June27th, 2008. So Exxon waits out paying their Valdez judgment and gets it cut to a fraction. So who cares about the environment? Don't sell us on drilling on the wilderness with your fake concerns.

McCain and Obama ought to have their debates in the Waffle House. I respected both as men of principle, but they are shunting all of that aside in an attempt to pander to the electorate. McCain used to believe in closing the Enron loophole, now it's is the old saw about  increasing domestic production. The news today implied that rising food and fuel prices were due to a softening of the poverty in China and India. Let's blame these people for eating too much.

Obama shrugged off the Supreme Court's misinterpretation of the Second Amendment and tried to say it was a good thing. He is looking for votes from gun owners. Never mind that kids are getting shot on a daily basis in Chicago AND the Chicago outfit that put him where he is has a vested interest in a handgun ban.

You all know that I love to drive and want my gas, but let's get it out of Iraq. Let's eliminate the future traders that are setting the prices for the rest of by creating false shortages. You know that I think that everyone should have a gun if they want one. We need to be able to defend ourselves when the junta knocks on our door, but a gun on the streets of Chicago is a different animal than one in the woods of Michigan. The Supreme Court can't recognize the importance of different areas of the country to set their own regulations based on need. And no one can describe to me the need for an automatic weapon unless you are outfitting a militia (the same militia that is mentioned in the second amendment).

And Obama can't look at the neighborhood where he worked as an organizer and support a handgun ban? Not if he wants a vote in Wyoming.

What do these guys stand for except getting themselves elected?

June 26, 2008 Ms. Gail and myself celebrated our 33rd anniversary by watching the Cubs get waxed by the Baltimore Orioles. They were phoning their effort in. Grrr.

June 25.2008 Went to my first Cubs/Sox game in a couple of years. I quit going because it is basically yahoo fest. It helps when your team wins, but for all the hype it is an experience to be avoided. Sports in general is becoming some battlezone, much like our political arena, where your allegiance or the color of your shirt puts your being in danger. A sporting event is no place to bring a kid anymore.  unless you want to explain what the f-word means or what a c-sucker is. I'm not a prude and I use all the words. The late George Carlin told Bill O'Reilly that he used them not for shock but for flavor. The flavoring is overcoming the banquet though.

If a baseball team loses a game to a rival they do not 'suck'. The White Sox look like a decent enough team. They could sweep the Cubs over the weekend and the 'suck' label will fall on the other jersey. I don't think a White Sox fan 'sucks' because his team loses and I wouldn't feel that my life was over if the Cubs get swept. Can't we just play the game and shake hands afterward? Isn't that sportsmanship? Why does it have to be a personal statement?

I am really sick of paying over $50 for a ticket and have some moron mindlessly chant 'f" this or that for three or four hours. Where are the ushers? Stadium security? We have all the furry mascots and 'family' this or that, but they stand silent in the face of a continual invective. You can't smoke a cigarette in the stadium but your toddler can't help but become victim to a constant barrage of obscenity. It is ceasing to be a pleasurable experience for me.

I am a fan of college football and I attributed a lot of moronic behavior to youth. I was letting everybody off the hook. The assholes at Wrigley Field (this week) and U.S. Cellular next week are old enough to know better. The teams and facilities that look the other way are equally to blame. There is coming soon a time when it will be preferable to sit home in front of your big screen and not put yourself on the firing line. Until the hooligans start breaking the TV cameras.

And all this comes after my team won three in a row.

I have season tickets to the Chicago Rush Arena League Football team. Admittedly, the rivalries are not there, but neither are the boors. It is a pleasurable experience. In every program (that they pass out free by the way) is a "Fan's Bill of Rights". One of the 'rights' is "that every fan is entitled to a wholesome environment...free of violence, profane gestures and language or rude or invasive behavior." That should be a given. Unfortunately, it is an exception.

June 24,2008-If any of you were afraid that Obama was a Muslim - let me illustrate that he practices the Christian value of forgiveness. He and the Democratic party have decided to compromise when it comes to American rights and liberties. The telecommunications act will forgive any past illegal acts by the telecommunications giants . (If  your computer shuts off while you are reading this, you will know that we've  just been annexed to China.)

