In the employee lounge of the Borders at which I used to work, there was a cardboard box into which the managers would dump all the promotional books and CDs (that they hadn't already set aside for themselves). The scene that would immediately follow one of these dumping rituals was violent and distasteful and I'd rather not go into it in detail right now. Let it suffice to say that I'm not such a great scrapper, so I rarely pulled out anything of immediately recognizable value. But my attitude was "Fuck them if they think I'm not gonna bring something home with me," and so I was able to stock myself full of spare jewel cases.

However, because I was forced to forrage, I ended up finding some really good bands that I would never have listened to otherwise. I would scan the CD case, looking for anything that might give a hint toward what could be expected inside. My general rule at the time was that I saw reference to an accordian, Wurlitzer or buzzsaw, the CD would get stashed away in my locker. (I was definitely slouching toward some kind of musical interest that I couldn't quite define at the time, and is perhaps still a little hazy.)

It was in that way that I discovered The V-Roys. (I think the CD case said somebody played a slide guitar or something. Close enough.) I think they had a strong following in Knoxville, but they only released two studio albums and burnt out before they ever got the chance to acquire much of a national following. They weren't straight country, but had more honky-tonk in their indie-rockishness than I was familiar with at the time, so the CD really intrigued me. It's not a CD that still reach for often, but I view it as a stepping stone toward some of my favorite albums, and one track, "Mary," has made it onto a multitude of mix tapes since then. (I'm particularly fond of the lyric "Blah blah something for cigarettes and I've got the cancer in my lungs." [ed note: gibberish mine.] )

mp3: The V-Roys - Mary