Texas two-step

There's nothing like driving on a long, straight Texas highway late at night to focus you on music.

First the circumstances: I was driving north Monday night on I-45 in a rented panel truck after wrapping up a trade show in Houston. (See the details at http://www.pickledish.com/.) Once past Houston en route to Dallas, I gave up on public radio. A fund-raiser for a gay-lesbian-transgender show was interesting for awhile given the politics of Texas. But the novelty wore off pretty quick. So it was time for some music.

As I wandered the dial, I found conservative Christian talk radio on the dial's far left -- ironic -- and Latino music on the far right. In the middle? Country music, of various stripes. No rock, though.

I'm a fan of country music, though I prefer the old-timey stuff to the homogenized, slick, modern country of, say, Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney. One of my favorite soundtracks is to the Coen Brothers' movie, "O Brother Where Art Thou,"

In high school and my early college years, I was a fan of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's legendary album, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." The multi-record set featured the long-haired, West-Coast Dirt Band, and old-school country legends such as Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Merle Travis (famed for the "Travis-picking" style on the guitar used by so many guitar artists, past and present), Vasser Clements on the fiddle, and Mother Maybelle Carter.

You can sample this classic on a remastered version.

Among all of the stations on the dial that night in Texas, though, I couldn't find much other than "young country." Not, at least, until I edged closer to Dallas and found refuge in some traditional rock stations.

As I pulled up to my hotel late Monday night, I vowed that on Tuesday I would not be beholden to the truck's AM/FM radio. Instead I would grab my Ipod. And a compatriot, Paste Magazine.

If you don't know, Paste Magazine gives a sampling of new work on a free CD with each issue. The magazine, says its editors, "is for people who still enjoy discovering new music, prize substance and songcraft over fads and manufactured attitude, and appreciate quality music across a broad stylistic spectrum -- indie rock, Triple-A, Americana, folk, blues, jazz, etc."

In short, it's a magazine even Meghan and Zach might read! For me, it's a refreshing look at what's new and vital in music today.

So during the nine hours from Dallas to Kansas City, I decided to sift through eight months of Paste -- saved on my Ipod -- and pick some favorites. Interestingly, none of them is country.

I'll get to that next time.