Shrum was a veteran of Mexican radio, from one of those stations that blasted America with a signal that reached almost all the way to Canada. Mexican radio spread the Maddoxes' music throughout the West. After the era of the singing cowboy and honky-tonkers like the Maddoxes, Haslam continues his study. In the '80s, performers as varied as Lone Justice, Rank and File, the Gun Club and Juice Newton were all playing country. Blues concludes in the '90s, with cow-punk bands sprouting up all over the golden state like Scotch broom.
All music is a mnemonic device.
All I have to hear is the dull thunk of Cash's guitar, and the bass quaver of his voice, to remember the sharp smell of crude oil from the rig in the front pasture, the bottomlessly mellow taste of my grandfather's Falstaff when I'd sneak a sip of it or the jungly, humid smell of Oklahoma in July. The cover of Rebels and Outlaws features a glorious photo of Cash giving the photographer the finger. He's wearing a jumpsuit. Backstage, no doubt, because onstage his livery was always black. These young people.