A basic American tenet in the world we envision while watching the flag unfurled is that we all should try to do the best that we can do. We have kids in the military dying because they believe in the virtue of United States. Honesty, fair play, good neighbors and law abiding. Farmers get up at the crack of dawn and go to work because they believe in what they are doing. People put on business clothes and ride trains and work overtime because they believe they are helping to build the whole. Our institutions of worship reinforce these values. If we run afoul of the law, we hope justice will prevail and will judge our intent equally as well as our crime.

Why then should a telecommunication company be granted immunity for past transgressions?

From Mr. Obama:

June 18,2008 - It's hard times in America. Gomer told me so. You know he works down at Wally's filling station and there is a little hitch in his step. Back in his USMC days he took a little hit and the VA screwed him up, but that's OK. He bends back the bill on his Chinese baseball cap and fills the cupcake rack. He doesn't do fill ups or oil changes anymore since the chain bought Wally out. Even though there are record oil company profits they claim they don't make it on gas, they have to sell those shriveled hot dogs and buckets of soda to make it. Wally is an independent contractor these days which mean the only benefit he gets is a job. Gomer is an associate. Wally's kid runs the register and treats Gomer like crap. Gomer has trouble working the computer and has never been to Bonnaroo.

Gomer doesn't get a discount on gas. He uses plenty of it too. He bought that big old pick-up on time and it eats up the fuel. He lives outside of town now. When they tore the boarding house down he couldn't afford to buy into the new development, so he got himself a condo out the burbs.  He got an adjustable rate mortgage with a balloon payment. Old man Weaver down at the bank was a fair man, but the bank has been sold four or five times since and some guy in Rangoon doesn't care about tough times in Mayberry. They foreclosed on Floyd the barber and put a Subway and a Quick Clips in his old location. Gomer doesn't have long. Nobody is going to wait for his economy to turn around.

Shazam, how did things get so screwed?

So Gomer bought a jug of hootch from Otis and went home to brood. He couldn't see the sunshine anymore and the more he drank, he just got mean. Mean,mean,mean!

So he got on the internet and ordered a CD from Amazon. Eric Clapton "From the Cradle". That had been one of Sgt. Carter's favorites until the diabetes killed him while he awaiting treatment at Walter Reed. $3.25. The post office took another $2.98. He pushed the order button it was nine o'clock on a Tuesday night.

Damn, that was easy, but why should it be? He'd have to fill a whole cupcake rack for what he'd just spent. This Mike guy on Amazon was sitting in a cushy office just watching the dough roll in $3.25 at a time. If no one else would listen to his gripes, this guy would have to. He'd make him earn that $3.25. He got back on-line.

" Look Mr. Mike, if you can't get off your butt tomorrow and ship my order then I WILL CANCEL IT AND HAVE MY BANK WITHDRAWL THE REQUEST FOR PAYMENT FROM MY CREDIT CARD!

It would behove you to ship it tomorrow if you want a sell."

It was 9:20. He guessed that he showed him. When Mr. Mike cancelled the order, Gomer hit the moonshine hard. Time to get in the truck and go down to the Dairy Queen and make fifteen year old Peggy cry.

I'm sure Gomer down in Bowling Green,Kentucky got a DUI for his troubles.

And that's how I spent my evening after getting home from the Horseshoe at 1:30 in the morning, trying to make that and everything else in my life work. Fishing with Opie down at the duckpond just turned the corner into "Deliverance".

6/5/08 Congrats to one of my favorite pubs THE IRISH OAK over on Clark St down the road from Wrigley Field. The Lawless family is celebrating their tenth anniversary. After last night I am sure that there is a Guinness shortage in Chicago. I always appreciated the pint that I had down at the Green Door that was presented with a signature 'G' on the head. Sarah poured my first last night with a shamrock on the crown. Beautiful. The folks up at the Paradigm in Sheboygan are equally creative with their coffee drinks. I had to sit back and admire it for a moment before I set about enjoying it.

A wonderful evening. The day has been a little fuzzy though.

Jim Derogatis, music critic for the Sun-Times and long time friend is standing up for journalistic integrity at the R.Kelly trial. It is not an enviable position to be in during these dark days for Constitutional law. Invoking our rights is a dangerous business in George Bush's America. Hope that the justice system can get at the truth without compromising the Fifth Amendment.

