Lord, She's Memphis Bound...

When the genre known as Southern Rock is done right, with the right amount of backwater blues, boogie-woogie country, and sleazy rock-n-roll swagger, there t'ain't nuthin' out there the likes of it (yesss, I said "taint" -- ya'll may all point and laff at me now. Settle down, Beavis).

I guess growing up in a small southern town, going to a school where every kid's 4X4 was blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd, where the school's marching band would play "Flirting With Disaster" during halftimes, some of it can't help but assimilate. Luckily for me I like to think that I took away only the best aspects of the genre and learned to seek it out and appreciate that which I find from the bands that put it out there -- especially when the track really knows how to bring da boogie. In other words, I love Molly Hatchet's "Flirting With Disaster", but I don't much care for the Allman Brothers' "Sweet Melissa". In fact I only allow one man in this world call me that, and he knows exactly who he is.

Native American southern/hard rockers Blackfoot really do take me back, especially when "Train Train" hit the airwaves back around 1980 or so when I was an impressionable pre-teen just scratching the surface of the post-disco pop music universe. So imagine my disappointment when Joe booked them to play in town and I couldn't make it that night, though Yod only remembers why these days, and wouldn't you know it -- they were positively blistering live. Unless of course that was just Joe being nasty and rubbing it in. No no, I could totally picture "Train Train" being every inch the barn burner that it is on wax, though I don't think bandleader Rickey Medlocke's grandfather, bluegrass recording artist Shorty Medlocke, was there to play the harmonica like he does on the actual studio track. Joe did tell me that the band tried to steal the club's liquor that night. There was a small unmanned bar area behind the stage and apparently the boys just helped themselves. I guess Joe was left to put a stop to it. Rock 'n roll.

So anyway as you can see we still got Rickey Medlocke to sign our copy of Strikes (click to make BIG) which has "Train Train" on it, and here's an M4a of it that will be up for 7 days. So kick up your heels, cousins. And no lighters, please. Or calling out for "Freebird" or "Whipping Post", either. You all should know this by now. I SHOULDN'T HAVE TA TELL YA'LL!!

Train Train - Blackfoot
(M4a - available for 7 days)