“Did they invite Mary Chapin Carpenter as an undercover guest singer?” I asked myself last Saturday at the Friends of Mosquito Lake State Park’s Beach Bash1The next Beach Bash is scheduled for Saturday, 15 August 2026. More summer fun in Trumbull County, Ohio is scheduled as well. after I heard Speed Limit’s2The band has pages on Facebook and Instagram, too. female vocalist sing some songs, one by Alison Krauss, I believe.
“Down at the Twist and Shout”
by Mary Chapin Carpenter
[Chorus]
Saturday night and the moon is out
I want to head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I'm going to find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle want to beg for more
Going to dance to a band from Luzianne tonight
Anyway, Speed Limit is a quality, talented band—from Cortland, Ohio—that plays originals and covers. I saw them several times over the past few years. If they play some of these foot-stomping country songs, then I might have to “find my feet” and put boots on the ground, the Good Ol’ Texas Two-Step way.3I used to live in East Texas and assimilate well. I even picked-up the East Texas twang. I drew the line at buying and wearing a cowboy hat and boots, though.
Writing about dancing is a little like trying to show how a guitar sounds by pointing to the wood and strings. Dancing doesn’t work if you think about it, and good dancers often cannot describe what they do. In Texas, dances are handed down through generations, with older children teaching younger children where to put their feet and how to hold their arms. After decades of weekly practice at community halls, dancing becomes an instinctive movement, indivisible into parts.
Texas Monthly: “Texas Primer: The Two-step.” August 1985.
Cortland Street Fair Itinerary
The band will be playing at the Cortland Street Fair this Saturday in the beer tent area. That area is easy to find as it’s where a nontrivial number of adults hang out. It’s our little town’s version of the “Twist and Shout,” evidently.
Anyway, the Cortland Lions Club Street Fair, itself, just started at 6:00 pm yesterday and lasts through Saturday, the 27th.
Closing Words
I marked this in my calendar, by the way!
Footnotes
- 1The next Beach Bash is scheduled for Saturday, 15 August 2026. More summer fun in Trumbull County, Ohio is scheduled as well.
- 2
- 3I used to live in East Texas and assimilate well. I even picked-up the East Texas twang. I drew the line at buying and wearing a cowboy hat and boots, though.
