This post originally appeared in BattleRedBlog as a FanPost.
I’ve been posting this to the SNOT the last few weeks, but no one has replied. I don’t know if that means no one is interested, or it’s just getting lost. So I decided to post it here, a little more fleshed-out, and see if it is worth continuing with.
The music is taken from my Texas and Red Dirt Country playlist on Play Music. If you have All Access, you can listen to the list, and I will be linking to the track. I will also link YouTube videos for those who don’t have All Access.
My criteria for inclusion in this playlist is the artist must be associated with either Texas Country or Red Dirt Country (a genre that has its origins in Oklahoma but which is now considered part of the Texas Country scene as well), or, the artist must be a prominent singer from Texas and with some ties to Texas music, even if they are more mainstream. I added this so I could make sure to include singers like Ray Price and George Jones.
For my first formal post, I am going to one of the first acts who got me interested in Red Dirt Country,Jason Boland and the Stragglers.
The Stragglers are originally from Oklahoma, but they are now based in Austin. For our song this week I am choosing one that is set in the Austin/Central Texas area. This is the title track to their 2008 album Comal County Blue.
The song is quite melancholy, though I’ve never quite figured out entirely why. The second verse gives the best glimpse into this melancholy feeling:
My brother moved off to Houston.
And most my friends stay gone.
I need to pay my taxes
I don’t like to mow my lawn.
I have a harmless habit,
Being fine wherever I am.
But the way this water’s rising,
I need to get up above the dam.
The song has a definite feeling of loss to it, but I get the impression it is a bit more than friends and family moving away. I almost get a feeling similar to John Anderson’s Seminole Wind, though not as thought-out.
It is a very good song, and a good intro to Red Dirt Country. What do you think about it?