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Sunday, 30 April 2023

An A -Z of American Cities - B


There were absolute loads to choose from this week.  I decided not to include Boston as part of my considerations.

Let's start with Biloxi a Mississippi city on the Gulf of Mexico famous (apparently) for its seafood, beaches, casinos and maritime history and has a population of around 45,000 which would put it in line to be twinned with Kilmarnock or Coatbridge. The song is the opener on Heart Like a Levee a 2016 album by Hiss Golden Messenger

Brownsville is another Gulf coast city further to the east in the State of Texas. It has a population in the region of 186K making it the 139th largest city in the US. It would be the 4th biggest in Scotland after Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.  Jim White appears to be familiar with That Girl from Brownsville,Texas. Taken from his snappily titled album Drill a Hole in that Substrate and Tell me What you See.

A sneaky twofer with a cover of Boulder to Birmingham, the song written by Emmylou Harris as homage to Gram Parsons. I've gone for a cover by actress Jessie Buckley from the soundtrack to the film Wild Rose given that Emmylou featured last week. Boulder is in Colorado with a population of just over 100,000. 1,351 miles to the west lies Birmingham,Alabama with a population of just under 200,000 about a 6th of its English counterpart.

Finally it was a toss up between The Streets of Baltimore (Maryland, 600K  - Bobby Bare/Gram Parsons) and The Streets of Bakersfield (California, 400K - Dwight Yoakam). I've gone for Dwight.

Even more options next week when we get to C

Hiss Golden Messenger - Biloxi

Jim White - That Girl From Brownsville, Texas

Jessie Buckley - Boulder to Birmingham

Dwight Yoakam - The Streets of Bakersfield

11 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. A city in Arkansas population 15000

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    2. You made that up didn't you? You fooled me into checking it. While there isn't such a city there is a cul-de-sac in Memphis called Blimey Cove. From there it is less than a three hour drive to the magnificently named Bugger Bottom ravine in Alabama.

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  2. I’d like to think you donned a threadbare jacket c/w cigarette burns and elbow patches when you wrote this post.

    JM

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  3. Last Train to Clarksville and the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

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  4. So Google tells me that Berlin is a city in New Hampshire....so you could have Berlin Got Blurry by New Hampshire. It also tells me that Belfast is a city in Maine....
    Swc.

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  5. I'm late to this party, having somehow missed A (I will go back), but it's an excellent idea for a series.

    As you're not allowing Boston, can I give a shout out for Kathleen Edwards - Buffalo... and a special mention to Baton Rouge, where Bobby McGee got busted flat.

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  6. As Ernie says, blimey - loads there. The one I'd been thinking of was Broken Arrow by Buffalo Springfield (three cities in one!) so a shout out for that one. And when it comes to the letter C I'm thinking along the same lines as Alyson - we're on the same train!

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  7. Biloxi.... has a population of around 45,000 which would put it in line to be twinned with Kilmarnock or Coatbridge.

    Why would you want to inflict that on the good people of Biloxi????

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