Cory Graves
Check Out This Throwback to the Days of the Old Sugarfoote & Co. Mondays at Adair’s Saloon.
Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.
Sugarfoote – “Good Woman.”
RIYL: Redemption songs.
What else you should know: Flipping back through the archives recently, we came across a post listing some goings on for a random, pre-Deep Ellum resurgence, Monday night in 2013. Among them were a show at Rubber Gloves and a trio of residencies – Cool Out at Crown and Harp, Shelly Carroll’s Badass Jazz night at Amsterdam and Sugarfoote & Co. holding court at Adair’s.
Almost none of those things are still around.
A couple of them, however, are getting new leases on life.
After hosting its last show in 2016, Rubber Gloves is, purportedly, opening back up later this year. And after letting his completed record sit on a shelf gathering dust for four years, Sugarfoote’s debut LP finally earned its release at the end of January.
Led by Cody Foote, the band honed its blend of country twang, rock and roll rhythms and soulful vocals week after week while holding court over the once coveted Monday night residency at Adair’s Saloon from 2012 to 2015. Just as the band was beginning to pick up some steam and getting ready to put out its first record, Foote’s drinking derailed the band. A pair of DUIs later, and it looked like that might have been it for the proudly alcohol-fueled outfit.
“While I was dealing with the consequences of the DUI’s, I had tucked away in my mind the entire time that I owed it to myself and my brothers to finish what we started and release our album,” Foote says. “Although, quite frankly, there were many times I thought it would never see the light of day.”
Better late than never, the album is, arguably, more impactful in light of the tribulation of its author. While tracks like “This Just In” and “The Train” would prove to be prophetic, describing a hard-drinking wild man and a tale of redemption after a rough stretch, respectively, the album as a whole takes on a new meaning as well. Framed in the light of its long journey, it becomes a tale of hope, determination, perseverance and encouragement.
Or, to paraphrase Foote, it’s never too late to follow your dreams.
“I pressed on, and finally decided late 2018 that I would finish what we started no matter what,” Foote says. “The album is not only a 10 song culmination of all the years and nights we spent working out the kinks at Adairs, but for me, represents a fresh start and a reason to hope and dream again. I want my story to encourage anyone who has given up, screwed up, or been sidetracked from following their dream to show it’s never too late to get back up and begin again.”