Ed Bruce might go down as the most underrated country musician of all time. Country music always comes with a measure of legitimacy in my eyes. There's certainly a fair share of pretenders who wear the cowboy hat with the spurs on their boots as costume. Everyone may go around looking like Woody from Toy Story. But those who know can easily tell who's putting on an industry veneer. Ed Bruce never lacked legitimacy and it's evident through his music.
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The Arkansas born, Memphis raised singer songwriter first takes over Nashville as the pen behind Tanya Tucker ("The Man That Turned My Mama On") and Crystal Gayle ("Restless"). However, I think his best work remains in his solo work. That's the big question today. What are the best Ed Bruce songs of all time? Which records are the essentials when gauging his impact as a country artist? Let's think about our country songs the same way the sculptors thought of the U.S. presidents and make a Mount Rushmore out of it.
Four of the Best Ed Bruce Songs of All Time
When I Die, Just Let Me Go to Texas
It's deeply ironic that Ed's stomping grounds reside in Memphis. Moreover, he cuts this song on an album titled The Tennessean. Regardless, he still likens Texas as the closest thing to heaven. If the cowboys aren't good enough for the Lord, send Ed down somewhere in the lone star state and he'll still be blessed.
It's not hard to understand him either. As much as I might lament the insane humidity and the inability to walk much of anywhere, nothing shines quite like the Texas sun and at least you can find parking. The land of Bucees and some of the best BBQ you could imagine, there's a bit of Texas for everyone to love. For a cowboy like Ed Bruce, he reckons he could dust himself off anywhere because Texas is home.
My First Taste of Texas
This one's a pure rocker. Ed Bruce was always really good about playing coy in his metaphors and hidden meanings. Here, he refers to "his first taste of Texas" as a lover, a blue eyed, blonde that's still relatively new in her *ahem* experience. Conversely, Bruce glides as the grizzled Tennessean who swoops her off her feet. Ultimately, it proves to be quite the night for ol' Ed since the first taste of Texas "still lingers in my heart and on my tongue."
You're The Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had
Maybe my favorite country breakup song. Oftentimes, we get caught up in our own sorrows and self pity after a breakup. It's the end of the world, we'll never love again, and the waterworks flow. However, Ed Bruce particularly notes that the end of a relationship with someone doesn't have to be a miserable aftermath. Rather, it's the gratitude that magnifies the love he croons so wearily.
Ed is already such a tender singer but he goes a notch higher in his register here. Under the gruff demeanor and the thick moustache lies a man gifted with the miracle of love. He notes how there were many other women before the one he sings about, lovers and friends alike. But it was her that picked up the pieces perfectly. Consequently, he learns how to gather himself again when it doesn't work out. It's very emotionally mature when oftentimes, it's easy to be selfish.
Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
Admittedly, I love Ed Bruce's original way more than the Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings cover. I love what the two Highwaymen bring to the table but they essentially act as narrators on the song. Willie leads kind of squirrelly in his light inflections. Meanwhile, Waylon sings like a man recalling a story on horseback. Ed Bruce sounds like the kind of cowboy Willie and Waylon were singing about on the cover. His deep, leathery voice gives his advice some real heft and experience to the song.
I grew to adore this record when playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It's probably my first real exposure to country music that I could remember as a kid. I'm transparently a rap and R&B man first. However, when I hear Ed Bruce for the first time in the game, he transports me to distinct memories traveling in Birmingham, Alabama. I think of all the trees that pass me by on the interstate.
Later in life, I finally reach Texas and all the pieces fit. The dusty trails, the great, wide open sky, the acres of farmland. That's before you even touch ground into the communities. Seas of cowboy hats, dark skin, big belt buckles. Everything that becomes easy stereotypes morph into something truly beautiful in the end. Ed Bruce captures a lot of what it means to be southern on Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.
