Throwback Thursday – Rodney Crowell – “Bluebird Wine”
Posted on | October 29, 2009 | No Comments
1. I started thinking about Rodney Crowell when writing about his recent collaboration with Bruce Robison. Crowell has had a storied career, running with Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt in Nashville before heading to L.A. to play in Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, then finding mainstream country success in the 80’s and reinventing himself in this past decade. Though his style has varied over the years, he has a deep catalog of songs that run the gamut from political rants to unabashed love songs. “Bluebird Wine” came early in his career, and was brought more success when Emmylou covered it on her landmark Pieces of the Sky record, though Rodney’s live take from Heartworn Highways better shows the guts of the song.
2. Riding some surprisingly ace finger picking, he tells a story of a new friend who straightened his life out…so that he could better enjoy his precious Bluebird Wine. The irony is not lost here, as Crowell comes in off the highway, puts his money in the bank, and gets rid of worry so that he can cut loose. When he hits the chorus, the song “hits its stride” just like he sings, with an exuberant swagger that mirrors the effects of the precious drink. Crowell returns to the irony by relating that his new friend has taught him the joys of staying in at night and listening to the radio, while “drinking all the Bluebird we can hold”. This slight twist on the idea of turning over a new leaf gives the song an indelible splash of character.
3. Crowell has turned out some great work in recent years, records which his guitarist Will Kimbrough calls “his best“. Though much of his more recent work deals with his disgust with politics, poverty, and other heavy subjects, he has always maintained the ability to write uptempo songs about letting go and having a great time. Great songs are expected from someone with his songwriting pedigree. With “Bluebird Wine”, Crowell shows that he was cranking classic songs out from the beginning, and that these later years are just the icing on the cake.
Rodney Crowell – Bluebird Wine
Bruce Robison – “Born To Roll”
Posted on | October 27, 2009 | 2 Comments
1. Bruce Robison defies the term singer/songwriter in the conventional definition. Widely known for writing hits for George Strait, the Dixie Chicks and Tim McGraw, he also cultivates his own following who appreciate the songs that don’t trickle up to mainstream radio. It is this deep catalog of great songs that might never make it to the top of the charts but will never lack for listeners that set Robison apart. On his latest, titled From the Top, Robison partners with Rodney Crowell, who has followed a somewhat similar path. The first single “Born to Roll” heads up a set of songs that are unashamedly Texan and absolutely country. The song’s rapid fire delivery and simplicity make it a sure bet for fans who appreciate the simple, well written music that those genres suggest.
2. Robison puts the pedal down from the beginning of this song to the end, saying he was born “in the steeple of a diesel”and drawing influence from both the hum of the road and the songs from the radio that his parents sang to him. Learning to read from a road map and filling his baby bottle at the truck stop, Robison paints his character as a child of the highway. When Crowell’s agile voice comes in on the second verse, he assumes the second person role of the brother, who takes the “diapers and the mortgage and the Drano” while Bruce takes on the highway “from Boston to Austin”. If there was more to write about the plot, I would have written it. Crowell and Robison know the value of creating a simple song that does its job well and doesn’t aspire to change the world. Clocking in at 2:43, the song is in and out in a way that mirrors a semi barreling down I-35.
3. The track has some of the slick production that Crowell has lent to his recent productions, but a song this simple could be dressed up a million ways and still succeed. The heritage that Robison inherits from Guy Clark, Willie Nelson, and Lyle Lovett has blazed a trail that surrounds great songs with exactly what they need. Basing a career on the strength of a song has created careers for his heroes, and Robison shows no signs of straying from that with “Born to Roll“.
Five Records with… Will Kimbrough
Posted on | October 2, 2009 | 1 Comment
I had the chance to talk to Will Kimbrough the other day. Singer, guitar slinger, songwriter, co-leader of Daddy, and occasional sideman and producer to Rodney Crowell and Todd Snider, Kimbrough hails from Alabama and consistently finds himself mixed up with terribly exciting music. Five Records is an occasional feature of artists talking about the music that inspires them. Read more of these posts here.
“I saw Bruce play on May 1, 1976 for my 12th birthday in Mobile, Alabama. The ticket was $4.50, my first guitar was $20 and I never looked back. I played my first show at a skating rink. Anyone who bought the 30th anniversary edition and saw the DVD saw the show the way I saw it – no special effects, nothing that blows up – just a charismatic lesson in what to do, how to be down to earth, how to reach people.”
“I admire the way Rodney reinvented himself at age 50 — his songwriting is as good as ever, but his music took a step up. Just being around him, he is uncompromising without being a jerk. You can go to Rodney’s show and he might not play any of the hits from the 80’s that people know him for, but he still blows his audiences away, and that’s hard to do.”
“I listened to a lot of J.J. Cale while making this last Daddy record — I love how he is able to take the simplest thing and make it interesting. Tommy and I always start Daddy records by getting together and writing something and building off of that. “Love In a Bottle” was heavily inspired by JJ.”
“I wish I had written “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”. It’s just beautiful – the nature imagery in “The silence of a falling star/ Lights up a purple sky” and the raw way Hank delivers it as only he can make it such a classic. He really wrote poetry for common people by being able to take common things and put them to simple melodies.”
“Justin just keeps improving. He was given a great opportunity due to his bloodlines, but he absolutely lives up to it. You can see it in his work ethic, the way he gets after it, and the way he appreciates the music that came before him. Midnight at the Movies was a great step forward from his first record, which was fantastic as well.”