One of the country “outlaws” who doesn’t always get the recognition is Shel Silverstein, who not only wrote Johnny Cash’s iconic “A Boy Named Sue” [which spawned at least one parody — Joni Credit‘s “A Girl Named Harry” released August 1969] but also many great songs for his close friend’s RCA releases throughout the 1970s, including this great 45 about going “all in”:
[Pssst: Click on the triangle above to play “Vegas” by Bobby & Jeannie Bare]
“Vegas” — recorded in September 1976 at Nashville’s RCA Victor Studio and released as a single — was subsequently played on the January 24, 1977 broadcast of The Ralph Emery Radio Show.
Bobby (and Jeannie) Bare recorded “Vegas” toward the end of his long run with RCA (he signed with Columbia in 1978), and this song appears not to have been reissued until 1997’s 20-song The Essential Bobby Bare compilation, where the song serves, fittingly, as the final track.
Shel continued writing for Bobby Bare during his tenure with Columbia, including a typically bent take on the truck driving genre with “World’s Last Truck Drivin’ Man” from 1980’s Drunk and Crazy.
(image courtesy of NPR)
A couple years back Bobby Bare and his son, Bobby Bare, Jr., curated a tribute album to Silverstein — Twistable, Turnable Man — that features Shel’s songs covered by the likes of My Morning Jacket, Frank Black, Andrew Bird, Todd Snider, Lucinda Williams, John Prine, and The Boxmasters featuring Billy Bob Thornton. Here’s a link to an NPR piece about this special recording project.
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Patience is a Virtue
Fun ad for Ford trucks from The Ralph Emery Radio Show tagged onto the end of “Vegas” with music by Merle Haggard & the Strangers featuring Roy Nichols on lead guitar.
Mosrite doubleneck c. 1959
(image courtesy of The Mosrite Guitar Forum)
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LINK to Bakersfield +/- Country Outlaw
