Courville's Wednesday Night

Strap them kids in
Give 'em a little bit of vodka in a cherry Coke
We're going to Oklahoma to the family reunion for the first time in years
It's up at uncle Slayton's 'cause he's getting on in years
You know he no longer travels but he's still pretty spry
He's not much on talking and he's just too mean to die
And they'll be comin' down from Kansas
and from west Arkansas
It'll be one great big old party like you never saw

Uncle Slayton's got his Texan pride
Back in the thickets with his Asian bride
He's got a Airstream trailer and a Holstein cow
He still makes whiskey 'cause he still knows how
He plats that Choctaw bingo every Friday night
You know he had to leave Texas but he won't say why
He owns a quarter section up by Lake Eufala
Caught a great big ol' blue cat on a driftin' jug line
Sells his hardwood timber to the shipping mill
Cooks that crystal meth because the shine don't sell
He cooks that crystal meth because the shine don't sell
You know he likes his money he don't mind the smell

My cousin Roscoe Slayton's oldest boy from his second marriage up in Illinois
He was raised in East St. Louis by his momma's people
Where they do things different
Thought he'd just come on down
He was going to Dallas Texas in a semi truck called from that big McDonald's
You know the one they built up on that great big ol' bridge
Across the Will Rogers Turnpike
Took the Big Cabin exit stopped and bought a couple of cartons of cigarettes
At that Indian Smoke Shop with the big neon smoke rings
In the Cherokee Nation hit Muskogee late that night
Somebody ran a stoplight at the Shawnee Bypass
Roscoe tried to miss 'em but he didn't quite

Bob and Mae come up from little town
Way down by lake Texoma where he coaches football
They were two A champions now for two years running
But he says they won't be this year no they won't be this year
And he stopped off in Tushka at that "Pop's Knife and Gun" place
Bought a SKS rifle and a couple a full cases of that steel core ammo
With the berdan primers from some East bloc nation that no longer needs 'em
And a Desert Eagle that's one great big ol' pistol
I mean .50 caliber made by badass Hebrews
And some surplus tracers for that old BAR of Slayton's
Soon as it gets dark we're gonna have us a time
We're gonna have us a time

Ruth Ann and Lynn come down from Baxter Springs
That's one hell raisin' town way up in Southeastern Kansas
Got a biker bar next to the lingerie store
That's got them Rolling Stones lips up there where everyone can see 'em
And they burn all night you know they burn all night you know they burn all night
Ruth Ann and Lynn they wear them cut off britches and those skinny little halters
And they're second cousins to me
Man I don't care I want to get between 'em
With a great big ol' hard on like a old bois d' arc fence post
You could hang a pipe rail gate from
Do some twisted sisters 'til the cows come home
And we'd be havin' us a time

Uncle Slayton's got his Texan pride
Back in the thickets with his Asian bride
He's cut that corner pasture into acre lots`
He sells 'em owner financed
Strictly to them that's got no kind of credit
'Cause he knows they're slackers
When they miss that payment
Then he takes it back
He plays that Choctaw Bingo every Friday night
Drinks that Johnny Walker at that Club 69
We're gonna strap them kids in give 'em a little bit o' Benadryl
And a cherry coke we're goin' to Oklahoma
We're gonna have us a time
Gonna have us a time

I guess that pretty well sums it up.

East Texas, I mean, not Courville's on Wednesday night.

The song is Choctaw Bingo. It was written by James McMurtry, but it was sung by Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Did I mentiuon that it was Ray Wylie Hubbard at Courville's last Wednesday?

Well, it was. And, as always, the food was good and the show was better. But this time, it was even better than usual, because Hubbard had the band with him this time, and they're a very good band. Gurf Morlix plays a mean guitar.

Don't forget, Ray Wylie Hubbard and a host of others will be playing at Crystal Beach in April at Hayes Carll's Stingaree Music Festival. You know, we'll have us a time. We're gonna have us a time.

It's a Hootenanny!

They called it a "Big Damn Acoustic Jam," but it was really a good old fashioned hootenanny. Hayes Carll, Jimmy Kaiser, David Lee Kaiser, Roger Marin, Mark Jungers, Ryan James, Josh Langston and Big John Mills all sharing a stage at Courville's. Of course, they weren't really sharing a stage because the stage wasn't big enough to hold them all, so they had to extend it a bit. As Yogi Berra might have said, if you didn't see this show, you really missed it.

