A little travelin’ music from down Texas way
We went to see Jeff Bridges in the movie “Crazy Heart” a few weeks ago, and it was excellent. And all the time I was watching it, I was thinking of the late Townes Van Zandt. The Bridges’ character, known as Bad Blake, had a lot of Townes in him, as did his music.
But of course, since this was Hollywood, Bad Blake by the end became Good Blake and survived his sins and excesses. Townes did not.
The truth is, Townes was a great picker and songwriter but not that great a singer. At best he could often make a virtue of his limitations. So here’s an interesting version of his most famous song, performed by a couple of other pickers who also reap virtue from their limitations.
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788 comments Add your comment
Kamchak
March 26th, 2010
4:08 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVjdMLAMbM0
Bosch
March 26th, 2010
4:16 pm
EXCELLENT – two of my favorites of all time even.
Old Shoes
March 26th, 2010
4:21 pm
Brings a tear to my crusty eye-lids…
Scout
March 26th, 2010
4:21 pm
I think this was his best one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZRDHolKRns&feature=related
Paul
March 26th, 2010
4:25 pm
I love that song. What imagery. “Wear his skin as hard as iron” and “breath as hard as kerosene.”
Okay, I love it when Willie sings it.
Scout
March 26th, 2010
4:26 pm
Great scene and “Kocking on Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan” towards the end !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MgubwywhiU
Paul
March 26th, 2010
4:27 pm
Okay, all you Libs been giving Texas a ration of you know what for the last couple of weeks, you do know Willie’s in the new curriculum, don’t you? ZZ Top, too.
thbpptttt
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
4:30 pm
A couple of great Texas and a place to start…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvZeYDBY4fw
Paul
March 26th, 2010
4:33 pm
Hey, josef nix -
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
4:34 pm
PAUL
If this one’s not in the textbooks, yank ‘em off the shelf..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56tsL_HJwaM&feature=related
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Impeach Drunken Fool obozo! Just sayin...
March 26th, 2010
4:36 pm
Why bother posting any comments of substance if Bookman is just going to erase the whole blog if he don’t like them?
From now on, I’m just going to natter like everyone else, just sayin…
Paul
March 26th, 2010
4:36 pm
josef nix
I can remember as a kid walking into my dad’s office and seeing a Janis Joplin tape. I said “you?!!?” and he said “yup.”
Saw dad in a new light that day -
Paul
March 26th, 2010
4:37 pm
One of the leaders on American Idol is like a shy, country Janis Joplin. I hope she wins it -
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
4:38 pm
From Denton to us here on Friday…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YZpbYqOw4o&feature=related
Bosch
March 26th, 2010
4:38 pm
Paul,
I love it when Willie sings too – reminds me of my dad. My dad has always had a really bad stutter – never talks much because of it – but when Willie’s on, my dad will actually start singing!
Paul
March 26th, 2010
4:39 pm
Report/Whine
It was an accident. Jay likes Cheesy Shrimp Grits.
Welcome to the club.
Jay
March 26th, 2010
4:39 pm
Yeah Paul, but they probably described Willie as the famous Texas tax protester who heroically took on the IRS but lost, the modern day equivalent to William B. Travis.
Bosch
March 26th, 2010
4:40 pm
Paul,
Oh, speaking of TV shows, I saw last night that you asked if I was around, and I wasn’t, until later after that, but I was watching a funny show called “The Marriage Ref” – you seen that? It’s one of those shows that make you think, “these people can not be for real.”
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
4:40 pm
Paul, that little band from Texas, ZZ Top?
In my mind, the best song they ever did that no one knows about…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b15q1L0bmNk
Bosch
March 26th, 2010
4:41 pm
Jay,
What happened with the blog? I’ve seen Andy and @@ gripe about it. I have no idea what they are talking about.
jefferson
March 26th, 2010
4:42 pm
An Okie is close to Texas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce_Z9NuwVBY
Paul
March 26th, 2010
4:43 pm
Jay
Actually, he’s listed in the index under “Weedman.” The version you cited was put forth by Yankee transplants out to corrupt true Texas culture.
