Sunday, May 14, 2006

Soothing the savage breast

Spotted in Chicago O'Hare airport during one of the interminable delays in which that dour abode of misery specialises...



Never heard of this guy before, but I feel he speaks for me. I resolve to repair to the terminal bar forthwith and get drunk, per his sage advice, tho' not so drunk that the somebody I become is the guy who's refused boarding when my hideously overdue flight finally limps in from St Louis.

Say what you like about Country and Western, at least they don't all ride around in stretch limos with posses of junky hookers, waving bling and shooting each other outside nightclubs, like those damned operatic tenors do. Even Johnny Cash never actually killed anyone. I think.

Whatever. I plan to give this sensitive soul a listen at my earliest opportunity, unless of course one of you lot write in and tell me he's crap, in which case I shan't bother...

15 comments:

Desargues said...

Know the feller, haven't yet listened carefully to his music. But he IS to country what Fiddy is to...erm...opera. Inner-city opera, if you want.

Country and Western are not that bad, actually. I used to listen to these guys, some of whom started off here, as meisters of the alt.country artistic mouvement. "Alt" as in "alternative." It's really cool stuff. And the Brit in you may come alive at hearing distant echoes of The Clash in some of Uncle T's older songs.

Gorilla Bananas said...

Isn't he George Michael's hairstylist, or is it just a chance resemblance?

Ivan the Terrible said...

Thank you, Des - seems a whole new world of C&W is opening up for me. Tho' I must say that if offered a bit of Clash-influenced Country, I'd prefer the straight Clash every time.

And GB, better George's stylist than Cherie's.

Anonymous said...

Ivan, how can you live in NC and not have been exposed to C & W? I'll bet you're off buying cowboy boots as we speak.

Cheers.

HA HA HA said...

hmmm. wilcos been prety unevan. beign the're is good an mermade avenue deserves the hype. the rest is nothign much.

socalled 'altarnatave cuntry' starts with gram parsons. then try this this this an teh imortal neko case.

Desargues said...

I bow to true expertise, 3H. Was just making some timid suggestions. But now I wonder, is The Old 97s too catchy for you?

HA HA HA said...

ol 97s! well 'west texas terdrops' is magnificant isn it?

'my destinations writen on my feet
an the stars above are about the only company i keep'.


thats one i wish id writan.

Ivan the Terrible said...

I can tell that I'm in the presence of masters, here. Or hicks. It's all good...

Pat said...

des - oh king of links ( not for much longer) what or who is 'fiddy'?
Do you have to live in a caravan to be 'white trash'?
Ivan have you seen Cherie's hair without her stylist? She didn't take him to Pakistan, poor dear.
My dear young man has taught me how to do links and tomorrow I shall practice.

Ivan the Terrible said...

Hi Pi. "Fiddy" is the demotic nickname of accomplished composer "Fifty Cent", a gentleman of the rap persuasion who is living proof that the Devil quite literally looks after his own.

Caravans are not white trash material, as if they still have wheels they qualify as RVs, which makes them middle class. Real white trash live in doublewides, which are only mobile insofar as that they can be transported by truck to your chosen plot of miserable scrubland. But once you're there, they're propped up on cinderblocks.

And sadly I haven't seen Cherie in Pakistan. For most women out there, however, a bad hair day is the least of their worries. Perhaps we can persuade them to keep her, or stone her. Whichever.

James G. said...

Forget the wimpy alt. stuff...I highly recommend this album, a compilation of 20 songs about drinking by those guys who fall into the gaps between the alt. crowd and the Nashville crowd...I have been listening to nothing but this album (and vol. 2) since I discovered them a couple of weeks ago...I am getting in touch with my inner redneck.

HA HA HA said...

jams - dude! based on teh clips i just ordard it. thanks.

Jagd Kunst said...

My friend Pumice played me this old tape that had been doing the rounds for the last 15 years when we went for a drive one day. On one side was G.G. Allin, but on the other side was this band called 'John Wayne' and every song was about Texas. But nobody knows where that tape came from and subsequently, any thing about the band.
Thought some a you yanks might know?

James G. said...

ha ha ha,
no problem...I have mortified my (English) wife by telling her how much the music on those albums makes me want to go out and buy a Stetson, a pickup truck, and a rifle rack.

I was dropping her and the young'un off on the school run yesterday morning, with the music playing, and she was making excuses to people who were walking by..."he's American, bless 'im..."

Anonymous said...

To parrot a previous commentor, you live in NC and haven't heard of Toby Keith ? You must live a very sheltered life. Which, come to think of it, is the only way an exile can survive in the US with his sanity intact. Toby Keith is the glorious auteur of "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue", written in response to 9/11, and the essence of which is neatly summarized in the following couplet:

"Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And you'll be sorry that you messed with
The u.s. of a.
cause we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the american way"

No mention in there of putting the boot in the ass of all the swarthy neighbors as well, but that probably goes without saying.

By the way, on the palatable end of C&W music, Wilco's AM kicks butt, and Being There isn't too bad either. Being a damned intellectual, I'm partial to the Cowboy Junkies as well.