The Beat Farmers – Van Go

The Beat Farmers are one of the greatest Americana bands that you probably never heard of. They are Americana before Americana was even a thing. They were lauded by everybody, produced by everybody, and they played with everybody. But you may have never heard of them.

There was a time—somewhere between the middle of the 80s and the middle of the 90s—when there was just so much cool roots-rock music happening. The Del Fuegos. Los Lobos. Lone Justice. Cruzados. The Blasters.

The Beat Farmers had the sound down. Some honky-tonk, some rockabilly, some Tex-Mex, some garage, some good old-fashioned rock n’ roll. They wrapped it all up in a perfect package. But you may have never heard of them.

It all ended when Country Dick Montana ended. Fittingly he enough, he died in performance.

Your song to start with is the lead track from this album—their major-label debut. The song is:

Riverside

When you moved up to Riverside
You thought the answer was hidden there
But it just turned out to be a place to hide
Baby, that town treated you so unfair

So meet me on out in the orange grove baby
We’ll never back down at the broad wet storm
If the grove gets wet, it’ll freeze tonight
But I got something that’ll keep us warm

The moon-cat might be walkin’ tonight
The fog’s rollin’ in, no time to spare
We got the message of love to carry the light
If your daddy gets mad baby I don’t care

So meet me on out in the orange grove baby
We’ll never back down at the broad wet storm
If the grove gets wet, it’ll freeze tonight
But I got something that’ll keep us warm

And if I look at you with a wicked smile
It’s cause a gypsy saw your face in my eyes
And if you give me an inch, I’m gonna take a mile
I’ve been waiting for you to see through my disguise