Over the years, Dallas songwriter Brian Burns has built a quiet but impressive career as a Lone Star honky-tonker with a sensitive streak. On his third collection, The Eagle & The Snake: Songs Of The Texians, he has combined his skills in an attempt to tell the history (and future) of Texas and Mexico from the years 1810 to 2144 (the tracks are labeled by the year to keep you from getting lost).
An impressive lyrical document, the disc also features superior playing by some inspired performers -- not the least of whom is Burns, who gives his Spanish guitar a workout on many of the Southwestern-flavored ballads. (Other guests include noted Texas tunesmiths Tom Russell and Gary P. Nunn.) And while the collection has a thematic purpose, it is far from being a dry history lesson.
Track/year 1810 sets the scene with Marty Robbins' "Man Walks Among Us", a cowboy ballad that predicts the eventual encroachment, and environmental impact, of cities on the pristine West. The centerpiece is a four-part interlude called "Revolution" that includes a chilling reading of Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis' letter written from the besieged Alamo. "The Crash At Crush" is a trainwreck saga that begs to be memorized. At track/year 2144, "The Last Living Cowboy" speculates on what its title's namesake cowpoke might be thinking.
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