Kacey Musgraves- Follow Your Arrow Kacey Musgraves played a packed show in El Paso this week. I’ll have a review up next week. In the meantime, watch this video. Or don’t. I think that’s what she’d say.
What I’m Drinking
Nothing goes with an order of Chico’s Tacos like a Dr. Pepper. So I had one of those. Now I will fall into a food coma. See you next week!
Texas Monthly wonders why El Paso doesn’t have good barbecue (it really doesn’t have great barbecue anymore) which is like wondering why Chinese food in America is different from what you’d get in Beijing. It’s not a native cuisine, the climate is much drier, the elevation is higher, and we lack the forests of mesquite needed to support barbecue culture. Of all the small, local cultures Texas is home to El Paso’s is the least understood.
New Mexico taxpayers bought at $200,000 sculpture to put in front of their 212 million dollar Spaceport no one is likely to use.
Despite what Alex Jones screams at you, ISIS is not on the border. Stop believing unnamed sources without independent verification.
What I’m Listening To This Week
Escondido I was pleased when this popped up on my iPod this morning. I was even more pleased to find out we’ll be getting another album of that woozy desert sound. Something about the hazy Mazzy Star vocals with Ennio Morricone horns and the Fleetwood Mac gallop make for great music to drive around the desert to.
What I’m Drinking
I’m not drinking Lone Star out of a tallboy can because I can’t seem to find those anywhere.
A surprisingly traditional and bouncy rejoinder to Nashville from two of the slickest (I mean that in a good way) guys in Texas Music. Good to know that no matter what, these two can fill a dance floor with two steppers and get a few licks in while they’re at it.
What I’m Drinking
In my own, personal version of opening day, the first Tecate of the spring has been cracked. It felt so good on my lips.
Instead of doubling down on sports where they’re really successful, NMSU usually throws money at football instead, something they’re famously the worst at. Which is a shame, considering they’re doing it at the expense of students and parents who pay tuition.
Willie Nelson, Ertha Kitt and Dinesh D’Souza all have arrest records too, but I can’t help thinking if a Texas State Trooper took a picture with them he wouldn’t have to go to counseling.
Featuring a bit of a tougher country-rock sound than I’m used to hearing from JTE, this is the first single of his upcoming album “Absentee Fathers.” His earlier albums were steeped in pre-war blues, folk, country and classy R&B. If this is a grittier more country inflected record, I’m all for it.
What I’m Drinking
I don’t think you’re supposed to drink beer on Good Friday? I drank some water.
The war game that is creating a lot of buzz in the conspiracy world. Is Texas being invaded? Probably not. There was an annual war game like this in El Paso for years that drew troops from all over the country. It was such a boon to the economy that bars and strip clubs put up welcome signs for them.
What I’m Listening To
This years Couch By Couchwest. I’m so far behind and the performances are all so good.
What I’m Drinking
Modelo Especial because it has that big, sweet corn taste you’d expect from a Midwestern macro brew but it’s from Mexico and if you can see Mexico from your front porch then is it really an import?
Doug Sahm and Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove A new documentary about Doug Sahm put me in the mood to listen to him. And really, it’s never a bad time for his blend of rock, country, blues and psychedelia. Joe Nick Patowski, who is the greatest chronicler of Texas Music chose this for his directorial debut. Really, I don’t have words for how excited I am.
The Tigua tribe had a pretty nice casino, and used the money they made from it to do a lot of good for their community. The Texas Legislature shut them down and now the Feds are accusing them of violating that injunction.
What I’m Listening To
Ryan Culwell-FlatlandsSteeped in West Texas heart, shot through with echoes of Springsteen and as atmospheric as an abandoned house out on the plains. Flatlands covers a lot of ground, stylistically, but maintains the high-plains heart of The Flatlanders. I can’t wait to play this through my truck speakers while heading north out of town, out where the mountains finally give way to the plains. Out there, there’s nowhere for anything to hide, just the bare earth, light and shadow, and the ever present wind. That’s kinda how this album works, you get the same feeling of space and honesty.
What I’m Drinking
Protein shake. Off to the gym. Have a good weekend.
Bobby Bones plays terrible misogynistic music on his show, goes out of his way to antagonize female artists like Kacey Musgraves and then does this. He’s got bad ratings in Nashville and probably relies on this sort of drama to get ratings so I guess we’re all feeding this beast by talking about it.
Coyotes, the first vanguard in the West’s colonization of the east. Within a century your kids will be saying “y’all” and wearing Tony Lamas. (I kid, I kid.)
What I’m Listening To:
Mayeux and Broussard- High Times and Good Rhymes
I saw these guys a long time ago in the Phoenix Saloon on a sleepy Sunday afternoon. I immediately looked them up as soon as I got back home. They’ve got a sound that sticks with you like good barbecue. And like good barbecue these songs are greasy, smoky, and country as hell. If my Dad had been with me he might have been able to close his eyes and be transported back to Armadillo. These are all top-notch compliments. The new album is High Times and Good Rhymes. It came out this week. Goes good with barbecue. And beer. And lazy afternoons in a good bar.
What I’m Drinking
It’s cold again. I’m the only one not upset about it. I’ve got a crisper drawer full of odd winter beers from all the six packs of stouts, porters, etc. I’ve picked up over the winter. Really gotta do some house cleaning to make room for spring. If it ever gets here.
J.D. McPherson-Let The Good Times Roll-McPherson makes straight-up, unabashed old-fashioned rock-n-roll like no one else. Taking a more R&B based tack than rockabilly, he breathes new life into one of America’s most vital art forms. Part of this is in the way he approaches what has traditionally been considered a hide-bound genre. Using modern production techniques that owe more to RZA than Sam Phillips, his songs are sneaky. They’re full of little modern ticks that ear doesn’t quite pick up, making everything sound fresh. It isn’t until you listen closely that you realize these aren’t straight up recreations of 50’s rock, but crafty homages. This is a long, fancy way of saying I love this record and I can’t stop listening to it.
What I’m Drinking This Week
Tecate, because it’s in the high 60’s and sunny out right now. We’ve got another cold front moving in, so better drink up and enjoy the sunlight while I can, right?
cultwestern.com 