Good heavens, this collection of Patsy Cline‘s releases from 1955 – 1962 is not only gorgeous, but it’s also massive. In case you missed it on the cover image, it encompasses 75 tracks on three discs. The only things it doesn’t include are live cuts and material released after her far-too-early death.
You can drop the needle (to use an old radio DJ saying) on any track of any disc in this collection and find something great. Don Helms‘ lap steel guitar on “Honky Tonk Merry-Go-Round” seems to be having as much fun as Cline as she lays down the vocals. “Turn the Cards Slowly” is a personal favorite, with Cline and her band happily bridging county and rockabilly. “Stop, Look and Listen” is much the same, with Farris Coursey knocking out a great, swinging beat. “I’ve Loved and Lost Again” is a classic combination of Cline’s voice and Don Helms‘ always soulful pedal steel guitar.
That guitar is instantly recognizable on Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight.” It’s baffling now to consider that Cline originally hated the song (“That ain’t country,” she said about it.) and only recorded it at the insistence of producer Bill McCall. “I Don’t Wanta” is a fun jaunt as Cline sings about being so happy in love that she can’t picture life any other way. “Never No More” is a sassy, slow song that has Cline writing off her ex because she’s found someone “who makes me happy when I’m blue.”
Other classics include “Cry Not for Me” (with Cline’s voice belting out by the end and yet sounding effortless), the rockabilly swinger “Let the Teardrops Fall” (with great guitar work from Hank Garland), and heartbreakers like “I Fall to Pieces,” the immortal “Crazy,” “She’s Got You,” “Why Can’t He Be You,” and “Leavin’ on Your Mind”…and those are all on just the second disc of this collection.
Ferris Coursey‘s beats on “Hungry for Love,” which opens the third disc in the collection, are so tight that you could barely fit a dime between them. “Too Many Secrets” is a fun romp in which Cline learns more and more about a new lover that makes her question her decision to be with him. The addition of a horn section on it is a great touch. “Ain’t No Wheels on This Ship” is as much fun as “Fingerprints” is heartbreaking. Just for kicks, “Foolin’ Around” is a bit of a calypso number.
Disc three also includes “new versions” of “Walkin’ After Midnight” and “A Poor Man’s Roses (or a Rich Man’s Gold)” and a soulful cover of Hank Williams‘ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I Can’t Help It (if I’m Still in Love with You). By the end, on “Lonely Street,” Cline is practically singing gospel.
The whole collection is solid, and a reminder of someone gone too soon but who left a stunning impact on music.
Since forming his Seattle-based outfit Brent Amaker and the Rodeo in 2005, Amaker has reveled in an idiosyncratic style that doesn’t fit into preordained categories. He’s a country singer whose band is known for dressing in matching black cowboy outfits, yet Amaker is more inspired by art-rock icons like Devo and David Bowie than the usual country mainstays. A Seattleite since 1997, he’s a Southerner by birth, yet Southern crowds are frequently puzzled by his ambitious stage show.
“When we tour Texas, they’re like, ‘What are you?’” Amaker says. “We’re cowboys, living the spirit of the West. We’re not really playing country music, but we’re playing cowboy music. ‘Western performance art’ is what I like to say.”
Amaker’s Western performance art achieves its fullest form on Philaphobia, a sly, heartsick collection that serves as Brent Amaker and the Rodeo’s first proper album in 10 years. Today it’s announced for a January 26th release on Seattle imprint Killroom Records. Throughout it, Amaker wrestles his demons and subverts frontier masculinity in his trademark baritone drawl (think Johnny Cash meets Matt Berninger) on tracks that span from rollicking motivational romps (“Take It by the Horns”) to criminal confessions (“Wanted”) to unlikely covers (Devo’s “Gut Feeling,” reimagined as a woozy twang breakdown).
