Songs about Texas

Inspired by this post of my husband's & particularly Scott's and TOTWTYTR's comments thereon, a partial list of songs about Texas, which is to say whatever comes to mind in the next half an hour or so:

"Screw You, We're From Texas" --Ray Wylie Hubbard.  This one gets my vote for unofficial state song.  Like I said in reply to Scott's posting of this video, I cannot think of another song that better captures the outlook of your average native Texan.  Rush Limbaugh said it well: When you're in Texas, you find that Texans just don't think about the outside world.  And, c'mon, Ray Wylie Hubbard!  (If Marie had been a boy, she would have been named Ray.)

"Songs About Texas"--Pat Green (plus a few others, in this version).  Obviously, the title of this post.  As is typical of pre-Nashville Pat Green, there are several versions of this song floating out there.  This is a particularly good one.

"London Homesick Blues"--Gary P. Nunn/Jerry Jeff Walker.  Nunn wrote the song, but Walker covered it.  Both are on this link.  Of course, looking at it you wouldn't think it's a song about Texas, but of course it is.

"What I Like About Texas"--Gary P. Nunn.  This and the other are probably the ones he is best known for. 

"Nowhere But Texas"--Steve Helms.  A bit cliched, but still pretty good.

"Welcome to Texas"--Brian Burns.  Same vein as "Screw You, We're From Texas", but a little more pointed.  As in, have a nice vacation, and then get the hell out.

"I've Been Everywhere in Texas"--Brian Burns.  The only version of this song that doesn't make me want to stab out my ear drums using fine-gauge knitting needles.

"Corpus Christi Bay"--Robert Earl Keen.  Perhaps stretching it a bit, but it's as much about the location as anything else, so I'm including it.  That, and it's my favorite REK song.

"Amarillo Highway"--Robert Earl Keen.  Hey, it's REK.  How can I not like it?  (We're all going to politely pretend "Copenhagen" doesn't exist.)

"Comal County Blue"--Jason Boland & the Stragglers.  More of a south Texas song than anything, but so, so good.  Anything by Jason Boland is, really.  For my money, no one in the red dirt scene has a better voice, and very few folks come close.

"Boogie Back to Texas"--Asleep at the Wheel.  Probably the most famous song I'm going to bother putting here, bar one.  The last concert I went to--an embarrassingly long time ago--was an Asleep at the Wheel concert in Norfolk, and for some strange reason they did not do this song.  For extra WTF-ness, check out this clip.

"Galveston"--Glen Campbell. Totally mainstream, yes.  But this is as much a love song about the city as a more run-of-the-mill love song, and that's why I have always loved it.  (I adore Galveston itself, of course, though if I'm headed down to the coast I wanna go to Rockport.)

"Texas"--George Strait.  Honestly not a song I have much affinity for--too new for me to have heard very often.  But I'd never get laid again if I left King George off this list.

"Texas Cookin"--Guy Clark.  This is one of those songs that everyone and his brother has covered down here--including King George (but he didn't release it as a single).  I'm pretty sure Clark wrote it, which is why I'm going with his version.  And this isn't a stretch at all--Texas is the food!

"Hill Country Here I Come"--Tommy Alverson.  Definite ear worm potential.  I think of this song every time we're on 281.

"Roadtrip"--Gary P. Nunn.  Very similar song to the Tommy Alverson tune, but I have no doubt this one came first.  What can I say, some the best parts of Texas are along US 281!

"They Call It The Hill Country"--Randy Rogers Band.  Rounding out my trifecta of songs about the Hill Country.  Probably the one I most identify with.  Erik is used to me randomly frothing at the mouth about how the Hill Country has been raped and, well, leveled and paved.

"Dallas"--Joe Ely.  I can't explain why I like this song so much.  Reminds me of the trip I took up to Dallas Spring Break of my senior year of high school, to look at a school up there.

Hmm.  Well, that was certainly more songs than I thought I'd come up with when I sat down to write this post.  Funny how one song reminds you of another.  My crappy memory for titles and artists made this a long post--I wasn't sure, for example, if "Roadtrip" was a) titled that and b) by Gary P like I thought it was.

You'll note that a few very famous songs aren't on here.  Probably no one expected me to skip over "San Antonio Rose."  Here's the thing, though--that song's not about San Antonio.  It's a lost love song.  Likewise, I kept looking for an excuse to include "Beaumont", 'cause I freaking love Hayes Carll, but I couldn't in good conscience.

Beyond that, I don't pretend that this is an exhaustive list.  If I missed anything blindingly obvious, though, let me know in the comments section.