Showing posts with label Jack Ingram. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Ingram. Show all posts

Nov 10, 2023

One Texas Town Doesn’t Have a Country Song About It

One town in the Hill Country has somehow escaped the gaze and thoughtful tunesmithing of Texas country and roots songwriters. Sabinal, Texas, located west of San Antonio in Uvalde County, has all the touchstones needed for a great country song, but has yet to be honored in that manner, and Mayor Jerry Guzman is tired of it. 

“We’re pretty much the same exact size we were in 1910, write about our consistency!” laughed Guzman. “But seriously, you can zoom into any area in Texas on Google Maps and pick a town and there’s a 99% chance there’s at least a mediocre Casey Donahew album cut about it.” 


“Freakin’ Gatesville has a song!” he frowned. “River floating, vista gazing, dust stirring, beer drinking, lie telling, domino slamming, chili without beans… we’ve got it all, but Gatesville… ptuih!” 


Neither Cody Johnson, nor Willie Nelson, nor Randy Rogers, nor Pat Green, nor Rich O’Toole, nor Bri Bagwell, nor Robert Earl Keen, nor K.T. Olin, nor Jack Ingram, nor Rodney Crowell, nor Joe Ely, nor Nanci Griffith, nor Larry Gatlin, nor Mac Davis, Gary P. Nunn, nor Clint Black, nor Alejandro Escovedo, nor Jamie Lin Wilson, nor Beyonce, nor Steve Earle, nor Radney Foster, nor Kelly Clarkson, nor Cody Canada has bothered showing even 3 1/2 minutes of interest in the forlorn municipality.


"It rhymes with a bunch of stuff depending on how you say it," laughed the Mayor. "fall, in all, call, pal, Cristal... uh saddle if you pronounce it weird."


A small sampling of other Texas cities and towns that DO have country songs written about them are as follows: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Amarillo, Texarkana, Stephenville, Waco, College Station, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Odessa, Monahans, Wichita Falls, Nacodoches, Plainview, Fort Worth, Indianola, Lubbock, Galveston, Alpine, Austin, Luckenbach, La Grange, Beaumont, Midland, El Paso, Abilene, and Laredo. But not Sabinal. 


The town has put together a discussion panel to find ways to make the area more amenable to being documented in the next TRRR smash. “First of all we’re looking to expand the Dairy Queen parking lot, at city expense, to draw in more young people who like to hang out yelling “Let’s go!” in parking lots with their pickup trucks. That’ll cover the more middle of the road Texas country sensibilities.” said Guzman. “But we also have to find ways to add more ennui, whatever that is, for the artsy-fartsy Texas poets.” 


“We’ll figure it out..” he trailed off, with a tear in his eye. 


At press time, out-of-state country songwriter Cody Wolfe had volunteered to write a song about Sabinal, provided that a nearby airport can accommodate his private jet.  


May 12, 2021

Ten Favorite Albums of 2021 So Far: 1/3 Report


 The usual disclaimer: Our year-end list will be staff-voted; this is just Trailer’s list.

It’s been a weird year and I’ve listened to more old music than I have new, to be honest. I’ve still heard a lot of new stuff and I’m pretty sure these are my favorites, but it’s entirely possible I’ve completely left out an album I listened to multiple times and enjoyed. Feel free to let us know your favorites or make suggestions! 


1. Morgan Wade - Reckless


2. Carly Pearce - 29


3. Dallas Moore - The Rain








(this one may end up higher, but it's new so I haven't listened a lot yet)


Jun 19, 2020

Male Country Singers as Women For Some Reason

Luke Bryan

Koe Wetzel

Eddie Montgomery

Jack Ingram

Kane Brown

Gary Levox

Garth Brooks

Billy Joe Shaver

Sturgill Simpson

Cody Jinks

Feb 27, 2018

Courtney Patton: The Farce the Music Interview



By Kevin Broughton

Courtney Patton was in a good place, a really good one. And she had been for a little while, having settled into a marriage with her songwriting soul mate, the kind and humble Jason Eady. Having received critical acclaim for her 2015 album So This Is Life, followed up by the husband-and-wife collection of duets Something Together, Patton was finally happy and content as she set about to write, record and produce her own record for the first time.

