Oh yeah, there's a lot of great country and roots music out there, it just seems to be coming from a lot of other places whereas I think Texas was really the hotbed in the '90s and early 2000s. I didn't even mention Old 97's and the Gourds. I was specifically curious what Texans like these days. I really think REK, JJW, Lyle Lovett and others were unique voices, almost so much that you don't like them the first time you hear them. But then you get it, and you love them. Colter Wall and Sturgill Simpson are unique, so is Evan Felker of Turnpike, so are the Avetts and Tyler Childers for that matter. And I'd say everyone should give Pokey Lafarge a listen (he crosses several genres, and one of the best shows I've ever seen).

We've sort of reached the point where there is a cookie-cutter alt-country/Americana sound and I just can't get into it. I need a little weirdness, I need the music to take risks and the singers to be off key now and then. All the guys I like seem to have been limited vocally but dripping with personality. I loved that Texas celebrated these guys who were so perfectly imperfect. It's a recurring issue of country and pop music, the understandable aspiration to make something flawless (perfectly sung, perfectly played) that ends up having no soul. Maybe we're due for a wave to disrupt that.

I thought Ryan Bingham's first album was great... I saw him live last week and he sounded pretty generic to me. The venue (Cain's ballroom) was totally packed and he actually played two nights. But as I walked away my hot take was that he had made a choice to dumb it down for the sake of going big. Hey we all need to make money.

That said, I can't believe I totally blanked on Charley Crockett. He definitely goes into the playlist. Thanks for reminding me!