Here’s the latest treasure that Randy Hamilton and Danny Cox have brought to The Flood’s table, a Charlie Starr composition from Alabama that resonates powerfully in our own Appalachian hills as well.
“One Horse Town” debuted 14 years ago on The Whippoorwill, the critically acclaimed third studio album of Starr’s Southern rock band, Blackberry Smoke.
While many country anthems predictably romanticize small-town life, Starr wrote “One Horse Town” as the exact opposite: A realistic, poignant look at the struggles of growing up in rural isolation.
Personal Experience
For his lyrics, Starr drew from his own upbringing in Lannett, Alabama, a small settlement in the Chattahoochee Valley, about 80 miles southwest of Atlanta.
He wrote the song after returning home multiple times and seeing the devastating impact of economic decline alongside the growing the meth epidemic among old friends.
From the opening lines …
In the tiny town where I come from
You grew up doing what your daddy does…
… the tune expresses the heavy burden of generational expectations. It acts as a narrative of a young person feeling shackled to his root, longing to “ride my pony right out of this one-horse town” to discover the wider world.
On the release of The Whippoorwill in August 2012, The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica called Starr’s composition one of the year’s finest traditional country songs, a “nervy document of small-town regret,” upending familiar rural narratives and framing the status quo as asphyxiating.
Hearing Blackberry Smoke
Oh, and attention Huntington area readers! If you want to hear Charlie Starr in person, mark Friday, Nov. 6, on your calendar.
That’s when his Blackberry Smoke is set to play the Keith Albee Theater in downtown Huntington. Showtime is 8 p.m.
More from Randy
Meanwhile, if this week’s podcast has you wanting more Randy Hamilton in your Flood Friday, we gotcha covered. Swing by the free Radio Floodango music streaming feature and, under the “People Picker” section, click on the Randy Channel. Or better yet, just click the pic below to get in the fast lane:
And remember, we’ve now got ways to mobilize the ol’ Floodanago. Click here to find out how to put our radio on your computer desktop and on an iPhone to make your Flood fix always just a click away.