It’s a spirited and boozy record, but don’t let the yeehaws and hollerin’ scattered throughout “Take My Heart,” the album’s first single, fool you: Philaphobia is a divorce album, steeped in that eternal country tradition of channeling heartbreak into gallows humor and cowboy laments. The bulk of the album was recorded in 2019, when Amaker was reeling from the end of his second marriage. The songs are among the best of his career, wrought with the steely-eyed recognition that love doesn’t always last.
On “Take my Heart,” he’s downtrodden but not defeated as he confronts his ex and fights for his dignity: “I will not let you take my heart,” he vows as his bandmates hoot and holler around the edges of the tune. “It’s about my ex-wife,” Amaker explains. “She gave me a lot of things, but she also crushed me, and I’m gonna survive and you can’t have my heart. I’ve still got it.”
“I’ve been married twice, and about five or six years ago, I divorced my second wife,” Amaker says of the record’s inspiration. “Philaphobia — with the Greek root word of PHILA being the feminine version instead of PHILO — is the fear of love, a fear of feminine love. That’s the theme, because I was going through something that was really intense. It’s a really intense time in my life. I was feeling heartbreak. I was feeling freedom. I was feeling excitement. I was feeling sadness. And I think that comes through.”
Throughout Philaphobia, Amaker turns the lemons of late-life bachelorhood into whip-cracking lemonade. Resilience is the guiding force on “Take It By the Horns,” a blast of a tune that boasts a rousing call-and-response refrain between Amaker and his band. On “Los Angeles,” the singer bids adieu to a relationship turned sour and plans a new life in a land of promise: “I’m moving to Los Angeles and leaving all the bickering behind,” Amaker croons over careening rhythms and cowpunk-flavored guitars. He wrote the song while his marriage was failing, but before it ended.
At the center of it all is “Gut Feeling,” a bizarro tribute to Amaker’s biggest influence, the New Wave icons who first piqued his interest in conceptual rock: Devo.
“When I was a little kid, I saw Devo on SNL,” he recalls. “I remember seeing them and saying to myself, ‘Is this real or is a skit?’ They became one of my favorite bands. I’m really into performance art and trying to create something that is consistent, so that every time somebody sees or hears us—like the Ramones or Devo—they know what it is.”
In his late 30s, after spending much of his younger life playing in rock bands, Amaker had an epiphany and decided to start a cowboy band. While Amaker and the Rodeo may not echo Devo in genre, their conceptual unity and insistence on matching stage uniforms is an homage to the Ohio legends. The Rodeo’s lineup shifts over time, but Amaker clings to a unified look: Whenever he brings a new cowboy into the fold, he takes them out to buy their cowboy hat and uniform (Wrancher polyester pants; black shirt; no colors allowed on any clothes, just solid black). When the group is on tour, they wear their cowboy uniforms 24/7.
And when they’re onstage, “performance art is at the heart of our shows,” Amaker explains, describing his elaborate James Brown-esque stage entrance; at a typical show, he walks onstage as the band plays an instrumental overture and somebody drapes a cape over him, then the cape comes off. “Just creating tension is what we try to do with our live performance. It’s fun and people are entertained.”
Indeed, Brent Amaker and the Rodeo have toured far and wide, performing everywhere from Europe to the Capitol Hill Block Party to a maximum-security prison in Belgium, where a riot nearly broke out at the end of the gig. Listeners may also encounter their music in needle-drop form; the group’s music has been noted for its evocative, cinematic textures and has been featured in television shows such as Weeds, Big Little Lies, Californication, and others.
“I think our music is intentionally cinematic,” Amaker says. “I like to write with a theme, and I like to shape my songwriting with visions.”
“When the Rodeo started, we were putting on costumes, outfits,” Amaker says. “But after we went out time after time, I didn’t feel comfortable if I didn’t have some pieces of the Rodeo on me. It became me. It’s not a costume anymore.”
Thanks to all who listened to my Deep Dive of Alison Krauss on WSND. She’s a living legend, and the show was dedicated to my late wife, Mandy, who introduced me to her.
