“Life is made up of marble and mud.”- Nathaniel Hawthorne
Okay, minds out of the gutter everybody. It’s not that kind of getting dirty. We’re talking about mud. You know the kind. It’s the stuff you made pies out of as a kid. It’s the stuff that you pay insanely exorbitant prices to bath in hoity toity places like Napa and Calistoga. It’s the stuff guys everywhere hoped to see pretty girls wrestling in during college.
You would think that the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band would have some songs about mud. Alas, their song list including the word mud is clean as a whistle. Had we been able to expand beyond country music, we could have included such as artists as legendary bluesman Muddy Waters, Tom Petty’s Mudcrutch and rock's own Puddle of Mud. But That Nashville Sound is all about the big umbrella of country music so without further adieu, here’s this Friday’s Five about getting down and dirty in mud.
5. “Mississippi Mud”- Heartland
Heartland’s sole hit remains the sticky sweet “I Loved Her First” off of the same titled 2006 album. That song went all the way to number one but this little dirty number was never released as a single. The Heartland boys sing a common theme about their high school mates moving away but something about the Delta running through their veins keeps them home. “Somehow I think I fell in love with this Mississippi mud.” It’s a slightly different take on a common theme. But hey, it is about mud.
4. “Mud”- Guy Clark
Off of his 2002 album The Dark, this poetic little tribute to connecting with Mother Nature down by the creek is all things mud. Guy wants to get it between his toes and even be buried in it when he dies. “Mud pie/ Mud in your eye/ Mud on a snake bite don't you die/ Take a little rain, take a little dirt/ Make a little mud get it on your shirt.” The song was written with Buddy Mondlock- here’s his humorous story on writing with Guy and his take on the song.
3. “Stuck In The Mud”- Sean Patrick McGraw
McGraw is a former Nashville Star semi-finalist who is best known for his rowdy live shows and his song “Dollar Ain’t Worth A Dime” that got some play on CMT this last year. This track is off his 2005 album release called Songs for Saturday Night. It’s an uptempo rocking country tune that uses mud as analogy for not getting off your butt and doing what you need to do in life. McGraw opened several dates for Toby Keith and Trace Adkins this last year, so it looks as if his own career is getting rolling and unstuck as well.
2. “Muddy Water”- Trace Adkins
It seems as redemption is found within the mud as well. Trace Adkins’ big hit from his 2008 album, X, has him asking for baptism in the muddy waters of home. The song came out just after Adkins had finished his Celebrity Apprentice gig with Donald Trump and features Stephen Baldwin in the music video. The video’s strong, but what’s stronger is this performance below at the Grand Ole Opry backed by a church choir.
1. “Mud On The Tires”- Brad Paisley
Released off of his 2003 album of the same name, this song spawned Brad Paisley's 3 day mega music festival entitled Muddstock '04. According to reports, and the music video, the mud was deep and the slinging was crazy. Not only did mud get on the tires, but also on Brad, the band, the stage, the guitars, the cars, the girls, and everything else that happened to be there that weekend. That’s why, on a list of muddy songs, it takes the cake. Or maybe it takes the mud pie…
Okay, minds out of the gutter everybody. It’s not that kind of getting dirty. We’re talking about mud. You know the kind. It’s the stuff you made pies out of as a kid. It’s the stuff that you pay insanely exorbitant prices to bath in hoity toity places like Napa and Calistoga. It’s the stuff guys everywhere hoped to see pretty girls wrestling in during college.
You would think that the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band would have some songs about mud. Alas, their song list including the word mud is clean as a whistle. Had we been able to expand beyond country music, we could have included such as artists as legendary bluesman Muddy Waters, Tom Petty’s Mudcrutch and rock's own Puddle of Mud. But That Nashville Sound is all about the big umbrella of country music so without further adieu, here’s this Friday’s Five about getting down and dirty in mud.
5. “Mississippi Mud”- Heartland
Heartland’s sole hit remains the sticky sweet “I Loved Her First” off of the same titled 2006 album. That song went all the way to number one but this little dirty number was never released as a single. The Heartland boys sing a common theme about their high school mates moving away but something about the Delta running through their veins keeps them home. “Somehow I think I fell in love with this Mississippi mud.” It’s a slightly different take on a common theme. But hey, it is about mud.
4. “Mud”- Guy Clark
Off of his 2002 album The Dark, this poetic little tribute to connecting with Mother Nature down by the creek is all things mud. Guy wants to get it between his toes and even be buried in it when he dies. “Mud pie/ Mud in your eye/ Mud on a snake bite don't you die/ Take a little rain, take a little dirt/ Make a little mud get it on your shirt.” The song was written with Buddy Mondlock- here’s his humorous story on writing with Guy and his take on the song.
3. “Stuck In The Mud”- Sean Patrick McGraw
McGraw is a former Nashville Star semi-finalist who is best known for his rowdy live shows and his song “Dollar Ain’t Worth A Dime” that got some play on CMT this last year. This track is off his 2005 album release called Songs for Saturday Night. It’s an uptempo rocking country tune that uses mud as analogy for not getting off your butt and doing what you need to do in life. McGraw opened several dates for Toby Keith and Trace Adkins this last year, so it looks as if his own career is getting rolling and unstuck as well.
2. “Muddy Water”- Trace Adkins
It seems as redemption is found within the mud as well. Trace Adkins’ big hit from his 2008 album, X, has him asking for baptism in the muddy waters of home. The song came out just after Adkins had finished his Celebrity Apprentice gig with Donald Trump and features Stephen Baldwin in the music video. The video’s strong, but what’s stronger is this performance below at the Grand Ole Opry backed by a church choir.
1. “Mud On The Tires”- Brad Paisley
Released off of his 2003 album of the same name, this song spawned Brad Paisley's 3 day mega music festival entitled Muddstock '04. According to reports, and the music video, the mud was deep and the slinging was crazy. Not only did mud get on the tires, but also on Brad, the band, the stage, the guitars, the cars, the girls, and everything else that happened to be there that weekend. That’s why, on a list of muddy songs, it takes the cake. Or maybe it takes the mud pie…
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