Throwback Thursday – Keith Gattis – “Down Again”
Posted on | January 7, 2010 | 1 Comment
1. Keith Gattis is one of country music’s best kept secrets. A longtime guitar player for Dwight Yoakam, he also has almost single-handedly kept Charlie Robison’s recent records stocked with great songs. His last release, 2002’s Big City Blues, provided no more than 5 songs for Mr. Robison, though Keith’s versions often trump his more famous friend’s. “Down Again” is one of these, where Gattis’ circular lyrics accurately illustrate a mercurial post-breakup feeling.
2. Beginning and ending his stanzas with the same line, Keith shows how quick the ups and downs can actually happen. He almost plateaus in the second stanza, resolving that “nothing’s changed except you’re gone”, but quickly spirals back into self loathing, commenting that “seems like all I do is wrong”. He also laments the fact that he can’t seem to keep from writing about his lost love, and he might be able to if he could quit writing songs. If there’s one thing he doesn’t lack, it is self awareness, as he seems to be able to simultaneously be in the middle of heartbreak and observe himself from the outside.
3. Gattis’ original, more stripped down version of this song deserves as much attention as Robison’s take, which fits perfectly into his latest record Beautiful Day, a record describing the ups and downs of a divorce. Though this “throwback” is only eight years, Big City Blues is a solid record from front to back, and one that warrants a lot more praise than it has received.
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January 7th, 2010 @ 8:57 pm
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