Bob, Bourbon, and Books Meets Johnny, Jim, and Longmire

This semi-regular series alternates between Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen songs that perfectly complement a good bourbon and a quality book. You can make your own suggestions and recommendations in the comments section or by tweeting @WritersBone.

Bob

Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash - Girl from the North... by Palaiokostas1

Daniel Ford: How has it taken so long for us to get to this song? I blame the bourbon. This version of “Girl From the North Country” with Johnny Cash leads off Bob Dylan’s excellent “Nashville Skyline” album, and is the perfect introduction to the sound Dylan was striving for with that project. Whimsical and love sick, the whole album could easily have been sung by pioneers settling the Old West. Cash’s razor sharp voice lends the song even more poignancy, making it seem like the pair are just two old cowboys sitting around a campfire talking about old conquests and heartbreak. Dylan’s lyrics are especially haunting in this tune, giving mercy no quarter as he laments, “I’m a-wondering if she remembers me at all/many times I’ve often prayed/in the darkness of my night/in the brightness of my day.” As is often the case with Dylan songs, it doesn’t look good for our hero, but at least he has at least one beautiful memory he can envision when he meets the end of his dusty trail.  

Dave Pezza: Make “Nashville Skyline” your go-to for summer nights! It literally has everything you need: “Girl From The North Country” for a sunset driving with the windows down and the radio up, “To Be Alone with You” if you are down for a little grooving and a little dancing, “Lay, Lady, Lay” for, well, laying…, and “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” to keep the party going and the booze flowing! “Girl From The North Country” opens this album magnificently. You can hear the history in air between Cash’s boom and Dylan’s falsetto. The best part of this song isn’t the pain of love lost both men emote so well, it is the simplicity of the song: Dylan, Cash, and two guitars. That’s it. That’s all you need. It’s not perfect. It’s not flashy. It’s real and honest. Cash and Dylan are feeling each other out the whole song, working off of each other’s voice and guitar. Cash even messes up the lyrics and Dylan just keeps on keeping on as if to say, “If Johnny Cash wants to change the words, dammit we’re changing the words!”

Bourbon

Dave:  Jim Beam. Jimmy Beam. Jim is a bourbon mainstay and was formerly my bourbon of choice. I even visited the Jim Beam distillery while on a road trip to Nashville. If you’re out at a bar, you order Jim Beam for shots, and you order it with cocktails. Anything else could cost you more Jacksons and Grants than you’d care to lose in a single night out. Jim Beam has been the face of bourbon for some time; however, since selling its distillery to Suntory Holdings Ltd. in January of 2014, Jim Beam (including Maker’s Mark) has been replaced on some bourbon enthusiasts shelves (myself included) with bourbon owned and operated by American distillers (such as Buffalo Trace’s massive distillery and wide selections). I haven’t bought a bottle of Jim since, although I can’t say I haven’t ordered it out. It might be a silly thing to protest, but something about one of the largest distillers of America’s official alcohol being owned by a foreign company rubs me the wrong way. To each their own.

Daniel: Young David and I have ended more than a few days with a shot of Jim Beam and a Budweiser chaser. I’m not sure whether my night improves or worsens after that because more drinks usually follow. Also, a slug of Jim Beam might be the kind of thing Walt Longmire’s foulmouthed deputy Vic might pour on your head after you try to hit on her. I’d love every minute of it.  

Book

Daniel: If you’re reading a Walt Longmire novel, odds are you’re drinking a Rainier, but since Pappy Van Winkle makes a cameo in Death Without Company, it’s the perfect occasion to pour something a little bit more special into your glass. I waited a long time to read another Craig Johnson novel because I so loved The Cold Dish. I didn’t want anything to sully the memory of that novel, so I held off on digging into the rest of the series. Boy howdy, I’m an idiot! Five pages into Death Without Company I remembered what made Johnson’s debut so special. The plot moves at a quick pace for sure (kick started by the seemingly innocuous death of an old woman in a nursing home), but the best moments are saved for Walt’s interactions with Vic, his best friend Henry Standing Bear, and his assistant Ruby. They keep Walt on track with cursing, Native American folklore and friendship, and Post-It Notes. Despite those warm and familiar relationships, my favorite Walt scenes might be those in which he’s alone with his thoughts, his dog, or his visions of the Old Cheyenne. Johnson isn’t afraid to show that Walt is highly educated despite his rural post, and that his scars are permanent and not easily overcome. Walt’s melancholy bleeds across every page, but it doesn’t stop him from being a badass sheriff who stops at nothing to solve a mystery. Death Without Company is set over the course of a couple days in the deep winter of Wyoming, so you’ll need a full glass of Jim Beam by your side to stay warm.

For more Bruce/Bob, Bourbon, and Books, check out our full archive.

Bob, Bourbon, and Books: Maker’s Mark Will Be Staying Here With You

Official GIF of Bob, Bourbon, and Books

For those of you expecting Bruce Springsteen, he’ll be back next week. We decided to alternate this series between Bob Dylan and Springsteen songs that perfectly complement a good bourbon and a quality book. You can make your own suggestions and recommendations in the comments section or by tweeting @WritersBone.

By Daniel Ford and Dave Pezza

Bob

Photo by Dave Pezza

There isn’t a reliable YouTube clip of either of the following versions of "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," so go out and buy the albums we mention below. It’ll be worth the money, trust us.

