Texas Country with a 5-string Bird

[PWV]

I bet we can't find too many of these bands with T-Birds - personally, I dig that the band's playin' the real-deal Waylon/Willie old school:

[Blazer]

Cool song. Thanks for posting.

[Dave W]

Good song.

I have to smile at your "real-deal Waylon/Willie old school" description. When that style first came on the scene in the early 70s it was first called "progressive country" before it was called "outlaw country," and it sure wasn't considered old school back then. Funny how time changes perceptions.

[PWV]

Yeah funny thing Dave - I got asked to be in a "country" band last week.  Two things I couldn't get my head around:

1) Their set list had 1 song by Merle, 1 by Waylon, 1 by Willie.  Everything else was either standard bar band stuff or that Alan Jackson/Toby Keith/Garth Brooks stuff that belongs in the 70's Soft Rock file imo. 

2) They had a keyboard player playing a steel guitar patch through his synth.  Made me nauseus.

I like the term "Texas Country" for the real stuff now.  Seems to include the Outlaw era, the Swing stuff, The Hank stuff, George Jones, et al.  Now if I could only find a band that was playing it. 

[Blazer]

I guess the only current country singer who really keeps the flag flying for true "Outlaw Country" must be THIS guy.





I don't see Roger Alan Wade pulling a Hank Williams III anytime soon and I'm glad for that.

[PWV]

Dale Watson - who makes a cameo in that first post video - is another overlooked country outlaw.  And he doesn't pull any punches with his lyrics on the sorry state of commercial country today:

He ain't even near twenty, but he says he's seen plenty of hard times,
'Cause he's been on his bus for five days and in his hotel for five nights.
And his satellite dish is broke and the new band is treatin' him mean. (Yeah, I know.)
And there's still another week to go: he misses that karaoke machine.
Hey, that's country, my ass,
Who do they think we am?
Force-feed us that shit.
Ain't you real tired of it?
Tell 'em, stick it up high,
Where the sun don't shine.
Get pissed, an'get mad,
'cause that's country, my ass.

Now, she's out there too, she's got her own secrets too. (Shhhh, don't tell nobody.)
She can't sing a lick and in a bucket, she couldn't carry her tunes. (Now wait a minute.)
She's pretty as a picture and she sure got a nice set of...wits. (Yeah.)
And she misses her producer slash boyfriend who seduced her, er produced her a hit.

Hey, that's country, my ass,
Who do they think we am?
Force-feed us that shit.
Ain't you real tired of it?
Tell 'em stick it up high,
Where the sun don't shine.
Get pissed, an'get mad,
Tell 'em that's country, my ass.


Now don't get me wrong, to each his own I believe.
But they've took the soul out of what means a whole lot to me.
'Cause I can see Hank and Lefty, they're spinning around in their graves.
And if they were here now, I think y'all know what they'd say. (Don't you?)
(What they'd say?)

Country, my ass,
Who do they think we am?
Force-feed us that shit.
Ain't you real tired of it?
Tell 'em stick it up high,
Where the sun don't shine.
We're pissed, we're mad 'cause that's country, my ass.
We're pissed, we're mad 'cause that's country, my ass.

Mr. DJ
Would you please play
A real country song
Where's your conscience
What's the problem
Speak up and say what's wrong
Play Loretta
Or some Conway
Some Haggard and George Jones
Mr. DJ
Could you please play
A real country song

I miss that station I grew up on W.S.M.
When it was real, and country to the bone
And heartfelt stories in every song
Now don't rock it, if you could swing it
Let Bob Wills take me home
Hey, Mr. DJ
Could you please play
A real country song

Spoken:  "Now in recent years, ya'll - things sure have changed.
So quick, we've barely even noticed. But pretty soon there's gonna be
no country legends walking here among us. Just like the drive-in picture
shows and the Mom & Pop stores. Soon they're all gonna be gone..."

Just like the DJ
When he plays
A real country song

I miss that station I grew up on
K.I.K.K.
When it was real, and country to the bone
And heartfelt stories in every song
I might like it, if you could swing it
Let Bob Wills take me home
Hey, Mr. DJ
Could you please play
A real country song

Now I don't rock it
If you could swing it
Let Bob Wills take me home
Hey, Mr. DJ
Can't you please play
A real country song   

[Dave W]

I listened to the real KIKK in Houston and its predecessor KRCT. What they played back in the 50s and 60s is not what Dale thinks.

I love some of the real old style country (before Dale's time, I think) but it turns me off when somebody writes songs complaining about people not doing things the way it used to be. I felt the same way in the early 70s when Justin Tubb wrote a song called "What's Wrong With The Way We're Doing It Now." He was complaining about the very type of music Dale Watson plays.    As someone else said, "If there's anything worse than whining, its whining that your whining isn't being heard."

[PWV]

  As someone else said, "If there's anything worse than whining, its whining that your whining isn't being heard."

Agreed - although I do think there's some legitimacy to the belief that country radio buries their dead far too early.  Modern rock bands often get airplay side by side with the classic Beatles/Led Zep/Dylan/and so on.   Buck Owens lives!

[uwe]

It's a TB Studio 5 string in that vid. A model I expected to do much, much better, but deleted after only two years or so. It was a good instrument, competetively priced, more massive in sound than a regular TBird due to the additional wood of the "carrier flight deck" neck. But TBird enthusiasts obviously have no need for a five string, with the exception of me (and I bought it for my completist itch) no one even in this forum ever earnestly considered buying one much less did. Gibson hasn't quite given up on the concept though as the new Epi TB Pro V shows which is pretty much in the same price range. Will a relatively expensive Epi fare better than a relatively cheap Gibson?

[PWV]

But TBird enthusiasts obviously have no need for a five string, with the exception of me (and I bought it for my completist itch) no one even in this forum ever earnestly considered buying one much less did. 

Thanks for bringing the thread back on track Uwe - I actually picked one up last year during the great Gibson purge.  Ebay was flooded with the GOTW's from 2007 and they discontinued so many things that there were bargains galore imo.   More surprising, I've actually held on to my Gibsons and resisted GAS-induced sell-off's. 

I love my Studio 5.  Mine is strung with chromes which give a whole different organic vibe.  Plus the B-string is much more "true" imo than the roundwound B that was on there.  A good set-up helped too.  It "should" be the last 5-string I ever own, since I'm a 4-banger at heart. 

[uwe]

Oh, so I'm not alone after all, that is nice to know!

[PWV]

We're building the muscle mass for sure, cuz its a lot heavier than it looks.  Notice the guy in the video is breaking his back trying to look cool! 

[gweimer]

One of the local FDP guys I know has one of the T-Bird 5-strings.  It's a mighty beefy bass.  He's using it for classic rock, and it sounded pretty good when he brought it to one of our jams.

[uwe]

Yes, it's a chunky affair, but - no pain, no gain - it also adds to the massiveness of this particular TB's sound.