In this week's episode we're featuring the debut full-length album for Texan Summer Dean: Bad Romantic (2021). Born in Clay County, Texas and country as a dirt clod, there's been a lot of living in the three or more years between Dean's first EP Unladylike in 2016 and Bad Romantic: growing comfortable in herself and her situation served as inspiration for many of the album's tracks (six of which Dean wrote or co-wrote). Seems to this reviewer that the first half of the LP could have been done in consultation with Waylon and Haggard, and Dean's Texas dancehall roots are showing on the second; Jess Meador's rising fiddle intro from Hey Mister recalls in no uncertain terms the very best of Johnny's Bush's material. Well chosen covers from modern day songsmiths Simon Flory and Brennen Leigh match beautifully with contributions from Leona Williams and Linda Hargrove, all tied together with Dean's vocal, wonderfully worn around the edges: honest and working class. A sterling shuffle in Three Timin' Game follows on from Distracted, dripping in co-producer Kevin Skrla's steel and Hargrove's Blue Jean Country Queen seems to fit Dean like a glove. Summer Dean fills a gap in the greater roots music scene nationwide with Bad Romantic: a lack of good ol' hardcore Texas country music, heavy on the shuffles, fiddle and steel. And I'm sure glad about it.
HOUR 1:
1. Summer Dean – Hey Mister (2021)
2. Tommy Hill – Oil On My Land (1959)
3. Summer Dean – Distracted (2021)
4. Summer Dean – Picket Fence (2021)
5. Linda Hargrove – Down To My Pride (1976)
6. Summer Dean – Blue Jean Country Queen (2021)
7. Dave Rich – Hang On ‘Til The Goin’ On Comes On (1967)
8. Brennen Leigh – Let Him Go On, Mama (2002)
9. Summer Dean – Queen Of The Clowns (2016)
10. Alan Jackson – Walkin’ The Floor Over Me (1991)
11. JD Crowe & The New South – My Blue Eyes You Left In Tennessee (1999)
12. Loretta Lynn – Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (1966)
13. Jay Lee Webb – Tootsie’s Wall (1969)
14. Jay Lee Webb – I Can’t Fight The World (Single Handed) (1969)
15. Jay Lee Webb – She’s Lookin’ Better By The Minute (1969)
16. Jay Lee Webb – The House Where Losers Go (1969)
17. Linda Hargrove – Old Fashioned Love (1976)
18. Summer Dean – Dear Caroline (2021)
HOUR 2:
1. Johnny Dollar – If I Get Low Enough (1969)
2. Summer Dean – Yes Ma’am, He Found Me In A Honky Tonk (2021)
3. Summer Dean & Colter Wall – You’re Lucky She’s Lonely (2021)
4. Rusty Wellington – Soft Shoulders (And Dangerous Curves) (1965)
5. Jake Hooker & The Outsiders – Mine Is A Lonely Life (2009)
6. Summer Dean – Three Timin’ Game (2021)
7. Ricky Skaggs – Baby I’m In Love With You (1984)
8. Red Simpson – If The World Ran Out Of Diesel (1973)
9. Jimmy Gateley – Don’t Come Cryin’ To Me (1967)
10. COUNTRY COVERS: Country Side Of Harmonica Sam – My First Broken Heart (Since..) (2019)
11. COUNTRY COVERS: Jean Shepard – It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad) (1973)
12. COUNTRY COVERS: Country Side Of Harmonica Sam – I’ve Been Draggin’ Since You’ve.. (2019)
13. SHOT OF STEEL: The Osborne Brothers – If I Could Count On You (1968)
14. Summer Dean – Can You Hear Me Knockin’ (2021)
15. Johnny Bush – There Stands The Glass (1973)
16. Summer Dean – Unladylike (2016)
17. Merle Haggard – Makeup And Faded Blue Jeans (1980)
HOUR 3: If That Ain’t Country’s Year In Country Music - 1973
1. Kenny Price – Don’t Tell Me Your Troubles
2. Merle Haggard – If We Make It Through December
3. Lefty Frizzell – My House Is Your Honky Tonk
4. Lefty Frizzell – I Buy The Wine
5. Larry Scott – Mutton Trucker
6. Red Steagall – The Fiddle Man
7. Red Steagall – Neon Playboy
8. Jerry Naill – Texas Dance Hall Girl
9. Tony Booth – Out Of Ways To Try
10. Tony Booth – I Won’t Be Needing You
11. Buck Owens – Big Game Hunter
12. Wayne Kemp – Honky Tonk Wine
13. Hugh X. Lewis – I’ll Take My Chances On You
14. Loretta Lynn – Rated X
15. Waylon Jennings – You Ask Me To