But happy ain’t country. Fortunately, though, like the scorpion catching a ride from the frog, Patton’s nature prevails on an album full of truth, three chords at a time on What It’s Like To Fly Alone. Collaborating with heavy-hitting songwriters like Micky Braun and Larry Hooper (who along with Eady helped pen “Barabbas” on Eady’s self-titled album), she captures heartbreak, hope and a dash of redemption throughout. Her vocals combine the boldness of Kim Richey and the sweet, quavering vulnerability of Kelly Willis, while telling stories of characters both real and familiar.

Patton, with her self-effacing, hearty laugh and genuine humility, is a woman comfortable in her own skin. Her gregarious wit stands in contrast to the darkness of her songs’ characters, but the common thread is a genuineness that pervades. This is a compelling album by a woman serious about her craft.

She’s between Dallas and Houston when we connect to talk about hawks, snakes, rats, cigarette smoke and Botox.

A few years back on Jack Ingram’s Songwriters Series, you said, “I think sad songs, the way they’re produced and written, are the fabric of real country music.” It seems like you’ve really put your money where your mouth is on this album. We’ll get into some specific tracks in a minute, but how did this album come about thematically?

If I’m being 100 percent truthful, I was in a rut. I was in a writer’s rut, because I was happy for the first time in a really long time. And it’s hard to be the kind of songwriter I am when you’re happy. Happy songs are so hard for me, because you’ve really got to know how to do it without being cheesy.

And I had never co-written before, so I had made a goal after So This Is Life came out in 2015 that I was going to co-write with some of my friends and really get better at it. So I’m really proud that seven out of the 12 songs on this record are co-writes.

That being said, I couldn’t go about it this time with a theme. Every other time I’ve said, “Okay, the theme for this record is this.” This album, I just wanted to write songs and have a big pot of them to choose from. But when it came down to it and I started singing these songs, I realized they all kind of centered on the idea that we have to make ourselves happy. At the end of the day, we have to choose the person we’re with; we have to choose to get over addiction. Or whatever it is. We have to decide to make the best of what we have.

What about the title track?

I was driving home from Austin, where I’d had a really bad gig. A couple of fans had gotten up and left during the first song – and asked for their money back -- because they had driven in from out of town to see someone else -- who happened to be my husband. Jason was supposed to be there but wasn't, so Josh Grider was filling in for him. It had nothing to do with me, but it threw me off. I started forgetting lyrics and doubting myself.

I was crying the whole way home. I called Jason and told him I was going to quit: “I’m gonna go back to college and get my master’s, and teach public speaking in college. That’s what I’m want to do!” He said, “Get home, go to bed and wake up tomorrow. It’ll all be okay.”

And right as I’m wiping my tears away, this hawk shoots out and flies almost into my car. It shocked me out of my stupor and forced me to say, “Okay, focus, you’re almost home.” And it was 2:00 in the morning and I got home and wrote the whole song. And the whole point of it is at the end of the day, that hawk’s out to find a snake or a rat or whatever he can to survive, and he’s gotta do it by himself. I’m out here playing songs, singing songs that come from deep inside of me, and I’ve gotta do it by myself. I have to choose; when those two couples walk out, I have to be able to say, “I’m good enough. My songs are good enough. I can do this.” I made the choice to do this; I’ve gotta play that show and not let it affect me. I’m doing what I love, and I don’t want to go back to college right now. 

You’re a big fan of waltzes. Why? (And I have a follow-up question.)

So…I don’t know why, but all my life I’ve liked slow, sadder songs. I’ve listened to Counting Crows and Carole King and they’ve been huge influences on me. Willie Nelson…I love Merle Haggard. I just love slow songs. People have told me, “You’re in a waltz rut,” and I just can’t help it. The way that I write poetry it phrases itself in a waltz meter without my trying.

That was another challenge because I thought I was gonna end up with another slew of waltzes – and again, I’m not apologizing – but some people think it’s too much.

I asked Jason this last year, and I’m curious about your take. How does one go about writing a waltz? I mean, do you have lyrics ahead of time and bend them into a One-two-three cadence? Do you write the words with a ¾ time in your head? Or is it something else entirely?

