"Well Portland Oregon and sloe gin fizz, if that ain't love then tell me what is, uh-huh..."
Someday I am going to get around to posting more than just outfit inspiration and songs of the day. One thing I have been thinking of is lists of favorite collaboration songs, songs I could listen to 43 million times, and songs that make me stop dead in my tracks and search out everything about the artist - one of my typical binges. Well, one song that you probably wouldn't expect to be on those lists, but definitely is on all of them, is Loretta Lynn with Jack White's Portland Oregon. This song came out when I was in Jr. High and just beginning to get into music and figure out that there is more to life than the music played on the radio in Podunk, Texas. I remember I recorded the video on our DVR and I would watch it over and over and over. I still listen to it all the time - several times a week at least, and when I do, I usually play it more than once in a row. It will NEVER get old.
Oh and Loretta Lynn is a badass. Always has been, always will be.
(Normally I would try to play the real music video, but I discovered this one a while back and it is too cool to pass up.)
I think I've said it before but I pretty much never listen to female singers, but Kacey Musgraves doesn't count. She's got something different that makes me wanna listen, she's not whiney and cliche and singing about the same dumb stuff as every other girl. She writes her own songs and is really REALLY talented. Like for real. Yes, she was on Nashville Star but that was a lifetime ago and I've been following her ever since. I think her duet with Josh Abbott, Oh, Tonight, is really what turned lots of people on to her and she is finally becoming something. She signed a record deal a few months ago and I can.not.wait for her album to come out.
My favorite song of hers is Step Off, but it's only on her WEBSITE but I found this other really good one on the YouTube machine.
"Faith don't need no second opinion, don't got to prove it you just got to believe. We're all one under God's dominion, a willin heart - that is all you need."
I first heard this song when Stoney LaRue sang it at Cross Canadian Ragweed's final show at Joe's on Weed Street in Chicago. Obviously I wasn't actually at the concert, but I did (surprise surprise) buy the whole live album when it came out. I loved the song from the start and loved it again when it came out on Velvet a few months later. During a Mike McClure kick yesterday I realized he sang it first on the album Dirt and Spirit, which evidently is some sort of Okies-only thing that I just discovered because I am THE Arrogant Texan and my head is stuck in the mud about these kinds of things. Sometimes I realize that other states have good things to offer and this is one of those times.
Anywhooo, I'm guessing Tom Skinner wrote the song in the first place. He's another Oklahoma fella that I didn't even know existed until the love of my life, AKA Cody Canada got together his serious band and The Departed made Indian Land AKA the people-we've-never-heard-of-but-Cody-Canada-thinks-they're-the-shit-so-let's-all-jump-on-board album... and there were a few Skinner songs on it. And evidently Skinner is the shit because he wrote my two favorite songs on Indian Land, Water Your Own Yard and Skyline Radio and one or two others.
So here is Mike McClure singing it... because I couldn't find one of Tom Skinner and I've posted enough Stoney videos. And because my Mike McClure kick is what started this whole stalkathon in the first place.
I love being a know-it-all.
And Oklahoma.
Dammit.
God Bless Texas!! Peace Love and Enchiladas, The Arrogant Texan
"Now she ain't much for the bluegrass fiddle, she likes that bottleneck slide, a little kick with a lot of bottom and let the resonator take the ride..."
I sometimes get stuck in a rut of listening to only new songs on my iTunes, but this weekend I kept it on shuffle and found lots of hidden treasures like this. Ray Wylie Hubbard is one of the original Red Dirt badasses that I don't ever listen to enough. I love music about music and if you listen close or look up the lyrics you might can learn a little. And this ain't your typical name-dropping song either.
I love hymns. It's my favorite part of going to church. I have never been a fan of contemporary church services mostly because I don't get to hear songs like this. I'll Fly Away has always been my favorite. It can be spun so many directions but it always makes me smile. Just looking for a video on YouTube I found versions from Kanye West to Alison Krauss. I settled on this one by Johnny Cash but I tend to like it a little more upbeat. Sundays are made for music like this!
I found this song today and even though I usually don't listen to women, this is really fun. Texas music is a tough place for women to make it and I know they have to work 10 times harder than the guys, so I hope this song will be a big boost for Kristen Kelly.
It's no secret that I am obsessed with Ragweed and I frequently go on these kicks where I spend all day watching old videos of them. I found this one today and had never watched it before. It has Stoney in it too!! Two of my favorite people. I love songs that have cute-young-couple-getting-away stories. This one and State Line by Cooder Graw are the best.
"Throw caution to the wind, don't ever turn your head, 'cause in the end we'll all the dead. Make 'em open up their ears and listen to your songs, 'cause it don't matter who's right or wrong."
That's going to be the next quote I paint on a canvas. Did I ever tell you that I have about 40 million canvases in my house with song quotes on them? Maybe I'll post pictures someday.
I have been hearing this song on the radio and my sister kept asking me what the heck it was and neither of us could figure it out. Then it came on earlier today so I just started typing the lyrics into the google machine as fast as I could until I figured it out. Well, it's the Thieving Birds and I love it.
Today, February 3 marks the 53rd anniversary of the deaths of icons Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.
I love this video and especially the words the lady says at the beginning about how controversial this "rock and roll" music is and how people need to be open-minded about it. I wonder what they'd think about music now?
I've always under-appreciated Buddy Holly because, being from Lubbock, his music has been shoved down my throat my entire life. I only recently learned how monumental his music was in creating many genres of music that exist today and starting many trends in his short career, and for that I am very thankful.
I love Willie Nelson and was just clicking around on YouTube and came across this video. I've never heard this song, but it's badass and the video is creepy - love!!
"Everybody gotta get away sometime, forget about yourself for a while....okay alright, carry on."
If there is a single song in the world that instantly puts me in a good mood on a bad day - it's this one. It just remind me that's it's sometimes okay to let go and do what feels good.
One of my favorite lyrics of all time comes from this song...
"Lover make sure that you got your troubles, lover make sure that you work too hard; ain't nobody that don't get tired of watching troubles pile up big in your own backyard. Sometimes you gotta grab your world with your own two hands, set it spinn' off on a course all your own. Take yourself a big bag for your shoulder, find yourself some good times, bring 'em on back home."
Anytime I get to thinking about what I want to do "when I grow up," which is coming faster every day, I listen to this song and it reminds me that I don't necessarily have to do what is "safe" so what everyone else thinks I should do, I need to do what feels right.
Whoa - deep thoughts there, but sometimes music just does that to you!
ANYWHO - here it is...
P.S. Pat Green is married to a girl from another town in my county, which is also my high school's rival. And I've met like all of his in-laws. And I did his grandma-in-law's nails one time at the nursing home and she just loved me because I knew who Pat Green was. And his kids pictures go in our hometown newspaper's brag pages the week of Valentines. So like I practically know him.
