Panhandlers pursue familiar, West Texas sound in 'Tough Country'

The Panhandlers, an Americana supergroup comprised of some of Texas Country's biggest names, dropped their sophomore album just last month — a work that feels uniquely West Texan.

"Tough Country" comes three years after the Panhandlers — Josh Abbott, Cleto Cordero (of Flatland Cavalry), William Clark Green and John Baumann — released their self-titled debut record. From the balladly title track — a love song to the hardened dirt of the High Plains — to the fun Rio Grande party song "Lajitas," and the genre-bending homage to Lubbock's signature mixed drink, "The Chilton Song," this follow-up feels naturally familiar to anyone from the western part of the Lone Star State.

And that's exactly what the group was aiming for, co-frontman and Idalou native Abbott said.

"You're like, 'This literally sounds like I'm sitting at Dairy Queen listening to two old guys drink coffee and talk about West Texas,'" Abbott told the Avalanche-Journal in a recent interview.

Abbott said the album's lyrics, which were largely penned by the group's members during a series of songwriting retreats (save for a few tracks, like Charlie Stout's "Flat Land"), are intentional, designed to connect directly to the hearts of West Texans.

"When we write these records, and we shape these songs, and we choose what songs are going to be on there, they're all done to be told through the eyes of the people of West Texas and the Panhandle," Abbott said. "We want these stories and songs to be true. Whether it's the rhetoric of the song, the slang words we use, the types of places that we talk about, it's got to feel almost like we're acting — like we're immersing ourselves in this method acting, telling stories firsthand of people that deserve their stories to be told."

"Tough Country," Abbott said, is the pinnacle example of that concept.

"'Tough Country' is the title track for a reason. I think that's the most beautiful, next-level song that we've recorded to date," he said.

"The instrumentation, the lyrics, the story that it tells … And I love some of those lyrics, some of the imagery of, 'When the grass turns green and the cows get fat.' What a great line, because that's a comforting thing for a rancher," Abbott added. "Think about what that means to a rancher or farmer. It means it's rained. It means you're gonna make some money this year."

That beautiful line is just one example of the kind of familiar imagery weaved throughout the album. Writing in these songs, for example, pays reverence to the West Texas geographic region as a whole: "Flat Land," "Where Cotton is King," "West Texas is the Best Texas." Others acknowledge a specific locale (or vacation destination): "Midland Jamboree," Moonlight in Marfa," "Lajitas," "Valentine, for Valentines," "Santa Fe" (a previously unrecorded Guy Clark song).

Still others build on a specific, yet often universal, part of the day-to-day experience in the region: "The Chilton Song," "Last Hangover" or "I-Got-Your-Back-Dog," a heartwarming waltz about a loyal friend.

There's one song on the album, however, that is an outlier to the Texas Panhandle theme, Abbott said. "Corner Comedian" is still about a panhandler, but of the other variety; the song is a surprising first-person commentary on the human condition.

"I think our goal on every record is to tell the story of a vagabond, someone who is literally a panhandler," Abbott said. "We chose (the name Panhandlers) for two reasons: to write a play on words of the Panhandle of Texas, but also, we thought it was really cool the story about how Joe Ely, when he came to Lubbock, hitchhiked to Lubbock and got a ride with Stubb from Stubb's Barbecue."

"We told the story of that, of someone who is down on their luck, but really tried to bring some heart to their story," he added. "We all get numb to the homeless people begging on every corner, especially like where I live in Austin. It's everywhere. And, as a human, there's this balance of empathy, wondering what their story is, but then also, judgment."

"But everybody's stories are different, and some people have really just had bad luck, had a bad run in life," Abbott said. "When I told that story of the corner comedian, I really wanted to tell the story of the sadness of our world that somebody has to beg. Humans have to belittle themselves and devalue themselves, minimizing themselves to appeal in a persuasive method to other human beings for help. It's really a tragic, sad concept to think about."

To complement the lyrical mastery woven through the record, Abbott said, simple and effective instrumentation recorded straight to tape brought out the old-school kind of sound the group was aiming for.

"Big tip of the cap to the musicians on the record," Abbott said. "They did a really good job in studio of gelling with us, and the sound we're going for, and the minimization of their parts. We didn't want anyone to overplay too much because the Panhandlers is really more about the lyrics and the stories, and if you have guys overplaying through the whole song, it can be a distraction from what really is supposed to be the focal point."

"We wanted these records, the first one and this new one, to sound like late-70s, early-80s Texas country. We recorded on tape, we recorded live together, we used old gear, old guitars, old amps, old organs, all that stuff. We literally wanted it to sound like we were in 1982 making a record," Abbott added. "Our producer, Bruce Robison, and his studio that engineered it and mixed the record, they did a great job of making that record sound the way we wanted it to."

"Tough Country" was released on March 3 and is available on most major streaming platforms.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Panhandlers pursue familiar, West Texas sound in 'Tough Country'