Ernest Tubb - Saturday Satan, Sunday Saint

 

My lovely wife found this one in great condition in our local thrift store and couldn't resist the combination of classic country with the fab title/cover!

This 1969 release opens with a fairly politically incorrect but still kinda funny take on beer goggles with "She's Looking Better by the Minute", which sounds like classic Tubb to me - I suppose that while kids like me were into wild rock'n'roll in '69, country music still retained much of its original flavor and hadn't succumb to pop drivel. "If I Ever Stop Hurtin'" is trad country, right down to the broken hearted story, which is followed by a slightly surprising take on Joe South's "Games People Play", but upon listening, Tubb's rendition does work, even if it's a bit poppy for him. "Making Believe" is more fitting as an old-style tear-jerker, as is "The Carol County Accident", a story-telling song that requires you to really listen to all of the lyrics to get the whole tale. Another sad-sack tune is the pedal-steel flavored "Just a Drink Away", where the narrator is divorced and bitter and can't afford to leave town so he watches as his ex is "just a drink away from anyone but me". 

The title track is, naturally, a tale of religious hypocrites sung to the tune of Ernest's old song "Thanks a Lot" (for the most part), and is a fine performance all around. Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again" is another country classic, and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues' is given a bit of a kick with the pedal steel jump-starting Luther's quintessential guitar lines. "Tommy's Doll" is a macabre tale of a young boy who was enamored with a doll instead of "boy's toys" and when his father threw the doll away he went into his shell until he saw (hallucinated?) his doll in a trash can and ran into the street, with predictable results. After that, we get the more upbeat finale, the bouncy "One More Memory" which, nonetheless, is still a broken-hearted tale that you can easily dance to!

It took me a long time to appreciate old school country music, and Tubb's voice may not be appreciated by all (in the vein of singers like Johnny Cash), but this record is a fab example of true country, with great songs and playin'.