7 million streams (and is terrible clicky schlock).  Wallen sounds like Adam Levine or something.  I have no clue why he is so popular.  

So, this is just a country money grab by Diplo.  Like Post Malone going country to grab hold of those ears and dollars.  There you go.  Vol One also includes his remix of "Old Town Road," so that he can capitalize on Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus.  Wikipedia says this about the album: "Chapter 1: Snake Oil was met with generally mixed to unfavorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the release received an average score of 46, based on 9 reviews."  Yikes.

Subsequently, he released 2023's Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: Chapter 2 - Swamp Savant.  Now we get another strata of country folks (and adjacent) with Lily Rose, Sturgill Simpson, Paul Cauthen, Sierra Ferrell, Morgan Wade, Kodak Black and Koe Wetzel, Elle King, and then, in a deeply strange bending of the norms, all of the songs from Volume 1.  Like, after the ninth song on this album, you get the Intro from Volume 1 which features Orville Peck.  So weird.  I guess it would be cool for Sturgill to take the stage with him and reprise their collaboration here, but I wonder if there is any use when Diplo probably just needs to hit play on his laptop?  The Paul Cauthen and Sierra Ferrell track is the best one, but none of this is very good.  Here is the one with Koe Wetzel, who is apparently a man (which was a surprise to me as I just watched this video), and Kodak Black, called "Wasted."  32 million streams.

That is funny, I had literally seen that name written before in articles or charts, and I always thought "Koe" was pronounced like "Zoey" and was a female name.  It is apparently a bearded, heavyset, tattoo canvas country singer.  Weird.

Finally, you get 2024's Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: The Mixtape, and things get even freaking weirder (if that was possible).  It starts with a remix of the classic 80's Outfield track "Your Love," which is not country by any stretch of the imagination (although the original freaking rules), and then there are a few new songs (or at least not on Vols. 1 or 2) and then he goes through the songs on Volume 2 and remixes them.  Schizo stuff here.  No clue how to react to the piecing of this grouping of songs together, or why they are released under this county-ish moniker, when they appear to just be normal crappy EDM now?

Interestingly, Wikipedia does not mention Vol. 2 or the Mixtape at all.  Just acts like those don't exist.  Did someone get bored of updating his Wikipedia page?  Or did he ask that they not be included because he is embarrassed?  We'll never know.

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Just in case you want more background of Diplo and his music prior to trying to cash in on the country thing, here is my review of that generalized EDM career:

Could have sworn that this guy had already graced us with his presence at a prior ACL fest, but it looks like he only came through with his Major Lazer project in 2014 and 2016.  (I was not in love with that project, I have a feeling my sentiments will be similar for this thing!).  His real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz, and his list of collaborative groups is actually longer than I knew.  He's got Major Lazer, LSD with Sia and Labrinth, Jack U with Skrillex, and Silk City with Marc Ronson.

He got his start with M.I.A., after she hunted him down and asked him to work with her on some of her music.  He worked with her on "Paper Planes," which is bound to be her top hit. My kids even know it.  Since then, he's produced stuff for everyone from Madonna, Beyonce, and Gwen Stefani to Snoop Dogg, Beiber, Bruno Mars, and Bad Bunny.  More interestingly, just because an electronic guy with a one word name feels like it should be a German or Swedish dude or something.  However, he is originally from Mississippi and lived for a long time in Florida.  He attended the University of Central Florida for a bit, and then graduated from Temple University.  Which is such an odd background for a massively popular electro DJ.

The weird thing about all of that is that it seems like he isn't even really making his own music, he's just collaborating with other people and producing their music.  I guess that means he just does a DJ set of his own tunes?  Like, on his Spotify page, none of the music just lists his name.  They all have other names listed in the artist slot.  I think I found two songs without other collaborators, plus most of the instrumental 2020 album MMXX (which has super low streams).  So, it is weird to provide his "songs," because they're gonna seem like someone else's songs.  Oh well.  Top streamer with almost a billion is "Where Are U Now," with Justin Beiber and Skrillex.  This is the Jack U project.  964.3 million streams.

Just sounds like a Beiber joint.  And a deeply boring one at that.  The freaky little flute sound, which is probably Beiber's voice with modified pitch or something, is the only thing interesting in there.  Also, that video has over 1.2 BILLION streams.  Sheesh.  So, but if he plays that song at the fest, is her pretty much just going to play the song off the album so that the singing part is in it?  How does that work?  The 2018 song "Electricity" is the second biggest streamer with 522.3 million.  It features both Marc Ronson and Dua Lipa (which I guess means this is a Silk City song?):

Meh.  Yeah, another massive pop song with an EDM beat.

I've sat through a bunch of this by now, and it's just fine.  If you've read my previews in the past, then you know EDM is never my thing, really.  Like, "On My Mind" is playing right now, and it's not a terrible song, but it just feels like nothing special.  A throbbing beat and a woman repeating herself over the top for 3 minutes.  But that is his 6th most popular track right now.

