Blew me away when I first heard this Terry Allen song. It is an anthem to my high school years on the high plains of Eastern New Mexico and the Panhandle of Texas.
This song really captures the feeling of travel on I-40 through Western Oklahoma and the Panhandle to Armadillo and the Big Texan, and I remember so many of the old farm buildings in the video. It's a flat and virtually featureless land but has a raw beauty of its own. I never heard of Allen until I saw this video, but Now I'll have to find a CD of his music.
Yea I know. Once you've got a bit of Llano Estacado dust in your lungs you're hooked for life, like it or not....... I lived out there for 10 years ages 12-22 and could not wait to leave but it still tugs at my heart like the smell of cigarette in an old dive bar.
Frankly my dears .. I couldn't give a FFF about Texas heritage because I live eons away .. but this is such a great song. Love Terry. Brilliant underrated artist
Rodger that. That said, there is a far greater appreciation to Terry's music if you can pick up on some of the lyrical imagery that comes from having seen caliche glow in the moon light. Ya just had to be there to fully grasp his genius. As far as I know there is no other song with that word in it. Brilliant just does not do him justice..... :>)
One of my life's highlights was taking an "art class" from Terry. CSU Fresno, yes. Awesome. The concerts were a bonus. Thanks Terry I'm Dwight's sister.
This is probably my favorite song of all time, and I have heard thousands of great songs over the last 20 years or so. It conjures up images of my childhood in West Texas, going to see my mother's parents down around San Angelo, seeing fields of white cotton all the way to either horizon. Terry is a great singer/songwriter, as well as a great artist. I probably have more of his CD's than anybody else.
If you ain't from West Texas be hard for you to know what the Great Terry Allen lived and is saying....You ever ware out a pair of shoes in West Texas you will always stay, come back, or wish you were there. God Bless Terry and Thank You.
I was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base from 1974-1976 at Clovis NM, 6 miles from the West Texas state line. It was 100 square miles of "dry" area for liquor. On Friday nights all the cowboys ( and I mean real cowboys who worked with cattle on the "local' isolated cattle ranches, such as the: XXXXXX Ranch ) would come to town, whoop it up, sleep it off in the parking lots of the local bars ( sure miss the La Vista ). The high plains, the prairie, the" llano estancano" (sp) is almost impossible to explain unless you have been there. The Cap Rock is like the end of the earth, with the earth dropping 800 ft for miles and miles in either direction. The people were tough, kind, enigmatic, helpful and fiercely independent. This montage of pictures of the West Texas and Eastern NM area and Terry's song is wonderful, beautiful, and masterful. Thank you for putting this together...now I have a site a place I can refer folks to when I try and describe the area. That You!!!!!
Condolences on having been assigned to Cannon. I was an Air Force Brat and my dad got stationed there in 1960 and went on to retire in Clovis after 23 years of service. I was almost 13 when we arrived and was in a hurry to leave as soon as I could. Finished High School there and then got a BA at ENMU before leaving for the bright lights of Los Angeles and have lived in California ever since. That said, I managed to retain an amazing appreciation of the landscape and sunsets. I still have family over in the Amarillo area and on one trip back for my uncle's funeral I took most of the pictures. I can now play the song on the guitar and sing the praises of the flat land like some crazy fool. Thanks for your kind words..
Stanley; my wife graduated from ENMU in 1976 while I was stationed at Cannon! We use to call it Enema U! (sorry ) In addition, I saw Doug Kershaw and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils in concert there. The landscape and sunsets....wow! Remember the wind blowing most of the time? Average (average! ) wind speed was something like 16 miles an hour.Ha!
This song is so beautiful it makes me cry. And I'm not from Texas and have only passed through a couple of times. And there are only a few things that make me cry. Testament to Terry Allen as a songwriter and performer to pull me into his world for a few minutes. I do have an old Ford though, and it's from the southwest. And I just love the gentle, barely-there backing vocal of Lucinda Williams. I'd be doing this song for our band if I could find a chart, but apparently Terry hasn't published it. I need the piano chart - not that good at interpolating even though I don't think it's very difficult.
@@buddylarsen6647 Did do this with the band. No chart, just winged it. One of only two times I've ever done lead vocal. Perhaps the last... lol. But I played the piano kind of simplified it but I got the chords.
--wonderful slide show --yep, that's the High Plains alright. This song sure 'nuff tells of it --especially outside of the words, that extended repetition the last minute, why, that's it, that's driving across the flatlands! That whole album is just crazy with goodness.
