Red Meat

Red Meat heads for the "Alameda County Line" (Jan 2001)

Dave "Smelley" Kelley, gravelly-voiced singer for the San Francisco-based honky tonkers Red Meat, remembers the day he and the band met legendary songwriter Harlan Howard. "Our radio promotions guy in Nashville said, 'I'll take you to lunch at this place. Harlan Howard's got a special seat at the bar. He usually comes in and smokes two cigarettes and has a draft beer for lunch. We'll just go and lurk.' So Jill ended up getting our picture taken with him. She asked, 'What advice would you give me?' He said, 'Try to write it better!'"  ...