A God-Awful Goof

Sometime in early 2000, I attended an Asleep at the Wheel concert in a great little theater on the pier in Santa Monica. The Asleep tour was in support of its Grammy-winning tribute album to Bob Wills, and the show was wonderful.

The opening act was the Naked Trucker, and I remember thinking that they were awful, both in their songs and in their incessant “drunken” banter. I also recall telling my friends, “I doubt I’ll ever hear from those nitwits again!”

Now, having awakened to their photo and story last Sunday (“A Little Bit Country, a Lot Weird,” by Paul Brownfield) and reading that it was all an act, a stage play, “performance art” if you will (performance artists should forgive their inclusion), I realize that I was then and still am correct. Their songs stink, the “witty” between-song banter isn’t funny, and even an assist from a willing Times accomplice won’t change it.

In fact, the funniest part of their “act” was when I got so involved in heckling them, I spilled some of my expensive martini.

B. DIRK YARBOROUGH

Santa Ana