6/4/08 Great having DOLPH CHANEY up from Homewood at the Horseshoe last night. My Tuesday night residency will continue through July. Lots of great folks coming in -check the schedule and come in for some $2 PBR's. I'll also be doing a prime time Saturday night with Tom Pace on June 21st (I'm described as TBA at the moment).

It was a big night for electoral politics last night. I do have the hope, but I am wary. Reading about Harry Truman trying to get a universal health care plan passed in the late 1940's. If no one has been able to do it for sixty years, I am wary of the grand plans and wonderful speeches. We do have a single payer plan in place, all we have to do is change the age requirements of Medicare and we are set. I guess that is too radical for politicians and the health care industry. I'd just like to be assured that if we were out waving the flag and it fell on us the health care we received would be as good as Ted Kennedy's.

Anyway, reading about Hillary Clinton young Republican days - I recalled going down to a Young Republican party at the Sherman House. I went with Curt Bohlman and the Rev.Hamilton. I  just wondered if one of the squeaky clean suburban girls we were hitting on was the young Hillary.I wondered....and you can find anything on the internet.

I stumbled across excerpts from Hillary's diary that detailed her drug usage. If she takes it to "Denver" this would put her over the top with me.

http://www.hillaryclintonquarterly.com/hillarydrugdiary.html

6/3/08 Did what may be the final First Monday Singer/Songwriter Night at the Montrose. I guess that it is the prevailing philosophy that folks would rather stare silently into their drinks than have the likes of us trying to "entertain" them. I drank a couple beers with old compatriot, George Hansen. Nice to go out into the beer garden and be able to smoke. Since tobacco has been exiled you see little mobs of people huddling in front of every beer joint. It is only a matter of time before they roll their Luckies up in their shirtsleeves and start rumbling with the guys from the "other" saloon.

I miss the blue hazy clouds that always muted the smell of the urine cakes and sweaty dancers on steamy hot nights.

Dolph Chaney is going to be with us tonight at the Horseshoe. The last Democratic primaries are today. The red light and the Barry White in the fish tank has done it's trick, we found two new ones this morning. If the other fish don't eat them before we can catch and separate them, we'll have three in the nursery.

Got my new CD's.Only managed to listen to the McMurtry so far. Pretty good. Helping me forget Duffy.

6/2/2008 OK. We knew this was going to happen. I was absent for a few days.
Working through my depression at the loss of Utah. Not a very good excuse. If there was something that I learned from the man it was to articulate.
But....in a rebellion of the machines, my laptop ceased to function. Nothing is a maddening as a blue screen telling you something is screwed up and not allowing you to fix it. I searched in vain for my boot disc and I'll have to take it to a professional and hope for the best.
This is planned obsolescence.
My 2005 Quicken program bought and installed when my last lap top went south, decided that I needed to buy a new program and cut off communication with my bank. I didn't know that the software had an expiration date. It was working quite fine when Quicked decided they need another $90. Luckily I didn't buy the download. Dell, I guess decided that laptops are only supposed to last three years too. Since Quicken only allows you to install your purchased program on one computer, I would've lost that too.
Nothing is a maddening as a computer problem.
I have about 10 days of music stored on my I-tunes. All of it was lifted from my CD's but do you know how long it took me to load all that? There is an I-pod extractor that I'm trying to get to work. Basically this takes the music from your I-pod and puts it on any machine for $20. We will see.
Friday I went to the Cub game. The game where they were down 8-0. I drank beer. The Cubs came back to win. I had a few Jameson's at the Irish Oak and a Guinness or two at the Horseshoe. Before I knew it, it was Saturday.
We went to the Chicago Rush Arena League football game. They were losing. I had a few beers, they came back and you know the drill...
Sunday I went back to the Pick A Cup and played a matinee. It was nice to drink coffee for a change. That brings me here.
Of course we had to watch every moment of the Democratic National Committee meeting deciding the fate of Florida and Michigan delegates. We watch these elections closer than we watched the Sopranos.
Monday at the Montrose, Tuesday at the Horseshoe. I'll keep typing.

5/26/08 – It has been a rough Memorial Day weekend.

It started off well enough, going to see Paul and M.O.T.O. play. I still intend to write about that. The passing of Utah has put those thoughts on hold.

It is on top of things, a day for memorial and not just mattress sales. I spent a primarily sleepless night ruminating. It was the first truly hot night. The temperature is going to dip again, it is too soon for air conditioning and with another great depression barking at our door we are trying to conserve.

