1. Reckless Kelly–“Real Cool Hand” (up 1)
2. Bart Crow–“Life Comes at You Fast” (up 2)
3. Turnpike Troubadours–“Down Here” (down 2)
4. Curtis Grimes–“Smile That Smile” (up 1)
5. Kevin Fowler & Deryl Dodd–“Damn This Ol’ Honky Tonk Dream” (up 1)
6. Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen–“Lady Bug” (up 1)
7. Casey Donahew Band–“Loser” (up 2)
8. The Statesboro Revue–“Undone” (up 3)
9. Mike Ryan–“Girls I Date” (up 4)
10. Cory Morrow–“Old With You” (down 7)
11. Miles Williams–“Teasin’ Me” (down 1)
12. TJ Broscoff–“Phone Calls” (up 6)
13. Josh Grider–“You Dream I’ll Drive” (up 2)
14. Kyle Park–“What Goes Around Comes Around” (down 6)
15. Stoney LaRue–“Easy She Comes” (up 2)
16. Uncle Lucius–“Don’t Own the Right” (up 4)
17. JB and the Moonshine Band–“Shotgun, Rifle, and a .45” (down 1)
18. Roger Creager & Cody Johnson–“If You Had to Choose” (up 11) [biggest gainer]
19. Mario Flores–“Beer Time” (up 3)
20. Jon Wolfe–“Don’t It Feel Good” (up 4)
21. Whiskey Myers–“Shelter From the Rain” (down 7)
22. Zane Williams–“She Is” (up 1)
23. Jason James–“I’ve Been Drinkin’ More” (up 4)
24. Saints Eleven–“I Don’t” (up 1)
25. Pat Green–“While I Was Away” (down 6)
26. Cody Canada and the Departed–“Easy” (down 5)
27. Chance Anderson Band–“245 Miles” (down 1)
28. Dalton Domino–“Jesus & Handbags” (up 6)
29. William Clark Green–“Ringling Road” (up 10)
30. Matt Kimbrow–“Livin’ the Good Life” (down 18) [biggest loser]
31. Kaleb McIntire–“Ozark Mountain Stomp” (down 1)
32. Ray Johnston Band–“Small Town Square”
33. Casey Berry–“Blood of the Lamb”
34. Micky & the Motorcars–“Tonight we Ride” (up 4)
35. Luke Robinson–“Roses on the Radio”
36. The Damn Quails–“Just a Little While” (up 1)
37. Jason Boland & The Stragglers–“Holy Relic Sale” (up 7)
38. American Aquarium–“Losing Side of Twenty-Five” (up 3)
39. Tori Martin–“Woman Up” (down 8)
40. Cody Jinks–“Loud and Heavy”
41. Bri Bagwell–“My Boots” (up 1)
42. Cody Johnson–“Proud” (up 5)
43. Paul Thorn–“Everybody Needs Somebody” (up 3)
44. Cody Joe Hodges–“One More Drink” (down 1)
45. Breelan Angel–“She Made Your Bed” (up 3)
46. Blue Water Highway Band–“Medicine Man” (down 1)
47. Green River Ordinance–“Red Fire Night” (up 3)
48. Cameran Nelson–“Nothing’s Got Nothin'” (up 1)
49. Parker McCollum–“High Above the Water” (entering top 50)
50. Zach Coffey–“Love Will Lead me Back to You” (entering top 50)
new #1: “Real Cool Hand”
next week’s #1 prediction: “Life Comes at You Fast”
1. Turnpike Troubadours–“Down Here” (2nd week at #1)
2. Reckless Kelly–“Real Cool Hand” (up 2)
3. Cory Morrow–“Old With You” (down 1)
4. Bart Crow–“Life Comes at You Fast” (up 2)
5. Curtis Grimes–“Smile That Smile”
6. Kevin Fowler & Deryl Dodd–“Damn This Ol’ Honky Tonk Dream” (up 4)
7. Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen–“Lady Bug” (up 8)
8. Kyle Park–“What Goes Around Comes Around” (up 3)
9. Casey Donahew Band–“Loser” (up 5)
10. Miles Williams–“Teasin’ Me” (up 2)
11. The Statesboro Revue–“Undone” (up 2)
12. Matt Kimbrow–“Livin’ The Good Life” (down 9)
13. Mike Ryan–“Girls I Date” (up 4)
14. Whiskey Myers–“Shelter From the Rain” (down 6)
15. Josh Grider–“You Dream I’ll Drive” (up 3)
16. JB and the Moonshine Band–“Shotgun, Rifle, and a .45”