Update a year later... we ARE doing this song in our band and I'm even singing it. My wife is doing Lucinda's backing vocal and I'm playing piano. My wife playing dobro, and we have three guitars including a 12 string. We just about nailed it after weeks of practice the other night. Now I want to get it on video. No chart. It only has 3 chords. Playing a song that I have such an emotional investment in is difficult to say the least, it has to be better than just hacked, and we're not a professional group of musicians, just having fun. Maybe I'll be posting our video here in a few months.
Winston - I'd really like to see your video. I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me know the chords you are using. I think I like to have a go at it on the guitar. Like you, this song makes me want to sing and remember the good parts of growing up there.
Starts on G, then C, back to G, "got four roses...." is D, then C, back to G. Chorus is C, G, C, G, and "some old angel..." is D which hangs an extra 2/4 bar before going back to G. The instrumental is the same as the chorus, but lacks the 2/4 bar. Repeat verse, verse, chorus, then repeat "angel from Amarillo". Outro just goes back and for from C to G until the other instruments drop out one by one and it's just the piano hitting the bottom C and then slows down to end on G. If you know G, C, and D you can play along and figure it out on keyboard or guitar. Dobro a bit trickier. Fiddle, can't help you much there :-)
We now have a 7 piece band doing this... bass, 12-string, two 6-strings, a mandolin, dobro, piano, and two vocals. I need to get set up to video with my real video cam instead of the phone, and we need everybody to show up. Only had four for practice the other night.
Terry Allen doesn't care if you haven't heard of him. Terry does his thing. If you like it, great. If you don't... have a good day. Terry is an artist in the true sense. Enjoy.
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I love Terry Allen and he's a Texas treasure.
-Men like this make me proud of my heritage and make me proud to be living in the greatest country in the world .Texas
This song really captures the feeling of travel on I-40 through Western Oklahoma and the Panhandle to Armadillo and the Big Texan, and I remember so many of the old farm buildings in the video. It's a flat and virtually featureless land but has a raw beauty of its own. I never heard of Allen until I saw this video, but Now I'll have to find a CD of his music.
Yea I know. Once you've got a bit of Llano Estacado dust in your lungs you're hooked for life, like it or not....... I lived out there for 10 years ages 12-22 and could not wait to leave but it still tugs at my heart like the smell of cigarette in an old dive bar.
Saw Terry & the Panhandle Mystery Band on Austin City Limits recently. Great !
Real songs on real instruments, that's Terry Allen for you. Nice one.
Frankly my dears .. I couldn't give a FFF about Texas heritage because I live eons away .. but this is such a great song. Love Terry. Brilliant underrated artist
Rodger that. That said, there is a far greater appreciation to Terry's music if you can pick up on some of the lyrical imagery that comes from having seen caliche glow in the moon light. Ya just had to be there to fully grasp his genius. As far as I know there is no other song with that word in it. Brilliant just does not do him justice..... :>)
Listening tonight, Terry. One of my favorites. Saw Lucinda when she was in St. Augustine. Loved it.
One of my life's highlights was taking an "art class" from Terry. CSU Fresno, yes. Awesome. The concerts were a bonus. Thanks Terry
I'm Dwight's sister.
This is probably my favorite song of all time, and I have heard thousands of great songs over the last 20 years or so. It conjures up images of my childhood in West Texas, going to see my mother's parents down around San Angelo, seeing fields of white cotton all the way to either horizon. Terry is a great singer/songwriter, as well as a great artist. I probably have more of his CD's than anybody else.
Perhaps the most perfect anthem to the High Plains. Not from there, but lived in Lubbock for 15 yrs. This song is perfect
So beautiful.
If you ain't from West Texas be hard for you to know what the Great Terry Allen lived and is saying....You ever ware out a pair of shoes in West Texas you will always stay, come back, or wish you were there. God Bless Terry and Thank You.
I first learned of Terry Allen I from a Charlie Robison cover of this song. Wish I’d heard of him sooner
I was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base from 1974-1976 at Clovis NM, 6 miles from the West Texas state line. It was 100 square miles of "dry" area for liquor. On Friday nights all the cowboys ( and I mean real cowboys who worked with cattle on the "local' isolated cattle ranches, such as the: XXXXXX Ranch ) would come to town, whoop it up, sleep it off in the parking lots of the local bars ( sure miss the La Vista ). The high plains, the prairie, the" llano estancano" (sp) is almost impossible to explain unless you have been there. The Cap Rock is like the end of the earth, with the earth dropping 800 ft for miles and miles in either direction. The people were tough, kind, enigmatic, helpful and fiercely independent. This montage of pictures of the West Texas and Eastern NM area and Terry's song is wonderful, beautiful, and masterful. Thank you for putting this together...now I have a site a place I can refer folks to when I try and describe the area. That You!!!!!
