Last Thursday, Jason Boland and the Stragglers came to town. They usually come 2-3 times a year and I haven’t missed a local concert of theirs since I started listening to the band in November of 2005. This gave me plenty of time to catch up on all of their previous music. They released their first album, Pearl Snaps, in 1999 followed by Truck Stop Diaries in 2001, Live and Lit at Billy Bob’s in 2002 and Somewhere in the Middle in 2004. In 2007, they released The Bourbon Legend followed by Comal County Blue in 2008. Their music goes through stages and is a continuous story of life, partying, love and struggle throughout their albums. For example, from the album Comal County Blue, the song “Bottle By My Bed” describes Jason’s struggle with alcohol, while on “Sons and Daughters of Dixie” he gets political singing about the struggle of gulf cities during hurricane Katrina.
We strolled into the bar at 8:00 to pick up our tickets. As we entered, the stale smell of old beer and vomit overwhelmed all other scents in the summer heat. The air was heavy and it was going to be a humid evening.
As the show went on, I began to realize that despite the heat, this was one of the band’s better performances. While their clothes were drenched with sweat, the band plowed through the set to promote their new CD, High in the Rockies. This is a live album that features songs off their previous three studio albums and a few new covers such as “Tulsa Time,” which they made a video for.
After playing straight through the encore due to the heat, Jason put down his guitar and literally ran to the merchandise booth to thank fans, sign autographs and take pictures. The first girl in line happened to be a friend of mine, and while caught in the moment, she had Boland autograph her white dress. When it was our turn, we bought the new live CD, had him sign it, and Jenn took a picture with him before he shook my hand. I can’t think of a better way to end a great show, especially from a band I so greatly admire.
If you like steel guitar, fiddle, old country or simply songs from the heart, you may give Jason Boland and the Stragglers a listen. They may be a pleasant surprise to you as they were for me the first time I heard them.
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