Here’s the set list:
Alison Krauss – When You Say Nothing at All
Dolly Patron – You’re the Only One
J.D. Crowe and The New South – Old Home Place
Foreigner – Head Games
Electric Light Orchestra – Don’t Bring Me Down
Gary Numan – Cars
Richard Greene – The Tennessee Waltz
Alison Krauss – Grey Eagle and Nick’s Noodle
Dan Tyminski – Carry Me Across the Mountain
Alison Krauss – Too Late to Cry
Alison Krauss and Union Station – Midnight Rambler
Alison Krauss – I’ve Got That Old Feeling
Phish – If I Could
Alison Krauss and The Cox Family – Loves Me Like a Rock
Shenandoah – Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart
Alison Krauss – Oh, Atlanta
Alison Krauss – Forget About It
Alison Krauss and Union Station – The Lucky One
Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch – I’ll Fly Away
Alison Krauss and Union Station – Choctaw Hayride (live)
Alison Krauss and Union Station – Unionhouse Branch
Brad Paisley – Whiskey Lullaby
Alison Krauss and Robert Plant – Please Read the Letter (requested)
Alison Krauss, Mark O’Connor, Yo-Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer – Slumber My Darling (live) (requested)
Heart – These Dreams (live)
Nickel Creek – Smoothie Song
Alison Krauss – Down to the River to Pray
Next week, I go in a completely opposite direction with a Deep Dive of The Damned. Don’t miss that one.
Teddy Thompson has announced his eighth studio album, My Love Of Country, will be released August 18. True to its title, Thompson offers deeply personal and heartfelt readings of ten classic country songs by songwriters like Buck Owens, Hank Cochran, Eddy Arnold, Cindy Walker and even his own father, Richard Thompson. The collection’s first single “A Picture Of Me Without You” (listen/share here), a top ten hit for George Jones in 1972, and its accompanying video (watch/share here), directed by Ethan Covey, is out today
The simplicity and emotional intensity of classic country has been a big part of Thompson’s own sound as an artist, which The New York Times called “beautifully finessed” and NPR hailed as “the musical equivalent of an arrow to the heart.” Back in 2007, he explored his roots with Up Front and Down Low, an album of Nashville golden era favorites. And now he’s picked up the thread again.
“The goal was to do it in the way that country records I love – mostly from the ’60s – were made,” says Thompson. “Everything was mapped out, with charts and string parts in place. The musicians came in, and we cut the songs the way they did back then. We just blazed through them.”
The results are riveting. Thompson’s rich, honeyed voice responds beautifully to “A Picture Of Me Without You,” “Cryin’ Time,” and other songs of poetic despondence, throwing off both sparks and tears without ever seeming showy. You can hear how he’s listened deeply to the genre’s masters, absorbing the finer stylistic points of their influence. But rather than imitate, he does something more nuanced and profound. He makes the material his own, and makes the familiar sound new.
Helping Thompson realize his vision for My Love Of Country was multi-instrumentalist producer David Mansfield, whose resume includes touring with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, scoring Oscar-nominated films like The Apostle and years of high-profile session work with the likes of Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam. Mansfield and Thompson assembled a list of twenty titles, then whittled it down to ten. There are well-known standards, old and new, such as Hank Cochran & Harland Howard’s “I Fall To Pieces” (a signature hit for Patsy Cline in 1961), Randy Travis’s 1989 western swing-flavored chart-topper “Is It Still Over?” and Cindy Walker’s portrait of unrequited love, “You Don’t Know Me” (a hit for both Eddy Arnold and Ray Charles). Adding balance are lesser-known gems such as Dolly Parton’s 1968 album track “Love and Learn,” Don Everly’s “Oh, What A Feeling” and a finely-etched drinking song, “I’ll Regret It All In The Morning,” penned by Thompson’s father Richard Thompson. Recorded at Mansfield’s studio Hobo Sound in Hoboken, NJ, the album balances elegant, wrap-around arrangements with one-take energy. A star-studded group of harmony vocalists, including Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, Logan Ledger and Aoife O’Donovan, added final touches.