Condolences on having been assigned to Cannon. I was an Air Force Brat and my dad got stationed there in 1960 and went on to retire in Clovis after 23 years of service. I was almost 13 when we arrived and was in a hurry to leave as soon as I could. Finished High School there and then got a BA at ENMU before leaving for the bright lights of Los Angeles and have lived in California ever since. That said, I managed to retain an amazing appreciation of the landscape and sunsets. I still have family over in the Amarillo area and on one trip back for my uncle's funeral I took most of the pictures. I can now play the song on the guitar and sing the praises of the flat land like some crazy fool.
Thanks for your kind words..
Stanley; my wife graduated from ENMU in 1976 while I was stationed at Cannon! We use to call it Enema U! (sorry ) In addition, I saw Doug Kershaw and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils in concert there. The landscape and sunsets....wow! Remember the wind blowing most of the time? Average (average! ) wind speed was something like 16 miles an hour.Ha!
It's "llano estacado". Staked plains
This song is so beautiful it makes me cry. And I'm not from Texas and have only passed through a couple of times. And there are only a few things that make me cry. Testament to Terry Allen as a songwriter and performer to pull me into his world for a few minutes. I do have an old Ford though, and it's from the southwest. And I just love the gentle, barely-there backing vocal of Lucinda Williams. I'd be doing this song for our band if I could find a chart, but apparently Terry hasn't published it. I need the piano chart - not that good at interpolating even though I don't think it's very difficult.
Your review is, as far as a quick review is capable of being, as good as the song.
@@buddylarsen6647 Did do this with the band. No chart, just winged it. One of only two times I've ever done lead vocal. Perhaps the last... lol. But I played the piano kind of simplified it but I got the chords.
--wonderful slide show --yep, that's the High Plains alright. This song sure 'nuff tells of it --especially outside of the words, that extended repetition the last minute, why, that's it, that's driving across the flatlands!
That whole album is just crazy with goodness.
Wish I would have taken those same photos 40 years ago
The perfect High Plains song.
Yeah, boy. That's the way it is.
glad to oblige..... only song I ever heard that mentions caliche!
Update a year later... we ARE doing this song in our band and I'm even singing it. My wife is doing Lucinda's backing vocal and I'm playing piano. My wife playing dobro, and we have three guitars including a 12 string. We just about nailed it after weeks of practice the other night. Now I want to get it on video. No chart. It only has 3 chords. Playing a song that I have such an emotional investment in is difficult to say the least, it has to be better than just hacked, and we're not a professional group of musicians, just having fun. Maybe I'll be posting our video here in a few months.
Winston - I'd really like to see your video. I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me know the chords you are using. I think I like to have a go at it on the guitar. Like you, this song makes me want to sing and remember the good parts of growing up there.
Starts on G, then C, back to G, "got four roses...." is D, then C, back to G. Chorus is C, G, C, G, and "some old angel..." is D which hangs an extra 2/4 bar before going back to G. The instrumental is the same as the chorus, but lacks the 2/4 bar. Repeat verse, verse, chorus, then repeat "angel from Amarillo". Outro just goes back and for from C to G until the other instruments drop out one by one and it's just the piano hitting the bottom C and then slows down to end on G. If you know G, C, and D you can play along and figure it out on keyboard or guitar. Dobro a bit trickier. Fiddle, can't help you much there :-)
--sure would like to see y'all doing the song. Music is miracle enough, but heartfelt like you describe, it's burning real.
We now have a 7 piece band doing this... bass, 12-string, two 6-strings, a mandolin, dobro, piano, and two vocals. I need to get set up to video with my real video cam instead of the phone, and we need everybody to show up. Only had four for practice the other night.
GTA5 brought me here. Glad it did. Who is this & why have I never heard of him? Pisses ME off...
Terry Allen doesn't care if you haven't heard of him. Terry does his thing. If you like it, great. If you don't... have a good day. Terry is an artist in the true sense. Enjoy.
Do I hear Lucinda Williams?!
I just saw that in another post - cool
Who is the gal singing harmony?
Sounds like Lucinda Williams to me.
Yes, it's Lucinda.
She does Room To Room with Terry Allen too. Voice of an Angel.
She's kind of a big deal in Texas country music.
--a big deal in Texas, yep, you can say that again!
@@donaldmcdougall3542 SHe's a big deal in a hell of a lot more places than Texas.