A couple of months ago I was in the area where the family cemetery is located. It was late in a gloomy day but I decided to pull in and take a quick visit to my father’s grave.

Try as I would, I could not find it. I guessed that you are truly dead when your kid can’t find your grave anymore. I was disconsolate. My wife said that it had been dark and it had been a couple of years and I had just probably got myself turned around in the maze of ‘Eventides’ and ‘Pines’. That didn’t help much.

So today I put the top down on the Mustang and took a little ride.

I stopped at the cemetery office and asked directions. They pulled a little index card for the plot. Everything was listed under my grandfather Frank. My grandmother was there, my great grandmother and my mute great aunt. The lady at the office drew a map and went over my account. My mom is all set to be cremated and added to my dad’s grave. They have a new plastic ‘membership’ I.D. card, so they printed one up for her. Did I know that she hadn’t purchased an urn yet? It’s about $300.

I told them that I would consider it.

I asked about the availability of adjoining plots and it seems that they are all taken. I could be one or two rows up. If a tree had been removed I could be closer.

I’ve been coming to this place since 1954 when my grandfather died. There is a windmill that my cousin and I used to climb on. There is a pond that always has geese. It is pleasant enough I suppose.

It looked like the cemetery had sold off a parcel to a warehousing company. Just across the fence I could see loading docks. They were empty today. Next to that was the tollway and on the other side of that was a fenced yard full of trucks. There was a ‘gentleman’s club’. It looked a little bit like the Bada Bing from the Sopranos. I know the private St. Joseph’s club was down the street too. None of this is too far away from where Sam Giancana cooked his final sausage.

I followed the map and still didn’t find the grave. There had been a big pine tree there. I always picked a pinecone off my dad’s grave and carried it home with me. I wandered around a bit. There were two infant graves. Baby Girl Horn in 1965 and then a Baby Boy Horn in 1972. They were wedged in between two graves that could’ve been relatives, but they weren’t named Horn. That is always sad.

I made my way back to the car and I stumbled across it. There was a stump from a removed pine tree and my dad’s grave. The family had outlasted the tree. Frank and Anna and Judith and Carrie and Grandma Anna and Earl. They didn’t have any shade anymore.

No one was buried next to them. I guessed that the graves had been bought by speculators. Some year I’d see fresh earth and a new name.

I drove past the windmill. They were playing some recorded patriotic music. It lapsed into a recitation about the flag being shot at Shiloh and torn at Iwo Jima.  I don’t think that I’d want to be trapped listening to that.

I drove to the old German cemetery where my maternal grandparents were buried. Found them all right. They were still under the tree. My great grandparents were buried together and my grandmother and grandfather were on opposite sides. I always imagined them reaching towards one another. It always made me sadder.

The cemetery had been in disrepair last time that I was there. Now they have a new section where they are burying pets. It seems a lot neater now. There is a water slide just outside the fence.

Just down the road was the place where my old friend Mick is buried.

I stopped and asked for a map. No one tried to sell me anything. The lady disappeared into her file cabinets for a moment and left me staring at a poster of all the faces of the policemen and firemen that died in the World Trade Center. Damn, it didn’t seem like there had been that many of them. Numbers were one thing but faces were something else. The woman had to say ‘pardon me’ to get my attention.

I drove to the back where Mick was.

He was the guy that always held our little group of friends together. Gave us reality when we were being stupid and encouragement when reality was overwhelming us. We are all a little scattered now. We are busy with our own lives and basically unsympathetic to each other. I guess that was the cruelest reality that we never had to face as long as Mick was around.

There is a bad movie that I used to watch called ‘Windy City’ that reminded me of Mick. One guy was dying and all his friends dropped their lives, took him out on a boat and tried to live a childhood fantasy of being pirates before he died. When the friend is dying he says that he’ll still be around. “How will I know?” the protagonist asks. “One day when it is really calm, a gust of wind will come up and blow you’re hat off.”

