For "Flatland Hillbillies," an ode to the mixing pot that is Texas' working class, Rodney Crowell recruited help from fellow Lone Star State natives Randy Rogers and Lee Ann Womack.
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The rocking folk tale goes several steps beyond applauding factory workers and field hands, explaining why their generation ended up in Texas and how they let off a little steam after each 60-hour work week. It's a heartfelt nod to the overlooked and overworked, told with two of Crowell's best home-state peers.
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It's the first fruits from an album featuring a long list of special guest Texans, including Steve Earle and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons.
"Interestingly, it all started with Ringo Starr who, through a mutual friend, let me know he was keen to record a track," Crowell says in a press release. "Before I knew it, Lee Ann Womack, Ronnie Dunn, Willie Nelson, Randy Rogers, Lyle Lovett and Vince Gill had climbed on board. Ray Kennedy and I took hold of the production reins, enlisted a cast of bad a-- musicians and voilá, Texas was born. Man, was it a fun record to make."
The album arrives Aug. 15, just five days after Crowell's induction into the Texas Country Hall of Fame.
"Flatland Hillbillies" Lyrics:
We're flatland hillbillies, Irish Cajun Creole mix
My brothers on an off shore rig, my sister's on the pole at Slicks
Mama takes in peoples washing, she was widowed by a pipeline man
We're flatland hillbillies, getting by on what we can
We're river rats and john boat shrimpers, trouble in our DNA
It wouldn't be the same Port Arthur if we got up and moved away
God forbid we hit the lotto, chances are we'd wind up shot
We're flatland hillbillies, getting by on what we've got
Flatland hillbillies heathen to the marrowbone
Working on your cars and drinking in your bars
And running every red-light home
If you've never ran a trot line, never skinned an eight point buck
Never had a squirrel-meat sandwich, then I guess you're just out of luck
Living on the edge of nowhere, isn't for the faint of heart
We're flatland hillbillies, waiting on the fire to start
Flatland hillbillies, another other breed apart
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