“These are all songs that I’ve known and loved for years. That’s the real key, having them in your body for a long time, decades really. I didn’t really have to think at all about how to sing them. I just honored the originals,” explains Thompson. “In my favorite eras of music, it was all about the song. Most of the classics that I know and love were recorded by dozens and dozens of people. And it was all in the service of the song. I grew up with that being the most important thing. For this record, that was a huge part of it. I just want people to hear these songs.”
Recorded live at the famous Austin City Limits on October 23, 1988, this half-hour session from the legendary Buck Owens is like stomping the gas pedal of a moonshiner’s truck to the floor while crying over lost love.
Opening, of course, with his mega-hit “Act Naturally,” Owens gets everyone dancing right away. Terry Christofferson‘s steel guitar on “Together Again” is the song of weeping after a missing lover has returned after a long absence. “Love’s Gonna Live Here” is a toe-tapping, booty-shaking swinger.
Owens’ “Crying Time” is another classic and one that everyone can relate to at some time in their life. He knows the loneliness we’ve all known. Just when you’re feeling blue, he unleashes “Tiger By the Tail” to shake you out of it (and Jim Shaw‘s lively piano helps, too). “A-11” is a clever track that has Owens pleading with a stranger not to play a song on the jukebox that will remind him of the woman who left him.
“Hot Dog” epitomizes country swing. “Put a Quarter in the Jukebox” is both fun and sad at the same time, as many classic country songs are. “Memphis” is the first Chuck Berry cover in the performance, and it’s a dandy. As if one country legend tearing up the ACL stage wasn’t enough, Owens brings out Dwight Yoakam to perform “Under Your Spell Again” with him, and their vocal styles pair up perfectly with each other. “Johnny B. Goode” is the second Chuck Berry cover that closes out the show to a raucous crowd.
It’s a great recording, and it’s clear that Owens was having a great time throughout it.
Keep your mind open.
[Swing on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
Singer, guitarist, and folk music interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell shares two new songs, “Breast of Glass” and “Frolic,” from his forthcoming album, Good and Green Again, out January 21st on Paradise of Bachelors. Produced by James Elkington (Jeff Tweedy, Michael Chapman, Steve Gunn, etc.), Good and Green Again is Fussell’s most conceptually focused and breathtakingly rendered album to date, a transcendent place on a musical map of melancholy, quietude, and foot-stomping joy. Following previously released album opener “Love Farewell,” “Breast of Glass” features beautiful, sparse horn arrangements written by Fussell and Elkington and performed by Anna Jacobson. “Frolic,” one of the three airy instrumentals on Good and Green Again, punctuates the program, offering respite and light in the form of crisp, shuffling play-party tunes.
Fussell has distinguished himself as one of his generation’s preeminent interpreters of traditional (and not so traditional) “folk” songs, a practice which he approaches with a refreshingly unfussy lack of nostalgia and preciousness. By recontextualizing ancient vernacular songs and sources of the American South, he allows them to breathe and speak for themselves and for himself; he alternately inhabits them and allows them to inhabit him. In all his work, Fussell humanizes his material with his own profound curatorial and interpretive gifts, unmooring stories and melodies from their specific eras and origins and setting them adrift in our own waterways. The robust burr of his voice, which periodically melts and catches at a particularly tender turn of phrase, and the swung rhythmic undertow of exquisite, seemingly effortless guitar-playing pull new valences of meaning from ostensibly antique songs and subjects.
