New to me... Ryan Bingham:
I've lived without bread and I've lived without water,
Stuck outside the middle of the desert wishin' I was home.
Long way from no where, wishin' I was somewhere,
Sangre de Cristo to the Devils Backbone.
I've been to California and North Carolina,
Hung with the hippies in Austin and the cowboys of Mexico.
I've laid up in Fort Worth with beautiful ladies,
Hitch hiked on down 281 and hit the rodeo in San Anton...
In the back of a Ranchero, I rode down to Laredo,
Had a good time at the la posada, yea you know I was left alone.
On a rig out of El Paso, rainin' down in Houston,
Told the truck driver put the pedal to the metal cause Houston gets me down.
On down to Louisiana, Whiskey River Landing,
Crawfish pie and eat jambalaya with a big ole coon ass smile.
There are a lot o' reasons to like this song, beginning with that immaculate slide guitar. But it's the lyrics that struck a (heh) chord with me coz they pretty well mirror my year on the road in the near wayback. All those places Young Ryan mentions? Been there, done that, bought the tee shirts... lots of 'em, too.
And speakin' o' road songs, there was this from Robert Earl Keen:
Drove from Albuquerque to Ft. Smith, ArkansasThat last verse (or the chorus, whatevah)? That was my mantra while I was on the road; I saw SO many things that should have been shared.
Then all the way to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras
You should have seen... the craziness down there
What I really mean... I wish you were here
[...]
I'm sending you this postcard
To tell you that I'm fine
And let you know wherever I go
You never leave my mind
Buck, I'll have to confess, I never heard of Robert Earl Keen before this. I really enjoyed this song and will be listening to some more of his stuff. Makes me realize there's probably a million other greats out there that I never got around to.
ReplyDeleteI had, however, heard of Ryan Bingham. I even did a post on him last March (2010) after his song appeared in the movie "Crazy Heart" which Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for. You can read that post right cheer:
http://cumberlandpost.blogspot.com/search?q=ryan+bingham
Bingham has a gravely voice to end all gravely voices. BTW, I did like his slide playin'. Mighty fine.
Never heard of either of these guys but enjoyed them both...
ReplyDeletePearl
Dan: Dunno how I missed your Bingham post but I must have, as I didn't comment. I think you'll like Robert Earl... he's one of those Austin "New Country" kinda guys and does some great stuff.
ReplyDeletePearl: Hey! Thanks for droppin' by, and I'm glad ya liked the tunes!
I like Robert Earl Keen but I hadn't experienced Ryan Bingham's music. Thank you, thank you, for introducing me. I'm playing Bread&Water all day today for the beat - to keep me going through a mind-numbing project.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh yes, good road music and a good road trip is best when shared. Thanks for sharing some of that trip with us through your blog posts.
Red: I've prolly listened to that Bingham tune six times this morning... it's catchy beyond belief!
ReplyDeleteI thought I left a comment this morning. Oh well. I shared the Bingham video with Toby. He said he went to school with a Bingham kid in Hobbs - who was big into rodeo and they often fought over Kathy Somebody. He wondered if this Ryan kid could be his son. Could be.
ReplyDeleteLou: Mebbe!
ReplyDelete