Texas Platters

Chicken Shit Bingo, a Sunday afternoon tradition, hasn't splat at the Little Longhorn since Dale Watson pulled out of the Burnet Road honky-tonk's co-ownership recently. Or rather, the original CSB's not there. For Ms. Ginny herself to sell you a ticket so a yardbird might poop on your number while Watson blasts undiluted hard country, it's necessary to attend either C-Boy's Heart & Soul on South Congress or Watson's own Big T Roadhouse outside St. Hedwig (itself outside San Antonio). The latter experience receives a beautifully recorded documentation on this grade A live disc, featuring definitive takes of Watson classics like "I Lie When I Drink" and his ode to Billy Joe Shaver's temper, "Where Do You Want It." Superb Merle Haggard ("The Fugitive") and Jerry Reed ("Amos Moses") covers nestle among Watson's impromptu Lone Star Beer plugs, claiming the Texan brew "whitens teeth" and even "grows brain cells." Those, his hawking free hot dogs, and Let's Make a Deal moments rival the music for sheer entertainment.