Another bourbon tasting tonight. Woodford Reserve, again. Was a low turnout, spring break, so they’re doing it again. Hmmm, whatever shall I do tonight?
Bosch
March 26th, 2010
4:43 pm
Oh no AmVet,
Here’s ZZ Tops best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN69GC2amTg
Paul
March 26th, 2010
4:45 pm
Bosch
Ever since I first met him decades ago, my brother in law (fifth generation Texan) has looked like he could step up on stage with ZZ Top, put on a pair of shades and he’d fit right in.
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
4:45 pm
“…now make it mellow…you can do it now….”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqSqIUkJIeM&feature=related
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
4:45 pm
I only discovered this Texan and his music about 10 years ago and flat out fell in love with it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxzxH6wIPCY&feature=related
TaxPayer
March 26th, 2010
4:46 pm
Did someone say modern day Janis?
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
4:48 pm
and Texarkana’s gift to American music…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAtL7n_-rc
Normal
March 26th, 2010
4:49 pm
Kayaking anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4WYHJNYX7k&feature=related
Jay
March 26th, 2010
4:49 pm
You’re a smart man, Paul, I know you’ll make the right decision.
As to ZZ, I’m a great fan. And I have to say that, having been to a couple of ZZ concerts, they draw large numbers of incredibly attractive members of the opposite sex.
And that’s all I am going to say about that.
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
4:51 pm
jefferson, niiice.
And an Arkie is as close as an Okie…
Here with Billy Price.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHuKxtOmtLA&feature=fvw
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
4:56 pm
Bosch, I absolutely loved (and own) ZZ Top’s first three LPs. And notwithstanding that their later efforts were IMHO pretty cheesy and rather “sell out”, they did as the sage JB notes really bring in the chiquitas. Their shows were always a blast.
Another monster Texas talent and my idea of a Texas love song…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWGBB68uEIg
Brad Steel
March 26th, 2010
4:56 pm
texas stuff from this century. more relevant and interesting than your dad’s LPs – at least most of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9aTfGgF0c
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
4:57 pm
and, jewcowboy, from this guero…and even this century!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcVRmwWjlRY&feature=PlayList&p=725B1A92064350C8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=27
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
5:04 pm
I don’t think Jay would “moderate” them…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hntXAO_Rq7c
Brakeman
March 26th, 2010
5:06 pm
T for Texas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEIBmGZxAhg
Paul
March 26th, 2010
5:07 pm
Not Texas, but good anyhow. First line reminds me of Jay at his ZZ Top concerts… AmVet, too -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScG0ilS0dgI
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 26th, 2010
5:08 pm
I was thinking William Travis died at the Alamo; Willie Nelson survived the IRS, so far anyway.
This guy isn’t from Texas but Willis Alan Ramsey who wrote the song was raised in Texas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6xYUC4eZ08
@@
March 26th, 2010
5:08 pm
I love that song. Willie and Bobby sound good together….wonder why?
When I lived in Vacaville we would celebrate our annual Fiesta Days. All of the parade participants would gather on the schoolyard behind my house, separated only by a cyclone fence. Poncho Villa (not the real one) was always the star of the parade…sitting atop a big white stallion. Both the horse and the rider were fully decked out in silver conchos.
I lived for Fiesta Days. We all dressed for school in traditional Spanish costume. Me with my black lace mantilla, complete with comb….black peasant top with long skirt. Probably looked like a floozy but it were fun.
Poncho hoisted me up on that big white stallion once. That’s the day I fell in love with horses.
They still celebrate Fiesta Days there. I wonder if they still use the schoolyard.
