Monday, December 11, 2006

Another Favorite

I mentioned on my earlier post that Hoyt Axton was one of my favorite songwriters. My favorite Axton song was probably "Della and the Dealer", but there were lots of great songs and great lines. Another favorite songwriter is Guy Clark. Just reading through his bio on Wiki. is like reading a list of "Lou's favorite songs and singers". My older brother introduced us to Steve Earle (mentioned on the site) the year we opened our cafe. Anytime I hear Steve Earle, I am taken back to the cafe days and rocking out in the kitchen with Craig, Toby, and whoever else was working. The fact that Guy Clark is a West Texas boy probably endears him to me as much as anything. When we were all in college at Texas Tech, we spent lots of time at the Cotton Club hearing amazing local talent. Later we transfered to SWTSU in San Marcos, TX, where we listened to George Strait at Cheatum Street Warehouse and the Skate Skeller before he became famous. George was pure country and great. We were use to wilder songs of Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Gary P. Nunn, Jerry Jeff Walker and Joe Ely. Those were the good old days of country music mixed with the rebellion of rock. Today's country is just mush and silliness.

4 comments:

garn said...

Hoyt is my favourite,period. I own probably the equivalent of 30 albums of his. A lot of it was never released,but recorded on radio shows and in the basement of the late DJ,Skip Weshner. of LA.
One thing about Hoyt,he was far deeper than the general public has ever recognized.
Txs,Mike
PS - your other choices are A1.

Becky G said...

I love Hoyt Axton, too, and George Strait. You're right about today's country. There are very few new songs out that I like.

Buck said...

Wow, Lou...we're oh-so-close in our tastes! Aside from the others mentioned in this post, I LOVE Joe Ely and Gary P. Nunn. I'll go out of my way to see those guys. Believe it or don't, but I saw Joe Ely for the first time while I was in London, of all places. It was '81 or '82 and he sold out three shows at a pretty big venue. I went out and scarfed up all the Joe Ely albums I could find after that show. As an aside, I think it's a shame that your average Brit knows a lot more about the width and breadth of our music than we do. That was my experience, anyway.

I envy your bro for his place of residence. Austin is, by far, the BEST city in America for music. Period. NOTHING else comes close...

Bag Blog said...

My brother does live in a wonderful place for music. He may be a liberal/hippie/lawyer, but he is a heck of a fun guy to know. When we go to Austin, he takes us to all of the best music places. Since he is an entertainment lawyer and his ex-wife is big in the Austin music scene, Craig knows everyone. Several years ago, he took me to hear a young band called The De-railers. They were awesome. He has this group of 4 to 5 women whom he takes dancing quite often - he takes turns dancing with each lady and rarely sits down. They only love him for whom he knows and his dancing abilities. If you are ever in Austin, he is worth looking up.