rodney crowell is probably best known for his songwriting, having written hit songs for everyone from waylon jennings (‘i ain’t living long like this’) to bob seger (‘shame on the moon’), but he is a very talented musician as well. on his most recent release, he dives in to his rolodex and calls in some favors to flesh out a sort of tribute album to the state he was born and raised in, ‘texas’.

eleven songs about characters and regions of the lone star state, delivered in a wide range of musical styles. the guest list includes such luminaries as willie nelson, lyle lovett, billy gibbons, vince gill, lee ann womack, and ringo starr. he also shares some songwriting credits, most notably the late guy clark on ‘caw caw blues’. and mary karr (author of ‘liars’ club’) on ‘flatland hillbillies’. crowell says the inspiration for the album came about as the result of a twenty year conversation with steve earle.

crowell had written something called ‘brown and root, brown and root’, a song about a construction worker in the sixties. he had shared it with earle, and earle started playing it on tour. it was never recorded until now, and the rest of the songs just seemed to fall into place. a great introduction to his work, if you are not familiar with him.

i remember when my friend jimmy z and i first heard about tyler childers. we had headed down to mt. vernon to check out a small folk festival, with my primary goal being to meet nikki lane in person. that never happened (shocking, i know), but we did spend some time backstage with a band whose name escapes me now. they had played at another festival in kentucky the night before, and let us know that there was a kid down there that they guaranteed would be the next best thing. so i rattled the intertubes when i got back home, and found out that he had a new album out, so i bought it.

tyler childers’ 2017 breakout album was ‘purgatory’. i was quite in agreement with that band’s assessment of his talent. born in paintsville, kentucky, son of a strip miner, he had been busking around town and hitting the road a bit. his drummer made sure that sturgill simpson would be at one of the venues when they played nashville, and they hit it off. sturgill roped in johnny cash’s engineer david ferguson,  got a few bluegrass studio vets, and got at it. but that is all a background to tyler’s real talents – a gifted songwriter with a remarkable attention to detail, and a voice steeped in appalachia.

that album caught hold, jumped to number 17 on the country charts, and soon he was opening for john prine and margo price. he was named 2018 emerging artist of the year at the americana awards.

simpson and ferguson are back again for this one, and many of the same musicians. it is a collection of nine songs that he has road tested for a while now, and it solid from cover to cover. tyler had been listening to allen toussant’s ‘southern nights’ album from 1975, his tribute to his local creole evenings. tyler wanted to do the same style but set in kentucky. i was not aware of that album, but i am now.

tyler’s songs are mostly set in small towns and bars and backwoods, and many of the characters are struggling in some fashion. although once again these are bluegrass musicians, they sure don’t sound like that here. rather, they often sound like that ‘country band that plays for keeps’, down at the bar in town. i can’t say enough about this guy. please give him your ear.

oh, and his videos are quite interesting.

this is bruce’s first album in five years, and it has a sound like nothing else in his immense catalog. he is the first to acknowledge that he drew his inspiration from the ‘countrypolitan’ style of glen campbell and jimmy webb in the late sixties. the overall composition is a mixture of bruce’s typical characters and themes, embellished with a backdrop of music that evokes the expansiveness of the american west, and dressed up with lush strings in many parts.

the string arrangements can be a little over the top sometimes, but that is really my only cautionary advice when approaching this new output from him. the songwriting is right up there with some of his best, and his vocal delivery is still spot on, considering he is approaching 70 this fall.

maybe my favorite track is the shortest, and starkest. ‘somewhere north of nashville’ is a tale of a failed songwriter who wonders if all the sacrifices he made chasing his dream was really worth it. a realization of how quickly you can lose everything.

the title of ‘western stars’ is a phrase that comes from ‘ulysses’, a nineteenth century poem by lord tennyson that springsteen has drawn from before. the poem is narrated by a hero approaching old age, returning from a long journey only to realize he really rather prefers being on the road. and so he heads out one more time.

see you on the road, bruce.