The Panhandlers: Tough Country
So, what do you do if you are a Texas country supergroup and want to put out a better album than your last? You do just that!
The Panhandlers (Josh Abbott of The Josh Abbott Band, William Clark Green, John Baumann, and Cleto Cordero, the front man of Flatland Cavalry) got after it again. On March 3rd, they will be releasing another ode to their home and stomping grounds, West Texas, with Tough Country.
Tough Country has 14 original tracks ranging from the sweet and amusing “I-Got-Your-Back Dog” to the romantic duet of Mr. and Mrs. Cordero’s “Valentine, For Valentines,” to the harsh social commentary in “The Corner Comedian,” as well as the ode to the hard working cotton farmer, and the first single in “Where Cotton Is King.” This album covers all the bases.
The album is solid, well-written, has great musicianship and excellent production, but would you expect anything less from these guys?
The first single from the new album, “Where Cotton Is King,” was released to radio back in September 2022. According to Josh Abbott, “This is actually the very first song we tried writing with all four of us, back on our first writing trip to Marfa in 2019. We even recorded it for the first album but it just wasn’t quite right. I’m glad we’re all mature enough to know when to pull a song. And because we did, we were able to finish it in 2021 the way it deserved.”
Personally, I like the defiant nature of the song, the portrayal of grit of the long suffering West Texas cotton farmer. The minimalist guitar and banjo intro draws the lonely, flat, wide and windswept prairie farmland that trails off into the horizon in your mind’s eye. The song itself can be compared, in large part, to a dirge both musically and lyrically. Chronicling the hard life of a cotton farmer: planting, tilling, sweating, toiling, hoping and praying for a big crop to come in. All the while the farmer knows that lack of rain, a harsh winter, boll weevils, the man from the bank, as well as numerous other factors can kill his dreams in an instant and bury him and those same dreams in the dirt as the cotton seed is buried in. The stark description sung by Josh Abbott “serving out my sentence on the plains, where ‘Cotton is King’” is telling!
Don’t let the title of “The Corner Comedian” fool you, there is nothing funny about it. It details the harsh life of the homeless begging on the street. It is truly heartbreaking.
“The locals will say “hello” to me now / Even named me the corner comedian /
Write a joke on cardboard, and the punchline is me getting to eat again.
This song goes on with sad, stinging, social commentary. This one truly hurts to listen to and the arrangement of a lone guitar, harmonica, pedal steel and fiddle really drives home this sadness. This song has one very poignant line that really stood out to me and it’s from the perspective of the homeless begging for some cash. This line really brings it into our modern day, cashless economy:
“I’ll say the game sure has changed / Used to be a lie when they didn’t have cash /
You should see how genuine they look / Hell, I feel bad to even ask”
Now, to the opposite end of the spectrum from “The Corner Comedian,” you have “I-Got-Your-Back Dog” - a fun and amusing song about man’s best friend that just makes you smile and think of your own. It’s an ode to Rover. Musically, it’s about the standard fare you’d expect for this group and musicians of this caliber. The lyrics, however, are really what make it shine: some listing all the adorable physical flaws you find in your own slobber monster/snort monster or the absolute loyalty they have for you that, in the end, make dogs beloved members of the family.
“The Chilton Song” - a song about a drink. The cure for a shitty day! And why not?
“Get you a cup, brim it with salt / Pull down the vodka, pour you a shot /
Pop a top o’ Topo Chico / Only one thing left to put in /
When life gives you lemons, make you a Chilton”
Now, why can’t every song be just this easy and fun? It puts a big smile on your face. After hearing all their complaints of a lousy day, they cure it, like adults, with alcohol, of course! A fun part about this song is the musical style. Interestingly, it isn't country. It's a smoke-filled lounge jazz style.
“Flat Land” is the one that, in your mind, paints the wild and untamed West Texas wilderness with its inhospitable hot and dry plains that, at first glance, could not sustain life. Or so you’d think. Yet coyotes, buffalo, snakes, birds of prey and other creatures have made this their home since time immemorial. This song highlights these creatures: how they live, survive and prosper, with very little, in an environment that would kill most of us.
Overall, I enjoyed this album just as much as their first, but for different reasons. This new album has a familiarity of sound laid by the foundation of the first album. Now, this is not to say that this album is identical to the first. It most certainly is not! The group has improved their skills and maturity as songwriters, and it shows in the quality of these new songs and their ability to reach their audience in ways that they hadn’t in the past and to stretch themselves as musicians by doing things they might not have tried before. It's definitely worth picking up.
Find out more about The Panhandlers below: