Kevrave
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For those of you lucky enough not to be listening to country radio in the early '70s, Moe Bandy's hard-drinking hard country may be a subtle pleasure upon a first listen.
But set against the string-smothered backdrop of the countrypolitan sound dominating country radio in the post-Vietnam era, the rough-edged traditionalism of the smoke-slicing fiddle and wry vocals that power songs like "Honky Tonk Amnesia" and "Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life" borders on revolutionary.
Bandy parlayed a lifelong love of dim lights, thick smoke and loud, loud George Jones music into a breathless race against Charlie Rich and the Outlaw gang for the top of the country charts in the mid to late '70s.
Fronting a tight, Texas-hewn honky tonk band, the San Antonio singer cut right through the bullshit of the Nashville glitz with tough-talking tunes like "I Just Started Hatin' Cheatin' Songs Today" and "Don't Anyone Make Love at Home Anymore," sounding an ironic moral rallying cry while simultaneously firing an incendiary musical salvo in the general direction of Owen Bradley and the scmaltzmeisters.
Honky Tonk Amnesia (Razor &Tie) thankfully cuts off before Moe's mid '80s move in a poppier direction, avoiding the posturing duets with Joe Stampley and the abysmal "Too Old Too Die Young" and focusing on the crisp GRC and Columbia tracks which stand out in hindsight as oases in a barren '70s country desert -- and as timeless reminders of why we all feel compelled to pour our money into country jukeboxes in lonesome, smoke-filled dives the world over.
- By Kevin Roe
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© 2001, Kevrave Productions