On the Facebook version of Robert’s Country Blog, I’m kicking off November with a flurry of November-themed songs. Since the beginning, my goal with this blog is to provide something a little different from other sites and this little series fits that goal. There are plenty of sites covering the mainstream and the major indies already.
I have been busy enjoying Oktoberfest season. In Texas and Oklahoma, country and western music sometimes shows up in the polka and Oktoberfest scenes in interesting ways. The Tulsa Oktoberfest has a couple of small stages that feature local acts, many of which are in the country/Red Dirt lane. The term “classic country” often brings to mind the 1950s-1970s, but what about the era before that? There were accordions and waltzes and even polkas in the country scene in the 1930s-1940s. One of the “polka” acts I heard in Tulsa covered Johnny Bond’s “Oklahoma Waltz.” When’s the last time you heard that one in country music? I enjoyed hearing a side of country and western music that has been largely forgotten within the typical country music scene.
I heard lots of yodeling. I heard autoharp. Country music has largely abandoned these things, but they can still be heard in western music and polka music.
I also tried to attend Red Steagall’s “Weatherford Goes Red” cowboy music event in Weatherford, Texas. It got rained out. A few of the performers like Devon Dawson and Kristyn Harris played a few songs informally in the picnic area, anyway, which I greatly appreciated.
The ten-day Wurstfest in New Braunfels begins tomorrow and is the unofficial conclusion of the Texas Oktoberfest season, which begins in September. So, what do these Oktoberfest bands do the rest of the year? Some of these musicians have regular full-time jobs outside of music. Some play polka year round. Some play in country bands and other types of music. At Wurstfest, I’ll almost certainly hear covers of Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash, as well as modern country artists.
The International Western Music Association has its annual festival in Albuquerque next week, too. It’s too bad that I can’t be two places at once. Even though I can’t make that event, I do suggest checking out all of the artists who are on the schedule there.
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