When I was getting back in the car, my hat blew off my head. Son-of-a-bitch

5/25/08 Damn. Just opened my e-mails and learned from David Rovics that Utah Phillips passed. He died in his sleep. His heart just stopped.
I'm having problems catching my breath. Lost a great treasure All we can do is mourn our loss and pay tribute to his memory.
Damn. damn. damn.
5/24/2008 ATTENTION SHOPPERS! Just found out I was for sale on-line at Target. http://www.target.com/Tossin-Away-Mike-Felten/dp/B000P16ZJY As Mary Olson would say "Holy wha!" The day is young but this is already the second revolting development.
Hilary Rosen, the former head of the Recording Industry Association of America and famous for suing twelve year old girls for downloading was named editor of the Huffington Post. Since Hilary who when confronted with the future of the music business decided her best course of action was to sue it, has landed on her feet; we can only congratulate her for bluffing her way into another lucrative position. Another incompetent rewarded. Wish I could find my way on some gravy train. The Huffington Post immediately takes a tumble in credibility.
Another Bill Ayers type lateral movement amongst the privileged elite. It is not about ideas or politics. It is the one kind of war between the rich and the poor that Utah Phillips sings about. There is no right or left in these little Skull and Bones cloisters who protect and nurture their own like a mama wolverine.
Memorial Day mattress sales. Have to go honor the dead, plant a flag in tribute to those who helped to build the pile of wealth that they never were allowed to share in.
Hilary should be grateful that she doesn't have that problem.
5/23/08 It is the end of the week and I'm feeling good. Broke down and ordered some new music on Amazon. After Duffy, I'm still ready to get back on the horse. Finally played the new Mark Knopfler and he didn't disappoint. So I got the credit card out. I ordered the new McMurtry and T-Bone Burnett. I took a flyer on the Death Cab for Cutie. I don't know if it will wear well with me but I'll try. As I was shopping I put on an old copy of Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club that fell off the shelf. I was thinking that it was a classic, pretty damn good until the Na-Na song came on. How can you argue with someone who has Aldous Huxley in the first line of their CD?It has been fifteen years since Tuesday came out. I saw her with Tim Finn when it was breaking. Loved Vegas as much as I loved Duffy's Mercy. Maybe I'll give it another chance. I clicked and ordered Sheryl's new one too. This is like the Home Shopping Network. Amazon says that they aren't going to ship (for free) until 5/28. I'd get some nasty feedback if I waited that long. I'd still be thinking about going to find a store by the time it gets here though.
Until then I'm enjoying the Herbie Hancock. It would've been better if he used some real jazz singers instead of pop stars, but they don't do bad
I still am thinking about getting Mudcrutch. I haven't pulled the plug on Mary Weiss yet and I haven't replaced the Blonde on Blonde that I can't find.
Listening to some of the folks who want to come and play the Horseshoe. I'm impressed. How come we are listening to Carrie Underwood with layered pro tool vocals when there are great performers looking for a Tuesday night gig out there? Better yet, why are they screwing up Carrie's voice? The kid can sing. You would think that she couldn't carry a tune in the bucket the way they tweak her.
A welcome break from the presidential campaign and trying to decide whether I'm going to be a misogynist, racist or a traitor and wondering who's moron for Christ is the worst. Memorial Day weekend. Crank it up.
5/22/08 - Wonder what happened to the people that ran the record industry into the ground? They took over the airlines. $15 to check a bag? $10 for the second one? Instead of trying to chisel us out of a bag of peanuts in order to break even, here is a novel concept...how about you try to get us where we are going on time and with our luggage? Everyone is going to jam stuff into their free carry-ons (the baggage that they should charge you for (according to my wife). I could live without being whacked with another back pack full of rocks.

Maybe UPS or Fed Ex will pick up the slack. You can ship your baggage and pick it up at the Fed Ex store. It probably will get there even if you don't. I want to be at the baggage claim when the first $15 bag doesn't make it .

How about some better efficient service rather than dishing out more crap and wondering where all the customers have gone.

Just (kind of ) talked to a record label today. I want to take there entire catalog, work it on my various websites and sell it. I don't want to buy and warehouse their catalog and let them sit on the money. I want it lean, pay as you go, I sell a copy, I buy it and ship it. Get it? No, that isn't the way it is done. They make the records and I take the risk. Well, not anymore. This is a new day my friends. You better be happy that anyone is going to even attempt to sell CD's. All I want from a label is an updated catalog and prompt delivery of my orders so I can ship them out in a timely fashion. It is surprising how hard that is to grasp. I either get a wonderful catalog and 50% fill rate or I get what I get today.

"We're on a lot of web sites." OK, well you are doing so well, you don't need to fool with me. Just sit there and look at those stacks of brown boxes and blame downloading.