Let's just try digging into the newest album - 2022's Diplo.  He's got guest verses from Leon Bridges and Busta Rhymes, which is interesting.  On the other hand, every song has someone on it, and I haven't heard of most of them.  Amtrac, RY X, andhim, Kareen Lomax, to name a few.  The opener, with Miguel, is a deeply generic EDM track that repeatedly exhorts me to not forget his love.  The Leon Bridges one is likewise a very uninteresting song, no matter how lovely his voice is on top of it.  "Promises" 100% sounds like something that you could convince me is a song from 2000 that was popular in London but didn't make it to the States until now.  Just nothing there.  The interesting thing about the Busta collab is that it doesn't even seem like Busta is involved.  His voice is either a sample loop or he is just sitting in a booth repeating the same phrase 3,005 times over two and a half minutes.  "Let You Go" is annoying because it uses the first half of the call/response thing in DJ Rob Bass' "It Takes 2," but never gives the pleasure and release of the second half that is supposed to be there.  That drives me mad.  The top track is one with something called "SIDEPIECE," with 195.7 million streams.

The weird talking over the top in that video is not in the real song.  Just FYI.  There was a great Tweet the other day saying: "dance music in the 90’s was incredible, just a woman putting her entire soul into a beat that had every cell in your body vibrating… then here comes some jacked baldhead dude with a deep voice rapping the stupidest shit you’ve ever heard.  You’d be in a trance at the skating ring having this out of body experience and then “(comically deep voice) it’s night time and my love is hot, I dance, you dance, we dance a lot”"  Hilarious.  I almost wish that these songs at least had that to lean on.  Instead, they are just uninteresting beats and singers.  I need the bad rapping.

Sincerely doubt I'd watch this.

Walker Montgomery

One Liner: John Michael's kid crushing a classic Nashville country sound

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - southern rock, sad boy Americana

Home: Hawesville, KY

Sunday.

Thoughts:  His top song on Spotify is "I Love The Way You Love Me," which is one of his dad's biggest hits from his dad's debut album.  Kind of a cool full-circle thing, but also sort of a cheat code, right?  "Oh hey, just in case you didn't know why you should pay attention to me, here's a wink!"  That being said, he freaking crushes it.  996k streams.

I mean, that is pure melodic gold.  Cheesy as all hell and back, but it sounds like warm honey dissolving in the bottom of a mug of tea.  His dad was here in 2023 to sing his classic tunes, but I missed it in order to get up closer for the headliner.  Oh well.

No Wikipedia for the guy, although I found out that there is a Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act in Mississippi that just went effective to protect children from the Internet.  His website bio says he was raised away from the spotlight in Nicholasville, KY but then moved to Nashville to pursue his dreams.  He certainly got the vocal chops, so he ought to be pretty successful.

Three EPs.  2018's Simple Town, 2022's Rust, and 2023's Work to Do.  That first EP is not very good in comparison to the newer stuff.  You can tell he is trying to grab hold of the current phase in there, with that drum machine-y country sound and bad lyrics about tan legs and blue eyes, or "Jesus and Jones," and that sort of country boy, red meat schmaltz.  Not that he fully left that behind later - "Bad Day to Be a Beer" is one of those super formulaic tunes - red dirt?  blue eyes?  "catch a buzz"?  Fishing in the honey hole?  Etc. Etc.  It is very catchy, and I'm sure a lot of true country fans lap this shit up, but it is painful if you want to hear someone write an intelligent song that is also fun.  That one is on Rust, which also features his top streamer - "She Don't Know" with 6.3 million streams.

Keeping the 90's country world alive even 30 years later.  Entirely uninteresting song with generic lyrics like a She Don't Know She's Beautiful/What Makes You Beautiful ripoff mashup.  The newer EP is more of the same - strong voice carrying uninspiring lyrics through some nice sounding songs.  We've all sworn off tequila and said no way Jose!  Haha!  Good one Walker!  Good background stuff, but not anything you are seeking to give an intense listen.  Would probably pass on this one, although maybe his sweet voice is the best thing at the early hour.  Don't know for sure yet.

William Beckmann

One Liner:  Honey-voiced classic country action

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but country

Home: Del Rio, Texas

Saturday.

Thoughts:  Really nice initial feeling on this guy.  His voice is fantastic.  No Wikipedia, unless this guy is also an American wrestler who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics to win the silver medal in freestyle welterweight competition.  The kid is from Del Rio, Texas, a town down on the border with Mexico.  I've never done Del Rio that I recall.  We used to cross over at Eagle Pass, a little ways south of there, but I don't think I've ever done Ciudad Acuna across from Del Rio.  But you can hear some of that border influence in here - "Danced All Night Long" includes some Spanish lyrics and some Mexican musical influence as well.  His bio says "He has spent the last year touring with artists including Parker McCollum, Hank Williams Jr., Charley Crockett, and the Randy Rogers Band in addition to selling out five of his own shows at the legendary Gruene Hall and headlining Billy Bob’s Texas."  Five sell-outs of Gruene Hall is pretty dang good!

