Shoot, My Hat Shrunk - Casey B. Clark
HonkeyTonkin.com calls it "a powerful song about love, loss, and hat care." Heartaches and Gunracks magazine says "tip your hat to this caballero!" And Dangit.com proclaims, "a wandering expedition into the world of hat love." A bittersweet tale of liquor, heat, and felt, the song pays homage to Clark's beloved 10-gallon hat that he carelessly left on his dash after a hard day of squirrel hunting.
Tears of a Rodeo Clown - Patches McGillicuty
The opening lines of this whiskey-soaked ballad say it all, "Punctured lungs n' cracked ribs / Brahman bulls and screamin' kids / Wished I'd listened to my dear Aunt Carole / Think I'll cry a while in my barrel." Not since Pookie Johnson's "Greasepaint and Greased Pigs" has a tune so evocatively captured the darker side of the agricultural entertainment business. Talking History, a thought-provoking forum devoted to American cultural history, calls the tune "a scathing indictment of the sad American tradition of rodeo clown abuse."
I Left My Heart in Dien Bien Phu - Backbreak Billy
This intoxicating ballad extols the virtues of home, family, and a hot bowl of Sousi Pa, a classic Asian Recipe. Written during the lowest point in Billy's troubled life -- a two-year tour of Vietnam -- the song's poignant fiddle and somber steel guitar suggest the finely sliced lemon grass and delicate fish filets of the Sousi Pa. Deft touches of R&B spice up Billy's trademark contemporary country much like a dash of Vietnamese chilli powder.
Drinkin' My Breakfast Again - Hankerin' Hank Barlowe
Barlowe mines all-too-familiar territory with this ode to A.M. inebriation: "Rooster's a crowin' / Sun's comin' up / Hello Mr. Daniels / Time for my morning cup." As his previous hits attest ("Rise And Get Shined," "Cock A Doodle Drunk"), Hankerin' Hank Barlowe is no stranger to the morning eye-opener. Attention parents! Rather than expose your impressionable children to Mr. Barlowe's music, why not point them to the New York International Children's Festival? You'll find plenty of fascinating film clips from all over the world, and no references to Bloody Marys.
Lonesome Memories (of My Teardrops) - Drexley Twitty
Mixing uptempo boot-scootin' with a dash of Chinese mysticism, "Lonesome Memories" perfectly captures the pain of love gone wrong. Where else could you find a driving two-step beat paired with lines like, "My heart wanders along the winding seashore / With bootmarks on its butt."? Nowhere. Except possibly at New Wings, an enticing online version of the I Ching , where Twitty obviously drew great inspiration for his song "Where's the Emergency Exit for Your Love?"
I Cain't Stop Loving Ye - The McMannish Boys
Riding a wave of renewed interest in "traditional" Scotch-Irish music, this eight-man fiddle, pennywhistle, and fife combo will get the kinks out of your kilt with their latest chart-climber. When the Boys performed "I Cain't Stop Loving Ye" at a recent Burns Night celebration (an annual feast honoring the spirit of legendary Scottish poet Robert Burns), the dance floor came alive with an impromptu 12-minute clogging battle between two local families. But don't call it a feud, folks! They were just getting "jiggy" with it, country-style.
Pick-Up Trucks and Low-Down Women - Arlo Hunt & the Dixie Mule Trainers
Old-school country with a new-century sensibility. Sure, the handsome heartthrob wears the standard-issue sequinned jumpsuit of a Branson, Missouri headliner, but inside him ticks the heart of a pure Alabama hound-dog. (Literally!) More "self-educated" than "show-biz," the teen troubadour learned to read by poring over a discarded 1907 copy of The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Next up for country's hottest property? A 12-city tour and, in his words, "I'm gonna try to find an album by that Walt Whitman fella." Way to go, Arlo!