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I'm flat broke broke down just east of downtown Dallas,
you see
Texas Road Trip is a 20-song theme compilation that features many of the better-known names in the Texicana neo-outlaw movement. There are tunes by some of the most commercially successful and highly visible artists in the genre (Robert Earl Keen, Jr., Jack Ingram, Cory Morrow, Clay Blaker, Roger Creager), some by highly respected but less commercially successful and visible names (Max Stalling, Chris Wall, Mark David Manders, Gary P. Nunn), and a whole slew of solid Texas bands and up-and-comers whose names will be familiar to most Texans (and Oklahomans) who follow this type of music but who may be little known outside the state (Tommy Alverson, Ed Burleson, Cooder Graw, Cross Canadian Ragweed. Dub Miller, Jason Boland, Owen Temple and others). The liner notes are extensive and include brief "favorite road trip" vignettes from each artist. There is a mixture of studio cuts and live tracks. Chris Wall's band gives a rousing live rendition of "Damn Good Time" and Phil Pritchett's comic "Rolling" comes off as the college crowd pleaser it is in this live version. Of the studio cuts, it is hardly ironic that Lloyd Maines produced no fewer than eight of the fifteen, as Maines is certainly the favorite producer in the genre by far. Musically, most of these tracks have big twang, big beat and plenty of fiddle and steel guitar. We Texans like our country danceable and all of these tracks certainly fit that requirement. This CD will have folks dropping out of the Twelve Step Program and getting with the Two Step Program. For those who follow the neo-outlaw scene, the highlight of Texas Road Trip will be previously unreleased tracks from Ingram ("Runaway Cadillac") and Blaker ("Heartbreak Highway"). Both cuts are representative of these artists' wider bodies of work and both have a sharp edge. Otherwise, some of the material, like Keen's "Swervin' In My Lane," dates as far back as the 1995 No Kinda Dancer album and is already widely known, as is Creager's "Fun All Wrong," which has had good radio play and is a jukebox staple. What is really going to make this compilation valuable to newcomers to the genre is the inclusion of highly respectable and representative works from the less publicized bands. Ed Burleson's "Comin' Home to Texas," Nunn's "Road Trip" and Tommy Alverson's "Hill Country Here I Come" may never rank in the genius category as far as songwriting goes, but they are delivered here in that classsic Texas honky tonk style with plenty of good fiddling and guitar picking. These tracks are perfect beer-guzzling boot-scooters and that is what the diehards who follow bands like Burleson's, Nunn's and Alverson's are after, bands that can provide that genuine Texas honky tonk neon vibe. Accept no substitute. In the new Texas, we like our country with a hard edge on it too, and Blaker's band demonstrates once again why they are one of the most respected ensembles in the state. His band is "country," but no one is ever going to confuse them with some plain vanilla Nashville crew. And Dub Miller's band rocks their country with a little more drive and emphasis than most. Perhaps the two songs on Texas Road Trip that are separated from the others by their sound and approach are the two by Blind Nello Records artists Max Stalling and Mark David Manders. In listening through the twenty-song CD, these two jump out as being different than the rest. Stalling's "I-35" showcases both his distinctive dramatic voice and a songwriting sensibility that separates his work from the rest on this compilation. And Manders' "Headin' Out West" has more of a "western" feel than most of the other tracks included and demonstrates the strong storyteller side of Manders' work. Another band whose track stands out from the rest is Cross Canadian Ragweed. Their "42 Miles" is the rockingest, edgiest track on the album and has very little in common musically with the other tracks. As an attempt to give a representative taste of what the neo-outlaw scene is about, from the independent anti-Nashville big beat honky tonk musical style and the chance-taking songwriting (like Wall's wonderful line, "My butt's a Ford/My soul's a Rolls Royce/I split the difference, boys/'Cause I got no choice"), Texas Road Trip is certainly a success. For those already well versed in the growing neo-outlaw scene, this album will serve as a pleasant compilation, the kind of disc people burn at home for their own road trip amusement and pleasure. For those unfamiliar with the scene, the disc will serve as a great introduction to a growing, evolving, mentally addictive musical trend. * Get your Official State Roadmap to the Texas neo-outlaw
highway system at www.compadrerecords.com
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Given the distances
involved, Texans probably do as much "road tripping"
as any cultural group on the planet. You can drive all day and
never cross the state line. When you leave Beaumont heading
down I-10 for Los Angeles, you're halfway there when you get
to El Paso. Highways are a big part of our lives and naturally
have an honored place in our music.
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