The Last Cowboys at the Dancehall

Before the stadium lights, the Vegas residencies, and the machine got ahold of him, Garth Brooks was cutting songs like Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old). Songs about rodeo miles, busted knuckles, and cowboys learning the hard way that youth burns faster than a cheap cigarette in a West Texas windstorm.

Now Hayes Carll and Corb Lund have dusted that old tune off and brought it back home where it belongs. Not polished up for radio row or dressed in rhinestones for TikTok cowboys — just two road-weathered troubadours singing it like men who’ve actually put some miles on their souls.

And then there’s Austin Hoke’s cello drifting through the thing like smoke in a dancehall after midnight. It gives the song this strange elegance — like a black-tie affair held inside an old rodeo barn. Rough hands shaking champagne glasses. Sawdust floors under expensive boots.

That’s what makes this version work so damn well.
Carll and Lund stayed true to the roots of the song, but they didn’t just imitate the past. They gave it age. Wisdom. A little scar tissue.

“This damn old” means something different once life has had a chance to throw a few punches. And you can hear every one of them in this recording.

This was country when country was cool.
Before algorithms. Before image consultants. Before half of Nashville forgot the difference between a cowboy and a costume.

High on Our Own Supply

I didn’t stumble into Band of Heathens on purpose. That ain’t how it happens with bands like this.

They come in sideways.

First time I heard the name was through the Vandoliers — and when they tip their hat, I listen. Those folks don’t run with just anybody.

Then I see Hayes Carll drag a chair up to the table and cut a record with ’em — Hayes & the Heathens — and that sealed it. Hayes doesn’t collaborate out of charity. If he’s in, it’s because the songs can stand up without help.

Fast forward and now I can’t turn the dial without hearin’ High on Our Own Supply gettin’ spun like it owes money on Outlaw Country Radio.

Twice a day.

Every day.

Like they’re daring you to change the station.

And here’s the thing — it don’t get old.

That song sounds like a band that quit askin’ for permission a long time ago. Loose. Confident. Slightly smug in the way only people who’ve earned it can be. Not drunk on hype — drunk on mileage.

“High on our own supply” ain’t a punchline. It’s a shrug. It’s a band sayin’, “Yeah… we know what we’ve got.”

And it ain’t just a stray single either. It’s the front porch creak before the door swings open on a new record — Country Sides — due later this year.

That title alone tells you this ain’t a radio grab. It’s for the edges. The B-roads. The parts of country music that don’t clean up nice but last longer.

This feels like a band deep into their grown-man phase —

If the rest of Country Sides carries the same dirt-under-the-fingernails energy as “High on Our Own Supply,” then this one’s gonna stick around long after the trend-chasers move on.

No hype train.

No reinvention arc.

That’s the good stuff.

— Pancho’s Picks

Trust the bands that sound like they’ve already been counted out

and kept playin’ anyway.

A West Texas Christmas for Guys Like Me

Pancho’s Picks — Holiday Edition (for the rest of us)

I wasn’t even in the damn holiday spirit this year. Hard to feel jolly when it’s 70 degrees in West Texas, the sun’s cookin’ your neck like it’s early October, and the only thing “frosty” is the beer you crack open after work.

But the wife gave me that look, so I crawled up into the attic, fought off the dust bunnies and regret, and dragged down every plastic tub labeled “Christmas Shit—DO NOT THROW AWAY.”

Tangled lights, glitter-covered angels, a Santa whose beard looks like it’s been dipped in mesquite ash.

You know — the usual.

But I figured if I’m gonna be knee-deep in fake snow and real attitude, I might as well throw on the only Christmas carols that guys like me actually listen to.

So I hit play.

1. “Merry Christmas from the Family” — Robert Earl Keen

This one’s scripture. The gospel of dysfunctional holiday gatherings.

Truth is, Robert Earl Keen wrote the soundtrack to every lopsided Christmas I’ve ever survived — cheap beer in the cooler, mismatched spouses, someone’s weird in-law stirring Bloody Marys like they’re casting a spell.

It’s home.

Chaotic, loud, a little embarrassing… but still home.

2. “Christmas in Prison” — John Prine

Leave it to Prine to make a love song out of cold steel and bad decisions.

And yeah… this one hits a little close.

I’ve spent a holiday or two behind bars, eating mystery meat while pretending it’s ham and trying not to think about the people waiting on the outside.

This song reminds me how damn grateful I am not to be there anymore — how lucky I am to be here dragging Christmas boxes for the woman who kept me alive long enough to figure life out.

3. “Santa Got Busted by the Border Patrol” — Kevin Fowler

I swear to God this is a true story.

Feels like something that’d happen on 285 after a night in Pecos — Santa, red suit wrinkled, sleigh running hot, trying to explain himself to a Border Patrol agent who’s had a long week. Hell, Fowler barely exaggerates it.

If they tried to bust Willie a time or three, they sure as hell aren’t giving Santa a pass.

This one’s pure Texas ridiculousness, and that’s why it belongs on my list.

4. “Grateful for Christmas” — Hayes Carll

Hayes always sneaks the truth in through the side door.

This one reminds me of home — not the picture-perfect Hallmark bullshit, but real home:

the family that’s getting older, the kids getting busy, the traditions shifting, the things you try to hold onto even as they slide through your fingers.