For Good and Green Again, Elkington and Fussell enlisted engineer Jason Richmond and a group of formidable players hailing from Durham, North Carolina (where Fussell lives) and elsewhere, including regular band members Casey Toll (Mt. Moriah, Nathan Bowles) on upright bass, Libby Rodenbough (Mipso) on strings, and Nathan Golub on pedal steel. They were joined by welcome newcomers Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone) on drums, Joseph Decosimo on fiddle, Anna Jacobson on brass, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, who contributes additional vocals.
Jake Xerxes Fussell Tour Dates (new dates in bold): Fri. Jan. 21 – Chapel Hill, NC @ The Nightlight Sat. Jan. 22 – Richmond, VA @ The Camel Sun. Jan. 23 – Washington, DC @ Pie Shop Tue. Jan. 25 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA Wed. Jan. 26 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Knitting Factory Thu. Jan. 27 – Boston, MA @ Club Passim Fri. Jan 28 – Keene, NH @ Nova Arts Sat. Jan. 29 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Caffe Lena Thu. Feb. 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gold Diggers * Sat. Feb 19 – Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop * Tue. Feb 22 – Portland, OR @ The Old Church * Sun. May 1 – Kilkenny, IE @ Kilkenny Roots Mon. May 2 – Kilkenny, IE @ Kilkenny Roots Tue. May 3 – Dublin, IE @ Bello Bar Wed. May 4 – Belfast, UK @ Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Fri. May 6 – Manchester, UK @ Gulliver’s Sat. May 7 – London, UK @ Oslo Sun. May 8 – Glasgow, UK @ Glad Cafe Mon. May 9 – York, UK @ Fulford Arms Wed. May 11 – Ultrecht, NL @ Tivoli (Club Nine) Fri. May 13 – Nijmegen, NL @ Merleyn Sat. May 14 – Cologne, DE @ King Georg Mon. May 16 – Hamburg, DE @ Aalhaus Tue. May 17 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Spanning several years in a little over two hours, the First Lady of Rockabilly collection of Wanda Jackson‘s material is a great compilation of her work and further cements her place in rock and music history as one of the premier voices to ever play the game.
Jackson’s influence on rock and country is massive, counting Jack White, The Cramps, and two Elvises – Presley and Costello – among her many devotees. Presley was also her paramour until he split to make movies in 1957.
The collection contains so many hits that I don’t envy whomever had to choose what to put in and what to leave out. “Let’s Have a Party,” her first big hit, was a no-brainer for inclusion, of course. “Fujiyama Mama” is a wild one about how much of a bad ass she is. “Funnel of Love” is another one of her biggest hits, and includes wild elements of exotica and monster surf rock. “Riot in Cell Block Number 9” is, if you ask me, a better tune than “Jailhouse Rock.”
“You Can’t Have My Love” is the first straight-up country track on the compilation (and her first single, which cracked the country charts Top 10 list in 1954), with Jackson strutting her stuff and shooting down a potential suitor who offers her silk and satin, but is soon frustrated by her ignoring him. “I Gotta Know” keeps up the country swing flair. “In the Middle of a Heartache,” a song she co-wrote, proves she had the vocal chops to compete with Patsy Cline when she wasn’t belting out risqué rockers.
“Right or Wrong (I’ll Be with You)” is another Jackson-penned country ballad. Jackson’s voice is so strong and fun that it’s sometimes easy to overlook how good of a songwriter she is. The compilation is loaded with songs she wrote or co-wrote, such as the not-so-subtly naughty “Savin’ My Love,” the sexy growler “Mean, Mean Man,” the swinging, floor-filler “Baby Loves Him,” the witty “Who Shot Sam?”, the solid hit “Rocky Your Baby,” and the slick as Bryl-Creem “Cool Love.”
“Hard-Headed Woman” includes a solo from legendary country performer / guitarist Roy Clark that will make your head spin. Her cover of Billy Crudup / Elvis Presley’s “My Baby Left Me” has extra bite to it considering Jackson’s relationship with the King of Rock and Roll. The drum beats on “Sticks and Stones” are hot as a griddle. Her covers of Neil Sedaka‘s “Fallin'” and “Stupid Cupid” are fun, hip-swaying rockers.