Two albums - 2022's Faded Memories and 2023's Here's To You. Here's To Me.  None of the songs have just lit up the streaming world, even if I think they should be crushing it.  Top streamer is "Bourbon Whiskey" from the first disc.  2.1 million streams.

When that exceedingly youthful face puts that honey-rich voice out, it is really a strange juxtaposition.  He definitely looks too young to have that tumbler of whiskey in his hand, and yet his voice sounds like he's been sipping it for decades.  Damn pretty song.  Chris Isaak and Orville Peck are somewhere making out to that song right now.

Keeping things thematically sound, his top track from the newer album is called "Tennessee Drinkin'" and has 1.1 million streams.  Dude likes to drink, I guess.

The guitar at the start of that one makes me think of a Dwight Yoakum tune.  I wonder why the comments are turned off for that song on YouTube?  Another damn pretty song - a little livelier than the last one, but still the vocals are the showpiece over the top of a generically nice country tune.  He does an excellent cover of Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" as well as a couple of Christmas tunes that sound nice.  I'd go see him for sure.

Quick Hits, Vol. 349 (Justice, Billy Strings, Iron & Wine, Neil Young & Crazy Horse)

Justice - Hyperdrama.  If you read me in the runup to ACL Fest, then you know that I generally avoid the techno/EDM stuff.  I usually just don't find the appeal and I haven't since my short flirtation with Skrillex.  But this disc is legitimately enjoyable.  Part of that could be that they bring Tame Impala on board for two songs, and TI freaking jams, but even more so I just have found myself drawn back to the album to listen more and bop my little head as I write boring stuff all day.  You know the little dance that Eddie Murphy does when he is Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop and he has dragged the two cops into the strip club and he is trying to be all nonchalant as he explains to them that there are bad guys in the club who they need to take out and he sort of just makes his entire body groove while also appearing still?  That is how I move when "Generator" is playing.  Or, how I think I am moving, when I more likely look like I am having a stroke.

Don't get me wrong, they still bugger off into the doofy stuff like "Ingognito" where they pretty much just thump their way through four minutes of your life with just a few little disco detours.  But they have so many other things going on with most of these tunes that as a cohesive album unit, that comes together.  "Explorer" sounds like what Beethoven would have done if given weed from today's mega marijuana farmers.  "Muscle Memory" belongs in the background of either Blade Runner 2342 or a rad 1980's Nintendo game.  So, like I said, you aren't getting just the bangers or just the druggy trips, you get a full package here.  Of course, the two Tame tracks get the most streams - which is odd to me, in my mind, Justice is a big band.  Maybe I'm just completely out of touch with what the kids like these days!  But like, I recall "Genesis" being a banger back in 2007 on that album with D.A.N.C.E.  Whatever.  We'll go with the first one for this, "Neverender" has 43 million streams.

I mean, it just sounds like a Tame Impala track, right?  Which is tight and all, but I don't note any real appreciable difference here between a Justice song featuring Tame Impala and a real TI song.  Whatever.  Good groove.  I dig this album.  Maybe they can be the ACL EDM band for next year?

Billy Strings - Highway Prayers.  Billy.  Man.  You can't put out a twenty song album.  I really dig what you are laying down, but an hour and fourteen minutes of banjo-mageddon really can wear on a man's brain.  The album opener is rad as hell, with all of the Banjo Hero antics that you would expect of a Stings album - "Leaning on a Travelin' Song" - and then the second song likewise keeps the speedy finger-picking party going.  "Leadfoot" is another banger, just high-octane bluegrass barrel rolls.  But I think my favorite tune in here is the less accomplished, but significantly funnier, "Catch and Release" tune about him getting pulled over while smoking weed on his way to the river to fish for bass. I love the conversational talkin' blues kind of presentation while he plucks around on the guitar.  "Malfunction Junction" has a Nickel Creek vibe in there, like one of their Chris Thile mandolin breakdown freakouts.  Just some of the most amazing sounds you could possibly make with a stringed instrument in hand.  I am a little surprised at how low these streaming numbers are.  Like, no song has more than 2 million streams?  Even for a niche like bluegrass, I'm confused by that.  I guess people just jam the live show and leave the albums out in the cold...  Anyway, top track for now is "Gild the Lily" with 1.8 million streams.

A little funkier, pretty low key and chill.  He's coming to ACL Live next weekend and I'd be all about that show!  Although the last time he came through, some of the other patrons sitting by us were sooooo mad that we weren't treating the show like it was a violin concerto at Carnegie Music Hall.  We weren't being obnoxious by any means, but just talking and maybe exclaiming when something was particularly rad and gnarly.  Made it annoying to feel policed during the groove.  I think this could have been honed down a bit to a tighter group of the best songs, but it still sounds great.

Iron & Wine - Light Verse.  Simple thing to review, because it is Iron & Wine.  You know it will be light and airy and intimate and beautiful and touching in a way that very few artists can do without sounding completely saccharine.  The album opener, "You Never Know," is the perfect example.  Light guitar, some orchestral flourishes, his lovely falsetto soaring in and around the strings as the song builds up into a deeper, smoother finish.  The top streamer is a duet with Fiona Apple called "All in Good Time," with 3.8 million streams.