Every one of these guys is more than capable of pulling off a whole show by himself, but tonight it was all eight of them, one after another, occasionally accompanying one another--especially the Kaiser brothers accompanying each other and Big John Mills playing along with pretty much everything. When Hayes Carll broke a string in the middle of his unique version of "I've Been Everywhere," Big John had him covered so well that they didn't miss a beat while Carll traded guitars with Roger Marin.

I like Hayes Carll better every time I see him play. I would wish him only the best in his career, but I'm sort of selfish, so I hope everyone else continues to ignore him. If he ever gets the recognition he deserves, I'm afraid he'll be too big for Beaumont, and certainly too big to play the small sort of places that I like to go to listen to live music.

The music was great, the food was good and the drinks were cheap. What more could you ask for on a Wednesday evening in Beaumont? Special thanks to Jimmy Kaiser, who was credited with putting it together, along with Big Rich Courville for bringing this sort of stuff to Beaumont (and although no one mentioned his name, I suspect Donnie Courville had a bit to do with it too) and RadioFreeTexas, who also had something to do with making all this happen.

Edited to add: Read what Laurie Who Misses New Orleans had to say about it here.

Chasin' Cuervo's Gold

That's what "Texas Music Legend" Rusty Wier and his truncated band (Rusty on acoustic band backed with an electric guitar and bass) were doing at Courville's tonight. Two sets of about an hour each of singin', story-tellin', and yee-haws on cue from the audience. Even a ska interlude in the middle of the senior prom "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" song story. And a bit over three quarters of a liter of Cuervo Gold between Rusty and his lead guitar player. The man holds his liquor a hell of a lot better than Hank Williams, Jr., but that's another story. A hootin' hollerin' good ol' time was had by all. Even by me, who has remained completely booze-free through the whole Lenten season.

But before Rusty, it was Josh Langston and Jimmy Kaiser. I hadn't seen either of them before, but I expect I'll see them again Friday night at David Kaiser's CD release party at Antone's. They took turns singing, for the most part, and they're both quite good.

In other news, Courville's is now giving a $10 discount if you buy your tickets for future shows at the current show. Since $20 is less than $30, I decided to go ahead and make my reservations for all the upcoming shows. I was surprised to find that Charlie A'Court's May 25 show is already sold out, but I have secured my tickets for Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez on June 7 and Billy Joe Shaver on July 26, as well as upcoming but as yet unscheduled shows by Hayes Carll and Jerry Jeff Walker. I've seen Billy Joe Shaver and Hayes Carll, and I can recommend them both without reservaiton. I haven't seen Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez or Jerry Jeff Walker, but they come pretty highly recommended.

Yes, Jerry Jeff Walker. At Courville's. A place what only seats 100 people. The universe seems somehow out of balance.

Fred Eaglesmith at Courville's

Last Wednesday, Fred Eaglesmith played at Courville's. Although I've never actually heard Eaglesmith's work, it was a show that I'd been looking forward to. And as an added bonus, 9SD, my favorite band of local boys was opening the show.

But would you believe it? When I called Wednesday morning to make reservations, the show was sold out. I'd never even heard of Fred Eaglesmith apart from an announcement at a previous Courville's show that he'd be along shortly, and I've never seen Courville's advertise their concert series anywhere (except on their newly added webpage). Oh well, maybe next time.

Adam Carroll, another guy I've never heard of, will be playing there on April 6. I guess this time I'll have to be sure to make my reservations at least a week in advance.

Dedringers at Courville's

Yes, last Thursday was once again buffet time at Big Rich's Courville's. The buffet, as you've no doubt guessed, was the traditional gumbo with pork loin and potatoes, but the gumbo was especially good this time. As has become usual for these Courville's events, the place was packed. I still haven't figured out how they do that; I've never seen them advertise anywhere, you'll have a hard time finding their website if you type "Courville's Beaumont" into Google, and until very recently even if you found their website, you wouldn't find any relevant information. You would find an ad for hot sauce, though.

