I went a little overboard in my first post about this record back in January. But now with hindsight and many more listens I agree with everything I said in that post. Hard Times by Adam Carroll and Michael O’Connor is a quintessential Texas americana record. It stands up there with the best of the bunch. There are equal parts humor, sadness, and resignation on this record which deals with hard times in the Gulf Coast region of Texas.
“Billy Gibbons Beard” is one of the funny yet finely wrought songs on this record. Here’s a couple of lyrics”
“In the gulf coast honky-tonks they sweep the eyeballs off the floor”
“I wound on the bottle just like mom and dad had feared with a bar tab twice as long as Billy Gibbons beard”
“There’s a dusty Heisman Trophy sitting on the shelf. There’s a long gone run down hero in there talking to himself about the days he used to run that ball. There’s a band playing in the bar called Billy Gibbons Beard”
Buy the whole record here via Lone Star Music.
Bonus:
Adam and Michael performing Adam’s song “Errol’s Song”