17. Stoney LaRue–“Easy She Comes” (up 4)
18. TJ Broscoff–“Phone Calls” (up 2)
19. Pat Green–“While I Was Away” (down 12) [biggest loser]
20. Uncle Lucius–“Don’t Own the Right” (down 1)
21. Cody Canada and the Departed–“Easy” (down 12)
22. Mario Flores–“Beer Time” (up 3)
23. Zane Williams–“She Is” (up 6)
24. Jon Wolfe–“Don’t it Feel Good” (up 8)
25. Saints Eleven–“I Don’t” (up 1)
26. Chance Anderson Band–“245 Miles” (up 2)
27. Jason James–“I’ve Been Drinkin’ More”
28. Wade Bowen–“Sun Shines on a Dreamer” (down 5)
29. Roger Creager & Cody Johnson–“If You Had to Choose” (up 8)
30. Kaleb McIntire–“Ozark Mountain Stomp” (up 3)
31. Tori Martin–“Woman Up” (down 1)
32. Ray Johnston Band–“Small Town Square” (up 4)
33. Casey Berry–“Blood of the Lamb” (up 1)
34. Dalton Domino–“Jesus & Handbags” (up 1)
35. Luke Robinson–“Roses on the Radio” (up 3)
36. Aaron Einhouse–“I Could Fall” (down 5)
37. The Damn Quails–“Just a Little While” (up 11) [biggest gainer]
38. Micky & the Motorcars–“Tonight We Ride” (up 2)
39. William Clark Green–“Ringling Road” (up 6)
40. Cody Jinks–“Loud and Heavy” (up 3)
41. American Aquarium–“Losing Side of Twenty-Five” (down 2)
42. Bri Bagwell–“My Boots” (up 2)
43. Cody Joe Hodges–“One More Drink” (up 3)
44. Jason Boland & The Stragglers–“Holy Relic Sale” (entering top 50)
45. Blue Water Highway Band–“Medicine Man” (down 3)
46. Paul Thorn–“Everybody Needs Somebody” (down 5)
47. Cody Johnson–“Proud”
48. Breelan Angel–“She Made Your Bed” (up 1)
49. Cameran Nelson–“Nothing’s Got Nothin'” (entering top 50)
50. Green River Ordinance–“Red Fire Night” (entering top 50)
good to see the Turnpike Troubadours on top again with “Down Here,” after a gain of 98 spins this week
next week’s #1 prediction: “Down Here
Jason Boland & The Stragglers are back with “Holy Relic Sale,” entering at #44
1. Turnpike Troubadours–“Down Here” (up 3)
2. Cory Morrow–“Old With You”
3. Matt Kimbrow–“Livin’ the Good Life” (up 2)
4. Reckless Kelly–“Real Cool Hand” (up 2)
5. Curtis Grimes–“Smile That Smile” (up 2)
6. Bart Crow–“Life Comes at You Fast” (up 2)
7. Pat Green–“While I Was Away” (down 4)
8. Whiskey Myers–“Shelter From the Rain” (up 1)
9. Cody Canada and the Departed–“Easy” (down 8)
10. Kevin Fowler & Deryl Dodd–“Damn This Ol’ Honky Tonk Dream” (up 2)
11. Kyle Park–“What Goes Around Comes Around” (down 1)
12. Miles Williams–“Teasin’ Me” (up 2)
13. The Statesboro Revue–“Undone” (up 4)
14. Casey Donahew Band–“Loser” (up 2)
15. Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen–“Lady Bug” (up 4)
16. JB and the Moonshine Band–“Shotgun, Rifle, and a .45” (down 1)
17. Mike Ryan–“Girls I Date” (up 1)
18. Josh Grider–“You Dream I’ll Drive” (up 3)
19. Uncle Lucius–“Don’t Own the Right” (up 4)
20. TJ Broscoff–“Phone Calls” (up 4)
21. Stoney LaRue–“Easy She Comes” (down 1)
22. Rich O’Toole–“Talk About the Weather”
23. Wade Bowen–“Sun Shines on a Dreamer” (down 12) [biggest loser]
24. Granger Smith–“Back Road Song” (down 11)
25. Mario Flores–“Beer Time” (up 3)
26. Saints Eleven–“I Don’t”
27. Jason James–“I’ve Been Drinkin’ More” (up 3)
28. Chance Anderson Band–“245 Miles” (up 1)
29. Zane Williams–“She Is” (down 2)
30. Tori Martin–“Woman Up” (up 3)
