In the toughest of times, music can make all the difference in the world, and as we all know, 2020 hasn’t been the easiest of years for any of us. Carlos Washington’s Steel Horse Swing are giving audiences an opportunity to escape the stress of recent events through their new single “Little Bit of Texas,” and if you love quality country music, it’s a song definitely worth checking out before the month is over. In a year when it seems like the very idea of visiting the local county fair is laughable, Washington and his band are bringing the fair to us in “Little Bit of Texas;” there’s an swaggering burst of melodic energy around every one of its turns, and a twang as familiar as a merry-go-round. The fiddles dance like flickering flames of a moonlit campfire; their counterpart, the guitar, acting as the canvass atop which vocals will paint us a colorful portrait of yellow roses. In this single, Washington makes it hard to argue that he’s one of the more genuine singer/songwriters in his scene these days (and, for that matter, the independent country music community overall).
URL: https://steelhorseswing.com/
The rhythm in this track has more of a boogie to it than a swing, and though this is an unusual hybridity to put it quite mildly, it isn’t so far removed from mainstream tastes that I found it abstract in my first sit-down with the song. All of the string parts here, whether fiddle, guitar or bass-sourced, enjoy a springiness that ensures their unity with the smoking lead vocal from Carlos Washington.
The more that I sit with this song, the less I feel like it was created in a conventional writing session between a group of players; on the contrary, I think it sounds like something that probably came out of an extended jam session. There’s not a doubt in my mind that it would sound even more compelling live than it does in this particular instance, but either way, you really can’t go wrong in giving this track a close listen if you love the pulse of traditional country swing.
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I’ve always been one of the harder critics to please when it comes to country music, but in the case of Carlos Washington’s Steel Horse Swing’s “Little Bit of Texas,” I don’t think you have to be a hardcore country fan to like its stylishness. Washington brings a feel-good emotion to every verse he sings, and even when he’s letting the other elements in the song take center stage, there’s never any doubts as to who the biggest attention-getter is in this mix. It would be good to hear him tackle more straight-acoustic material in the future, but even if he decides to incorporate more of a southern rock influence into his sound somewhere down the line, you can bet I’ll be following his work regardless.
“Little Bit of Texas” has me hooked on his powerful harmonization, and now, I want to see and hear how far he can go with this sound.
Troy Johnston