There’s a joke about a guy who was mistaken for Poncho Villa. Too long to tell, ends like this:
“And as Poncho Villa approached, he slowed his big, white horse, and he looked at me, and he smiled, and all de gold in his teeth did sparkle like de sunlight. Then he pulled his big, heavy gun, and he pointed eet at me, and he said ‘you… pull down you pants!’ What could I do, he had a gun. So I pulled down my pants. Then he looked at me and smiled, ‘now, take a sheet’.. ayeee, I had no choice, he had a gun. Then he wave that pistol at me and he say, ‘Now eat et!’ but for that gun, cavrone!, so I ate eet.”
“And Poncho Villa, he laugh so hard, he fall off that big, white horse, and he drop that big gun, and I pick eet up, and I point eet at him. And he quits laughing. Den I say to Poncho Villa, drop you pants! what could he do, I had de gun. Now I says to him, take a sheet, he no smile now. and I wave that big gun at heem and I says, now eat et!” “And you ask me if I know Poncho Villa! Hell, yes I know Poncho Villa! I had lunch with heem today!”
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
5:08 pm
another Texas classic…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5WWuQ0yiPA&feature=related
Lettuce not forget our Texan girls
March 26th, 2010
5:09 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7uxf8kBBlg
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
5:14 pm
Brakeman, that classic “slightly” updated.
BTW, I was there that day and these guys just annihilated the place…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY63KTMrkTM
@@
March 26th, 2010
5:14 pm
Hey Andy!
From now on, I’m just going to natter like everyone else, just sayin…
I’ll be happy to join you. You and I can talk about other bloggers like a coupl’a schoolgirls.
Tee hee hee and all that…
It’ll be fun. NOT!
Paul
March 26th, 2010
5:15 pm
@@
So.. did you wear black stilettos with that?
I’m going to think of that story at the bourbon tasting and start laughing all over again.
josef nix
Then I’m going to think of those pictures from your 5:06 and sober up real quick -
The Cyberbully Lisperer
March 26th, 2010
5:17 pm
Great thong!
Wait a minute. Bookman is not married!!!!! ??????
That’s would tend to explain alot. Just thayin’
@@
March 26th, 2010
5:17 pm
No Paul! I was barefoot.
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 26th, 2010
5:18 pm
Texas singer-songwriter Bruce Robison sing about his brother Charlie and himself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb9742q26fY
Brakeman
March 26th, 2010
5:18 pm
AmVet:
My first cousin had a “warm-up” band and traveled with them. He is listed on some of their albums as the “keyboardist” (for their studio recordings). His name was Randall (Randy) Cutlip. He could tell some tales ……….. died about 15 years ago.
The Cyberbully Lisperer
March 26th, 2010
5:20 pm
Bob Dylan = Obama. He was popular till he tried to go electric and revolutionize his act. They cheered him.
Then they boo’d him.
Now nobody really care. Bob Dylan? Why not. John Lennon is dead.
Paul
March 26th, 2010
5:22 pm
AmVet 5:14
Izzat you at 1:03?
Ummm…. you were workin’ on an air guitar…. right?
Kamchak
March 26th, 2010
5:27 pm
Jazz from a Texan and a Georgian.
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
5:27 pm
Brakeman, VERY cool.
The first time I saw them, they opened for Chicago(???) in Tampa in 1974.
I already owned that insanely awesome debut record but a lot of people still didn’t really know them yet.
I told a bunch of people just before the show started, wait until you hear these guys, you are flat gonna forget about Chicago…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqp1U6RoQaw
More Texas sweetness…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veyPHzxNjog
@@
March 26th, 2010
5:28 pm
You’re Not From Texas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMhaehb5AnE&feature=PlayList&p=EB2028F4577B6470&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2
I am.
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
5:31 pm
AH! Texas– a whole ‘nuther country and glories in its paradox… here’s the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpHiURKkY0Q
and here’s her story…
http://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/WW/fwe41.html
RW-(the original)
March 26th, 2010
5:32 pm
And I have to say that, having been to a couple of ZZ concerts, they draw large numbers of incredibly attractive members of the opposite sex.
I can’t really think of any rock concert I’ve been to where you couldn’t insert the band name in place of ZZ Top and still have that be a true statement.
