PATSY CLINE - Walkin' After Midnight

by Jim Meyer

Patsy Cline was killed in a small plane crash near Cambden, Tennessee on March 05, 1963. She was just 30 years old. Just days before, she'd told her friends, Dottie West and June Carter of a sense of impending doom and had even written out a will on a piece of Delta Airlines stationary. One always wonders what could have been...but then again, her musical legacy is sublime.

Having spent the afternoon listening to Texas music,  I went off looking for more traditional fare. This is my absolute no. 1 favorite Patsy Cline song.  Yes, I like it more than "Crazy" and "She's Got You":

I challenge you to listen all the way through without taking a shot (or several) of whiskey. Produced by the mighty Owen Bradley, founder of the "Nashville Sound."

Just about every female country singer out there has tried to imitate her -- but I've heard only two that got it right. One is k.d. lang, and the other is LeAnn Rimes. This is downright scary:

By the way, the Patsy bio-pic "Sweet Dreams" is not terribly realistic, but you do get to watch Jessica Lange for two hours, and she had the good sense to just lip-synch the originals.

Texas Country

by Jim Meyer

My best source for "Texas Country" is a radio station in Fort Worth, KFWR. I stream them on the net.

This station plays music by Texas bands ONLY -- no Nashville "Top 40," as they derisively refer to it. They're such purists that they won't even play George Strait (too mainstream, I guess).  

Texas music has a harder edge than does the mass-market stuff. The bass, drums and guitars stand out more in the mix so many of the songs have a rock sound.

But the important thing is that this music sounds AUTHENTIC, like good country music always should. 

Over the next few months, I'll showcase some of my favorite Texas bands -- including Cross Canadian Ragweed, 1100 Springs, the Eli Young Band, Jason Boland & The Stragglers, the Mother Truckers, the Randy Rogers Band -- and solo artists like Robert Earl Keen, Wade Bowen, Hayes Carl, James McMurtry, Pat Green and Miranda Lambert.

Photos courtesy of James McMurtry, Miranda Lambert, and Cross Canadian Ragweed

If you're not familiar with this music, I invite you to visit KFWR (95.9 FM: The Ranch) and check out their live stream.

Disclaimer: no, the folks at this station -- or the bands -- aren't paying me so much as a dime to plug them on the web.  Staying true to the My-West credo,  “Thanks until better paid.”

Puttin' the Pedal to the Metal

by Jim Meyer

The heart and soul of any good country song is the pedal-steel guitar. Think of Don Helms’ distinctive playing on just about any classic Hank Williams, Sr. recording. In the 1950s and 60s, the legendary Ernest Tubb provided a showcase for two of the all-time great pedal-steel players – in his band The Texas Troubadours: Buddy Emmons and his successor, Buddy Charleton (who died last month at the age of 72).

Here’s a sample of Charleton tearing it up with guitarist Leon Rhodes:

And here’s (sorry, embedding isn't available for this video) Emmons at the 1997 International Steel Guitar Convention in St. Louis.

I’d just moved to Washington, DC, in 1985, and I saw in the paper that Emmons was playing that evening in a bar somewhere out in the Virginia countryside. It cost me $60 to drive out there and back in a taxi, but it was worth every cent. I sat right down front, and watched The Master at work.

I’d have done the same to see Buddy Charleton, but I never got the chance.