On a few occasions over the course of this project, I’ve gone with a somewhat idiosyncratic choice. But I’ve generally striven to produce something that would be a fitting objective choice, not just a personal preference. I don’t think I’ve ever felt the tension between those two things as fully as I did with Texas. In fact, close observers will note that it’s been the better part of a year since I last checked in on this list with a post. Dissatisfaction with my options here is part of the explanation.
Of course, the problem here is not a lack of choices. Precisely the opposite. With the possible exceptions of New York and California, Texas has the richest and fullest (and most fully realized) collection of songs in the country. There’s just so much to choose from.
You can go with Leadbelly to The Midnight Special. You could go to Luckenbach, Texas with Waylon and Willie, or Galveston with Glen Campbell. Take a trip to Corpus Christi Bay with Robert Earl Keen. El Paso with Marty Robbins. You’ve got Steve Earle and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Townes Van Zandt and Shooter Jennings. Rodney Crowell and Guy Clark. And when it’s all over, there’s Tanya Tucker’s insistence on going to Texas When I Die.
Want something classic? You’ve got New San Antonio Rose. Or Deep in the Heart of Texas, which is a jaunty tune in its own right, and gets a massive boost from being sung countless times by sports fans of virtually every major college and professional team in the state.
From the alt-country generation, you’ve got the Old 97’s and Son Volt. And, I’m going to be honest, I was sorely tempted to go completely off the board and take The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton.
But at the end of the day, I kept coming back to George Strait. I gave serious thought to All My Ex’s Live in Texas, which is such a fun, silly song. But I ultimately settled on Amarillo by Morning, which is just about as pretty as a song could be, and captures all the pathos and pain of the Texas experience in the claim “I ain’t rich, but Lord I’m free.” Originally written and recorded by Terry Stafford, it got its definitive treatment a decade later by the young Strait. It sounds like pure Texas, and with it I finally feel happy with my choice.
As a bonus, Amarillo by Morning also lets me sneakily slide in a supplemental pick: Caroline Spence’s gorgeous song Hotel Amarillo. It provides a wonderful counterpoint to Amarillo by Morning, in part because it’s literally about rolling into Amarillo late at night. But it also thematically balances the claim to freedom in wandering by emphasizing the lonesomeness of time on the road. The yearning for simple comfort. The crushing weight of time and distance. The sense that your life is being wasted just trying desperately to get somewhere else.