I this this is pretty accurate.
McMurtry is my favorite song writer. In large part because he can so easily lull you in with the sharp, chuckle inducing lines just to fuck you up with some truth in the same song. Isbell is more likely to leave me speechless but fuck, can McMurtry tell a story. Some of my favorites:
Ruby and Carlos:
From:
"Down below the mason dumb ass line the food gets worse
I can't go back to Tennessee
That Nascar country's not for me"
To:
"And holding back the flood Just don't do no good. You can't unclench your teeth, To howl the way you should.
So you curl your lips around The taste of tears and the hollow sound
That no one owns but you. No one owns but you"
Copper Canteen:
From:
"Honey, don't you be yelling at me when I'm cleaning my gun
I'll wash the blood off the tailgate when deer season's done
We got one more weekend to go
And I'd like to kill one more doe"
To:
"We grew up hard and our children don't know what that means
We turned into our parents before we were out of our teens"
Some other favorites:
All of State of the Union and of course, Choctaw Bingo.
You Got to Me:
"The paper boy wants a smoke
Leans his bike against a tree
And he's tired and cold and broke
And he don't know what to make of me
Standing here in my three piece suit
Standing here just like I am
With my vest unbuttoned and my necktie loose
Impervious to all abuse"
Carlisle's Haul:
"Hear them crabbers cuss the weather
And they cuss the government too
'Cause nowadays crabbin' and fishin'
Hangin' on to a pot to piss in
Is just about the best a man can do
It's hard not to cry and cuss
When this old world is just bigger than us
And all we got is pride and trust in our kind"