alt.country weekend

Hot, humid and twangy. That's how I will remember this weekend for years to come.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for a high near 97 today. Wow.
I can't wait to take a dip in the municipal pool this afternoon (yeah... me and about 5,000 other swimmers).
So that's the hot-n-humid part of the weekend.
Here's the twangy part of the weekend...
Friday we drove three hours from Dubuque to Des Moines, Iowa to watch the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, an alt.country band from the San Diego area.
They were great -- despite a sound problem that limited the effectiveness of the mics. Lead singer Mark Stuart (pictured on the left in the photo) formed the Bastard Sons about a decade ago, after serving time in a punk band. Stuart says on the band's Web site that the name came to him in a dream. Cash himself gave his seal of approval and the band have forged an indie career out of truck-driving and drinking songs that would find a place in any smoky, beery honky tonks.
Suitably inspired by seeing the Bastard Sons, I have been listening to alt.country on the iPod the remainder of the weekend. For example, I am currently listening to Uncle Tupelo's "Black Eye," sung by future Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy. Yesterday I listened to Whiskeytown and the Old 97's.
Their southern-inflected tunes seemed to suit the inhumanly scorching weather just fine. Y'all.
Check out the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash. They can really rock, in a hip hick sort of way.
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