Driving around Texas this past weekend, I was once again elated by the beauty of Lady Bird Johnson’s Wildflower initiative. There are carpets of flowers of yellow, orange, blue, and purple. There is that yummy spring green color, which is at once tender and electric at the same time. The bees are buzzing; I even saw a monarch butterfly this week. Now you know with all this blooming comes the allergens, and then comes the antihistamines. I have lived in many places that have laid claim to being the worst for allergies, but Texas might just be number one for me. In an effort to breathe free, I started thinking back on what medicines were really effective along the way, since nothing seems to work anymore to quell the symptoms.

In my travels in the internets, I came upon another usage altogether, using the Coricidin Bottle as a guitar slide. Actually, Duane Allman is credited with doing that first, back in the 60s. Derek Trucks, Rory Gallagher, and Gary Rossington followed suit, but the bottles went out of production in the early 1980s. Since the mid-80s, replicas have been on the market. Ray Wylie Hubbard releases his new album today. It is called The Grifter’s Hymnal, and it is filled with the crunchy, gritty sounds we have come to love from Ray Wylie Hubbard. This album provides peaks behind the curtain, confessional moments. That includes the first cut on the album, “Coricidin Bottle.” It is a stomper of a tune, providing an insight into the objects and an homage to the spirits that have paved the way. And the glass slide, yeah it’s there to make some down and dirty yet glorious sounds. Here is the Music Fog Marathon recording of “Coricidin Bottle,” from a couple of weeks ago at Threadgill’s WHQ in Austin, TX.

-Jessie Scott