• Track: Bread and Water
• Artist: Ryan Bingham
• Album: Mescalito
• Year: 2007

Lyrics:

Well I’ve lived without bread and I’ve lived without water
Stuck outside the middle of the desert wishin’ I was home
Long way from nowhere, wishin’ I was somewhere
Sangre de Cristo to the Devil’s Backbone

Long way from no where, wishin’ I was somewhere,
Sangre de Cristo to the Devil’s Backbone.

I’ve been to California and North Carolina
Hung with the hippies in Austin and the cowboys of Mexico.
I’ve laid up in Fort Worth with beautiful ladies
Hitchhiked on down 281 and hit the rodeo in San Anton…

In the back of a Ranchero, I rode down to Laredo,
Had a good time at the la posada, yea you know I was left alone.
On a rig out of El Paso, rainin’ down in Houston
Told the truck driver put the pedal to the metal cause Houston gets me down.
On down to Louisiana, Whiskey River Landing
Crawfish pie and eat jambalaya with a big ol’ cajun ass smile

Lest you think Dances With Bass is an oldies music blog, I am going to get back to featuring more new and somewhat unknown artists. Today, I am featuring Ryan Bingham, a crazy talented blues-country-rock fusion artist who has been at the top of many of my playlists for almost 10 years. Bread and Water comes from Bingham’s first studio album, Mescalito, which front-to-back is one of the best records I’ve heard in the last decade. At just 25 years old when Mescalito, was released, Bingham’s voice is gravelly, road-weary and sounds as though it’s coming from someone who’s been touring for decades and drinking a pint of bottom-shelf whiskey a day.

Bingham collaborated with T Bone Burnett on the 2009 soundtrack for the film Crazy Heart. Bingham and Burnett co-wrote the film’s title track, The Weary Kind, which won an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Critics’ Choice Award in 2010. In 2010, the Americana Music Association honored Bingham with its Artist of the Year award. The song also won a Grammy in 2011. Bingham also wrote and recorded the theme song (Until I Am One With You) for the FX television drama, The Bridge, which ran for two seasons and was a favorite here at Dances With Bass Industries. 

Bingham knows serious heartbreak (his mother drank herself to death and his father committed suicide) and it comes through in his songwriting and singing. He’s wicked talented and years ahead of most of us in the experience department. Do yourself a favor and purchase Mescalito and Roadhouse Sun, pour yourself a stiff drink, and let Bingham make it all okay again.

Video:

Be sure to check out this live acoustic version of just Bingham with a guitar. This dude has serious talent:

And while you’re at it, give Tell My Mother I Miss Her So a spin:

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