The Meat Purveyors make me happy

I saw the 4th or 5th to last Meat Purveyors show last night - the soberest I've been at a Meat Purveyors show FWIW. It wasnt 2 in the afternoon at SXSW in the late 90s at Yard Dog having already had 3 beers - but it was still excellent.10 years ago when The Meat Purveyors were The Texas Meat Purveyors they got in on the ground floor of the whole Punk Bluegrass thing (see Split Lip Rayfield, etc.) and in the passing years have wound things up tight. We got the whole shebang last night - the drinking songs, the loving songs, the hating songs and the two steps towards wrong stage banter. The brilliant encore was their Madonna trilogy complete with spinning disco ball.Some politics sneak into their most recent songs (Keep Those Plates Spinning, The Look on Your Face, Hard Rain). A casual listen leaves the impression that those are break up songs - but it dawns on you in the 2nd verse what Jo is really singing about. They are from Austin, TX after all.They're done now - mostly going their separate ways - and will be missed, at least by me.