Dave: (studio version) I’ve always liked Bob Dylan, but it was only recently that I really began to really appreciate his music. I’ve hit my folk phase in my mid-20s, and nobody can folk out like Dylan. I recently picked up a copy of his 1969 album “Nashville Skyline.” I bought it on vinyl at a local used record store in Cranston, R.I. called the Time Capsule (decent selection, really cheap prices, and every once and a while you find a gem). I hit up the smaller than usual Dylan section to feed my new addiction. First record of the bunch, “Nashville Skyline.” I flipped it over to check the tracks and found side A, track one, “Girl from the North Country Fair,” the version with Johnny Cash. Sold! I took it and my other purchase, The Edgar Winter Group’s “They Only Come Out at Night” (the one with “Frankenstein”) and seven bucks and 10 minutes later “Nashville Skyline” is playing on my turntable. Enthralled to hear Dylan and Cash right off the bat, I stayed for a really enjoyable Dylan record from start to finish, especially the finish. Lying in wait at the very end of the album is “Tonight I’ll be Staying Here with You.” This quite perfect mix of folk and blues undertones will have you dancing before you know it. Dylan beams about ditching his bus ride home to stay with a lady. In case you haven’t experienced the feeling of sheer jubilance and excitement about a night with a pretty girl in a while, Dylan will conjure it all back in three and a half minutes. This track croons with slide guitar and dangerously catchy lyrics. It’s Dylan at his most enjoyable. Perfect to pair with this week’s bourbon: smooth, warm, and full American flavor from start to finish.

Daniel: (Live 1975 version) The studio version of this song is a love sick high school boy’s wistful dream compared to the raucous, brassy live version from “The Bootleg Series, Volume 5: Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue.” In fact, we’re going to call this the “wet dream version” from now on. This is what burning down your life to be with the woman you love should sound like. Guttural. Dylan screams this song more than he sings it. You can imagine him throwing middle fingers to the world. The bus? No one likes the bus. It’s a necessary evil. I once had to take the bus every weekend to see my girlfriend and every time I left Boston, I wanted to incinerate my suitcase, hop a cab back to the burbs, break down a door, and announce, “I should have left this town this morning/But it was more than I could do/Oh, your love comes on so strong/And I've waited all day long/For tonight when I'll be staying here with you.”

It's fitting that this song leads the album. You know right away what you’re in for. You’re not sipping bourbon to this song; you’re pounding fingers while shouting from your open window you’re staying put to have crazy, experimental, and neighborhood-awakening sexual relations with the beautiful woman you just gave everything up for (put a little Maker’s Mark behind your ears so she can enjoy the experience along with you if having a full glass isn’t her thing). If this song doesn’t rev you up and make you plant a deep, passionate wet one on your lover’s lips, you aren’t alive and should report to the cemetery immediately.

Bourbon

Dave: This week’s bourbon is the very recognizable, but always reliable, Maker’s Mark. It's the standard “good bourbon” at most bars. Not too expensive, it is a sweeter, smoother bourbon. As a result, it is perfect for drinking neat, but also makes a damn good cocktail. My pallet catches a definitive vanilla and cherry flavor on top of that always amazing oak. It warms more than it burns after it’s all the way down. It pairs really well with this cruising, swaying Dylan song. Shockingly well. To top it all off, the bourbon is packaged with an incredibly cool wax top. Maker’s Mark, named after the seal used to distinguish its product, dips the tip of every bottle in wax. Each bottle remains sealed until you crack it open with your own two hands. Nothing like a little bit of class with your buzz.

Daniel: I hadn’t tried Maker’s Mark until a recent visit to Sweet Cheeks Q near Fenway Park (I highly recommend this barbeque joint to those that live in the Boston area or those that plan to visit it in the near future). Dave incessantly tells me that this is his “go-to bourbon,” so I decided to order one to judge for myself (and to finally get him off my case). First of all, Maker’s Mark is an excellent bourbon to pair with copious amounts of barbeque. Taking hits of it from my mason jar after pile driving pulled pork into my gullet was heavenly. It provided the right amount of smoothness and fire to go along with my sides of potato salad and macaroni and cheese. The best part was that Stephanie Schaefer said my drink looked like a urine sample. I’ll admit that Sweet Cheeks was a little stingy with the amount of bourbon they poured into my jar, but come on, doesn’t this look gritty and man-tastic?

Okay, fine, the mason jar doesn’t do it any favors. Still, Maker’s Mark will now have a reserved spot in my whiskey drawer at Writer’s Bone HQ.

Book

Daniel: What is it about westerns that make them the perfect complement to bourbon? Is it the questionable cowboy ethics and worldview? Or the lonely, dusty prairie bars that cry out for brown liquor salvation? Or is it the need to drown your sorrows after reading about the treatment of Native Americans during our country’s bloody history? Whatever the case, drinking bourbon is always better when reading a western, and there is no better western than Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. The novel features every western trope imaginable, but it feels fresh and feisty rather than quaint and dated. All of the characters are intriguing and you find yourself fully immersed in the plot’s last chance cattle drive. Plus, sex is referred to as “a poke” throughout the entire book. The novel was also made into an acclaimed mini-series in 1989 staring Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Duvall, and Diane Lane. So that means if you imbibe too much Maker’s Mark and can’t decipher the English language on your own, you can just pop in a DVD and watch the story unfold while you drink the rest of the bottle. Lonesome Dove also features two names that belong on a Maker’s Mark commercial: Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call. I’d buy brown hooch from those two gentlemen. It’s their friendship that defines this book, and you’ll need all the whiskey you deal with how their story ends.

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