Once upon a time Rhett and Murry from The Old 97’s had a side project called The Ranchero Brothers. The only way I’d ever heard of them was on a recording from 2000 called Live at Stubb’s (I don’t think they ever cut a proper record). Rhett and Murry do plenty of the 97’s songs but whip up a few originals and hold their own as a sort of Everly Brothers country duo. One of the (then) new songs is a ditty called “Valium Waltz” which is variously about being drunk and watching a show or ogling a girl or something. Here’s the chorus:
And it’s written all over
The face of the daughter
of the mayor of Marble Falls
When she winds up in Denton town
Doin’ the Valium Waltz
Denton is home to The University of North Texas Music School which, according to my old drummer, is a kick-ass college in a town with a killer live music scene. I’d never heard of Marble Falls but since Rhett is such a Texas boy, I figured it was a real place. It certainly doesn’t hurt that “Falls” and “waltz” fit together nicely. “Valium Waltz” wound up on the 97’s last record which I have yet to hear it as I’m pretty happy with the Ranchero’s version.
Thursday morning I was watching CNN’s coverage of the massive flooding in Texas and they cut to a live report which was from MARBLE FALLS, TX! When the reporter started talking about local reaction, I thought to myself oh man, please tell me this is going to happen and then suddenly CNN rolled a sound bite from the Mayor of Marble Falls.
It was one of those moments that made me very proud to be a music nerd.
Aaron Scholz 