Green Snakes

by Chris NicksonJohnny Bush has been around Texas forever -- or maybe it just seems that way. Certainly the man with the massive tenor has been a legend since he started up as a frontman in the '60s, and the renewed popularity of his 1972 song, "Green Snakes," about a man with the DTs has brought him back into the spotlight and pulled a new disc from him. He's re-recorded that classic and offers material both old -- like "Driving Nails (In My Coffin)," which was a hit for Floyd Tillman -- and much newer, like the very funny "Dos Tacos." Bush sticks to the straightforward Texas honky tonk style that's been his trademark throughout his career, even on the gospel tune "Glory Train" (which is followed, ironically, by the adultery ballad "Cheatin' Fire," a wonderful duet with Leona Williams). Particularly interesting are his spoken reminiscences of the late, great Moon Mullican, coming right between Bush's versions two songs associated with Mullican: "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry," given a rocked-out Western swing treatment, and "The Pipeliner Blues," performed in neo- rockabilly fashion to round out the disc. But that's far from being all -- a bonus EP contains nine songs demoed in 1965 by Bush (who was already 30 then), with friends Willie Nelson and steel guitarist Tommy Morrell. The sound quality's far from great -- calling it muddy is kind -- but the songs themselves are wonderful, especially "Between Heartbreak and Dawn." It's country music for a time before country was big, raw, heartfelt, and vibrant -- like Bush himself.