Saturday night in the Stockyards

by Staff of The Gobblers Knob

Billy Joe Shaver's opener, Jordan Mycoskie and the Fire Breathing Fish, made missing Shaver palatable.

Ribs, cold beer, friends, horses defecating close by and live music. These were all key aspects to my recent trip to the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. While I enjoyed my BBQ and excremental fumes, I really enjoyed heading over to The White Elephant Saloon to catch Billy Joe Shaver.

As it turns out, there was an opener that we hadn’t planned on and time would run out for my wife and I (we only had the sitter for so long, ya know) before the outlaw legend would take stage. That was a bummer for sure. My bummed-out depths were soothed once I recognized the opener who was taking the stage. The man charged with warming the crowd up for Shaver was none other than Ft. Worth kingpin and White Elephant regular, Jordan Mycoskie and his band, The Fire Breathing Fish.

Sadly, we were standing near the back of the historic and devastatingly smoky venue, so I didn’t really keep up with the set-list that closely, although I did rcognize the countrified cover of Ryan Adam’s “To be young (is to be sad, is to be high)”, but I enjoyed every note none the less. Mycoskie displayed a folky, country rock that jangled with every bit of energy that Jerry Jeff Walker mustered on many of his greatest recordings. As Mycoskie was finishing up his set, it was time for the missus and I to get going and make the trek home. While I didn’t see Shaver perform, I did catch him going from the men’s room to the green room, so technically I did catch Billy Joe Shaver at a show, and I’ll take that I guess.