Bobby Earl Smith – Turn Row Blues
With contributions from Armadillo-era hipsters (Joe Gracey, Lloyd Maines, Casper Rawls, Freddie Krc, and John X. Reed) and second-generation Armadillo offspring (Gabe Rhodes, Warren Hood, and Eric Smith), Turn Row Blues feels so organic it must’ve come from the shelves at Oat Willie’s or the Austin Food Co-Op. Bobby Earl Smith has that Lefty Frizzell nasality that gives Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s voice such a distinctive straight-outta-West Texas authenticity; the songs from this former member of Freda & the Firedogs are as dirt-farmer country as a sand storm blowing across the endless furrows of a panhandle cotton field. Filled with lonesome sounds, Turn Row Blues is a little record (as little as a record can be when James Burton stops by to play guitar on it), but modesty is the key ingredient. This isn’t a comeback attempt by another guy trying to cash in on some lost Armadillo-era cachet; a successful attorney these days, Smith doesn’t need the money. Yes, it echoes a mythical pre-Willie era in Austin, but Turn Row Blues is about personal satisfaction, comradeship, and a genuine love for old-timey country music. Collectors can file it right next to the first Flatlanders record.