You ain't a poet, just a drunk with a pen

March 6, 2013 3:31 PM

Hayes Carll is a Texan alt-country singer who's known, if he's known at all, for the soundtrack to Country Strong and the novelty song She Left Me For Jesus. Slate ranked his latest album, KMAG YOYO (and other American stories), as one of the best albums of 2011, partly on the strength of its poetic title-track about an Afghan war vet and partly due to the Red State/Blue State love song duet Another Like You. Other Hayes Carll hits include Drunken Poet's Dream, his duet with Ray Wylie Hubbard, and the melancholy Wish I Hadn't Stayed So Long .
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants (17 comments total)

I missed seeing him at Twangfest a couple years ago and have been kicking myself since.
posted by notsnot at 3:36 PM on March 6, 2013

I heard "another like you" on a spotify playlist a while back and got a real kick out of it. I'll have to check out more of his stuff.
posted by Diablevert at 3:42 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yay! "KMAG YOYO" plays often in my car.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:52 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

I saw Hayes ppen for Emmylou Harris and Levon Helm last year. He was damned good.
posted by jonmc at 3:53 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've been diggin' on Hayes Carll for a little while now. Love some current country that I can get into and isn't all sappy.

Excited to get in early in enough to post this.

Hayes Carll and Bonnie Whitmore duo on "Another Like You". Sorry, no HTML-fu yet for posts.
posted by Gronk at 4:01 PM on March 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

I saw him last year play for about 20 people. He was amazing, and funny.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 4:35 PM on March 6, 2013

Saw him at Merlefest back in 2005, made a nice impression on me at the time, ended up buying Flowers and Liquor, but didn't follow anything since then. Nice to know he's still at it.
posted by weston at 4:36 PM on March 6, 2013

Unbelievable to see Hayes Carll on here. There's a bunch of his stuff on archive.org

I've been following him for over 10 years since Flowers & Liquor came out after I first heard of him out at Crystal Beach. I've been lucky enough to see him dozens of times and chat with him. He's a funny guy and tells great stories (e.g., about his song "Conway Twitty Lying Naked on a Bearskin Rug By the Fireplace in the Wintertime").

And he has great musical tastes as he frequently covers songs from the poet laureate of the state of New Hampshire (Bill Morrisey) and does a great cover of Greg Brown's Spring Wind.

Hayes is also less well known for being part of a "supergroup" called The Ego Brothers with his friend John Evans (and occasionally Corb Lund). They only write songs about how great they think they are. After, 5 years, they have two songs:

There Ain't Enough of Me to Go Around

Well when my mama had me, she shoulda had 2 or 3.
No, I can't help what all them women keep saying about me.
They wanna parade me all over town.
But when I pick one up I let another one down,
There ain't enough of me to go around.

Ah, the way I'm looking, you know you gotta wait your turn.
You ain't the only girl who knows I got sugar to burn.
They can't believe what they have found,
They take one good look and then their britches fall down.
There ain't enough of me to go around.

I'm sorry Mrs. Johnson, I already got plans at 10.
But you can call my secretary and maybe we can squeeze you in.
You ought to take you a picture and hang it right over your bed.
If you can't love me, you can love my picture instead.
They wanna just chase, stalk, run me around.
I ought to do them all a favor and just sell me by the pound.
There ain't enough of me to go around.

Well when my mama had me she shoulda had 2 or 3.
No, I can't help what all them women keep saying about me.
They wanna parade me all over town.
But when I pick one up I let another one down.
There ain't enough of me to go around .

I Wonder What All the Ugly People Are Doing Tonight? [mp3 direct dl link to archive.org]

I wonder what all the ugly people
Are doing tonight?
Oh, god I wonder so.
I wonder what the ugly people
Are doing tonight?
Well, I guess I'll never know.
posted by dios at 4:58 PM on March 6, 2013 [4 favorites]

KMAG YOYO is one of the finest songs of this decade. The first time I heard it, I listened to nothing but it for about five days.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:12 PM on March 6, 2013

love his voice and his wit.
posted by PinkMoose at 5:36 PM on March 6, 2013

I had never heard of him but anyone who duets with Ray Wylie is good by me. Thanks for this - I'm definitely going to check out more.
posted by mygothlaundry at 6:10 PM on March 6, 2013

Thanks for this. I hadn't heard any of his stuff since Trouble in Mind a few years ago, and KMAG YOYO is amazing. Will be buying the rest of the album for sure.

All the way from Beaumont with a white rose in my hand...
posted by Catseye at 4:08 AM on March 7, 2013

Thanks for this. I've been listening to him for a number of years now and was surprised to see him on the blue this morning. I was at that Twangfest show that notsnot mentioned and it was a lot of fun.
"I'm like James Brown, only white and taller, and all I wanna do is stomp and holler" makes me smile no matter how many times I've heard it.
posted by whatideserve at 5:55 AM on March 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

The first time I heard it, I listened to nothing but it for about five days.

Same reaction here since yesterday. Thanks for the post, this is hands down the most resonant anti-war song I've heard in years.
posted by Lorin at 9:52 AM on March 7, 2013

I really like the title of this post.
posted by eggtooth at 1:37 PM on March 12, 2013

I stole it for my own poem....changing it a little.
posted by eggtooth at 2:17 PM on March 12, 2013

Down the Road Tonight is currently getting the same treatment KMAG YOYO got last week. Some damn fine songwriting. Something about the way this track builds just makes me positively giddy.
posted by Lorin at 7:15 PM on March 16, 2013 [2 favorites]