Country Mike Blog

Ocala and AC/DC covers

Mike Sudhalter  |  July 11, 2007

I recently heard a beautiful song by newcomer Elizabeth Cook, an ode to her hometown of Ocala, Fla. appropriately titled "Ocala". Cook has a very traditional country sound.

My favorite line in her song, "Times are Tough in Rock and Roll" duplicates what many music fans have felt since the beginning of the decade - "all my feelings, all my fears were confirmed with Britney Spears".

I'm starting to think that Ocala is Florida's unofficial country music capital. Mel Tillis, the Grand Ole Opry's newest member, lives there. Late 90's flash in the pan Chad Brock is an Ocalan. Remember the guy who met his wife (now ex-wife) because she accidently received his mail. He wrote a No. 1 song about it, titled "Yes".

I don't know if a legend, a little-known traditionalist and a never-was who sang the Y2K version of "A Country Boy Can Survive" can constitute a town being named the state's country music capital. But what other Florida city, do tell, has produced more country artists?

"You Shook Me All Night Long" was a great rock song by AC/DC that I used to hear in the clubs that I went to as a college student. Honestly, I didn't know who sang the song or it's title, back in Y2K. I was too interested in hanging out with friends back in those days. Wifey, that's all pre-September 2001, just so you know.

Anyways, it's interesting that not one, but two country-oriented acts have covered the song. Big & Rich did it on their recently released album, and ironically, it's the only true country song on the disc.

Hayseed Dixie, a band that does bluegrass covers of old rock songs, did it on their AC/DC tribute album. HD is hilarious if you haven't heard them, and their version is way better than B&R's. I know HD also did a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising". It sounded fine, but that song already has a country feel that you lose the shock value that you get when you hear them do, say, "My Best Friend's Girlfriend" or "Centerfold".