Brad Steel
March 26th, 2010
5:35 pm
thoughts these guys were from texas. they sound very texas-y. but they’re not. there from (gulp) miami!
never judge a hook by the covers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M81ph3BslqQ
@@
March 26th, 2010
5:36 pm
San Antonio, South Texas Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhw0qDQEzjc
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
5:36 pm
LOL Paul.
That day was nuts. I had been on “holiday” for two weeks. Traveled and camped throughout Scotland, visited my grandmother in Worcester (and could write a book on what happened there) and this show was the culmination of that fortnight.
It was an all day concert, six bands, with Todd Rundgren’s Utopia and Skynyrd blowing the doors off the joint. It was headlined by the Rolling Stones but they were so strung out (I presume), they just phoned in the show and were nearly universally derided for sucking in the 70s.
But with over 100,000 new friends and lots of hash, who cared…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsIqEq9OFxE
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
5:38 pm
Hillbilly–
From the Troubador…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9GTKJrLgYc
Curious Observer
March 26th, 2010
5:40 pm
But wouldn’t the Texas School Board ban Willie for the same reason they banned any textbook coverage of Cesar Chavez: he’s a bad influence?
Mick
March 26th, 2010
5:40 pm
Gotta go but here is my texas contribution…catch up later
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaX7Y1GQl5w
pat
March 26th, 2010
5:40 pm
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/88969-cbo-estimates-98-trillion-in-deficits-over-10-years
speaks for itself….
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
5:41 pm
JAY
From the West Bank of the Brazos to you…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESNCWrks6vQ&feature=PlayList&p=B770CA8A352AB9C8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=49
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
5:42 pm
Brad, yeah you are damn straight about that.
Whoever would have thought these guys were from San Antonio…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XboE3_7KZ3Y
Mick
March 26th, 2010
5:43 pm
Brad Steel
Before I go – the bass player down the street from me ended up in the mavericks – bobby reynolds – married trisha yearwood then divorced. He disconnected from all his old friends..later
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
5:44 pm
El Paso boys…
And after all these years, it still kicks a__
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0sI6eFarFE
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
5:44 pm
another great tejano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa8sdCvMPtM
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
5:48 pm
Here’s one you might remember…more Texan miscegenation for ya!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn3JB51NH_M
Normal
March 26th, 2010
5:48 pm
It ain’t texas, but it begins with a T..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egvraT1oBH0
Normal
March 26th, 2010
5:50 pm
This one too,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EBqoQgoKkc&feature=related
Brakeman
March 26th, 2010
5:51 pm
Amvet:
Yep. My cousin also “opened” for Chicago and Three Dog Night. Just never made it big. Got to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right song.
DD
March 26th, 2010
5:53 pm
Fair warning!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjtZ1L-0iNc&feature=PlayList&p=0D7381DE6722469E&index=0&playnext=1
Lettuce not forget our Texan girls
March 26th, 2010
5:54 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTUTjucLD70
FinnMcCool
March 26th, 2010
5:54 pm
Ah, did Jay give away the movie? Ha
Here’s my favo-rite Texan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZoX6Q0UK8A
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
6:00 pm
and for those who don’t want health care ’cause “I hear tell, you’re doing well…” from a great Texan social commentator…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWlRXA293iE
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
6:02 pm
Texan social commentary for real…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FPEBWZ1EOY
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
6:05 pm
Finn and others, it is damn near impossible not to jump on that SRV bandwagon tonight.
Only 5 studio albums, but wow…enough great music to last a lifetime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljVVFKjN0Dc
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Impeach Drunken Fool obozo! Just sayin...
March 26th, 2010
6:07 pm
RW- Maybe ZZ is the only concert Bookman has ever been to?
Oh great, now the blog is going to get erased.
Jay
March 26th, 2010
6:10 pm
31 years of wedded bliss and countin’, Lisperer. Still….
And Josef, Kinky is a Texas original. Paul, do you think they’ll give him a state funeral when he dies, lay him out at the Capitol rotunda, etc.?
