"Close Up the Honky Tonks" by The Flying Bastardo Brothers

The Grønmark Blog is proud to present - for the first time anywhere - an exciting new cover version of that delightful Flying Burrito Brothers’ number, “Close Up the Honky Tonks”. This version is by the  newly-formed Flying Bastardo Brothers, whose true identity I have sworn not to reveal. A friend sent it to me and I was so impressed I asked their permission to showcase their production here: "Close Up the Honky Tonks"

It was created on an iPad in three different locations, using a guitar plug-in thingie (and I presume some sort of microphone) . I think it’s splendid - I particularly admire the country guitar technique (I’ve tried to achieve this sort of thing, but I’m too ham-fisted), the general bouncy clarity of the production, which strikes me as perfect for the song, and the voice, which has a pleasingly tuneful Ricky Skaggs  quality - the singer’s certainly more in tune than Gram Parsons ever managed to be!

For anyone unfamiliar with the original, you can listen to it here - but I’d stick with the Flying Bastardo Brothers’ version if I were you.