31. Aaron Einhouse–“I Could Fall” (down 6)
32. Jon Wolfe–“Don’t it Feel Good” (up 5)
33. Kaleb McIntire–“Ozark Mountain Stomp” (up 5)
34. Casey Berry–“Blood of the Lamb” (up 2)
35. Dalton Domino–“Jesus & Handbags”
36. Ray Johnston Band–“Small Town Square” (up 3)
37. Roger Creager & Cody Johnson–“If You Had to Choose” (up 7)
38. Luke Robinson–“Roses on the Radio” (down 4)
39. American Aquarium–“Losing Side of Twenty-Five” (up 1)
40. Micky & The Motorcars–“Tonight we Ride” (entering top 50)
41. Paul Thorn–“Everybody Needs Somebody”
42. Blue Water Highway Band–“Medicine Man” (up 8) [biggest gainer]
43. Cody Jinks–“Loud and Heavy” (up 4)
44. Bri Bagwell–“My Boots” (up 2)
45. William Clark Green–“Ringling Road” (entering top 50)
46. Cody Joe Hodges–“One More Drink” (up 2)
47. Cody Johnson–“Proud” (down 4)
48. The Damn Quails–“Just a Little While” (down 6)
49. Breelan Angel–“She Made Your Bed” (down 4)
50. Josh Fuller–“On the Radio” (entering top 50)
the Turnpike Troubadours hit the top with “Down Here” to coincide with their excellent album release
next week’s #1 prediction: “Down Here
William Clark Green is back on the chart at #45 with “Ringling Road”
Micky & the Motorcars’ “Tonight we Ride” debuts at #40
If you are not very familiar with the Red Dirt scene, allow me to introduce the Turnpike Troubadours, a Red Dirt band from my home state of Oklahoma. Their new, self-titled album, released Friday (September 18th), is their first release since 2012’s Goodbye Normal Street, and it was well worth the wait. This is an excellent place to start with the Turnpike Troubadours and with the Red Dirt scene in general.
The album opens with “The Bird Hunters,” which unashamedly features a fiddle for much of its five minutes. In fact, I’ll go ahead and say it now–I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a concentrated amount of fiddle on any other album. If you had a shortage of fiddle in your life, I suggest you purchase this album immediately…but I digress. Aside from that piece of awesomeness, the song itself is beautifully written, describing two friends hunting in Cherokee County; the narrator hunts, but his mind is on a woman whom he left in Tulsa after deciding not to marry her. It seems that this narrator was not cut out for city life, but he still misses, or at least thinks about, the woman he left behind. This is a fantastic opener and sets the tone of the album perfectly. “The Mercury” is my early favorite; here, frontman Evan Felker sings of the wild nights and women at Tulsa’s Mercury Lounge. “It’s 1 A.M., and wild and loud, like sittin’ in the middle of a funnel cloud,” pretty much sums this up. The instrumentation in this song is great, the perfect blend of fiddles and rock guitars. Next is “Down Here,” the current single, which sits at #4 on the Texas Music Chart. This is a nice, somewhat lighthearted song in which the narrator is trying to offer a friend some encouragement during a hard time. It was a good choice for a single, and it will certainly get to #1–it hit #10 after only five weeks on the chart. It’s probably my least favorite song on the album, but when my least favorite is a solid song and a perfect single choice, I really can’t complain.
