From the first line of the first song, "I was born September 1st, in a little town outside Fort Worth" to the album closer "Weclome Home" the new Vandoliers album The Native is Texas through and through.
If you want to know what Texas music is all about, this album is a crash course. It takes snippets of Red Dirt, Southern Rock, Tejano, mariachi, Rockabilly, Texas swing, honky tonk, country, 80s pop rock, punk and beach/island music to create a diverse 10 song journey. Some of it may be a bit too inside baseball to resonate with everyone, such as the song "Pantego", but hell, if Cairo, IL can get a couple of songs recently, why not Pantego?
The Vandoliers are self aware and The Native never takes itself too seriously. Sure, there is some introspection and some nostalgia, but all in all, it's just fun summer fare with a perfect release date, the Friday before Memorial Day, which kind of indicates the beginning of summer in the United States.
The Native may not be for everyone, and frontman Joshua Fleming's vocals are unique, but they fit perfectly in the context of these songs. The instrumentation and playing is spot-on throughout the album. This is just a fun album and these guys sound like they'd be great live.
If you want to dig through my tweets you can find where I called Dolly Shine a "generic Texas country" band. That was before I heard Walkabout. Can one album change everything? Nope. But it can change a mind going forward.
Walkabout is by far the best thing Dolly Shine has done. There is a lot on Walkabout. A lot of country, some rock, some bluesy stuff, some swamp (and if you read regularly, you know I like swamp).
There were some lineup changes between the last output and Walkabout. Whatever the reasons, the results speak for themselves. And they self-admittedly recorded this album for the first time as band. It shows.
I went with my sister and daughter to see Whiskey Myers in New Braunfels, TX at the River Road Ice House with Band of Heathens opening.
While not that familiar with Band of Heathens before, they were really good. Hard to explain, but if you like 70's California rock, you'd like them.
I had seen Whiskey Myers a couple of years ago at a small club. They were good then. Now, they are a rock and roll tour de force.
The east Texas band cut their teeth on the Texas/Red Dirt Country circuit, honing their brand of Southern Rock. They are a jam band at heart. At least live. It doesn't come through as much on their recorded material.
Whiskey Myers is going out on the Carnival of Madness tour with Shinedown, Halestorm and Black Stone Cherry. If the other three aren't on their game, they will be out-rocked by some East Texas boys.
Whiskey Myers would be right at home in the '70's. With either the Southern Rock crowd or the hard rock crowd. They would have fit in the '80's with Cinderella, Tesla and the Black Crowes. You could even argue that they would have been at home in the late '60's with Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, and the Rolling Stones. Oh, and they could also hold their own playing with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
Visually, Whiskey Myers is an amalgam of of many things. Guitarists Cody Tate and John Jeffers could not look more like they belong in different bands. Tate could walk onto a ZZ Top stage and trade licks with Billy Gibbons. Jeffers could step onto a stage with Cinderella and not look out of place. And both shred on guitar. Early and often.
Drummer Jeff Hogg may be Mick Fleetwood reincarnate.
Bassist Gary Brown looks like he belongs on the Texas Country scene, replete with cowboy hat. Then he breaks out the bass line for "7 Nation Army" and you know this ain't your dad's country.
Lead singer Cody Cannon is a combination of Jim Morrison, Billy the Kid, Johnny Depp, Johnny Van Zant and Jon Bon Jovi. Both in looks and sound. I leave that for you to figure out.
Whiskey Myers played a high energy set that rocked more than the last Bon Jovi show I saw. If you go expecting country, you'll be disappointed, it you go wanting some good rock music, you'll leave impressed.
Here is a live version of "Home" recorded in England:
The new offering from Texas/Red Dirt artist William Clark Green is everything would expect from a good Texas/Red Dirt record. Country, raucous country, Southern rock. But what you also get from Ringling Road is a collection 11 very well-written songs, regardless of how you'd like to classify it.
The opening song on the record, "Next Big Thing", chronicles how hard the music industry is right now without sounding bitter.
"Creek Don't Rise" may be the most "country" sounding song on the record. And it's good. But that is followed by my favorite song on the album, the title track "Ringling Road" with its thinly veiled homage to the Grateful Dead song "Casey Jones". Or at least that's how I hear it, I have no insight, but with the lyrics:
The trapeze guys are all high on cocaine that they bought from the guy who used to drive the train
That reminds of this from "Casey Jones":
Drivin' that train, high on cocaine, Casey Jones you better watch your speed.
"Ringling Road", the song, also is the kind of loose, greasy stuff you might hear from Texas legend Ray Wylie Hubbard.
I really can't find a bad song in the bunch. It's the kind of record you can just put on and listen all the way through.
Here is the first lyric video from the album, "Sympathy":
Here's the deal. Ray Wylie Hubbard is a legend of Texas music. He doesn't need me to spotlight his latest
album here on my little blog. But I will anyway, because if one person reads this and gets turned on to Ray Wylie, then it's all worth it.
If you like your music greasy, grimy, groovy, swampy, loose, in the pocket and real, then this if for you.
I'm done with genres, but if you want something, it's country, Americana, roots rock, Southern Rock and sometimes a bit punk. It's Ray Wylie.
I have seen on social media people praising each of the songs on the album, saying that is their favorite. And I can't argue with any of them. There's not a bad song there.
This is another in the long line of music that doesn't exist I'll be featuring here.
Here's a taste of the record with "Chick Singer, Badass Rockin'".
If you want to know what Texas music is all about, this album is a crash course. It takes snippets of Red Dirt, Southern Rock, Tejano, mariachi, Rockabilly, Texas swing, honky tonk, country, 80s pop rock, punk and beach/island music to create a diverse 10 song journey. Some of it may be a bit too inside baseball to resonate with everyone, such as the song "Pantego", but hell, if Cairo, IL can get a couple of songs recently, why not Pantego?
