Roadhouse

A few months ago, I took to social media to officially pronounce my separation from the word “choogle.” For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s a musical description — some even may refer to it as a genre — that originated with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 song “Keep on Chooglin’.” During the song, John Fogerty reveals that “to choogle” means “You got to ball and have a good time.” As an homage to not only the song, but also to the Creedence sound as a whole, choogle has become stand-in for a distinctive, you-know-it-when-you-hear-it groove that’s a cocktail of boogie, blues, and funk. 

None of this is objectionable to me. In fact, I love this style of music. The only problem is that I am visceral repelled by the actual word. There’s something about the combination of letters. I can’t bring myself to say it out loud and can no longer even type it. So, allow me to suggest an alternative: Roadhouse. 

Roadhouse is a genre that shares many of the same attributes as c—–e, but it’s an even more encompassing label. Roadhouse evokes a sense of place, a spot outside of town, soaked with booze, dancing, sex, and music. It’s a sound that conjures up people playing in a room (even if that feeling is a construction of studio wizardry). The music has some twang, a little Southern fried, or even neo-Western swing. Guitars are central to the sound, but there’s a piano in the corner that the band can use or open for anyone who can play. The band can stretch out, in terms of both extending the song through jamming or by incorporating other genres. For example, the 1972-74 one-drummer version of the Grateful Dead is welcome as they sound like they arrived at the Roadhouse by way of Saturn’s rings. Most of all, this music summons a feeling of independence, a sensation that the unexpected can happen within this building on a back-country highway.

Here are examples of Roadhouse:

“Alabama Bound” by Leadbelly – Leadbelly is the patron saint of Roadhouse. This song demonstrates why as it displays his prototypical driving, joyful sound. There’s chatter in the early going that soon turns into Leadbelly and his boys calling and responding to each other. Whatever is happening on the way to Alabama is not to be missed.

“Chickenshit” by One Eleven Heavy (not included on the Spotify playlist below) – Boogie is central to the mission of One Eleven Heavy, so almost any of their songs could be classified as Roadhouse, but this one is called “Chickenshit,” so it has to be included. Two guitar harmonies, a little boogie, all culminating in a big jam. Roadhouse purity demands that the two singers harmonizing together need to share the same mic.

“Swing Bop Boogie” by Alvin Wayne (also not on the Spotify playlist) – A song that features instructions for a specific dance needs to be represented here. The twang intro is splendid. Wayne sounds like he took every lesson taught by Buddy Holly and Duane Eddy and graduated summa cum laude.

“House in the Woods” by Tom Petty – A cathedral of impossibly loud guitars playing a riff that is forever branded on your skin. Petty could have been that guy who never hit it big and only plays the local bar and everyone comments that he’s too good for a small town.

“Housefly” by Cory Hanson – More unrepentant guitars accompanied by Hanson singing with his high, lonesome voice about a “woman who doesn’t want me there.”

“The Merchandise” by David Nance – So many guitars, but the one that sounds like Dicky Betts unexpectantly dropping in to play with the band is the clincher. Nance provides a chorus that everyone in the place can sing along with or ignore, depending on the night’s crowd.

“I Feel Good Again” by Charlie Feathers and Junior Kimbrough – This unlikely but satisfying pairing cajoles the blues out of Feathers and the country out of Kimbrough. A one-chord song is welcome, so the duo sound as though they are reluctant to change chords. They are taking their time, and they understand that they have all night.

“Knockin’” by MJ Lenderman – The opening line about golfer, meme generator, and probable Roadhouse frequenter John Daly singing “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is the kind of thing that a patron might catch and think to themselves, “Did he really just sing that?” The electric guitar and steel guitar combination is pure Roadhouse. The screamed chorus again invites a sing along or dismissal, depending on the mood.

“Hot Weather” by Florry – The crunchiest of crunchy guitars. The “hot weather” of the song’s chorus and title also acknowledges the sweaty conditions inside of the room; too many people dancing in too small of a place. No one is complaining.

“The Old Country Waltz” by Neil Young – Have to include a song that actually references the act of playing in a small bar: “In this empty bar echoin’ off the wall.” Neil knows about playing Roadhouse. Extra points for the inclusion of that wonderful fiddle.

“Join Me in LA Boogie” by Bobby Lee – The definition of a slow burn, the lead guitar and band start at a simmer and grow to a flame. Over the course of what seems like an entire night, the song expands and continues on and on with dawn as the only obstacle.

This vision for Roadhouse can’t help but be influenced by The Bang Bang Bar, which is commonly referred to as “the roadhouse” in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks series. In the first two seasons of the show, it’s a spot for under-age drinking, extra-marital meetups, and other secret rendezvous. In 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return, the site hosted a series of musical presentations, concluding all the episodes in that season. Though these performances were compelling and turbulent, the music seemed to fit Lynch’s own specific and idiosyncratic tastes and didn’t sound or feel like music that would be played in an actual roadhouse. One exemption is the neo-Everly Brothers sound of The Cactus Blossoms with their beautiful song “Mississippi.” Additionally, here are two songs that fit both this representation of Roadhouse as well as the Twin Peaks version:

“Depot (1951)” by Tom Verlaine – This instrumental track drenched in reverb summons up the idea of illicit sex and people in the place asking, “What’s happening out back?” The correct and only answer: “It’s better not to ask.”

“My Own Version of You” by Bob Dylan – This provides a glimpse of what an imagined collaboration between Angelo Badalamenti and Bob Dylan might sound like. It’s decidedly spooky in both the music and lyrical content. “What’s with the little old guy doing a quasi-spoken word performance onstage?” Everyone shrugs in response.

Most of these songs are included in the Roadhouse mix below along with many more. It’s certainly not all-encompassing, but rather a starting place. Most of all, thank you for embracing Roadhouse and leaving c—–e behind forever.

For more mixes created by Recliner Notes, check out Acid Westerns and Acid Southerns.

Photo: Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. Neon sign at the Willo Steakhouse and saloon, an authentic California roadhouse located on Historic Hwy 49 between Nevada City and the Sierra Buttes country along the South Fork of the Yuba River. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2013631166/.