YouTube Gems: Cledus Returns

I know "gem" might be a strong term for a Cledus T. Judd video, but FTM obviously owes a lot to this guy and his sense of humor. Here's his latest, the very funny (once or twice anyway) "Garth Must Be Busy."

Best of 2009 So Far: Through May

As always, feel free to chime in with your own favorites of the year thus far, or give me some suggestions for music I should check out! Any of these that aren't yet released... um, I've listened to the streaming previews...yeah, that's the ticket.

1. Son Volt - American Central Dust

2. Ben Nichols - The Last Pale Light in the West

3. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies

4. Slaid Cleaves - Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away

5. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

6. Phosphorescent - To Willie

7. Steve Earle - Townes

8. The Devil Makes Three - Do Wrong Right

8. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Tell 'em What Your Name Is

9. The Gourds - Haymaker!

10. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

11. Roman Candle - Oh Tall Tree in the Ear

12. John Moreland & The Black Gold Band - Endless Oklahoma Sky

13. Mastodon - Crack the Skye

14. Doug Paisley - s/t

15. Wayne Hancock - Viper of Melody

16. Scott Miller - For Crying Out Loud

17. Eric Church - Carolina

18. Dale Watson - The Truckin' Sessions (v.2)

19. Strand of Oaks - Leave Ruin

20. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit - s/t

21. The Last Vegas - Whatever Gets You Off

22. The Felice Brothers - Yonder is the Clock

23. Willie Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel - Willie and the Wheel

24. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

25. Diana Jones - Better Times Will Come

I had no idea...

...Country California had t-shirts... and that Kenny was a fan. Congrats to CC for a major milestone! 

The truth about hometowns

So many songs these days extoll the simple pleasures of that quaint lil' idyllic hometown we all come from and long to go back to if we have a soul at all. It's where the the dirt road simple life makes everything okay, where folks wet a line at the crawfish hole, where Saturday night's sin must be prayed about at Sunday morning's service, where the cancer-stricken brother wants to leave this mortal coil, it's a little slice of heaven on earth. Really? Really? Here's the truth. 

My Hometown Sucks

Went back to visit for a few days

Where I’m from, smalltown USA

I pulled in as that big ol’ warm sun fell

Felt a feeling coming over me

Not quite sentimentality

My stomach turned from that old familiar smell

My hometown sucks

My hometown sucks

I miss it like I love a kick in the nuts

My hometown sucks

My hometown sucks

It's a charming mix of hicks in trucks

So much for nostalgia

I don’t know about ya

But my hometown sucks

Every corner you can cash a check

The potholed streets will make you wreck

And Walmart's the only store that's left in town

The kids cook meth on Saturday nights

The quickstop just sells Natty Light

And the homecoming queen, she weighs three hundred pounds

My hometown sucks

My hometown sucks

Drive down mainstreet, you might get mugged

My hometown sucks

My hometown sucks

If you say hoedown, the girls all duck

So much for nostalgia

I don’t know about ya

But my hometown sucks

Bridge

Sure the pace of life is slower

But so is the pace of mind

It's no wonder we always used to drink ourselves blind

Cause my hometown sucks

My hometown sucks

The mayor's a lush, the council's corrupt

My hometown sucks

My hometown sucks

It's a charming mix of hicks in trucks

So much for nostalgia

I don’t know about ya

But my hometown sucks

©2009 Corey Parkman

(for the record, my hometown actually holds a nice place in my memory and is a lovely locale with all the  bingo hall fights and check cashing establishments you could ever ask for)

3 Rock Honest Album Covers