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 26th, 2010
6:13 pm
Josef @ 5:48
One of the best story songs every written there. It’s a virtual movie in song. And for the guitar buffs, Grady Martin played lead on that (Also on Oh Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison) and he put over 40 different lead runs in El Paso.
This is especially for Brakeman and Josef
http://www.ajc.com/news/declare-confederate-southern-american-405738.html
And this is for all my fellow Baptists who’ve ever been to an all day preachin’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-42NzUuUlLY
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
6:13 pm
josef, I always thought that record was overall kinda sappy, and I was at a place in my life then (when it came out in 89), where I was NOT into sappiness.
But damn, I just loved it anyway.
That’s one of the wonderful things about music; it can make you wonder what the hell is going on in your head. And heart.
Co-written by the fab JD Souther and Tom Petty’s axeman extraordinaire, Mike Campbell…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZqraesi9Lg
RW-(the original)
March 26th, 2010
6:13 pm
Andy,
He won’t erase it until we get about 900 comments in.
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
6:16 pm
and for us angst-riddled baby boomers…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIUPCfIihQ4
FinnMcCool
March 26th, 2010
6:16 pm
AmVet, this entire concert from Germany is available on Charter On Demand on the Concert TV channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAG-kX_IlUw&feature=PlayList&p=5E032766C5131A51&index=0&playnext=1
Amazing what he could do even while all strung out.
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
6:17 pm
a master in a light hearted mood….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrFuMA53pak&feature=related
Normal
March 26th, 2010
6:17 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02LIxbI8maI
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 26th, 2010
6:19 pm
This is another version of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. Repoertedly this is the way the soldiers of the Army of Tennessee sang it after the Battle of Nashville.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoPQqPJ7fbQ
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
6:22 pm
Duane and the boys cover one of the greatest classics ever written. Courtesy of Texan T-Bone Walker…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gDhR1R3S0s
Normal
March 26th, 2010
6:23 pm
Since Davy died in Texas and Fess passed on a couple of days ago (imagine Fess and Davy talking in Paradise)I thought this would pass a good Texas song…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kweL_RUXXU4&feature=related
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
6:24 pm
Hillbilly
@ 6:13
Ach! And in the AJC no less…were Sister Cinthia and others off that day?
AmVet—
I thought it was kinda sappy, too, until I really listened to it and watched the video more closely…I had to really stop and think…
FinnMcCool
March 26th, 2010
6:25 pm
From just south of Texas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7NuD6vm2Mw
Normal
March 26th, 2010
6:29 pm
Hillbilly and Josef,
This is for the good ol’ southern boy census …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa8GIVblH_I&feature=related
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
6:30 pm
Something about a yodel that always got me…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ADjpeLg1w&feature=fvw
Paul
March 26th, 2010
6:30 pm
Jay
[[do you think they’ll give him (Kinky Friedman) a state funeral when he dies, lay him out at the Capitol rotunda, etc.?]]
If we can keep Bill White (or one like him) in office long enough we will.
FinnMcCool
March 26th, 2010
6:32 pm
And the Irish Texans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxc8Sm0nXpE
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
6:34 pm
normal
@ 6:17
Probably one of my top ten favorite “Southern” songs…
Hillbilly–
Thanks for the Axton…I like that version a lot…
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
6:35 pm
Hillbilly
From another Texan master to you…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3N_ZSfXQes
josef nix
March 26th, 2010
6:39 pm
Finn @ 6:25
Great pick! The Romany lady says no curses for you… and BRUNO when you check in, check it out…
AmVet
March 26th, 2010
6:41 pm
My dad (from Bogalusa, Louisiana) loved “Ernie”. I remember sitting around the “stereo” as a boy listening to his Songs of the Civil War LP.
For you southern gentlemen…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS7Y4XszJyg
Normal
March 26th, 2010
6:42 pm
Josef,
I always liked this one, too…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxODRxvF2gQ&feature=related