“Time of Day” is another lighthearted track about a man promising to give a woman all he has if “you give me just a minute of your time of day.” It’s a catchy song that would make a good future single. “Ringing in the Year” features some more of that great Red Dirt sound found in “The Mercury”; here, a man is missing a woman and wondering if she ever thinks about him. There’s an honesty in this song that can really connect with you if you listen to the lyrics–“Won’t you miss your whiskey in the wintertime, my dear, the way I’ve been missin’ you this fall, And cheap champagne don’t dull the pain of ringing in the year, wonderin’ if you think of me at all.” “A Little Song” is just that–an acoustic “little tune” written for a woman whom the narrator has apparently wronged, and “I wrote a little rhyme to make it right.” It’s very much a case of less is more–a simple little song that nevertheless leaves its mark on the listener. It’s more of that raw honesty from “Ringing in the Year.”
“Long Drive Home” is a musically excellent song saturated with fiddles and rock guitars. But if you think instrumentation is this ban’ds only strength, think again–the line “You still can’t forgive the times that I wish I could forget” is brilliant, perfectly capturing the narrator’s thoughts on the broken relationship described in this song. It’s another one of my favorites on this album. Now, I’ve heard a lot of fiddle, but not very much steel guitar–but just when I was wondering where I might find it, I am treated to an excellent re-recording of “Easton and Main.” This song was on their first album and tells us how the man “left my heart in Tulsa, on the corner of Easton & Main, on the Cain’s Ballroom floor, soaking up a bourbon stain.” Okay, so I found the steel guitar, and on “7 Oaks,” I pretty much find everything else. From the excellent keyboards to more of those great fiddles to a harmonica, this is just fun to listen to. The song itself tells of the hard times on a farm–“There ain’t no silver left in these pockets, and there ain’t no cornbread, and there ain’t no wine, that train don’t stop around here anymore, it done moved on down the line.” They are singing about being bankrupt and yet this is far more entertaining and fun to listen to than any tailgate party song I have ever come across. It would be incredible to hear live, as would “Doreen,” a song that tells the story of Doreen, who seems to be cheating on the narrator while he is on the road. At this point, I have no words sufficient for the instrumentation; everyone here should make it their goal to hear this band live. I can’t do it justice in writing, and I have a great feeling that this album can’t do the live versions justice either.
The album slows down for “Fall out of Love,” a brilliantly written song reflecting on why people fall out of love. Evan Felker sings of a broken relationship with more of that raw honesty, and if you’re not blown away by the line, “You bet your heart on a diamond, and I played the clubs in spades,” then I don’t know what will impress you–and credit to R.C. Edwards for crafting such a line, making a rare but valuable contribution on the album with this song. The album concludes with a re-recording of “Bossier City,” a fun, upbeat song about going to Bossier City to party and gamble, without the girlfriend’s knowledge. It features the fiddles with which this album so boldly began, closing the album excellently and appropriately.
In case you have not figured it out, the Turnpike Troubadours have given us a fantastic album. It was certainly worth the wait and is one of the best albums of 2015. they continue to make great country music and have made Oklahoma and Red Dirt proud. I highly recommend this album.
So, if you have read this blog for more than three minutes of its short existence, you have probably heard me talk about Texas/red dirt country. Please don’t ask me to tell you the difference; some say there is no difference and others argue about it. I grew up with Texas country being played on my local Oklahoma station The Twister quite frequently. In fact, The Twister used to feature “Red Dirt Nights,” a program that has been replaced with the unfortunate “Country House Party.” In Oklahoma, the red dirt music that we once proudly supported has been blacklisted along with the music of traditional artists. This is especially unfortunate here, as many Oklahoma artists found their success in the genre.
