Open Season at the Bar.
“Play somethin’ we could sing to/ Play something we know.”
This Christmas spare a thought for all those playing live music. Yuletide’s over-indulgence often leads to people’s inhibitions getting parked and it becomes conceivable to approach the singer or the band and suggest much better song choices… even offering up their hidden talents in order to get the night going properly.
I bet Adam Hood has played many a honky-tonk in his time. This song is from his ‘6th Street’ EP, recorded back in 2004. Still very underrated, Hood has built up a well-respected back catalogue of music and has written songs with the likes of Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke (‘Barefoot Angel’), Cody Jinks and Brent Cobb. Cobb reciprocated with ‘She Don’t Love Me No More’ on Hood’s 2018 album “Somewhere In Between”. Never one to take himself too seriously Hood can still pull at your heartstrings when he wants to. On the same album there’s a beautiful track called ‘Downturn’ that has an equally cinematic, flight of fancy video.
Hood wrote ‘Play Something We Know‘ with the intention of name-checking bands that he regularly got requested to cover, thus leaving him alone to play his set. He begins, “I saw you walk in here/ With that guitar in your hand/ I thought I might ask you/ What you might be playin’/ Just one more question/ Well I know you gotta go/ Me and my friends aren’t drinkin’/ Were just wondering if you know…?” Hood jokes that his song has often had the opposite effect on a bar’s clientele, indeed sparking a notion that they’d like to hear a song from those he cites. It can be fun to try and substitute different artists into the song and, yeah, Hood’s choices make you think: “Do you know any Hank Jr?/ Or any Steve Earle?/ How about the Joker?/ or Brown Eyed Girl?/ Sweet Home Alabama?/ Or Curtis Lowe?”
This is just a fun song. I love the realistic banter, the I could have been attitude, the overly polite conversations, the just below-the-surface aggression and the just kidding backtracking. The realistic off-key singing! Yep, Hood’s definitely sung in a few bars. So, for the sake of all the bar singers and bar bands out there doing the festive circuit this year, best keep off the stage. And, for all those who don’t succumb to pleas for Gerry (maybe you have to be Scottish?) Cinnamon, ‘The Gambler’ or ‘Wagon Wheel’ I salute you. Stick to your guns and season’s greetings.
“How bout some Neil Young?/ Man, play some Whiskey River man/ Play something we know”.
