Here at My Table we like to think that Texas is the perfect place for a food lover to develop his or her palate, with endless cuisine options found across the state. But we weren’t as aware of all the Texas musicians who developed lyrical inspiration from the state’s plentiful food ways. With culinary-rich cities like Houston, Austin and Dallas plus the inspiration that small towns bring to music, we shouldn’t have been surprised.
All over the country, the music festival season is upon us — Coachella Weekend 1 (in California) just ended, and the New Orleans Jazz Fest is right around the corner — so we decided to appropriately celebrate with a playlist, by Texans for Texans, about our favorite pastimes: eating and drinking.
1) Willie Nelson-Bloody Mary Morning: Nelson declares the morning of his flight from L.A. to Houston a “bloody Mary morning” — a girl left him during the night, he’s sick of the L.A. lifestyle and he needed to escape “the pitfalls of the city.”
2) ZZ Top-Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers: Written and performed by the most famous band to come out of Houston, in this song the bearded trio makes clear that wherever they’re going they’ll be drinking beer and raising hell.
3) Robert Earl Keen-Farm Fresh Onions: Keen equates farm-fresh onions to happiness in this song with the album by the same name.
4) Don Henley-Sunset Grill: Although it’s about the Sunset Grill on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, this song is an ode to every restaurant that you didn’t want to leave because all your friends were there.
5) Waylon Jennings-Jambalaya on the Bayou: This cover of a song originally written by Hank Williams talks about all the “big fun” the singer plans on having on the bayou. Jambalaya, crawfish pie and filé gumbo are all on the menu.
6) Robert Earl Keen-Then Came Lo Mein: Keen and his girlfriend — in the midst of an already rocky relationship — were having a meal of lo mein at a Chinese cafe when he had a nervous breakdown. The couple decide to skip town, leaving the lo mein and their problems behind.
7) Pat Green-George’s Bar: Like Sunset Grill, this is another song about nostalgia surrounding a place.
8) Willie Nelson-Yesterday’s Wine: In another song that mentions Houston by name, Nelson runs into someone he knows at a bar and invites them to sit down with him, observing that they are “aging with time like yesterday’s wine.”
To listen to the playlist, click here.