Sounds like a song that should be sung in a barroom by a crowd.  I knew where that video was going to go and it got me anyway.  Dangit.  Although, I did not expect the kids to feel the need to pig out and then run through an alleyway randomly just to watch the olds dance some more.  That part seemed off.  Really nice disc though.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Fu##in' Up.  Not sure why this album was entirely necessary.  This is a raw reimagining of 1990's Ragged Glory, which was the only Neil Young album I owned until much much later when I was trying to understand his allure (and he was refusing to stream his songs).  So I know all of these tunes really well, this was a touchstone high school disc of tunes, but here they are made even more ragged and loose for reasons I don't necessarily get.  Not bad by any means, just feels a little silly once I am listening to it and it feels like these songs as just being smeared a little bit instead of really improved.  The world agrees with me, as the stream count is very low.  Top song, somewhat surprisingly for me, if "To Follow One's Own Dream (Days That Used to Be)"  302k streams.

Probably one of the songs on here that is most true to the original.  Just slower and you can tell how much Neil's voice has deteriorated.  But it also just sounds so quintessentially like Neil Young in his Crazy Horse world, with that guitar solo and his plaintive vocals about the past.  Fun trip into an album I loved long ago, but no need to hold on to this version.

Ole 60

One Liner: Unpolished southern rock with a country tilt

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - southern rock, sad boy Americana

Home: Hawesville, KY

Sunday.

Thoughts: Love the band name, love their look - like a doofy group of high school buddies who realized they could grow facial hair and wear classic graphic t-shirts to look cool in sloppy photos - and the sound is pretty good.  Not great - you read some comments about them on Reddit and you'd think this was better than Radiohead and REM combined, but it's a pretty solidly rough-around-the-edges garage rock band with a country lilt in the lead singer's vocals.

The band is from Hawesville, KY, which is apparently on the south bank of the Ohio River.  Little is available about them online that isn't fan stuff - comments and postings and whatnot.  Their website has no "About" page and there is no Wikipedia.  What I can tell you is that in February, they popped off and hit #1 on the Apple Country Album chart (over Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan), even though in my opinion this really does not sound like country music.  More like sad indie backed by southern rock.  But they apparently are blowing up the TikTok and so the kids are just into that sort of thing.  I guess once you've listened to the new Zach Bryan 50,000 times you need something else in that alley.

Two EPs - 2023's three twenty four and 2024's Songs About You.  Ten total songs on Spotify.  And yet you're looking at many millions of streams.  The big man in the catalog is "smoke & a light" from that first EP.  74.4 million streams.

Sounds very much like a garage band of guys with lo-fi recording tools and a recently gleaned sense of their instruments making a jam that they think sounds cool.  Which, super dope!  I wish I was anywhere that cool.  But it definitely lacks polish.  Singer's voice breaks like Rob Thomas at times - listen to the "hot breathin' on another man" line and you'll hear it for sure.  "dust 2 dust" sort of sounds like one of those post-grunge bands like Matchbox 20 who was trying to act like Pearl Jam.  Speaking of Rob Thomas.  Maybe that is why these guys are trying to protect their anonymity - this is just Matchbox 20 with bad moustaches!

No other song tops 13 million, and the tunes from the new disc have not yet caught on.  But instead of just playing you another from the first disc, how about the most popular from the new one.  "Thoughts of You" has 5.6 million streams.

Slide guitar in that one makes it more countri-fied, even if it is still more like a sad indie tune.  I'm cracking jokes on them, but this is all pretty solid.  They should be pretty entertaining to watch.

Priscilla Block (2025)

One Liner: Country pop that veers between sad, confessional tunes and funny, self-deprecating tunes

Wikipedia Genre: Country, Country pop, southern rock

Home: Nashville (but originally Raleigh, NC)

Saturday.

Thoughts: Another one who was last here in 2023.  Didn't see her back then though, so still time to check it out!

Block grew up in North Carolina, but then moved to Nashville once she graduated from high school.  She had wanted to do that from an early age, playing at talent shows and small shows around home.  When she got to Nashville, she struggled at first, working odd jobs, and considering giving up.  But, per Wikipedia, "One day, she had a chance encounter with Taylor Swift while walking down a Nashville road. Swift pulled the car over and invited her inside. "That was truly the day that I decided that I really needed to give music a fair shot and do this thing," she commented."  WTF?!  Like, if TayTay just saw me walking down the road she might pull over, invite me into her car, and chat about my music career?  I need more details...

Here is what an interview says: "I was a year into Nashville, I was working at this yogurt shop from 9 to 5 and I had class from 6 to 9, and it was the day that I was literally having a conversation with my sister that I was going to leave town. That day, Taylor Swift was driving by and I was wearing a Taylor Swift t-shirt. She literally pulled her car over to the side of the road and hopped into her passenger seat, opened up her car door and waved me down. That was truly the day that I decided that I really needed to give music a fair shot and do this thing. From then on, I quit my job and I quit school and I was like, “I’m going to figure out a way to pay my bills. I’ll do whatever.” So, I worked every odd job in Nashville. I started co-writing with people, started learning the town and I would go and sit for hours and watch shows and just see how Nashville worked. I started writing with my friends and slowly but surely started building my group of people out here."  Pretty cool!