“There’s a Party Goin’ On” starts off the second half of the set with a great, rollicking floor stomper. “Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad” is a groovy story about Jackson having dalliances with other lovers to make her man appreciate him more – a story about FemDom when such a topic was taboo. Jackson’s vocals on “Cryin’ Thru the Night” would give Hank Williams a run for his money.
“It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” and “I’d Rather Have You” are lovely country ballads, and “Tears at the Grand Ole Opry” is a barely disguised tale of sexism at the iconic music venue. “Long Tall Sally” brings everyone to the dance floor and the collection closes with the appropriately titled “Man, We Had a Party.”
The whole collection is fun, and it works well as an introduction to Jackson’s work or as an addition to anyone’s collection of her records.
“I hang my coat on any old hook, but I prefer the second from the left,” Liam Kazar sings on the opening track of his fun, funky, and solid debut album Due North. The album mixes a lot of influences, sometimes sounding like a Warren Zevon album, other times like a Lindsey Buckingham or Joe Jackson record, but most of the time like Kazar’s groovy self. It’s the kind of album that makes you want to hang out with him for a night just to hear his stories.
That opener, “So Long Tomorrow,” blends Kazar’s rock guitar with a groovy bass line and his witty lyrics as he tells himself, and the rest of us, to stay in the present. “Old Enough for You” bumps and bubbles like a witch’s brew created in a disco, with Kazar singing about trying to be hip and refined in order to impress a potential lover. The sassy, swinging “Shoes Too Tight” was one of my favorite singles of 2020. The whole thing grooves in a way that is hard to describe and impossible to ignore.
“Nothing to You” mixes some alt-country twang into the record while Kazar sings about pining from afar for someone who barely knows he exists. “On a Spanish Dune” starts off like a sad synthwave track and then transforms into a meditation on the self. “Everybody’s asking me what I’m going to be. I couldn’t tell you if I tried. I’m just a poem with an open line,” Kazar sings – and sums up presence and ennui in two sentences.
“The clouds are coming over, but I shouldn’t be surprised,” Kazar sings on “Frank Bacon” – a snappy, slick track with some smooth guitar work from him and plenty of lyrics about realizing you have to play the hand you’re dealt and make the best of it. “I’ve Been Where You Are” has synthwave touches while Kazar let’s us know that he’s been in the same boat of the blues as we’ve all journey on from time to time.
The slightly countrified “No Time for Eternity” has some of Kazar’s best vocal work (with help from Andrew Sa). He keeps it simple, which gives it more impact. “Give My World” takes on a bluesy feel with its lyrics and guitar work, but then becomes something dreamy with the use of bird calls and psychedelic synths. “It seems I haven’t changed, half as much as I’ve let you down,” Kazar sings in a brutally honest self-appraisal. The synths turn into church organs on the closer, “Something Tender” – a song about realizing that enabling and embracing illusions, especially those in relationships, ultimately leads to misery.
Due North is a stunning debut, and easily one of the best debuts I’ve heard in a while and one of the best albums of the year. There’s nothing here you won’t like.
I did not expect my first live concert experience post-pandemic to be a show by rock legends ZZ Top, nor did I expect it to be at a county fairgrounds not even an hour’s drive from my house, but the pandemic taught us to expect the unexpected – so I should probably just shut up and get on with reviewing the fun show.
We got to the fair in plenty of time before the show. Our seats were folding chairs on the dirt track where the annual demolition derby is held, as well as other events. There’s also grandstand seating that was probably less crowded and and not muddy – as it had rained earlier that day.
It also rained again, to the point where the show had to be delayed an hour due to the deluge that hit the fair. ZZ Top, minus Dusty Hill, who was home in Texas recovering from a hip injury, took the stage “on time.” Hill was replaced on bass by one of their long-serving guitar techs, Elwood Francis, and he did a fine job. They opened with “Under Pressure,” which is even fuzzier live, rivaling Billy Gibbons‘ epic beard.