But Texas music is still alive and well. Independent country fans long for a system that is entirely free of Music Row, Nashville, etc. Some look for the split of country music and/or the taking over of real country by Americana (which might actually be happening.) Meanwhile, Texas has already seceded from Nashville. They have stations playing Texas country only and others mixing it in with mainstream country music, giving it the level playing field that independent/Americana fans speculate about. They even have their own airplay charts, the Texas Music Chart and Texas Regional Radio Report. Just as I report the Billboard charts, I will now report the Texas Music Chart, giving Texas artists the equal opportunity to be discovered and appreciated that Oklahoma radio once gave them. I hope you will find new and deserving artists here, and that a love for Texas/red dirt country will be cultivated.
Texas Music Chart (August 3rd)
1. Wade Bowen–“Sun Shines on a Dreamer” (up 3)
2. Aaron Watson–“Freight Train”
3. Josh Ward–“Highway” (up 2)
4. William Clark Green–“Sticks and Stones” (down 1)
5. Rich O’Toole–“Talk About the Weather” (up 1)
6. Pat Green–“While I Was Away” (up 1)
7. Granger Smith–“Back Road Song” (up 1)
8. Cody Canada and the Departed–“Easy” (up 1)
9. Sam Riggs–“Long Shot” (up 1)
10. Matt Kimbro–“Livin’ the Good Life” (up 1)
11. James Lann–“Let it Rain” (down 10)
12. Whiskey Myers–“Shelter From the Rain” (up 1)
13. Cory Morrow–“Old With You” (down 1)
14. Kyle Park–“What Goes Around Comes Around” (up 1)
15. Prophets and Outlaws–“Texas Home” (down 1)
16. Bart Crow–“Life Comes At You Fast” (up 2)
17. Turnpike Troubadours–“Down Here” (up 8)
18. Matt Hillyer–“If These Old Bones Could Talk” (down 1)
19. Asleep at the Wheel featuring Randy Rogers, Reckless Kelly, and Shooter Jennings–“Bob Wills is Still the King”
20. Reckless Kelly–“Real Cool Hand” (up 1)
21. Curtis Grimes–“Smile That Smile” (up 1)
22. JB and the Moonshine Band–“Shotgun, Rifle, and a .45” (up 11) [biggest gainer]
23. Kylie Frey–“The Chase” (up 1)
24. Uncle Lucius–“Don’t Own the Right” (up 3)
25. Gabe Garcia–“Country Looks Good on You” (down 5)
26. Adam Fears–“Golden Gravel Road” (up 6)
27. Aaron Einhouse–“I Could Fall” (up 2)
28. Sundance Head–“Darlin’ Don’t Go”
29. Adrian Johnston–“Avalanche” (up 1)
30. Roger Creager–“Where the Gringos Don’t Go” (down 7)
31. Jesse Raub Jr–“Plead the Fifth” (down 5)
32. Miles Williams–“Teasin’ Me” (up 3)
33. Scott Taylor Band–“By Now” (down 2)
34. Josh Grider–“You Dream I’ll Drive” (up 5)
35. Tori Martin–“Woman Up” (up 2)
36. Stoney LaRue–“Easy She Comes” (down 2)
37. Thom Shepherd–“Little Miss Everything” (down 1)
38. Caleb McIntire–“Ozark Mountain Stomp”
39. Judson Cole Band–“Time to Run” (up 7)
40. Clayton Gardner–“Buy You a Drink” (down 24) [biggest loser]
41. The Statesboro Revue–“Undone” (entering top 50)
42. Mike Ryan–“Girls I Date” (up 2)
43. Jeremy Steding–“Love Love Love” (down 1)
44. Doc West–“Whole Lotta Bull” (down 1)
45. Callahan Divide–“Happy” (up 3)
46. TJ Broscof–“Phone Calls” (entering top 50)
47. Saints Eleven–“I Don’t” (entering top 50)
48. Kevin Fowler & Deryl Dodd–“Damn This ol’ Honkytonk Dream” (entering top 50)
49. Junior Gordon–“Country Lov’n” (down 8)
50. Cody Joe Hodges–“One More Drink” (down 5)
new No. 1: “Sun Shines on a Dreamer” (an actual good song hitting No. 1 on an airplay chart?)
I have no No. 1 prediction for next week as I just started looking at this chart regularly
Texas is as male dominated as Nashville…look at the lack of women