They say that if you’ve been married more than once you can say “several.” I have been married “several” times.

It’s funny and sad and honest… kind of like every damn December.

And somewhere between the lights, the boxes, and the songs… I caught myself feeling something I didn’t expect:

a little bit of Christmas spirit creeping in, dusty boots and all. Maybe it was the music.

Maybe it was the wife smiling because I did the thing I didn’t want to do.

Maybe it was gratitude — the kind that shows up whether you invited it or not.

Either way…

I reckon Christmas found me again this year.

— Pancho’s PicksRiding for the real ones, dodging the rhinestone pretenders

Hayes and the Heathens

I have such respect for his writing and the way he carries himself – Ray Wylie Hubbard

Singer songwriter Hayes Carll has teamed up with the Band of Heathens and plans to release an album in the upcoming months.

One of Texas Biggest stars Ray Wylie Hubbard recently had this to say of Hayes, “I had done a bunch of shows with hayes opening and then song swaps and I mostly dropped him in the grease with snarly remarks but he knows I have such respect for his writing and the way that he carries himself.”

Carll’s writing style coupled with his dynamic performances has definitely put him on the top of the scale of my favorite acts. The Band of Heathens blues and rock rifts coupled with the perfect lyrics of Hayes is going to make majestic noise.

Here’s a remix of a Hayes Carll song , Any other Way , previously released on his You Get it All album, performed by Hayes and the Heathens.

Any Other Way composed by Hayes Carll and Aaron Raitiere is a perfect example of the greatness of Hayes and when the Band Of Heathens leads in the song just better.

Be on the lookout for Hayes and The Heathens releasing this coming October.

Pancho. H

Roses on your Grave

In my opinion two of the greatest songwriters to have blessed the Texas dirt in my lifetime are Hayes Carll and Vincent Neil Emerson. I got to see both of them perform their brands of not so main stream music tonight at the historic Ector Theater in Odessa, Tx.

I first heard Vincent Neil Emerson a couple of years ago after coming across his song, Willie Nelson’s Wall. From then on I was hooked.If I remember correctly, it was the South Texas Tweek who first shared Emersons music by posting him on his own Twitter account. Emerson and Tweek have written songs together, and also with Charley Crockett.

Not long after I first heard him and began watching some of his you tube videos, Vincent cut his first record. The self titled album, that was produced by Rodney Crowell is one of my very favorite records to date. On several occasions I have tried to see a live show by Emerson, but something always got in the way.

I had plans for a birthday trip a few years ago to a concert where VNE and the Tweek were to open for Charley Crockett in Austin. Due to my commitment to live life on life’s terms I ended up canceling those plans. I was going through a divorce, had started a new job, I had to move back in with Mom and Dad and well to put it quite frankly, I just wasn’t very spiritually fit for all of that. Don’t get me wrong these guys and their music got me through some pretty dark times. Another time, VNE was to open for Crockett and I got tickets to the show, well the show was postponed. I can’t really blame them, I mean they got to play Willie’s 4th of July picnic instead of dirty old Odessa. Anyway, enough of my rambling.

Tonight was the night that i finally got to see him play. Tonight Vincent Neil Emerson opened the show for Hayes Carll. Emerson played many new songs during his set, in preparation he said for another album later on this year.

Vincent Neil Emerson Ector Theater 3/9/23

Hayes Carll as a songwriter is one of the best in the business. His ways of turning real life situations into song is amazing. Hayes has co written songs with some of the best in the business. The whole audience tonight sang along to Drunken Poet’s dream. A song he wrote with Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Hayes newest album, You Get It All, has become a collection of some of my all time favorite songs. Many of these songs he played tonight as well as his old fan favorites.

He also did several cover songs including Dead Flowers by Townes Van Zandt or if you would rather The Rolling Stones. When Hayes played Dead Flowers he invited Vincent Neil Emerson back up on the stage. The two of them together nailed that classic tune.

The entire night was more than I ever could have imagined. The music, the venue, and my company was just what the doctor ordered.

My girlfriend and her daughter and son in law got to attend the show as well. I told them that I wanted Dead Flowers to be played at my funeral. I meant it.

Play Dead Flowers at my funeral and I won’t forget to put roses on your grave.

Pancho.

All for the love of a Cowboy

Ian Tyson definitely rates high on my list of the greatest songwriters to ever live. To Ian’s pen fell many cowboy songs. The Canadian cowboy, Tyson, is best known for his songs “Four Strong Winds” and “Someday Soon.”

“Someday Soon” and my personal favorite by Ian Tyson, “Navajo Rug,” rank in the top 100 Western Songs of all Time, by the Western Writers of America.

Tom Russell, Jerry Jeff Walker and so many more artists have covered Tyson’s music through the years. Corb Lund has just released the latest cover of one of Ian’s tunes. “Montana Waltz”

Lund’s latest album Songs My Friends Wrote is set to release in April. The album also will contain Corb’s versions of songs written by artists like Hayes Carll and Tom Russell.

Corb Lund’s tribute to his fellow cowboy songwriters is certainly going to be epic..

All for the love of a cowboy-

Pancho.