Top Six: Marty Jones

When he led the now defunct Pork Boilin’ Poor Boys, local singer-songwriter Marty Jones yodeled brew-centric country tunes like “Too Much Talking (And Too Little Drinking),” “I’ll Have Another,” and “One More Beer.” He’s carried that love of suds over to Oskar Blues, the Lyons-based brewery where Jones now books live music in addition to promoting its nationally distributed, hoppy beers. Jones’ latest undertaking is the seventh annual installment of Oskar’s Singing 12-Pack, which comes packaged with a free compilation CD that compiles a handful of roots-minded music acts, both local and national. Having recently embarked on a solo career backed by a new group, Jones gave The A.V. Club a six-pack (rather than the usual top-five list) of his favorite beer-drinking country songs of all time.

1. The Supersuckers with Kelley Deal, “Hungover Together”
Marty Jones: They didn’t write this song, and I can’t remember who did. Some contemporary guys who The Supersuckers know, I think. But it might be about the best hangover song I ever heard. “It’s always good to see you, my friend / and wake up together, hungover again.” [Laughs.]
The A.V. Club: There are the country songs that show the miserable side of drinking, and then there are the ones that glorify it.
MJ: That’s the beauty of it, right? That’s the thing about beer songs. Ideally they celebrate the good and the bad. You’ve got to use caution, you know?

2. Hank Thompson, “Six Pack To Go”
MJ: This one’s got the lines, [sings] “Tomorrow morning’s Sunday / I’m gonna be feeling low / I’ve got time for one more round and a six-pack to go.” It echoes the beer laws of the past, and if you’re from the South where they still don’t sell beer on Sundays, it’s a dilemma everyone can understand. Now that the liquor laws have changed around here, I guess it’s not a song that would resonate as much with people today in Colorado. [Laughs.]

3. Webb Pierce, “There Stands The Glass”
MJ: Ted Hawkins did a real great version of this song, too, but the Webb Pierce is the original. It’s a tribute to beer, but it also celebrates the first beer of the day, which is a very special beer. It talks about he therapeutic value of drinking beer, which is a huge part of enjoying it.

4. Dave Dudley, “Two Six Packs Away”
MJ: This one goes, “I’ve got a pretty little gal, and she’s two six-packs away.” Completely politically irreverent; I mean, talk about some highway madness. The song is joking, but it also honestly recognizes the people who—more in the past than now, thankfully—drink while driving. But the guy in the songs pays a serious price. He wrecks his truck. [Laughs.] First he’s driving drunk to see his girl, then he wrecks his big rig, then he winds up on a chain gang.
AVC: That kind of covers all the country-music bases, doesn’t it?
MJ: Yes, it does. It’s a good cautionary tale.

5. Jerry Lee Lewis, “What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)”
MJ: In one of my songs, I echo—some might call it stealing—a line from this song. My song is called “Match Made In Milwaukee,” and it goes, “What made Milwaukee famous made a couple of you and I / Every night we drink I can’t help but think / darling, we’re a match made in Milwaukee.” That was written in honor of my wife. [Laughs.]

6. Jim Ed Brown, “Pop A Top”
MJ: This is a fine celebratory number, complete with the sound of a beer can of beer being popped.
AVC: Why do country music and drinking beer go hand in hand?
MJ: I’m not a fan of most beer songs you hear on mainstream country radio, ’cause they dumb everything down so much. But I must say, if you listen to the radio, modern country music seems like only genre nowadays that gleefully sings about intoxication. That’s one good thing you can say about modern country music. [Laughs.] But I think the juke-joint culture takes place wherever they’re serving alcohol, wherever they’re serving beer. But it’s not specific to country music. If you look back in history, every culture that celebrated stuff and honored the past and mourned the dead did it with music, and they did it with alcoholic beverages. There’s an ancient connection between drinking beer and making music about drinking beer. The Stele Of Hammurabi is one of the oldest known written documents, and on it is a poem to the goddess of beer. I think that says something the importance of beer to culture. When it comes to recognizing the vices of drinking, though, country music and honky tonk music has always been unabashed and straightforward and honest.
AVC: Sometimes drinking beer makes people too honest.
MJ: Sometimes, yeah. [Laughs.] But beer is also the ultimate social lubricant. It’s the perfect catalyst for relaxing the mind and soul, and for stimulating great thoughts and conversation and bonding. And it’s a great aid to laughing off your cares in troubled times. When it comes to things to celebrate in song, that’s pretty hard to beat.