It took serious effort, against genuine sonic adversity, to get a usable album from these October 1962 live dates, but the effort was worth it -- the group sounds really good, the choice of material is perfect, and if the Golden Nugget album didn't exist, this wouldn't be a terrible substitute. Needless to say, many of the songs dwell on the Lone Star State, including a cover of
Ernest Tubb's "There's A Little Bit of Everything In Texas." The fiddle playing by Jimmy Belkin, Roddy Bristol, and Billy Jack Saucer is especially dazzling, and
Merle Travis and
Billy Gray acquit themselves well on guitar as well. ~ Bruce Eder