Chloe's New Hat (of the Ten Gallon variety)

What on earth, you may be this very minute exclaiming to yourself, perhaps startling either your co-workers, your menagerie of pets or children, or, if you are more fortunate than most, your manservant, as I relate this tale. Well, allow me to assure you the shock was no less thoroughly reverberating through my own psyche when my dear friend Chloe, of whom you may recall I have written several times, presented the fruits of her latest musical exploit. Ever the maîtresse de la multi-task, Chloe has added graphic design to her list of services for the budding musician, including the creation of posters and merchandise as well as compact disc packaging. You may recall from previous posts herein that she excelled not only as vocalist for the punk-jazz ensembles Professional Driver on Closed Road and Cinnamon Sinatra, but publicist as well. Now it seems she has become enamored of a style of music more familiar to backroad honkey-tonks where flung bottled beverages are as likely as cries of “bravissimo!” to be heaped upon the entertainers of the evening. Not quite the “country” music popular among hillbillies and backwoods jackanapes, not quite, either, rock and roll, it is rather a synthesis of the two and, I am told, is identified by the moniker “Americana”. She is also apparently enamored of the bass player in the cacophonous collection of musicians making up the band that presently has her attention, both creatively, financially and physically, if you take my meaning, and has for the moment relocated to the wilds of Texas, her charges' home base.

The appellation of this group is a pluralized version of the lead vocalist’s old schoolfellow’s name, chosen not only because of the general rural connotation it generates, but also the last syllable “calf” suggests a certain youthful exuberance, as well as ranches, rodeos, horse riding, roping, “bulldogging”, campfires, branding, the smell of burning hair and flesh as the logo is applied, roundups and, I must suppose, meatpacking plants and hearty steaks as well.

In any case, Chloe has a new diversion for her ever-mercurial attention span and in the post above you will find the results.

While her new obsessions perfirn no old favorites such as “Ghost Riders in the Sky” or “On the Wings of a Snow White Dove” or “Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goal Posts of Life”, they do specialize in tunes I am certain, given Chloe’s infamous persistence, will become the “country-rock”, or if you will, the “rockabillygoat” classics of tomorrow.