All that's changed now. Almost all that, anyway. It's still hard to find the place with Google, but the hot sauce ad is gone and now there's a "calendar/events" page where they'll tell you who's up next. (I've added Courville's calendar to the sidebar, so when Google fails you, you know where to come.) In this case, the "calendar/events" page will tell you that next up is Fred Eaglesmith and Band on March 22. I've never heard Eaglesmith's music, but whoever picks the bands for Courville's seems to know what he's doing. I expect it'll be a good show.

But the title of this post isn't "Courville's Calendar," it's "Dedringers at Courville's." They're a couple young guys from Austin or something who play the sort of Texas music that doesn't suck. Eclectic, sort of folkie sound of their own, with good song writing and a good stage presence. The put on a really good show. I even bought their EP.

Not that it matters, but they look like this:



They'll be at The Old Quarter in Galveston on March 3 and again on April 28. It'd definitely be worth the drive.

When the Dedringers were finished playing, some old guy came on to close the show. He had a hit song 30 years ago or something, but he didn't even sing it himself. It was just something he wrote that someone else made famous. The song is "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother," and the someone else was Jerry Jeff Walker. The old coot who closed for the Dedringers was this guy:



Yes, it's good ol' Ray. His show was much the same as last time. A good number of the songs and a lot of the between song banter was familiar, but that's not a bad thing. He has stories that go with the songs, and the stories are as much a part of the show as the songs. And sometimes, the stories are better than the songs. It's all in the timing and delivery, and he's got both down pat. The man is just plain laugh-out-loud funny.

He has a new album coming out in a few months called "Snake Farm." He started the show with the title track, which has this refrain:

Snake Farm, it sounds pretty nasty,
Snake Farm, it pretty much is,
Snake Farm, it's a reptile house,
Snake Farm, uhh-uhh-uhh.

I really don't know how to write "uhh-uhh-uhh" to capture the sense of mock ickiness and disgust in his voice. I'm pretty sure no one ever even thought to use that "word" in a song before. At least not like that. He had the whole crowd singing along by the time the song was ended, and that was on his very first song. I don't know if something like "Snake Farm" would really work outside a live performance, but I'll definitely be buying the CD when it comes out to find out.

The rest of the show was at least as good as the start, even though he didn't play any of my favorite Ray Wylie Hubbard songs. But the one's he did play, he played very well. Even stuff like "Screw You, We're From Texas," which I tend to skip when I'm listening to the CD, was great when performed live and with the benefit of the story about the rich drunks from Nashville who (supposedly) inspired the song. And it makes a damn fine T-shirt or bumper sticker to boot.

Hayes Carll at Courville's

Some of you may recall my post from way back in November of 2004 about 9 Station Drive and Hayes Carll at Courville's. It was a great show, but poorly attended.

Mr. Carll was supposed to be back in October of last year (if I have my dates straight), but the show was rained out. Actually, I think it was a bit more than the rain. The show was scheduled for a week or two after Rita blew through. I think Courville's finally got their power back the day before the show had been scheduled to go on, but most people weren't back in town yet and Big Rich Courville & Co. were far too busy feeding the clean up crews down at Ford Park to do the show. And besides, by that time the show had already been postponed.

Anyway, Carll finally found his way back to Courville's last night. Although I've never seen anything at Courville's promoted anywhere but here, it was a very well attended show. The doors were supposed to open at 7:00, and when I got there at about 7:01, most of the tables were already gone.

This time it was $30 per person--up from $15 for Carll's 2004 show--but that included the buffet and this time Carll brought a full band. The food was good, but 9 Station Drive was better, and Hayes Carll was better still. Great stage presence, really good song writing, good singing, and all that kind of stuff. If you like guys who play guitar and sing songs that aren't stupid or sappy, you might like him. I know I did. Again.

Upcoming shows at Courville's include Ray Wylie Hubbard on February 16 and Fred Eaglesmith on March 22.

Ray Wylie Hubbard put on a great show at Courville's last August and has earned Wang Chi's Five Pancake Rating as a live performer. Don't miss it.

I haven't seen Fred Eaglesmith (or even heard his music), but whoever books the bands for Courville's seems to know what he's doing. I expect I'll post something after the show.

Wednesday at Courville's

9 Station Drive will be opening for Charlie A'Court at Courville's Wednesday night. Cover is $10, which includes dinner, such as it is.

