I grew up on TV variety shows so my childhood is comprised of many memories of duets- from Hee-Haw’s Hager Twins to all the great country music sounds of Johnny & June, Conway & Loretta, Young Dolly & Porter, George & Tammy, Dolly & Kenny and Barbara Mandrel with everyone else… Below is a photo of me with the Hager Twins when I bravely went up to meet them one night at the Belcourt Theater a couple years before they died. It was at this meeting that Grant walked up and said, “Hey, get your hands off my wife!” to which one of then replied, “You definitely married up!” Teehee!
Here’s a classic duet from Johnny & June on the Ralph Emery show back in 1967 (before my time, although just barely!)…
And this is one of my favorite musical duet couples:
And one more from those super awkward years…
Fast forward now to 2011… We recently had the pleasure of going to the cd release for a new duo, Rhonda Vincent & Gene Watson!
These two are the real deal! Gene Watson is one fine songwriter from Texas who is probably best known for his classic country song, “Farewell Party.” Rhonda Vincent is a great bluegrass singer and player. Their new cd, “Your Money and My Good Looks” came out on June 7 which just so happens to be the anniversary of the day we arrived in Nashville 5 years ago! Their release party at Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadour Theatre was a great way to celebrate.
Another favorite Nashville duo this year is Kort which is the musical collaboration of Cortney Tidwell and Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner. Their album is called, “Invariable Heartache,” and is a collection of cover songs from the now-defunct country label, Chart records, which was run by Tidwell’s grandfather.
Hear the story here:
These two have golden voices that sound great together and create quite a charming album that is currently on my favorites list.
I’ll end this post with a little muffin recipe I just came up with. They’re pretty yummy and full of goodness.
Tropical Banana Muffins
4 Tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature)
½ cup cane sugar
2 eggs
2-3 ripe bananas mashed
1 mango, chopped
½ cup coconut milk
⅓ cup coconut flakes
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt
Heat oven to 375 degrees. With a mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and continue to mix. Add eggs in, one at a time. Stir in bananas, mango, coconut flakes and milk, vanilla and ginger. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir briefly. Spoon into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
I love Waylon Jennings. There, I said it. I am reluctant to blog about my love of Waylon for fear of not appropriately conveying my feelings or somehow coming off sounding like a big cornball super fan but here it goes anyway… Of all the classic old school country musicians, Waylon is the one I most closely connect with. That cut-time drum beat just puts a smile on my face every single time. Any bad day is made better when I put my Nashville Rebel cds on. It started out as the music but now, it is so much more than just the music. After becoming close friends with folks who were near and dear to Waylon, I feel a true sense of kindred spirit.
Waylon grew up in Littlefield, Texas. He started out working in radio and began playing guitar. He became friends with Buddy Holly, played bass for him, and toured with him in the late 1950′s. Lucky for all of us, Waylon was not on that ill-fated plane trip that took Holly’s life. Waylon ended up in Arizona where he became a local celebrity with weekly gigs in a Phoenix bar. It was there that Bobby Bare first heard him and spread word to Nashville of his talents and unique sound.
Waylon moved to Nashville and took the world by storm but Waylon did things the way he wanted to do them, the way he felt was right. This attitude gave him his “outlaw” persona as he paved the way for many others who had their own ideas and didn’t want the cookie-cutter “Nashville Sound.” He used the musicians he wanted to use and gave those deserving a chance. He cared so deeply about those close to him.
Waylon was a really good man with a huge heart who left the world with some amazing music. For this, I am truly thankful. And in honor of what would have been his 74th Birthday, June 15th, I decided to cook up some of his favorite foods.
Beef seems an important ingredient in Texas cooking and Waylon, being a true Texan, loved chicken-fried steak. I happened to be living in Washington when the most recent publicized US (originating from WA) Mad Cow scare hit. I read way too many articles on the subject and decided right then and there that I could no longer support the commercial beef industry. Only in the last few weeks have I found beef in which I trust the source and know to be independently processed. I decided to allow it back in my diet, very minimally and under close scrutiny, and to Grant’s delight! So with this, I decided to cook up Waylon’s favorite dish. It went something like this.
Chicken Fried Steak Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 sirloin steaks
2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
dash of cayenne pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
¼ cup grape seed oil
½ cup all purpose flour
dash of cayenne pepper
sea salt and black pepper to taste
Procedure:
Pound the steaks flat. Mix buttermilk, egg, spices together in a bowl. Soak steaks in buttermilk mixture for about an hour. Heat skillet to medium heat. Add grape seed oil (enough to fill your skillet ¼ inch deep). In another bowl, mix flour with another dash of cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Take steak out of buttermilk soak and place in flour mixture. Coat on both sides and place in skillet. Cook steak about 6-7 minutes on both sides. Pull out of skillet and drain on paper towels.
You can then make a milk gravy by adding flour to the leftover oil in skillet. Whisk together to blend, add salt, pepper, and milk and continue to whisk until desired thickness. Delicious over mashed potatoes and if you have any leftover gravy, you can serve with homemade biscuits the next morning!!!
We served the chicken fried steak with buttermilk mashed potatoes, milk gravy and artichokes (just in season and another Waylon favorite!).
And by the way, artichokes are an edible variety of thistle, in the sunflower family. They are shown to improve blood sugar control in diabetics and have been found to benefit heart activity and the gastrointestinal tract. Good thing, considering Grant and I decided after this meal that this definitely needs to be a once a year kind of a meal. In fact, we’ve decided to have this meal every June 15th from here on out! And we toasted the man who inspired it several times with this delicious red wine.
It should also be noted that the doggers LOVE the smell of chicken fried steak!
If Waylon were still with us, I would delight in making him lots and lots of pies. I think he might like Buttermilk Pie. Here’s my latest variation on this classic southern recipe made with Olive & Sinclair chocolate which is handmade in Nashville, minutes from our house.
Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Buttermilk Pie
Ingredients:
1 pie dough ball (Please never used store-bought!)
3 eggs
1½ cup organic cane sugar
½ cup organic unsalted butter
1 heaping tsp vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ Olive & Sinclair sea salt chocolate bar
Procedure:
Let the butter get to room temperature. Mix eggs, sugar, and butter together. Add vanilla, cinnamon and buttermilk. Place in uncooked, prepared pie shell. Shave chocolate bar over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 325 and bake for another 40-45 minutes.
Now go listen to some Waylon and give thanks for his contribution to this world! The Ernest Tubb Record Shop has an amazing collection of box sets available. You can also find Waylon merch at this site.
