El Paso - The Gourds
3:10
Bolsa de Agua, 2000
Written by Kevin Russell
I've been a fan of the Gourds for several years now; I love their hick America fusion sound that doesn't cater to any kind of commercial sensibility. This song is sadly not the Marty Robbins cover we all crave and deserve. Instead, the narrator seems to be riding — maybe driving, maybe slumping on a bus — toward El Paso for reasons the rambling, stream-of-consciousness lyrics never quite reveal ("Chicken blood on my pants / My hands are shaky and pillow is damp.") Kevin Russell leans into a slurred, nasal drawl, and the band wraps him in dusty, twang-heavy guitars and a loose, shuffling groove. The whole thing plays like a hillbilly Texas Tornados, or a drunker, loose Steve Earle.