Her first hit ended up being a viral TikTok track - "Just About Over You."  After that one hit, she got to really record the song, and it was successful on the iTunes charts, leading to a record deal.  That one is still her top track, with 65.2 million streams.

Honestly, that is a very good song.  The idea of still looking for your ex's car when you are out driving, but also the cinematic bit of her almost making it out of love and then seeing him to throw her life back in to disarray.  I wouldn't normally aim for the pop country stuff in my tastes, but I will readily admit that this is a good tune.  "I Bet You Wanna Know" and "Wish You Were The Whiskey" are similar tunes, semi-sad songs sung to a lover.  "My Bar" is sort of like that too, but it is more of a tough song telling him that she doesn't care anymore.  That is her second-most streamed tune.

For whatever reason, in 2023, she released three different EPs and then another in 2024, instead of just putting out an album.  I'll never understand what that makes sense.  And also, her hits from the first album were included on those EPs?  Don't get it.  But the 2024 EP has a track that has gotten some traction re-arranging the phrase "Good on You."  15.4 million streams.

Sounds like there is some autotune type effects on that voice there, which is annoying.  That one is not as good to me as the earlier hit, but I still get the sentiment.

But she also has some party tunes and funny songs.  She's also got "PMS" and "Thick Thighs" for levity and fun.  I'll give you that second one here - "Thick Thighs," with 8.5 million streams.

A little Lizzo-esque body positivity action.  Sort of reminds me of some of the clever lyrics that Kacey Musgraves has done in her catalog.  And also, "I never eat the produce that I buy" rings very extremely true.  That would be a fun song to sing along to.  I'm genuinely shocked, but I've enjoyed listening to her.  I know that I have been crapping on some of the other pop country stuff on this poster, but this is much more enjoyable.

Gavin Adcock

One Liner: Raw young country guy from Georgia giving me nothing

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - country

Home: Watkinsville, GA

Sunday.

Thoughts:  I figured this guy must be a star to have his name up there on the poster, but I've never heard the name before.  My initial impression is that this is pretty terrible.  A rough voice that doesn't quite get where it wants to go, and some generic lyrics.  Sorry, I'm sure that someone out there thinks this is great, but I'm surprised at how lo-fi and unpolished this sounds.  Like a kid in high school made this in his bedroom hoping to get noticed by a girl.  And she turned him down.

Let's find out who he is - maybe then we'll understand?  He doesn't have a Wikipedia page, but I now know that he is from Oconee County, GA.  He grew up in Watkinsville working his family ranch and dreaming of riding bulls in the PBR.  He went to Georgia Southern to play football but hurt his knee in 2021 and turned to making music during rehab.  So, good to know that he isn't some long-established star I should have known.  But I am also disappointed that a sub-headliner is this uninteresting to me.

As I keep listening, I'm wondering if this is just the Gen Alpha version of Charlie Robison.  Ex-football player going into music about good times and hard drinking and whatnot.  And because I'm old, I just don't get the appeal anymore and would rather just hear "My Hometown" and "Indianola" again instead.  Interesting.

2022 EP called Thrivin Here, 2023 album Bonfire Blackout, and 2024 album Actin' Up Again (at least by now he learned how to use an apostrophe).  The early stuff is somehow even more raw, and a little more twangy.  I could see that one being released so that he could sell something after playing the local bar in the Georgia Southern strip.  But "Ain't No Cure" from that first EP has 40 million streams, making it one of his top tracks.

There we go with the usual - frequent mentions of his truck and his lady's nice legs and cruising down the road.  This song also made it on to the 2023 album, and is his second biggest streamer overall.  HIs top streamer is from the new album, named "A Cigarette" with 67.9 million streams.

You know that scene in Big when the annoying prick at the toy company is trying to explain his stupid building transformer thing, and Josh is like "I don't get it."  That is running through my mind right now as I keep listening.  Maybe this one is tapping in to the Zach Bryan whirlwind because its basic and stripped down?  Dunno.  I have no interest in seeing this one live.

Diamond Rio (2025)

One Liner: 90's Nashville country, power harmonies, supreme mullets, and that "Meet in the Middle" tune

Wikipedia Genre: Country

Home: Nashville

Saturday.

Thoughts:  Back again after being here in 2023.  This was my fear about the Two Step format, you are going to run out of the classic stuff and have to go back to the same guys over and over.

But hell yeah.  "Meet in the Middle," I remember this tune.  Solid classic country tune from 1991.  Not sure I remember hearing it back when it came out, as country was not on my radar back in the heyday of grunge, but between my wife's music tastes and the music exclusively played at the one bar in Sherman, Texas during college, I definitely know the chorus to this one.  Also, money mullets, baby.  151.4 million streams (up almost 50 million since 2023!).

