Texas country artists today covering Texas country songs from the ’70s… ya gotta love it.
The Marfa Tapes trio covered Jerry Jeff Walker’s 1973 classic “Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother” on an episode of the CMT Campfire Sessions, and per the usual, they knocked it out of the park.
The song was originally written by Ray Wylie Hubbard and the song really launched his career after Jerry recorded it for his album Viva Terlingua.
The story of how the song came to be is pretty wild, too. According to Texas Monthly, it all started when Ray stopped by the local bar in Red River, New Mexico, where he was living at the time:
“I walked in and there were thirty or forty people drinking, including one old woman. The jukebox stopped and they all turned and looked at me.”
Apparently, while Ray was standing there waiting for the bartender to get another case of beer for him, the old woman and her son confronted him because they didn’t like his long hair.
The son asked his mom if he wanted him to beat Ray up, and before the son could do anything, Ray grabbed his case of beer and ran.
And, in the parking lot, he saw the pickup truck that eventually made it into the song:
“Sure does like his Falstaff beer
He likes to chase it down with that Wild Turkey liquor
He drives a fifty seven GMC pickup truck
Got a gun rack, ‘Goat roper needs love too’ sticker”
So, the hilarious track is based on a completely true story, and Miranda, Jack and Jon sure do it justice.
Miranda ends the song laughing (partly because of Jack’s performance in the bridge and partly because the song is so outrageous, I think), saying:
“Thank you CMT Campfire Sessions, and we’re sorry.”
The things I would do to get a ‘Marfa Tapes’ tour…