Man, for me it just really comes out that way, in a waltz meter. I’ll have a phrase in mind and I’ll write the phrase out and as the words start coming, I realize that’s just the way it’s going to be. I really don’t try, “This is a melody, let’s write a song to it,” I never do that. I guess my heart beats in the rhythm of a waltz.

On the surface one would think, you know, you & Jason have been married for going on 4 years now, and y’all are perfect for each other – you should be in a really good place in life. But so many of these songs are dark and sad. How much of this album is autobiographical? I mean, obviously “Fourteen Years” is about the sister you lost…

Yes…

…but, for instance, “Round Mountain,”



Completely fictional.

Oh it is? Good!

Yeah! This was one of the first challenges I gave myself. I drove between two towns -- I wanna say Johnson City and Fredericksburg – maybe just past Johnson City, and it was literally just a sign: “Round Mountain.” And I looked into the history and around 1900 there was a church there, and so people started settling there. And when the church closed they all went back to Johnson City.

So I just made up a fictional story of a character named Emily, and she had an affair. And I don’t know if that kind of stuff happened back then, but I kind of wanted to go for a Chris Knight-type of song. I saw a head stone that said something like “Fare the well, Emily Bell,” and just made up a story about her, and her not wanting anybody to know she’d had a bastard baby.” I’m sure she doesn’t appreciate that, if she can hear me. (Laughs)

And she had died young, I should mention that, probably of dysentery or smallpox or something that actually happened back then. I just made it way darker. (Laughs)

Yes. Dark. And fictional.

You know, I got a Face Book message from a fan who said, “I’m kind of concerned, are you and Jason okay? The title of your album concerns me, and I don’t see any pictures of y’all together.” And I said, “You know it’s actually nice to have a private life where we don’t have to share everything we’re doing! But we’re sitting here having dinner, laughing at the absurdity of your concern. It’s a song about the music business. Calm down.” (Laughs)

You mentioned dealing with addiction; speaking from any kind of experience there?

Uh, not necessarily, but I have a grandfather who struggled with alcoholism and a brother who just celebrated two years of sobriety. But it’s hard for all of us, watching him struggle with that and not knowing what to do to help. But it’s not me; there’s nothing in me that says “I’ve gotta have that,” and then I’ve gotta have it more. I can have a drink, and I can not have a drink for three months and not think about it. Luckily it wasn’t something that was passed on to me. I just think everybody struggles with their own thing.

You’re on your way to a house show to help finance this record, and as best I can tell, your albums have all been self-released. Was this a business decision on your part to forsake getting a label and do it all on your own?

I’ve never looked for one, and I’ve never had anybody approach me. So I guess it’s mutual. I enjoy having creative control over my material and I think I’d be very disheartened if anyone told me I couldn’t do it the way I wanted to. I just think we’re very fortunate to live in Texas where you can make a living touring and driving around playing guitar. I don’t even play with a band. And I make more money doing this than I did at my day job…which wasn’t much, you know, but it’s a pride thing. At the end of the day I look at my guitar and say, “Me and you: we did that.”
And nobody told me, you know, that I had to shoot Botox in my lips…

Ha!

…or lose 40 pounds. I mean, I think of all the things – I hear horror stories from my friends in Nashville…these girls in their twenties who are gorgeous, but with these ridiculously plump lips and no wrinkles on their foreheads. And that’s just not country music! Country music is supposed to have wrinkles. And cigarette smoke and beer.

And that’s just not – I would not want anything put on me that way, because it’s frightening to me. I think they’d take one look at me – I’m a curvy girl – and say, “You don’t belong here.” So it’s never anything that’s come into the realm of the possible with me. And I’m okay with that.

Drew Kennedy produced the last album, and you did this one yourself. What was the recording process like? Did y’all lay everything down live?

I was nervous about it. But I’ve been missing a lot over the last few years. I’m a mom – going to basketball games and soccer games. But I had the opportunity to make and album in my hometown and I’ve never done that before, so I jumped on it.  So two of the guys who tour with Jason – Jerry Abrams on bass and Giovanni Carnuccio on drums – we went in the studio and tracked it live. I was in the control room and they were in the main room, and what you hear is what we did. There are no overdubs on that part.