They really leaned into the cinematic start on that video.  Also, the start reminded me of the characters in Road House, meeting and maybe arguing in a barn and then driving away in a jeep with the feathered blond hair.  The Uke player in the mountain man fringe jacket is also super dope.  Honestly, a really fun song with great harmonies.  On that same debut album, "Norma Jean Riley," with its chorus of "fool! fool!" also rings a bell.

The band was originally formed in 1982 as an attraction at the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, but they were originally known as the Grizzly River Boys (after a ride at the park), and then the Tennessee River Boys.  They went through some lineup changes in the early days, but have stuck with the same core six members since 1989.  When "Meet in the Middle" blew up, it became the first time ever for a band's debut single to go to number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country charts.  Since then, they've put a bunch of singles into the charts, had three platinum albums, a Grammy, and a bunch of other awards and nominations.

They have 8 studio albums, 5 greatest hits compilations, a live disc, and two Christmas specials, but nothing new since 2015.  After listening to their top songs, the strange thing to me was that many of these songs sound really familiar.  They don't have the stream counts of that one big hit, which would lead me to think they were not big time hits, but "Beautiful Mess," from 2002's Completely, "One More Day" from 2001's One More Day (feels like a song that would have been in an old romcom), and "Love a Little Stronger" 1994's album of the same name - all of those definitely ring a bell.  That last one definitely does, I wonder if it got play at camp dances back in 1994?  14.1 million streams.

Again, top notch harmonies make the difference.  Strong tune.  I mean, don't get me wrong, this is some cheesy ass country stuff.  "You're Gone" kind of woke me up to that fact, after I'd been generally bopping along to most of these songs and thinking that this was better than I expected.  It is definitely better than I expected, but it is also mid-90's to mid-00's Nashville formula tunes.  But that being said, I'd absolutely go watch it live.

Also, they actually do have a "new" song.  "The Kick" is an instrumental freakout released in 2023 that showcases that they still have the chops to jam out.  Not many streams but still I think it shows that they sound pretty good!

#1, looks like we added new members with the fiddle and drums and #2 that almost sounds like a jam band song.  Let's goooooooo!

Randall King (2025)

One Liner:  Pure country in a classic sense but from a new guy

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but country

Home: Amarillo

Poster Position: 3 (14) 
Both Weekends.
Sunday at 1:30.

Thoughts:  Part of the 2023 ACL lineup who has joined his fellow country friends here in the Two Step Club.

I am guessing this is not the American-born former professional tennis player that Wikipedia wants to tell me all about.  Because it would be surprising to me if the guy singing this straight-forward Nashvillian country was ever playing tennis professionally for Hong Kong in the Davis Cup.

Several of his photos online make me laugh - like he practiced for SO LONG in the mirror just the perfect smirking half-smile that would match his cowboy hat brim.  It is too excellent.  The music itself is pure country traditionalism.  A man raised on King George, Garth, and Alan, and now here to hew as closely as possible to that world like a hip-hugging pair of Rocky Mountains painted on to a line-dancing queen.  His website bio says that he grew up "on the endless plains of West Texas," and says that he grew up emulating Keith Whitley, George Strait, Alan Jackson, and John Anderson.  Two out of four for my guesses!  I was really hoping that somewhere it would tell me he is from Dallas, or something, so that I could make fun of people not understanding Texas geography again.  Sadly, he's from Amarillo, and while that is pretty dang north in Texas, I'd also agree with the fact that when people say west Texas, that includes Amarillo (while "north Texas" is more of DFW and surrounding areas).  No less than the Texas Dept. of Transportation agrees.

Three albums - 2018's Randall King, 2022's Shot Glass, and 2024's Into the Neon - and a handful of EPs over the years.  His top streamer is from that second album - "You in a Honky Tonk" with 40.2 million streams.

I mean, you know what you are getting in the first three seconds - that is 100% an old school country tune.  Loogit that smirking smile as he's singing!  Cracking me up how perfect that is.  I have to say, this takes me back to some good times in college dancing at a shitty honky-tonk bar (not that I was dancing with skill that was even in the 10th percentile of how those dudes are throwing the ladies around in that video).

HIs cover of "I'll Fly Away" is straight up beautiful.  And to add to the beauty (and sadness), here is a little tidbit he has said about it: "King's cover of the gospel classic "I'll Fly Away," which appears on his 2020 EP, is the song he was singing when his sister Leanna died.  "When she passed, she was in the ICU, and me and all my family were gathered around an oak tree — only my dad could be in there [with her]," King recalls. "He sort of put us on speakerphone, laid it by her head. Me and the whole family sang gospel songs for about 45 minutes, and then we get into that song, and that's when she went.""  Sad stuff, but it really is a lovely song.

His second-biggest streamer is from the first album.  "Mirror Mirror," with 20.7 million streams and another purely country sound.

Did he sing about the mirror because of how much time he had spent practicing that smirk/smile thing in the mirror and it was his best friend?  Inquiring minds.

