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Local singer likes to put humor in his country songs By Deirdre Long Entertainment Editor 04-02-2009 Photo: Special to The Star Dan "Rodeo" Stitt knows his songs are a little goofy, but that doesn't stop him from writing them. "The way I look at it, they're real, true life," Rodeo, as he's known in the industry, said recently about his songs. "A lot of people think country music is all about heartbreak and all that. Well, a lot of times a breakup ain't a heartbreak anyway — you're glad to see him or her go. If you look at it, there's really a lot of humor involved in it." Stitt has been writing and playing country songs for years, first in his native Pennsylvania, then Florida, and now he has a home in Wellington with his wife and two daughters. He released his first album, a five-song EP titled Two Beers Away last year, and is currently working on a full-length album. You can catch Rodeo and the rest of his band live at the Rabbittown Café and Fiddlers Hall in Piedmont on Friday. Here's Rodeo's descriptions of the songs on Two Beers Away. "Two Beers Away" Anyone when they're young and going out … I'm sure you've heard terms like that before. I've heard women use the same thing. "I'll just drink two more beers and she'll be good looking or he'll be good looking." That's what that's about. It's got kind of a western swing beat. "I Know She's Heavy (But I'm Hard Up)" That's an actual true story. I came walking in to a place called Shucky's Oyster Bar. We had already played there Friday night and we were playing Saturday night also and a buddy of mine came walking up, and I could tell he was half lit up, and he says 'Hey, I know she's heavy, but I'm hard up.' And I said 'What are you talking about?' and he said 'Well, this girl, she's really ugly, but I don't care, 'cause I've been drinking.' And I said 'You know what?' and I was just joking with him, 'I heard her saying the same thing about you over there to her friend.' And we both started laughing about it and I thought, well that's a song right there. You know, a lot of guys look at it and they're always the prize. They think they gotta have the prettiest girl. They don't even consider that the women are looking at them the exact same way. You ain't no prize either, but I'll settle. "Dang You're Ugly" The same guy (who inspired "I Know She's Heavy") inspired that song. One day he came into work and said 'You ain't gonna believe what happened to me just now. I was riding on my motorcycle and I pulled up to this light and this really good-looking girl pulled up and smiled at me. So I raised my visor up and smiled back at her and she said 'Dang, you're ugly!' and took off.' It just kind of stuck in my head and I got to thinking about one of the gags on Benny Hill. They would have the hood of a car up and some girl that's really built bent over the hood working on the car. Benny would hit his brakes and she'd turn around and it's really a guy, had a beard and no teeth and everything. It was just a hilarious gag. "Daddy's Home Hug" That's just about my little girl. When I get home, Gracie comes running out and she always yells "Daddy's home!" and grabs onto me and I spin her around. It's just a ritual. She still does it today, she was three when I wrote that, she's five now. Now I got another little girl, she's 19 months, so I got to write her a song because I wrote Gracie a song. "I Love Cats" That is just goofy. I don't really know how I came up with that. I was down in Florida and my bass player's wife loved her cat. It was a really cool cat. I like cats, in fact we have a couple at the house, I've got nothing against cats. My wife also had a big, mean coon cat that was like the size of a lion. I mean, it was huge. And I'd always talk about how we oughta put him in the crockpot or something. It was just the way I teased her. I just went out on the back porch one day with the guitar and just wrote that goofy song, really just to tease her. And then I wanted to make sure my bass player's wife heard it. And she hated it. She took it serious, I guess. For more information about Rodeo, go to www.myspace.com/rodeoofficial. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rodeo When: Friday, 6 p.m. Where: Rabbittown Café and Fiddlers Hall, 900 Rabbittown Road, Piedmont How much: $5 Contact: 435-8008 (weekends) or 435-3987 (Monday-Friday evenings) Print E-mail About Deirdre M. Long Deirdre M. Long is entertainment editor for the Star. Contact Deirdre M. Long Phone:: E-mail: 256-241-1950 dlong@annistonstar.com