1. When Bruce Robison’s last full length The New World was released, he commented that roots music should sound different than the rest of music, by virtue of its name. His latest single “Heartache to Houston”, accomplishes that by sounding refreshingly simple.
2. Lead by Brian Beken’s mandolin, the song finds Robison with “one hand on the wheel/ and one on the wind”, skipping town after a relationship where there is “nothing left worth saving”. Hoping to find some new ground to plow in Houston, he leaves with nothing save “a need to light this fuse”. The song, co-written with Gary Massey and ex-Fastball frontman Miles Zuniga, strips things away to a classic country arrangement, centered around an insistent snare that makes it seem like more of a rave-up than it actually is. Touches of organ and delicate electric guitar light the way, but never in a manner that overpowers the tune.
3. Part of me wishes there was something more to say about this song — maybe a twist at the end, like Robison has been known to write. On second thought, that sort of device would actually negate this song’s strength: simplicity. Robison’s character doesn’t have much of an agenda beyond getting out of town, so he can’t be expected to wax poetic or psychoanalyze the situation. Instead, he drives along to a song that is perfect for someone in his situation: a great melody, a driving beat, and a bit of self-pity, heading for a new horizon. Country music doesn’t need much more.
Bruce Robison – “Heartache to Houston”
Posted: August 2nd, 2010 | 2 Comments »
1. Elizabeth Cook reaches deep down into her roots in Wildwood, Florida to produce “El Camino”, from her latest Don Was-produced gem Welder. Have you ever been to Wildwood, Florida? Just south of Ocala, the small town might be the plastic lawn chair capital of the world. Cook embraces that, describing a man who might well be the hero of this small town, and her unashamed love for him.
2. The man that picks her up “everyday at the curb/ In his 1972 refurb” lives in a country that you don’t hear about on the radio. Cook’s country isn’t full of chest beating ex-military family farms, but rather folks who go parking after the “Saturday matinee roller derby”, after the dude “slipped a quaalude in my beer”. Confident enough to say that he is “creepy in a perv kinda way” and “right now my hands are in his mullet”, Cook’s character shows the two sides of the Southern woman: one who calls it like she sees it, and can’t help but like what she sees.
3. The same attitude gave her critical acclaim on the title track from 2007’s Balls, which was produced by Rodney Crowell. Buddy Miller and Dwight Yoakam also make appearances on this record, furthering the testament to Cook’s music. She stated in interviews that Don Was discovered her through her friendship with Todd Snider, and that might be an apt comparison: honest, smart, and completely irreverent. The combination of those traits is exactly what makes this song work.
Elizabeth Cook – “El Camino”
Posted: July 23rd, 2010 | 2 Comments »
1. Country music began with a sense of alienation — after the Dust Bowl and Great Depression sent farmers packing for the big city, the music of Lefty Frizzell, Woody Guthrie, and Hank Williams summed up the pining for the simpler way of life that they had known. On “A Country Of My Own”, from his latest, To Be Loved, Thad Cockrell carries that sentiment, though he longs for a home that he has never actually seen. C.S. Lewis stated that his dissatisfaction with the world resulted in the revelation that he “was made for another world”, which sums up the message of this beautiful tune.
2. Cockrell rides a familiar train beat, though retooled just enough to make it new. The square-wave keyboard chugging along in the background highlights his longing for a “city where you meet no strangers”. Unlike Merle’s longing for the “Green Green Grass” where he grew up, Thad repeatedly sings that he has no home — though he mollifies that statement by saying he has a destination. The feeling of displacement, mixed with the promise of fulfillment sums up the restlessness that any human has felt.
3. Though you might know Cockrell from his days as a honky tonker or his collaboration with Whiskeytown’s Caitlin Cary, he and producer Jason Lehning redefine his sound on this record. Mixing country structure with airy pop sounds and Cockrell’s signature high tenor, they set out to create a record like Phases and Stages, where (as Lehning put it), “Everything about it is country and nothing about it is country.” Though the tones aren’t traditional country, the song is unmistakably so, and the record is not to be missed.
Thad Cockrell – “A Country Of My Own”
Posted: July 20th, 2010 | 3 Comments »