Now when you hear Lloyd Maines, he did that from home. But the basic tracks – guitar, bass drums and vocals – we did that live, in about two and a half days. But I’m just so fortunate to have Lloyd and a bunch of other friends and people I trust who helped out. I just sent them my songs. And the thing is, they – and especially Lloyd – they listen to words, and they play things that match. A lot of musicians don’t do that. But Lloyd can hear me take a deep breath, and you can hear it correspond on the steel – inhaling.

It’s just cool things like that; I don’t think I could have asked for better people to play on it. But I was very excited to try and do it myself, and it’s been a very proud moment for me. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it again, but I loved it.  

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What It's Like to Fly Alone is available through Courtney's site, on Amazon, etc.


Apr 28, 2017

Album Review: Dalton Domino - Corners

"People like me have to live in hell to see if Heaven is worth it"

Dalton Domino's second album, Corners, is a sober but intoxicating look at the journey of a young man moving from the partying days of youth into the first blush of accepting adulthood. It's a fitting portrait of life, given that its painter is recently sober himself.

"Who I was ain't who I am"

Domino hasn't changed his sound for his second outing, though things are a bit more shaded and a little more guitar-driven. It's still a hearty mix of mid-American rock, red dirt country, and thoughtful singer-songwriter fare. Things are just seen through clearer eyes this time. With that clarity brings sharper detail; a little less giving 'em what they wanna hear, a little more giving 'em what I need to say.

The title track finds Dalton trying to mend fences by admitting the state he was in when he tore them down in the first place. He's okay with it if you can't get past his transgressions, but he's also confident in the transformation he's gone through. Jack Ingram guests on the song, adding gravity to the message and support to its messenger.



"Decent Man" is a funkier cut. A measured but rocking honky-tonk number with some southern rock swagger and another heady dose of truth …this time, gleaned from a run-in with the law

The lead single, "July," is a catchy, radio-friendly (in Texas anyway) mid-tempo rocker. It's a co-write with Kaitlin Butts about figuring out who's really to blame in a broken relationship: the dude she's cheating with, her, or himself (hint, it's the last two).

Thinking things through. That's one of the important distinctions between boys and men, and one of the main themes on this album.

On Corners, Dalton Domino has declared that honest confessions are more valuable than false optimism. It's a mature approach, and though it's a bit darker sound than his debut album, there's a boldness in being more assured of who he is.  Corners is a powerful second release, and one that should see Domino continuing to climb the ranks in Red Dirt and Americana music.

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Corners is available on Lonestar Music, iTunes, Amazon, etc.

Dec 20, 2016

Best Songs of 2016 Spotlight: Jack Ingram - Blaine's Ferris Wheel

One of my top 20 songs of 2016 and contributor Kevin Broughton's #1 song of 2016.... available on Jack's 2016 album Midnight Motel.


Dec 14, 2016

Best Songs of 2016: Beyond the Top 10


2016 was a bad year for music. So many legends lost. And it was a slightly down year for albums (to be fair, the past 2-3 years were so stellar, it's hard to compete and unnecessary to complain). However, it was a really good year for songs. Here are the tunes just beyond my top 10 that I feel need recognition - Look closely, some don't have videos. There are, of course, many others I enjoyed through the year, but for me this is the cream of the crop. Farce the Music's top 10 songs of 2016 will be posted tomorrow. ~Trailer

No particular order.

Blackberry Smoke (ft. Gregg Allman) - Free on the Wing


Margo Price - Hands of Time


 Erik Dylan - Fishing Alone

Jack Ingram - Blaine's Ferris Wheel


Brent Cobb - Country Bound


Charles Bradley - Changes


Rob Baird - Horses


Western Centuries - Off the Shelf

Larry Hooper - Cry Me a River

Lydia Loveless - More Than Ever

Caleb Caudle - White Dove's Wing


Sturgill Simpson - Call to Arms

BJ Barham - Water in the Well


Amanda Shires - Pale Fire


Chance the Rapper - No Problem (feat. Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz)


Randy Rogers Band - Things I Need to Quit

Kelsey Waldon - All By Myself


Beyonce w/Jack White - Don't Hurt Yourself

Gojira - Stranded


Tedeschi Trucks Band - Let Me Get By

Quaker City Night Hawks - Mockingbird

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