This has been an absolute favorite of mine for almost a year. I played it to death, memorized all the lyrics, and used it exclusively to choose a new preamp and various cables last winter. I could hear all the differences in components I wanted with the beautiful, heart-rending CD. I then saw Rodney live at our local folk/country music club, the Birchmere, and he sang a lot of these songs there too. What an incredible experience, I will never forget the emotion and vivid images these songs evoke. Rodney explained that he had grown up poor in a rough Houston neighborhood, but these characters weren't his relatives. Just neighbors or others from the 'hood. Some of the images in the songs were autobiographical, he said, like the song about kids chasing some kind of crop-duster truck down the street while it was spraying deadly gas to kill all the mosquitoes in the neighborhood! He said he and his friends survived, so hopefully it wasn't DDT. Rodney is a great artist and poet. I relistened to all his earlier CDs after I heard Houston Kid. What a songmaster.
Thanks for reminding me to put this CD on again tonight!