The brand new disc brings the same stuff - a little cheese, a pure country voice, the usual assortment of instruments and sound - without any fluff or weird rap turbulence.  The big track from it is "Burns Like Her," and I know you can easily guess that this is a metaphor for a drink that will burn a hole in his throat.  19.6 million streams.

Sounds like Nashville to me, Pop.  

This is reminding me of the Midland dudes who are so purely traditional that it takes me back to the things I fell in love with in the 90's.  I'm sure if I dug through his catalog, I'd find some mention of TIGHT FITTIN' JEANS DRIVIN' ME CRAAAAZEEEE! or something, but after listening along to these albums a few times, I'm enjoying it.

Tanner Usrey (2025)

One Liner:  Really great, low-key Americana guy in the vein of Zach Bryan

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but country and americana

Home: Prosper, Texas

Poster Position: 4 (20) 
Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 5:15

Thoughts:  This fella was at ACL in 2023, but I missed the show.

While on the beach for Labor Day, a friend asked me about what country artists would be at the Fest this year.  I told him about Randall King and Morgan Wade, and said that I guess Mumford and Lumineers are in that wheelhouse.  But I hadn't yet heard this cat - got a basic but powerful sound that makes me think of Zach Bryan, Charles Wesley Godwin, and personal favorite Chris Knight.  That kind of country that leans into southern rock sounds and great lyrics.

Originally from Prosper, Texas, which is one of those far north suburbs of DFW that probably used to be a little slice of small-town nothing, but is now likely a mega-suburb in the making full of cheap D.R. Horton homes and a high school with an 80 million dollar football stadium.  Matt Carpenter, LaTroy Hawkins, and Torii Hunter, all accomplished MLB players, were from Prosper, as are Deion Sanders and Dak Prescott.  Kind of wild to have that many stars from a little squirt of a town.

He says that he used to belt out music all the time as a little kid, that his family would tell him to shut up.  In high school he picked up a guitar and leaned into making music.  His favorite band is Whiskey Myers, which is something I have heard of before, but I don't know that I have ever heard one of their songs.  He released the Medicine Man EP in 2019, which gathered a bunch of streams, and then was featured on Yellowstone and grabbed even more listeners.

"Come Back Down" was that initial big single that got people streaming - 41.3 million streams.

Basic on the instrumentation, but a classic lost love lyrics tune.  Great sound.  "Take Me Home," a 2023 single is also great even though it is basic.  I have wondered before how it is that Zach Bryan, the most basic of singer-songwriters, using the most basic of acoustic guitar tunes underneath, can turn into such a massively HUGE phenomenon.  His show at the Two Step blew my mind because of the crowd's fervent participation.  But listening to this, I can't really see the difference.  Maybe it's all about social media or something.  Or maybe one is a good-looking ex-Navy guy and the other is a chunky bearded bro?  Who knows.  "Josephine" is lovely too.  Funny thing, the Yellowstone tune doesn't even make his top ten.  Only 3.1 million streams - and the opening of it makes me think of Stapleton's song about getting stoned.  I'll give you the top tune from his 2023 EP called Who I Am. "Take Me Home" with 22.5 million streams.

Those fan-created slip videos are so weird.  Like, setting up in a stairwell to do rock-paper-scissors and then sending that video to a country music artist for a video for a love song?  So strange.  But I like the song a lot.

Also in 2023, he released his next full album, Crossing Lines.  It features that "Take Me Home" track, and it also has his biggest song overall - "Beautiful Lies" which sounds familiar because it was also a 2019 single.  Funny thing too, there are two versions on his album, the first one features a woman named Ella Langley, but only has 1.7 million streams.  But then the non-duet version at the end of the album fires up 42.7 million streams.  I guess it got a lot of play as the 2019 single version and they just decided to add it to the new album a few times?

Parts of the new album go into more of a southern rock country type angle, but this one stays true to my feelings I had before about the Zach Bryan basic vibe.  "Down Here at the Bottom" almost sounds like the Black Crowes.

I'd definitely go check this out - this guy feels like he would put on an electric show.

Braxton Keith (2025)

One Liner:  Young guy doing classic-sounding Nashville country

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but country

Home: Midland, Texas

Sunday.

Thoughts:  This cat was at ACL last month, pulling an afternoon slot on Weekend Two's Saturday.  I wasn't there.

Picture-perfect classic Nashville country.  The kind of stuff singing about all of the different tropes he can come up with for "Honky Tonk City."  Also, he looks like he is eight years old, but with a little fake moustache glued to his upper lip.

I mean, WTF is that.  For real.  

Not to be confused with Keith Braxton, who was a professional basketball player who played his college ball for Saint Francis.  That is who Wikipedia thinks I want to know about.  But this fella is from Midland, Texas.  There is honestly not enough written about him.  I know he has two little brothers and counts country royalty like Bob Wills, Hank Williams, and Merle Haggard as his heroes.  So, we'll just let the tunes do the talking.

