—————————————————— 10 Tailor-Made Texas Summer Tracks | Houston Press

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10 Tailor-Made Texas Summer Songs

Summer in Texas brings about a number of welcome traditions, including music festivals, floating the river, camping and general outdoor good timing. Float Fest manages to fit all of these into one weekend. The third annual tubing/music confluence, scheduled for July 16-17 in San Marcos, offers festival-goers the opportunity to float the river, camp overnight (one or two nights, depending on the ticket package) and spend a weekend jamming out to nearly 20 hours of live music.

This year’s edition will be headlined by Rick Ross (Saturday) and Chromeo (Sunday), but features a number of Houston-based artists as well, including Fat Tony, Wild Moccasins and Slim Thug. These artists will most certainly entertain the sun-soaked masses, but they aren’t the only ones who can do so.

Here are 10 Texas tracks from Texas artists tailor-made for summer outdoor fun.

10. ZZ TOP, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"
The key to any successful summer song is to be up-tempo and catchy, and these Houston legends don’t disappoint on this 1983 single. This feels like the type of song you’d hear blaring from a Harley parked outside Buffalo Fred’s on a hot July afternoon.

9. UGK, "Pocket Full of Stones"
Southern rap and steamy summer days go together like floating the river and light beer. Something about the swampy beat just speaks to the heat we Texans endure four to five months a year. Fortunately, that heat is a lot easier to handle with UGK on the radio and a cold body of water nearby.

8. ROBERT EARL KEEN, "The Road Goes On Forever"

Arguably the greatest “Texas Country” song ever produced, this Robert Earl Keen number not only mentions a woman meeting her friends at the river, but also a couple running off to the beach. Plus, the lyrics “the road goes on forever/and the party never ends,” perfectly contextualizes how many feel about summer.

7. TOADIES, "Possum Kingdom"
For those unfamiliar, this 1995 summer single from Fort Worth outfit Toadies borrowed its title from Texas’s own Possum Kingdom Lake. In fact, the lake provides the setting for the song itself, which can be interpreted in many ways. Some have speculated it’s about a serial killer or vampire, while others think it’s simply a weird song about a strange kind of love. Yeah, it’s a dark song, but thanks to a catchy hook and lakeside imagery, it makes for perfect summer listening. 

6. BEYONCÉ (feat. JAY-Z), "Crazy In Love"
Fitting, considering this was the summer anthem of 2003. This was Beyoncé staking her claim as the new queen of pop, assisted by Jay-Z, who still sounded inspired (pour one out for inspired Jay-Z). The up-tempo horns set the mood; “Crazy in Love” was made for summer dance parties.

5. JAY-Z (feat. UGK), "Big Pimpin'"
Speaking of Jay-Z, he is not from Texas. But UGK is, and they outright hijack this song from Jiggaman himself. The late Pimp C shouts out Texas, Bun B calls himself the “Southern rap impresario” and the video takes place on a yacht loaded with bikini-clad ladies. That’s textbook summer game.
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Clint Hale enjoys music and writing, so that kinda works out. He likes small dogs and the Dallas Cowboys, as you can probably tell. Clint has been writing for the Houston Press since April 2016.
Contact: Clint Hale