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JANUARY 2016 BUDDY 11 TOM GEDDIE PICKS FOR BEST OF 2015 of 2016 Texas/Red Dirt framework with its sound and subject matter, many of the songs about youth- ful lessons to learn or not. Statesboro Revue does this kind of music better than most of the other bands in this subgenre with its mix of country, rock, and funk. “Every Town” seems to celebrate one-night stands and lack of consequences (for the narrator): “I can’t help thinkin’ there’s one of you in every town, best thing I’m gonna get to leave and you gonna have to hang around; nothin’ like a rumor to drag you down.” Chuck Hawthorne, Silver Line : Hawthorne offers up roughly poetic lyrics, words where the meaning can be clear, or as clear as any of life’s illu- sions. The gray-bearded, denim- clad Hawthorne’s debut album is tempered with the experience of growing up on a cattle ranch near Amarillo and spending 21 years in the Marines. The sound is, at heart, western, with a lot of what that implies. In the title song, a man wants to head into the remnants of the Old West, wanting to flee a woman. Or is the woman, in this case, just a metaphor for life? Willie Nelson and Merle Hag- gard, Django and Jimmie: The two legends, working with producer Buddy Cannon, mix nostalgia with a little bit of seriousness. On “It’s All Going to Pot,” with Jamey Johnson credited on bugle and flugelhorn, they claim a hun- dred dollar bill isn’t going for whiskey because it’s all going to pot. Haggard sings Nelson’s reverent staple “Family Bible.” Nelson sings Haggard’s “Some- where Between.” They sing the cliche about how they would have taken care of themselves if they’d known they were going to live this long. They sing about their “out- law” images which are half truths, as much about marketing as they are about two men who like to play by their own rules. Randy Rogers Band, Nothing Shines Like Neon: well played and produced traditional country music on this independent re- lease with guests Alison Krauss, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Jamey Johnson, although the guests’ voices fade a bit into the mix. Brandon Jenkins, Blue Ban- dana: recorded in two days in search of “some- thing Real and True (his caps),” “warts and all,” Jenkins writes. There are enough hook lines — repeated to the point of overkill at times — to satisfy any radio station, I suppose; still, the album works on an emotional level. “Send Down an Angel” is my favor- ite here, Jenkins’ narrator pleading, “if I ever needed you before, I need you right now lord, please, send down an angel, I’m lost . . . I just can’t go on.” The title song on Jenkins’ thirteenth al- bum looks back at the “wasted times when time was your friend, playing the one-night stands.” Gurf Morlix, Eatin’ at Me : “Find your pas- sion,” Morlix sings, “and dare it to kill you, grab the wheel, drive ’til you die.” And, “to get to say goodbye is the best we can hope for . . . brought down from be- hind by my deepest fears.” And, “life is a one-act play, it don’t wait for nobody, don’t let nothing get in its way, I used to love the sound that time made rushing past my years.” And, “I’m wishin’ I could make some kind of trade, I’d give years off the end of my life for one more moment on the edge of that knife.” Max Stalling, Banquet: what we expect from Stalling album: a feast of that familiar, welcome voice on quality, well developed songs that respect country tradi- tions. There’s “Convenient Lov- ers,” a fun duet Andie Kay Joyner about a welder who’s been mar- ried a couple of times and the waitress at the Smoke House Inn who needs his services. The most strikingly different song among the 11 is the delicate “All the Way,” which I’m tempted to call folk. The song begins with a men- tion of a celebration, from Balti- more to Boston, for soldiers com- ing home, followed by the ac- knowledgment that “we were not soldiers and we had not been so far as to justify parades,” and the question that, if you might pass yourself on the side of some lost highway, “would you stop and help your- self?” Stoney Larue, Us Time: solid collection of fan favorites from the past 15 years, a well deliv- ered, often pensive mix of origi- nals and covers. The most interesting, to me, are Larue’s interpretations of the classics “Into the Mystic,” “Seven Spanish Angels” (with Cody Canada), “Wichita Lineman,” and “Empty Glass.” Jon Dee Graham, Do Not For- get: the sound quality, because of the nature of so many live re- cordings, isn’t always good, and many of the songs are familiar. But it is the road warrior Jon Dee Graham, and many of the songs are familiar because they are so good, small gems that, along with his electric guitar work, have made Graham one of Austin’s treasures. So, what are your own favor- ites? ■
