I have a really cool icebox. (Yeah, I go with the old school term of “icebox” instead of the contemporary term of refrigerator, or the shortened version of just plain old ‘fridge, yep, that’s how I roll, icebox) Not just because my icebox has all the essentials to keep a bachelor alive. Essentials like mustard, hot sauce, butter, cheese, hot wings, leftover pizza, beer, hamburger and milk that went bad a few months ago. No, even cooler than all that is my decorations on the front of it. I have a poster that I grabbed after a Red Dirt Christmas several years ago. So long ago in fact, that it wasn’t sold out. Van and I found out the hard way last year that this event now sells out. I also have a list of quotes from Ronald Reagan. My one regret in life is that I was to young to vote for that man. I also have a quote that a senator sent to the President right as trains were becoming popular. It basically said that they were dirty and drove at the breakneck speed of 15 mph and that God surely never meant for man to travel that fast. The rest of the icebox is covered with cartoons that I’ve saved from papers, magazines or that people have sent me. I have a Funky Winkerbean cartoon where the guy is listening to some Woody Guthrie and calls it “heavy wood,” I have one Dennis the Menace where his dad is tying flies and a BC where his home town is so small that on the map it’s life sized, along with some other cartoons. One of the other ones is one that I got after I’d ordered some CD’s from Miles of Music a few years ago. It has Charlie Brown lying in his bed talking about the little red head girl. He says, “I don’t ever want to forget her face. But if I don’t forget her face I’ll go crazy. How can I remember the face I can’t forget? Suddenly, I’m writing country music.” The first time I took a listen to Cooper’s Missing You, I thought of that cartoon.
I try to keep busy and hang with all my friends
But you know I’d rather be with you instead
No matter how far I go I won’t ever forget that kiss
Believe me baby you’re the reason I write songs like this
Well, this just one of the many highlights from this new comer on the Red Dirt/Texas music scene’s first studio CD. To start off the CD is Let it All Go, which is a perfect set up for the rest of the CD. If you don’t like this first song, and there might be something wrong with you if you don’t like it, then you will not like the rest of songs played out by Johnny. Fortunately for me, and I’m guessing most reading this here, I loved this song. It even has some cool Funky Dixie Land going on in the background. Although we either wrote or co-wrote most of the songs here, he does one cover of If Loving You is Wrong that has been performed by several different artists, including one of my grandpa’s favorites, Barbra Mandrel. But none have done it quite like this. A very good rendition, if I do say so myself. Another standout is Broke, a song about being, well broke.
I’m not the first to figure it out
That one thing in life you just can’t live without
Nothing in the world like a brown-eyed girl
But this is what broke can getcha
Well, I could talk about each song being great, because there’s not a weak song on this CD. From the love song Everything, to Blue with it’s wonderful writing (So if there’s a voice of reason, bless me with your intuition/I don’t know how much longer I can hold on), this CD is destined to be a hit with Red Dirt Music fans. The best way I can think of describing this is if you’re a fan of the early stuff CCR did, then you will like this CD. My only complaint, and an ever so small one at that, is that in the name dropping tribute to Red Dirt Music song entitled Red Dirt, there is mentions of Boland, Willie and Waylon, Mike, Cody, Bleu and others, but no mention of Van Marsalis. Oh well, maybe he can get a mention in the sequel to the song.
So, what have we learned today:
- I have a neat icebox that will keep you entertained, inside and out
- Johnny Cooper is on the way to being a great Red Dirt Musician
- My grandpa is a fan of Barbra Mandrel
- There was a time when the Red Dirt Christmas wasn’t sold out
- And, Van should’ve been included on the song Red Dirt
I’ll give this CD 4 and a half out of 5 Peanuts cartoons.