Doctor G and the Mudcats - Swampy Tonk Blues (2015)

Fifteen years ago, I met Kent Finlay at Cheatham Street Warehouse, his legendary honky tonk along the railroad tracks in San Marcos, Texas, where on Wednesday nights he hosted his world-famous Songwriters Circle. We developed a deep friendship as I began to pour heart and soul into songwriting. Kent liked the way I often draw on my early life experiences of growing up on the banks of the Mississippi River in Mark Twain's boyhood home of Hannibal, MO. In particular, he appreciated the way I set real life river stories to music by blending the sounds of traditional country, blues, and Texas honky tonk with the swampy rhythms and rhymes of the Mississippi--a style he and I call "swampy tonk."

Swampy Tonk Blues is the third CD I put out with Kent as producer. At the time of his death on Texas Independence Day 2015, the Mudcats and I were in the studio putting the final touches on the CD. Kent did get a chance to enjoy listening to the final mixes on my car stereo one day when I was bringing him home from a San Antonio hospital shortly before he died. His death tore a gaping hole in my heart and the hearts of so many whose lives were touched by his influences. Swampy Tonk Blues is dedicated to Kent, who co-wrote the title cut with me. I'm proud, too, that Swampy Tonk Blues includes our cover of a song he co-wrote with Texas singer-songwriter John Arthur Martinez.

If you like songwriting that paints a story picture and the kind of good honest music traditions that Nashville has strayed far from in recent years, you'll enjoy this CD. If you've lived some life, this CD's for you! Some of the songs will make you chuckle, some will make you want to get up and dance, and some will make you shake your head in sadness at some of life's tragedies. Others will make you pause in self-reflection, and others will make you long for something you might have lost on life's journey. Come listen and you'll see what I mean!----Doctor G