Two Dollar Pistols – “Blistered” / “When You Had Time for Me”

With that thunderclap voice of his, there may not be a better man than John Howie to cover a song popularized by Johnny Cash, unless Sleepy LaBeef is in town. “Blistered”, written by Billy Edd Wheeler (who also authored “Jackson” and, in a karma-balancing move, “Coward Of The County”), carries the message that horniness will lead to blisters from throat to fingertips — making Scott McCall’s hot picking that much more fitting. Backing “Blistered” is an intriguing new Howie composition titled “When You Had Time For Me”, which at times sounds like a doo-wop ballad trying to bust out of a honky-tonk shell. Rubbery guitar, tinkling keyboards, and some oooohs nicely fill in the space after the chorus, but your appreciation of the song may well depend on how you feel about the way Howie turns “need” and “free” into three-syllable words. Works for me, as does the line, “The stars that once were in your eyes/They shine above some other guy’s.”