Dallas Burrow

The Way The West Was Won

Forty Below Records

Dallas Burrow is a singer-songwriter in the country tradition. Burrow has four previous EP’s, released between 2012 and 2016; and three studio albums on Subliminal Records recorded between 2019 and 2023. He is a great storyteller and thanks his songwriting heroes Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Willie Nelson, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jim Lauderdale, Willis Alan Ramsey, Bill Joe Shaver,  Robert Earl Keen, Butch Hancock, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leon Russell, and his dad Mike Burrow. Special thanks go to special guest vocalists Ray Wylie, Jim Lauderdale, and Kelly Willis, for being a part of this album.

The album opens with “Read “Em and Weep” featuring Burrow, vocals and guitar; Ray Wylie, vocals; Kate Shore, fiddle; producer Lloyd Maines, dobro, bass, and acoustic guitar; and Pat Manske, percussion; as Burrow sings “Cut the cards boys, deal me in, let us sit a spell, I heard the dealer was your friend, I heard you knew him well, Shuffle ’em up, pass ’em round, I got a little story to tell, ’cause I’ve  gambled with the best of ’em, and I was the death of ’em, I took them for all they’re worth, I took ’em all across the earth, all across the earth. When it’s time to turn the cards I put ’em to sleep, all I said was, read ’em and weep”.

“Colorado Bound” includes vocalist Kelly Willis as Burrow chimes “I saw you in a  daydream, you were standing there, at the train station waiting, you had just paid  your fare, heading west for the mountains in a sleeper car, in your head you were counting, all your lucky stars, ain’t no one gonna find you, if you don’t want to be found, leave your troubles all behind you, darlin’ you are Colorado bound”.

On “Disappearing Ink”, Brian Beken plays fiddle, while Maines plays banjo and bass as Burrow chants “There’s a black dog barking at a cat up a tree, on the  other side of the fence, Some old gypsy telling me my destiny, It don’t even make no sense, The last time I came out this way, you know I met a pretty girl, but  there’s alotta towns, alotta places, alotta party gowns, alotta pretty faces, There’s four winds and I’m gonna chase ’em, all around this world, all around this world. All of existence, Flows from a fountain pen, But it’s disappearing ink and here I  go again, here I go again”.

“Justice In The West” features Maines on a nylon string guitar, dobro and bass; with Terri Hendrix on harmonica; as Burrow bursts “I was born in the springtime Of aught three, Up in the foothills, Of Eastern Tennessee, We came down to  Texas, My family and me, When I was barely up to my Pappy’s knees, He taught me to shoot, And what it means to be free, My mother taught me, Isiah 54:17. Singing yippee-ki ye, Yippie ki yo, That was justice in the west, A long time ago, Yippie ki ye, Yippie ki yo, That was justice in the West, and I ought to know”.

On “Black Rock Desert Blues” Bukka Allen joins on accordion, as Burrow shouts “I headed out of Silver Springs, Just pawned a wedding ring, I’ve done some  terrible things, But that one haunts me still, I made a last ditch effort, To make it north to Black Rock Desert, A glutton for pain in the business of pleasure, and I  can’t get my fill, Oh sweet Suzy Lee, I bet you wish you’d come with me, If you’d quit your messing round, I wouldn’ta had to strike you down”.

“Streets Of Dodge” reminds me of Marty Robbins, again with Allen on accordion, as Burrow cries out “Only a saddle for my bed, Heaven is my lodge, Since I lost everything, on the streets of Dodge, Left old San Antonio, back in ’68 headed for Dodge City, Kansas, there to meet my bride…The reason I was leaving, Was to  see my Emmylou, She and a gambler man, Fell in love and made me blue…As I rode into Dodge City, On that fateful day, When I stopped at the big saloon, I could hear the people say ‘Son, you’ll meet your fate this day’, I went for my .44 I saw the blur of his hand, And I felt that hot lead burn, As he shot me to the sand, Shot me to the sand”.

On “Tornado” with more accordion, Burrow moans, “Well, my name it is Tornado, I come form New Orleans, I am a black stallion, Ridden by a black cowboy, There ia an angel, You can tell by her hallo, It sits upon her shoulder, And the darkness she destroys, Tornado…You don’t see him coming, Tornado…but you know it when he does, Tornado, The thunder is his cousin, Tornado…he’s got lightning in his  hooves”.

The title track, “The Way The West Was Won” features vocalist Jim Laudedale, as Burrow groans “Saddle up the ponies and we headed out west, if we leave town before sun up that’s best, Gold in them hills, hope in our chest, We saddle up the  ponies and we headed out West. The drinks had been drank, The girls had been  kissed, The men we had killed, They would not be missed, Smoke in the air, A joke  on our lips, We headed out into the mist…All the stories we’d been told, About California Gold, So we rode for days into the sun, And that’s the way the West was won,…And that’s the way the West was won”.

On “Indian Song” Burrow chirps “If you listen real close you can hear it, At night when the wind’s just right, Smell their horses and their buckskin shirts, Warpaint flicker in the firelight, Cochise was a proud red man, Who once roamed these plains, Got run off by long knives, The settlers and the trains. Honor was his  credence, And truth the way of life, Peace not war, the purpose of His spear, his bow, and knife. Paleface came, claimed his plains, And killed his buffalo, So he  painted his face, and summoned his braves, On the warpath Cochise did go… Cochise, just a dream, So it seems”.

“Livin’ For Today”, Shore is back on fiddle as Burrow belts “Time is of the essence It’s always running out, Like a freight train in the night, Like a broken water spout,  Once the genie’s out of the bottle, baby, There’s no turning back, The horse don’t wear no saddle, The train don’t jump this track…It all goes in a circle, So big it’s hard to see, Like a blind man falling forward, Towards his destiny, The mockingbird might tell you, What he heard the raven say, Nevermore is just a rumor, We’re all livin’ for today”.

On “When The Cowboy Rides” a vocal duet with Burrow singing lead, and  Lauderdale harmony, they sing “Everything, it ebbs and flows, The river rises,  and to the sea it goes, When it ends, no one knows, Everything, it ebbs and flows …When the cowboy rides through town, You can love him as long as he’s around, Don’t you try going to hold him down, When the cowboy rides through town”.

Once again on “The High Low”, Beken is back on fiddle as Burrow whines “Hidy  hidy hidy hi, Hodie hodie hodie ho, It’s time to get high, It’s time to get low, Work  all day, Just Like a dog, Evenin’ rolls around, I eat like a hog, Five days a week,  Like a rented mule, Friday night comes, I lay down my tool”.

On the closer “Cowboy’s Prayer” Beken is still on fiddle and Allen, accordion; as Burrow croons “At the end of the trail, When the sun sinks low, There’s a place  in the sky, Where I want to go, Say a Cowboy’s Prayer, I’m no more to roam, Well I’ll see you there. Lord When you welcome me home”.

Ray Wylie Hubbard states “In this modern time of piss ant singers and so-called songwriters, Dallas Burrow is one of the very few artists who rips off pieces of his soul, turns those pieces into lyrics, puts them to a cool melody or a rocking groove,  and will stand back to back with you daring the Devil to show up”. Bruce Robison  adds “Burrow is a singular new songwriting talent with a big bold voice to match,  not afraid o take on the biggest themes of spirituality and family and the hardest and greatest parts of life”. But Charley Crockett says it best “Burrow is one of the  finest songwriters to come out of Texas in this generation”.

Richard Ludmerer

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