Consumer Guide Album

Bobby Bare: Cowboys and Daddys [RCA Victor, 1975]
Bare's cowboys wonder how come they're in Calgary, eat stew just like in the movies, scoff at poets, fuck cows, and lie about their age. His daddys lie about cowboys. With two good-to-great songs apiece from Shel Silverstein ("The Stranger" comes complete with bleep), Dave Hickey ("Calgary Snow" is as intricate as good Jackson Browne and a lot wiser), and Terry Allen ("Amarillo Highway" melds Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills for a self-conscious age) plus Marty Cooper's theme statement, this does as much for the outlaw ethos as Waylon and Willie put together. A-