BB and Merle

My life's been an emotional roller coaster lately.

It's been one of those days--hell, WEEKS--when every song on every CD is profoundly meaningful to me.

Until now. I'm listening to "Biscuits for Smut" by Helmet and really enjoying rockin' out.

***

I'm still chuckling at myself over the entry before this, the one about Mike's dog, Rusty. I got a few emails from folks telling me the post made them feel a bit... feverish.

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I took the kids to Corsicana today, and on the way down I sang.

It frustrates me that I was ALMOST given a gift for music. I'm a passable guitarist, and that's really where it peaks. I'm moved to sing, but I'm not much of a singer. I think I wrote a few decent songs back in the day, but really, people remember the silly stuff I threw together. That's fine.

***

But on the way to Corsicana I sang.

I put on one of my favorite all-time CDs, Tulare Dust: A Songwriters' Tribute To Merle Haggard.

And you know, it's such a good CD. Some notes:

Tom Russell: "Tulare Dust/They're Tearin' the Labor Camps Down" --Great kickoff to this CD. "Tulare Dust," a lament about sharecroppers' hardscrabble lives, is so short it's really only half a song anyway, so it's a good lead-in.

Iris DeMent: "Big City" --"I think I'll walk off my steady job today." Haven't we all felt like this once in a while?

Peter Case: "A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today" --Terrific choice by Mr. Case to follow Ms. Dement. "Seems like every dime I make I owe to everyone I know." Amen.

Dwight Yoakam: "Holding Things Together" --THIS is Heartbreak with a capital H. I mean, Merle is as country as they get, but how many songs about single parenting do you hear coming out of Nashville ever?

Robert Earl Keen: "Daddy Frank" --Another atypical song, this one about a deaf mother and blind stepfather who led a family band and lived in a truck.

Joe Ely: "White Line Fever" --Solid, but I skip it sometimes.

Rosie Flores: "My Own Kind of Hat" --What in the world prompted Merle to write this waltz full of double entendres?

Steve Young: "Shopping for Dresses" --As I explained this one to Wolfboy today, it's about a man who is so lonely that he's buying dresses so that, in case me meets a nice lady, he'll have some clothes to give her. I've never heard another song like it.

Marshall Crenshaw: "Silver Wings" --Crenshaw almost underwhelms on THE song that seems to define Haggard where I come from. If your band didn't do "Silver Wings," the crowd might just warm the tar for the feathers.

Barrence Whitfield: "Irma Jackson" --HERE'S where Merle shows his defiant streak. It's a song about loving the Black girl he grew up with, and how "if loving Irma Jackson is a sin, then I don't understand this crazy world we're living in."

Lucinda Williams: "You Don't Have Very Far to Go" --I know THIS is a sin, but I can't get into Lucinda. It's her voice.

Billy Joe Shaver: "Ramblin' Fever" --Great pairing here, complete with some hot pickin' by the late Eddy Shaver on baritone guitar. The loss of E. Shaver was on par with the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan, but not enough people realize it.

Katy Moffatt: "I Can't Be Myself" --skip

John Doe: "I Can't Hold Myself in Line" --Love this drunkard's lament: "And I disagree with the way that I'm livin', but I can't hold myself in line." Another of my favorite lines: "My weakness is stronger than I am."

Dave Alvin: "Kern River" --Almost a lullaby, about something sad and final. And you know, I really like Dave Alvin's voice.

***

I guess I'll wrap up here. I'll be out of town a few days next week.

On Friday, I turn 40.

Ya'll have a good one.