I want everyone to sell my records. I'll get you one copy if you need it. Maybe it is because I haven't achieved the arrogance of affluence. Or maybe the old dinosaurs are sinking into the tar pits and those of us on the other side of the curve are trying to find new and exciting ways to get new music to you. No doubt that I'm still trying to figure it out, but the key words are 'still trying'. 

5/21.08 - Good Tuesday at the Shoe. Robert Levy and Los Pueritas or Los Pollitos (pardon my Spanish). The Ed Sullivan rundown - we had Paul M.O.T.O. there. Drummer extraordinare Barrett Harvey showed up in between tours and Ray Quinn of Martyrs. Aaron popped in after his gig and the Jameson was flowing. Robert's lovely wife Pat took some photos, hope we get them up on the web site for you soon. A full bar for a while. It sure is easier to play for people than tables and chairs. Great we're getting the hangers.

For the second week, I think I cut it out too early. Last week I thought all we had left was Tim Larson's folks but they stayed. This week was the same deal. I promise that I'm going to go back up and do another set at the end of the night if folks are there. I promise to try and leave the whiskey alone (or bother it only moderately).

I'm off until next Tuesday, going to try and finish some these half done songs that have been malingering around the edge of my imagination. Working on a song about a place that I used to work called Bob & Mary's. Lots of stuff. 

5/20.08 Another Tuesday night at the Horseshoe with old buddy Robert 'Lobotomy Bob' Levy and Los Pietas. Bob doesn't want the hard rock 'Lobotomy' tag anymore, but he'll always be Lobotomy Bob to me.

It'll be my debut doing sound too. Another step on my "if this moron can do it, I can too" tour.

We'll be deep in the ward of music hating alderman Eugene Schulter. He won the P.O.Y. award from my Weaselworld column a couple of years back for his used CD ordinance. Now he has resurfaced with a promoters law that would require anyone who put on a show to ante up $2000 for a license and purchase $300,000 in extra liability insurance for every event (on top of what any club or facility has to purchase anyway). Last week he took the bill off the table to fine tune it and since our aldermen and women only meet once a month, we're safe for that long

Booked into the Jackson Coffee Co. in Jackson,MI July 4th and will be on the Bert Hawley TV show on June 27th. After months of begging and pleading, I won't be playing the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okemah. They booked Judy Collins instead. My 2009 assault will begin on the promoters in January.

July is pretty open for booking. Call me 

5/19/08 - I waited for a couple of months for the Duffy disc to come out. It's been a long time since I didn't get the promos in the mail. Universal doesn't care about me anymore, but I don't care about them either. 

The anticipation was great. Bob Lefsetz turned me on to it and I checked out a couple of tracks on line. I loved "Have Mercy". How could they screw up an act that could do that? A couple of friends saw them at SXSW and were unimpressed, but I was undeterred. I was waiting like a kid again. That new Beatle single was going to be played for the first time at one in the morning on the am. I was saving up for those new singles that would be there at the Blue Note record shop when I went down there on Saturday morning. It was great.

I could've ordered from Amazon., but it was only $7.99 at Best Buy and Target. Cheaper at Circuit City $6.99. I should support the indie folks, but who could match the prices? Who would have it for sure?

So I went to the box and bought it, put it in the changer of the Mustang. Mercy was buried as cut seven, I played that first. The fidelity was almost as bad as the analog recording that I made from a myspace video. Still the song rocked. Flipped it back to the beginning and...

Damn, did it suck. I wouldn't have played the whole thing, but I paid my $6.99, maybe there was something else there. Sorry. My wife said that I should take it back and try and get something else I liked. Naw, I won't do that, beside what else would I like? They wouldn't have James McMurtry or T-Bone Burnett at the box and if they did it would be $16.

What's wrong with the record industry? My innocence (wash and wear) has been compromised and what genius would bury the best cut in the middle of disc? I'll burn it to my I-pod and sell it to some true believer. I'm still disappointed

Caught part of the CMA awards. Carrie Underwood is singing about going to bed with a guy without knowing his name. I couldn't understand half of what Lee Ann Rimes was singing about. Somewhere in all the down home melisma and vocal overdubs she was doing something with a guy three times her age. Family values

No Jones or Haggard? This is country? George Strait is still getting nominated at least.