Hogg Maulies - "My Home"

Tonight I'm going back to my hometown for the first homecoming football game since I left. I don't want to go but my two best friends from high school are dragging me along so I think we'll make it fun. I must say I'm completely blown away by some of the mums I've seen on Facebook already. I think it's 20+ years of mum-envy building up. I've never had a mum because my mom had me convinced they were tacky (they ARE - that's the POINT). I feel a little deprived and I don't think I can complete my proper small-town-Texas raisin' until I've worn a homecoming mum big enough to saddle. That's what small-town homecoming is all about, right?

There are so many songs about small-town America. And let's face it, most of them are check-lists of clichés associated with hometowns and they all sound the same. Very few accomplish this while still being original - think Ragweed's "17" and Charlie Robison's "My Hometown."

This song from the new Hogg Maulies album, August Rain can be added to that list of good examples. Maybe I just like it because it's so West Texas oriented, which I think is a little under-represented in songs in general. But everything about this song hits home for me - no pun intended.

New Music Tuesday

I have not adjusted to this new schedule yet, so here is a late post for ya. This probably won't be the last time you hear about these from me though.

1.

I haven't listened to all of this one yet, but I've been waiting for it for forever. I love what I've heard so far. If you love West Texas - you MUST give this one a listen.




2.

Haven't bought this one yet, but it is on my list. Another West Texas girls' staple. 

3.

And finally, I feel like I have been waiting on this one for a coon's age. Lucius has been my favorite Uncle for a long time and I love this band more with every concert. Their second album, Pick Your Head Up is one of my all-time favorites. It is the type where if one song comes up on shuffle, I have to stop and listen to the entire album on repeat for days. I have listened to And You Are Me a few times today and already feel like it could be the same way.



So there ya have it. I have officially spent more money on music than books this semester and I'm completely OK with that.








PS - I am currently sitting outside listening to the new Dirty River Boys CD, thanks to the beauty that is Kickstarter. All I can say after being about 3/4 of the way through it is - HOLY SHIT.

Song of the Day - Whatever You Throw

So here's a little story for ya...

A long time ago (like 8 years ago) a little girl named Hallie had just discovered bands like Pat Green and Cross Canadian Ragweed and was becoming more and more obsessed with Texas Country. The problem was, this little girl didn't know about any music outside of what she heard on the radio station in her hometown or saw on CMT, which was a crying shame.

Luckily for Hallie, she had a cool older sister who was in high school ag classes. The class was lucky enough to have one cool dude from Texas Tech come student teach for a semester. This guy knew about things going on outside of Podunk, Texas and began introducing his students to cool new Texas Country bands. And Elizabeth told Hallie and she thought it was cool and she is now obsessed with Texas music.

The end.



Well, one of those bands was called the Hogg Maulies. What the hell is a Hogg Maulie, right? That's what I thought too and when Elizabeth put that CD in for the first time I thought she was nuts. But her cool ag teacher told her it was cool and he was right, it was. They were a brand spankin new band back then. I don't even think we could actually buy a CD at that point, I think they were all just burned off the same computer and passed around.

I have been a huge Hogg Maulies fan for a very long time. Then I got to college and realized everyone in Lubbock knows and loves them too. Come to find out it's a very small world and a few of the people I work with are good friends with the band. I have always partly blamed my sister's student teacher on starting my obsession with music and opening the doors for me to see what else is out there and even though he has no clue who I am, he married a good college friend of mine's sister.. hi Garrett!


Anyway, enough about me. Today I saw on Twitter that @ParkerMorrow, who plays guitar for the @HoggMaulies, said their new single Whatever You Throw just hit radio stations. Their new CD they've been working on comes out this summer and I am pumped. It's been a long time since they've had new music. If this is the song I think it is, I've known it for a while, but I guess they just now recorded it.

When I searched for the song, I found this video. I'm sure there is a much better and newer version than this one from 2009, but I had to use it.

*FUN FACT*

I had an internship at the radio station in this video the summer after I graduated high school.
(KFLP- "106.1 FLIP FM, don't flip us off, flip us ON!")
Yup, I spent a whole summer in that stool right there stalking people on Facebook and listening to music. (Remind me to tell you about the time I was responsible for the f-word being sang on the radio about 7 times in a row.)

So that's why I had to use this video.

Another fun fact:

The guy with the beard and long hair was my photography professor and one of my favorite teachers I've ever had. And he also used to have the same job I have now.

I'm tellin ya... small world! Either that or I am just a complete stalker/creeper, which is highly likely.

Check 'em out on Facebook, Twitter, and their website. 

And don't forget to BUY THEIR MUSIC!

Suds-n-Sounds and other weekend shenanigans

*Originally posted July 11, 2011*

This weekend was, as usual for me, chock-full of places to be and people to see. It was the weekend of a family reunion, a friend's wedding shower and the huge party/concert Suds-n-Sounds in Nazareth that I wouldn't miss for the world. I was wondering how on earth we were going to pack it all into one weekend, but of course, I found a way! It was interesting, but I didn't really walk away with any crazy and hilarious stories to tell like I usually do after weekend like this. I guess that's a good thing?

I kicked off the weekend by going out to my Great-Aunt and Uncle's house Friday night for a much-dreaded family supper for the beginning of the reunion. There was going to be cousins there that I hadn't seen in about 12 years and I wasn't really looking forward to catching up with them. Based on their Christmas cards we receive each year, I didn't think we could possibly have that much in common to talk about. I mean, we weren't even facebook friends! Soon enough though, my sister and I got shoved into the kids table with them and we got them talking. 

It didn't take long for me to pin them as major city-slickers when I asked them what kind of music they like... because that's the first thing I ask anyone I know nothing about.

Boy cousin - "Indie, Rock, Rap, you know, stuff like that."

Me - "Do yall ever listen to Texas Country?"

Girl cousin - "Umm, well like I know who Jason Aldean is."

oh.hell.no

By that time we were getting really tired of being in the house with all the decrepit people and were looking for something to do that was more our speed. The rest of the family was drinking wine, beer and mixed drinks, so I started dropping lines here and there, rather than just saying "So, do yall drink??" with thier parents sitting right there. I eventually got the gist that they do and it was about that time we remembered our town had just gone wet.

So, we loaded up and headed into town and we bought about 6 bottles of the fancy stuff, aka Boone's Farm, and some Four Lokos for the boy who is too tough for fancy wine.

  

As soon as we got back to the house out in the country, we laid down my tailgate and blasted some Texas Music on the radio and showed these city kids how it's done. I'm sure they've never drank Boone's Farm out in the country in the bed of a pickup, but now they can say they have. They think they're all sorts of cultured from living in the city, but this weekend they attended their first county roping and ate their first Allsups burrito. They are now officially cultured by my standards.

The next morning we had to go to a wedding shower, then had lunch for the boring-est part of the reunion. When that was all said and done my sister and I and two of her friends headed up to Nazareth, Texas for Suds and Sounds. I met several new people and got to catch up with lots of friends I hadn't seen in a long time. Some of them were from high school, and some of them were from college and it was good to see all of them. For the majority of the night I hung out with were a few of my new friends from Munday and we danced, played beer pong with strangers and made fun of lots of people who had a little too much fun. I finally get to mark the Hogg Maulies and Eleven Hundred Springs (or 'leven Hunrd Sprangs' as I was accused of calling them) off my band bucket list. We finally decided to get some "sleep" when the sun started coming up around 5am but we woke up maybe an hour later to take the tent down and head home.

All in all it was a great weekend and, needless to say, I spent Sunday taking plenty of naps and rehydrating in the pool. This is what summer is all about!