It’s sometimes easy to forget how good of a guitarist Gibbons is. He can play anything from blues to psychedelic rock to garage rock. Frank Beard still chops behind a massive drum kit that had an impressive amount of customization on it.
Another impressive thing was the production sound and quality of the show. ZZ Top has a top-notch crew. Most, if not all, of Gibbons’ guitar effects were done remotely off-stage by the crew of with this weird-looking thing on stage left.
Is it an effects pedal coyote?
The show was a “greatest hits” set that also included a fun version of Merle Travis‘ “Sixteen Tons.” The tour is their 50th anniversary tour, and “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” were, of course, big hits with the crowd. I’d hoped for “TV Dinners,” but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. They did break out the monster fur guitars, however.
It was a fun night, and Dusty Hill died just a few days later. Gibbons and Beard have stated they will continue touring and making music, as it was Hill’s wish that they would.
I’m not sure if Tim Heidecker is best known as a stand-up comic or a musician. I first heard of him when I heard his new record, Fear of Death. I then learned he’s also a stand-up comic, and I wasn’t surprised. The album’s themes of death, existential dread, ennui, and, yes, light found in darkness, are all prime subjects for comedians and Heidecker’s perceptive wit is on every track. Collaborating with members of Weyes Blood, The Lemon Twigs, and Spacebomb on the record doesn’t hurt either.
A classic country / Americana sound permeates the entire record. “Prelude to Feeling” opens the album with the instruction (or is it a warning) that “You’re about to feel.” It’s true. The record is one to make you think. “Come Away with Me” is a tale of Heidecker pleading to his lover (voiced by Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering, who provides dual and backing vocals throughout the record) to leave the hot and smelly city to live in the country with him. It’s a fun little rocker.
“Grass is gettin’ browner, trees are fallin’ in the heat…We’re movin’ backwards,” they sing on “Backwards” – a song about devolution and how we should be helping each other instead of leaving the planet a dried-out husk for those to come after us. Despite this grim outlook, the song is upbeat and full of great slide guitar.
The title track has the great line of “Fear of death is keeping me alive.” as garage-rock guitar bounces around in the background and Heidecker proclaims he’s done partying and growing. “I’m moving on, I’m getting out. I can’t take any more lies,” he sings on “Someone Who Can Handle You,” a heartbreaker in which Heidecker finally gives up on a relationship that has worn him down to the bone.
“Nothing” might be the most gothic song you hear this year as Heidecker and Mering sing about there being nothing but a black void after we shuffle off this mortal coil. Heidecker tries to juggle Hollywood bullcrap while thinking all the time that none of it matters in the end. “Say Yes” opens with a CCR-like groove and then melts into a psychedelic bit of great bedroom rock as Heidecker pleads with his lover to stay the night with him.
The big and bold, and funny, “Property” is a tale of how cemeteries will eventually be turned into rental properties, shopping malls, and golf courses, because the dead won’t mind and by then we, the living, won’t care about the dead anymore. “Little Lamb” is almost a lullaby over Heidecker claiming he’s moving on from a lover because he’s tired of being fawned over and needs the time alone.
His cover of “Let It Be” is an alt-country delight and a moment of calm introspection for Heidecker as he muses on his mortality. “Don’t want money, don’t want fame, don’t want to be a household name,” Heidecker claims, but quickly makes the disclaimer that he truly doesn’t want those things without love in a Jackson Browne-like toe-tapping rocker. Mering takes lead vocals on “Oh How We Drift Away,” a haunting. lush song about how even good friends can drift apart over time.
It’s a lovely record that shows how accomplished a performer Heidecker is and embraces not only mortality, but also the mortality of institutions. It’s an album about impermanence, which everyone needs to embrace sooner or later. Why not do it sooner and enjoy life in the present? Heidecker’s on board.