I know what you're thinking: Who the h - e - double hockey sticks is Charlie A' Court? Well, I've never heard of him either, but his website says he's good.

"Screw You, We're From Texas"

Thirty dollars a pop for dinner and a show at Courville's. The dinner, such as it was, was all the gumbo and potato salad you care to eat, until it ran out. But the food wasn't what I was there for. It was the show: Texas music legend Ray Wylie Hubbard. And it was just him and his guitar (and occasionally his harmonica). He said he has a band he usually works with, but it's a work release program, and they aren't allowed to leave Travis County. It didn't matter. He did just fine without them.

Ray Wylie Hubbard is cursed with being the author of "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother," a song made into an outlaw country anthem by Jerry Jeff Walker. Cautionary words from the man himself: Before you put the words down on paper, think long and hard about whether you want to be singing it for the next 32 years.

This was not my first experience with Courville's. That was last November when I saw future Texas music legend Hayes Carll. Mr. Carll put on a great show, but far too few people saw it. Mr. Hubbard had better luck. Despite an apparent total lack of promotion, the place was packed. There was an opening act who was pretty good, but I can't remember his name. Next time I'll have to take notes.

Anyway, towards the beginning of the show, he said: "I pretty much just write these songs and talk about them a lot." And that's pretty much what he did. Not the writing part, but he did perform them and talk about them a lot. And he talks about them a lot better than just about anyone else I've seen. He's a great story teller. A good time was had by all.

He had thirty-something years of his own material to draw on, but that didn't stop him from doing one of Eliza Gilkyson's songs and another from Cross Canadian Ragweed. There was, of course, the obligatory "Up Against the Wall," sing-along which is a lot more fun live than it is recorded. Another one that's a lot more fun live is the title track of this post-- "Screw You, We're From Texas" (from the album Growl). But I think the highlight of the show was the second song, "Without love (We're Just Wastin' Time)" from the "Dangerous Spirits" CD (a five star album according to Wang's Record Reviews). Purdiest thing I've heard in a long time.

(Note: The links to the album titles are to Ray Wylie Hubbard's website rather than Amazon.com because he sells them $3 cheaper.)

I hope to see him back in Beaumont soon, but I expect I'll have a much better chance of catching him at The Mucky Duck in Houston. In the meantime, the Courville's concert schedule includes a performance by Hayes Carll on October 15 (I think), but the Mucky Duck seems to think Carll's playing there on that date. Carll's site doesn't mention either. Stay tuned for further developments. (Edited to add: Further investigation has revealed that it's Courvilles on the 13th and the Mucky Duck on the 15th.) But in the meanmeantime, Hayes Carll's scheduled to play at The Old Quarter in Galveston on September 16. And for tonight, there's Texas guitar legend Eric Johnson at Antone's. More on that later.

Coming Attractions

Ray Wylie Hubbard. Courville's. August 18, 2005. Be there. Just don't try to follow the map on the link.

For more on Courville's check out my Hayes Carll review from last year.

Thanks to Miss New Orleans for the heads up.

A recommendation, not a review.

I got an e-mail yesterday (Thursday) from 9 Station Drive, my favorite semi-local, semi-original, semi-cover, kick ass club band. And the e-mail said that they were playing Thursday night at Courville's in Beaumont with Hayes Carll.

I'd never heard of Courville's, and, as far as I could tell, no one else had either. But I like 9 Station Drive (their version of "Dead Flowers" is way better than the Stones'), and I thought liked Hayes Carll. I'd only seen him once before when he opened for Al Stewart at the Mucky Duck in Houston. I thought he was significantly above average. And the Mucky Duck is a damn fine place to hear good music.

So I found someone to drive me out there and listened to the bands. The $15 cover charge included a buffet that was not entirely impressive, although I thought the gumbo was good. But I didn't go for the food. I went to see Hayes Carll.

And let me tell you, folks, he's the real deal. Two thumbs way up, and I even bought his new album. Great stage presence, really good song writing, good singing, and all that kind of stuff. If you like guys who play guitar and sing songs that aren't stupid or sappy, you might like him. I know I did. I think he may have displaced Ray Wylie Hubbard as the top of the heap for the moment in my view of the Texas music pantheon.