Skeets McDonald

Rock It But Don't Wreck It

(Jasmine Records)

One measure of dirt-road sovereign Skeets's import is the host of notables who joined him at Owen Bradley's Quonset Hut and other studios: Grady Martin, Buddy Harman, Eddie Cochran, Floyd Cramer, Hank Garland, the Jordanaires, and more. 

Another is to recall famed venues whose stage-boards he trod. Their number includes the Grand Old Opry, Big D Jamboree, and TV shows Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree, Ozark Jubilee, and Town Hall Party. 

But for utter convincement, dropping the needle is endorsed. Honky Tonk paradise awaits.

Skeets specialized in sentimental shuffles (his rough-hewed affability imbued these with common-man universality). But he wasn't reluctant to occasionally essay uptempo fare that fit comfortably in the Rockabilly bracket. 

He rose in a simpler age in which an Arkansas kid like himself, recently back from WWII (during which time he earned a Bronze Star), could take his acoustic into honky-tonks and build a career. His maiden recordings and live performances earned him fame during an era when rustic Hillbilly serenadings that featured jumped-up rhythms took good-timing honky-tonk hoi polloi by storm.

 Skeets's 1952 #1 hit "Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes" (Capitol) may today be his most-famed song. It was typical of the backwoods troubadour's signature output: unhurried tales of endearments pledged, abandoned, or achingly unreturned. True-hearted sweethearts were venerated. But just as often so were delicate deserters, memories of whose mascaraed winkings tortured in the night. 

In a dimly lit bygone barroom, a gently picked Skeets McDonald weeper croons from the blinking jukebox. Steel guitar and fiddle lend color. An empty-eyed couple cling to each other as they slowly circle nearby. Along the bar men with forlorn features hunch over foam-topped draws and painted, boffaunt angels alternate between arching and slouching. Some may pair off at closing time in a bid to find one night's respite from loneliness.

There were probably a million dank barrooms matching that description back in the day. And in all of them, Skeets McDonald laments echoed.

Recommended: "Gotta Get You from That Crowd," "Everglades," "Cheek To Cheek With the Blues," "Make Room For the Blues," "This Old Heart," "You're Not Wicked, You're Just Weak," "He'll Let You Live a Little," "Same Old Town," "I Write You Letters," "What a Fool I Was," "What a Lonesome Life It's Been," "Baby Wait," "What Am I Doing Here," "Fingertips," "Welcome Home," "Keep Her Off Your Mind," "You Better Not Go," "Don't Push Me Too Far," "You Gotta Be My Baby," "Fallen Angel," "Heartbreakin' Mama," "You Oughta See Grandma Rock"

Videos: "Gotta Get You From That Crowd" , "What Am I Doing Here" (Town Hall Party clip)

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