Hank Three at Billy Bob’s
Saturday in Ft. Worth, just at the edge of the Stockyards, there’s Billy Bob’s, advertised as “the world’s largest honky-tonk.” Don’t know how true that is, but it could be fact.
Every trip to Billy Bob’s makes me think about the first time I was there, and that was more than ten years ago. I’d gone with an Aries to see the “Texas Tornados,” which consisted of the late Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez, Freddy Fender, and friends. The reason that one show’s stuck in my mind is because I was about the only guy with long hair in the audience. Me, a couple of the roadies, that was about it. I wasn’t really too frightened, but it was that odd feeling, a tickle in the back of the throat.
I’ve been back a few times since. For one, it’s a venue that I really like, the stage is accessible, the shows are usually good, and the place isn’t too hung up on just being a country spot – on some occasions, national touring rock acts get to play there.
The Hank Three show was all about roots, all about paying homage to the rest of the Outlaws, and it was mostly, not exclusively, but mostly his country stuff. Surprising moments, especially early on, “Mama got stabbed by her crack pipe,” and a good “ghost riders in the sky,” which, my memory isn’t too good, included a mentioning all the names of the outlaw country musicians. Plus, he played one from his granddad and one from his dad.
There’s a been a change in the musical line-up, the fiddle player has been replaced for this leg of the tour with a new guy, “He’s been with us for 8 days, so far, his names is [couldn’t make it out>,” and he did a respectable version of “Orange Blossom.” Kind of a tough set of shoes to fill, replacing Michael McCanless. The new fiddler tried, but at the end of the show, when Hank Three shifts into his “other mode,” the fiddler didn’t join in.
It always pleases me to hear the opening song, “7 long months, 39 days” since it’s the first song I heard live. And I heard a year before the recorded version was released.
Since that song get played every time, it’s a catchy tune, and the lyrics pretty much tell a story, as well as explain the artist’s position, that one one tune gets stuck in my head.
The crowd at Bill Bob’s was wonderful. After we were seated, I glanced around, the place was full. And it was that eclectic mixture of young and old, punk and country, slacker and slick. Just what I would expect from a Hank III show. Yes, I’d a loved some more of the hard-core, Dixie sound at the end, or that alternative set, the “whatever it is you want to call it” thing. But at Billy Bob’s? Not likely. There wasn’t even any Hank III merch too be found.
I was glad to see, though, there were a lot of H3 T-shirts. No, not for sale, but being worn.
