Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Whatever happened to the Texas Country movement?

Seriously, besides the "Nashville Sucks" crowd that signed with major Nashville labels and the others that moved to Nashville to make it as songwriters, what happened to the movement that was Texas Country music?

anyone?

I started to write a blog of the good that came out of the movement, but I didn't come up with much.  Please let me know if you think of any.

This does remind me of a story though, if you've got a second.

Back in 2003, when I lived in Fort Worth, I went to a festival on the river that featured Jack Ingram.  I knew the name, but didn't know much other than the fact that he claimed to be the progenitor of Texas Country, even though he wasn't that popular and even though that's not something you should ever really try and claim.  Nonetheless, I wanted to see what he had going on.  So as I was hanging out waiting for him to set up, I see a van and trailer drive up behind the stage, and it was being driven by none other than Jack Ingram.  Not only was he driving his van and trailer, but he also turned it around and backed the whole rig up to the stage like a pro.  Instant respect.  Reminds me of the time I put on a trailer backing clinic behind Klusoz in that narrow alley with ridiculous obstacles like dumpsters and random light poles, all while Randy Rogers Band looked on from the back door of the Blue Light.  But I digress.

So taking this newfound respect for Jack Ingram forward, I was actually fairly impressed by his set.  Specifically, I remember liking "Ghost of a Man" and "Hey You" pretty well.  Nothing super special, but worth a few listens.

Fast forward a number of years and, of all things, I hear that he covered a Hinder song.  That's old news I know, but it's still unfortunate.  Reminds me of the time Mark Wills covered Brian McKnight.  Kind of like the time Mark Chesnutt covered Aerosmith.  Just didn't impress me.  That's the end of my Jack Ingram story -- from Glory to Disappointment.  Incidentally that's also the name of his upcoming album.

Where was I going with this?

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