"Skanky Ole Drug Songs"
by
Squint Todd
2007
This is some real outlaw country music. All of these songs are posted for free download on various web sites, apparently by Squint himself, which is why I am posting them here. They are not from a record, but I love these songs and think you will too. A shout- out to my buddy Kyle for discovering them.
This is a collection of 18 mp3s, that I have sequenced into a collection I have called "Skanky Ole Drug Songs." They're lo-fi, bare bones songs sung with a textured, throaty voice. They're songs about drugs, drinking, and women - dirty, profane, and darkly comic. This guy writes brilliant lyrics and delivers them with an easy, authentic manner. He rides a fine line between the comic and the tragic. I particularly like "Smokin You Off My Mind" for that balance. "Welcome to Purgatory" is haunting and urgent. "Canadian Whiskey" is a straightforward ode. I also particularly enjoy "Hillbilly Skid Row." But if there's one outstanding perfect song in this collection, it is hands down "Fifty More Miles to Waco." That's the instant classic. Kyle and I obsessed about it to the point where we wrote it down and learned to play it.
I don't know anything about Squint Todd. Don't know anybody that does. I heard some things about him, but don't know if they're true. Someone told me he was in jail. It's just a rumor like everything else.
Track Listing:
- Canadian Whiskey
- Hillbilly Skid Row
- Truckstop Sleeping Pills
- Fifty More Miles to Waco
- On the Smokey Side of the Hill
- Pearl DeVere
- One More For El Paso
- Skanky Ole Drug Songs of Mine
- Smokin You Off My Mind
- The Saddle Tramp
- Takin the High Road
- When I'm Comin Down I Think of You
- A Stranger's Cry
- Texas Weed
- The DT's
- The Ole Horned Toad (Autobiography)
- I Guess I Came Back Just to See
- Welcome to Purgatory
2 comments:
Sadly, Squint Todd passed away in June 2009. His real name was Charlie Kalfsbeek, of Arbuckle, California--he is missed and remembered with love.
Post a Comment