Mr. Bojangles himself.

One of the first singles I ever purchased. On the ATCO label.

The sadness of the song never hit me until the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band covered it. The ATCO label was so cool back in 1969. Another early purchase was "This Guy" by Burt Bacharach. I have had a serious grudge against A&M in the time since, don't get me started.

I was more interested in labels than content back then. I also bought the Supremes "I Hear A Symphony" greatest hits collection for the same reasons.

These were my first musical decisions. Faw.

There's a record of covers called It's a Good Night for Singing that I like especially. That man could hit a mean low E in his day.

And Mr. Bojangles is great of course. Just barely on the poignantly sad side of the sad/happy divide.

I almost forgot - not crap, despite the Texas frat house following.

Anybody ever head Pat Green? He's big with that crowd too and Holy Shit, does he suck. All his songs are about either beer or Texas or both. My brother forced me to listen to a live album of his once and every time he got to the word "beer" or the word "Texas", which was often, he would accent it just so and the crowd would freak out. Barf city.

I recommend the Jerry Jeff Walker albums Bein' Free, Ridin' High, and Viva Terlingua to fans of the following artists:

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Guy Clark
David Allan Coe
Bob Dylan
Bobbie Gentry
Tompall Glaser
Michael Hurley
Waylon Jennings
Kris Kristofferson
Willie Nelson
Mickey Newbury
Papa M
Townes Van Zandt

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:Viva Terlingua

I've just listened to the song 'Wheel' off this album 6 times in a row. I almost wish it would last forever.

Not Crap.