Gone Country

Meh, you ain't missing much. I've had a Shiner in that little post office/store, and once I borrowed a guitar and joined in a little jam session in the back for a few minutes. But it really isn't that big of a deal/place. It's mostly just a thing that you do/say you've done.

 

This thread makes me want to dial up Texas Rebel Radio

 

I'm stunned Rob could make a song not so good.

#allsummerlongsweethomealabamawerewolvesoflondon

 

I will say Kid Rock and Bob Seger do a pretty good cover of Vince Gill's "Real Mean Bottle"

 

Speaking of Kid Rock country-ish duets, his duet on "Picture" with Allison Moorer is 100 times better than the hit version with Sheryl Crow.

 

The Beatles covering Buck Owens' "Act Naturally". Tina Turner covering Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make it Through the Night". Ray Charles' entire "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" album. Van Morrison's cover of "Your Cheatin' Heart". Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue" album, especially "Tonight the Bottle let me Down" and "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used To Do". Metallica's "Mama Said".

I'll throw in the Grateful Dead doing Marty Robbin's "El Paso" and George Jones' "A Good Year for the Roses", although the Dead in that period was pretty much a prototype Americana band, especially circa "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead".

A special mention goes to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which was best known for "The House at Pooh Corner" until they went to Nashville in 1972 and hooked up with country legends like Ernest Tubb, Earl Scruggs, Mother Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, as well as a bunch of the top Nashville session musicians at the time. Fiddle player Vassar Clements came to national attention for his work on this record. "Will the Circle be Unbroken" was and remains classic Country/Americana, true mountain music, not the overproduced Nashville crap with sobbing strings and choruses of background singers so common around then.

 

"Mildenhall" on the new Shins album will not change your life, but it's good.

"Wedding Day" by Cracker is great, too.

 

I'll disagree quite strongly here. I've seen quite a few awesome concerts in Lukenbach. A cool beer in the shade in Lukenbach is pretty damn hard to beat.

 

I forgot about that dance hall ... never been in there. Have seen three or four shows in Gruene Hall, though ...