Oh, we got both kinds... (or...Country and Western?)

TV show Justified on the FX Network

I suppose the blame, if blame is required, rests with the TV show Justified (starring Timothy Olyphant) for this apparently immediate and impulsive love of country (and related) music, which was actually long in the making.

I had long heard praise of Justified and decided to give it a go. I quickly became hooked on the quirky dialogue and characters. The theme song though...it really hooked me, and started me down a twangy path that I had not realized I was already treading. The theme song is called Long Hard Times to Come by Gangstagrass. But this was not the first stop on the country train. Let us go back a few years...

Merle Jagger

In the spring of 2008, we as a family traveled to San Diego for a music festival specifically so Polina could see her-then-crush, James Marsters (he of Spike fame on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel). One of the bands I saw at this festival was Merle Jagger (Why Merle Jagger? According to the band, Mick Haggard was "fucking stupid"), a highly uptempo rocking instrumental country band. I bought their CD and have enjoyed it since, especially at high speed on the highway.

Prior to this, I had never really considered myself a fan of country or western music, but this was so unlike most C&W music I had heard before, and perhaps this is why it attracted me.

Drive-By Truckers

Some years later, I heard the bumper music for a talk radio show and when I tracked down the haunting tune, it turned out to be by the Drive-By Truckers, which are a southern rock band, mixing soulful ballads, and hard driving rock-outs with that twangy touch of country.

Dead Winter Carpenters

A few years after that, while living in Truckee, I was exposed to a local band called the Dead Winter Carpenters. They are a folksy, blue-grass kind of band that alternate between 'kick up your heels' kind of ditties, heartfelt songs, and the occasional all-out-romp.

Gangstagrass

And at last we come to Gangstagrass, which is a serious country/western/blue-grass outfit that mixes in hip-hop beats and rapping to go with the banjos, string guitars, fiddles and so on. A highly dubious mix on paper, but one that somehow works perfectly together to make some highly enjoyable pieces of music.

It was while listening to Gangstagrass that I recalled the previously mentioned bands all had some elements in common and decided to mix them all together in a playlist and to my amazement...it worked. Using a random sort, the music from these not-quite disparate bands balances, complements, and expands each other.

This playlist, which I simply call Twangy, is my go-to playlist while driving.

If you are interested in any of them, try these links:

Merle Jagger - http://www.merlejagger.com/
Drive-By Truckers - http://www.drivebytruckers.com/
Dead Winter Carpenters - http://deadwintercarpenters.com/
Gangstagrass - http://gangstagrass.com/


-Brent

"Country music is three chords and the truth." - Harlan Howard