First single was in 2019, and his first EP was 2020's Neon Dreams.  That one has his top streamer with "Cold Hard Steel and Sand."  3.2 million streams.

Kind of like good old Don Edwards singing classic cowboy tunes, and yet he's singing about oil men instead.  I like it.  His voice is silly good, like he just sounds effortlessly cool.

After that one EP, its just more singles.  No real album here in the collection.  His currently most popular tune is 2024 single "Cozy," with 803k streams.

That is way too much foot movement.  I don't care what they are up to, that is too much foot movement.  His cover of "Driving My Life Away" is excellent.  "Mama's Song" is lovely, kind of reminds me of an early Pat Green sound, but with a cool autobiographical tilt.  I guess his dad is a doctor from Ft. Stockton.  Now I know even more about him!

Pretty solid.  Definitely a better fit for Two Step Inn than ACL, but this guy has a cool thing going on.

Sammy Kershaw (2025)

One Liner: "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" plus some other classics from the 90's

Wikipedia Genre: Country
Home: Kaplan, Louisiana

Saturday

Thoughts:  Another casualty of the bad weather last year, he's back on the menu!  No new music, so here is last year's review.

Words that just came out of my mouth - "oh hell yeah, that's a BANGER."  Had no recollection of what this cat sang, but "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" is a legit classic.  Those pesky One Direction kids tried to copy the message of it and became insanely popular, but this classic still abides.  This was the kind of song you use to carefully choose the girl you are going to dance with, so that as you sing the lyrics gently near her ear she can feel in your passion that you are talking about her.  RIP 13 year old Jack at a summer camp Rodeo dance.  RIP 19 year old Jack at Calhoun's in Sherman, Texas.

Samuel Paul Kershaw was born in south Louisiana, and is a third cousin to Doug Kershaw.  His father died when Sammy was 11, and so he started playing local roadhouses to try to support his family.  That sentence is hard AF.  When he was 12, he met his idol, Beaumont's-own, George Jones.  After that, he got the opportunity to open for Jones, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price, while still a teenager.  Unfortunately, this time also saw him grab on to a drug addiction.  But, he got clean in 1988 and started releasing albums in 1991.

Sixteen studio albums.  Three platinum and two gold.  More than 25 singles in the top 40, with ten of those into the top ten, but strangely only one #1.  The first album, Don't Go Near the Water, was released in 1991 and boasted his second-best charting song, with "Cadillac Style."  11.1 million streams now.

Amazingly awful video right there.  Love it.  He actually sounds like George Jones there.  Awesome that the trolleys in N.O. still look exactly the same, 30 years later.  But still, good song.  Classic move of combining something like car details with loving details.  I seriously love that video.  So bad and so good.

HIs second album had the banger - Haunted Heart was released in 1993.  "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" is the jam.  124.7 million streams.

Bummer, I was wanting an official video.  How do these artists not just go get the original master from CMT and get those suckers uploaded.  Obviously still a market for them.  His voice is great, the lyrics rule, just an all-timer right there.  Also on that album, "Neon Leon" has the tune (or piano line) of "Elvira," and makes me think he is talking about Deion Sanders the whole time.  "coolest man in the world for a town this size" is a great line.  And his other major hit is also on that album, "Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer."  51 million streams.

Oh come on, the start of that video looks like it is going to be the best there has ever been, and then he goes all moody like he's too good for the tried-and-true.  I do like that the guy in his story is named Earl, I wonder if that is where The Chicks got that name for their song.  "The king of the torque wrench."  I also very much like the descriptives with the "polyester curtains and the redwood deck."  "Love of My Life" is some smooth, easy-listening action.  Kenny Rogers has entered the chat.

My guy made a boss move as well, with his third album being a Christmas album.  Just flips a bird at fame and throws out an album of classic Christmas action.  But in 1994 he got back to business and releasing the normal country gold.  1994's Feelin' Good Train (which sounds like something that happens at a swingers party) included the hit "Third Rate Romance."  16.8 million streams.

Comes out of the gate like that "Baby's got her blue jeans on" song.  Wait, is that this guy too? (he actually covered it - I wonder if his is the version I know or if it was the original?)  Apparently, this was a cover, which I did not know.  The next album has an awful title - Politics, Religion and Her.  Ugh.  I'm not going to go through all of these albums now, because their popularity is steadily decreasing over time.  But in here somewhere he married singer Lorrie Morgan, who is sadly not on this lineup because that would have been fun (oh, nevermind, they are now divorced).  He's still throwing some music out in to the ether, but not much in the way of stream counts now for his last few albums.  He cracked a million with a cover of "Won't Back Down" in 2015, but it is pretty bad so I'm not bringing that to you.  I guarantee he created it so that he could use it on stage for political rallies without getting a C&D from Petty's estate.

Because, in a strange, and more recent development, he ran as a Republican for Governor of Louisiana twice - 2007 and 2010.  Both times, he finished third.

Just for "She Don't Know She's Beautiful," this guy is a real one.  Not sure if I care enough to go see the show, but it would likely be fun.