I lived in Stillwater for nine months, and boy did the time go by fast. (I had a friend that said I should change the time period to either eight or ten months, so no one will associate it with the gestation period of human females, but y’all know better. You do, don’t you?) There was a stretch of three or so weeks where Van and I took all that the town with water that doesn’t move had to offer, (get it, water that doesn’t move – Stillwater, aaaahhh, what do you know from funny) and then we went back for seconds. We had a nice routine all mapped out. Monday night football on, well, I guess it was on Monday nights, Tuesday found us at the Wormy Dog listening to Jason Boland and some of his friends singing and drinking $1.25 Coors Light long necks. Hump day was usually either spent back at the Dog for penny beer night or at Joe’s to catch an encore performance from Mr. Boland. There were lots of options on Thursdays, we could hit up the Weed for another round of penny beer night, or bar hop the strip. Friday’s and Saturday’s would depend on who was playing in town, but I’m sure your beginning to see a pattern here, we were at a bar somewhere in the greater Payne County area. Sunday was spent recovering and getting ready to start the whole process over again. You’d think we’d go broke, but we were wise with our beer buying experience. For instance, if you showed up early for the penny beer night at the Dog you didn’t have to pay a cover. Also, for us regulars, some of the bartenders would forget to mark down a beer or two on our tab. We could have started a TV show called “The Frugal Alcoholic.” After about three weeks of this, Van’s roommate, Justin, and my roommate, Cage, finally started to realize they hadn’t seen us in awhile and began to wonder if we were still alive or had moved out of the country. Good to know the kidnappers would only have a three-week start before Justin and Cage would start looking for us. It was on one of these nights camped out in the Wormy Dog that we had the pleasure of watching Travis Linville for the first time. We were fans from the start.
I love Linville’s music because it has a unique sound with great lyrics behind the instruments. I don’t know exactly to describe how there music is unique sounding, (probably not the best thing to admit when you’re a big shot music reviewer) but it is unique and is very refreshing to listen to. Boland and the Stragglers produce this CD, so you know it’s going to be good. After reading several of my reviews, you’ll probably realize that I’m a fan of well-worded lyrics and good musicians. This CD doesn’t let me down.
I was looking in her eyes
As she sat beside me
I saw my face and I wondered
How deep those eyes must be
I thought about her
And I thought about destiny
Another highlight is the pedal steel guitar on “Here She Stands.” Actually, the Burtschi Brothers do a stellar job throughout these 10 songs. (The Burtschi Brothers is the name of his band) I love their sound and can’t get enough of it. One song that I like is “Country Boy,” mostly because I’m a country boy myself.
I’m looking back on memories
That each day becomes more faded
And each step I take seems to take me
Away from the things I once knew
I did notice that Linville references wine a lot. I’d prefer more beer references, but to each their own. If your looking for a pop-country play list, I wouldn’t recommend this CD, but if you want country music the way that Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams envisioned, I would make sure to have some Linville in my collection.
The sidewalk is uneven everywhere you go
Take a walk around and you will see
I can count on rain and thunder, I can count on snow
I wonder if they also count on me
So, what have we learned today:
- If you looking for ways to stretch your beer buying dollar, come see Van or I and we’ll give you some ideas
- Cage and Justin’s wives better not get lost, because it’ll be 3 weeks before they notice their gone and organize a search party
- Y’all should petition the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce to change their slogan to “the town with water that doesn’t move”
- And Travis Linville is a great musician and word smith
I’ll give this CD 4 out of 5 penny beer nights.