Album Review- Murry Hammond- Trail Songs of the Deep

The Old 97s popped up with their break through album Wreck Your Life in 1995. The same year that gave us Wilco’s AM, the Jayhawks Tomorrow the Green Grass and Son Volt’s Trace (if any year could be called ground zero for Americana, it’s a good one with even established artists releasing well loved folk tinged albums that year - Springsteen, Earle, Emmylou, Prine,Hiatt) 

While the Old 97s didn’t get as much attention at the time, it would be less than a decade before they were at the forefront of their genre. Decades later, they are an alt country institution. The band is the rare one where it has kept its original members. Lead singer Rhett Miller is the face of the band. That isn’t a surprise. He’s had a concurrent solo career with nine albums. But Rhett ISN’T the Old 97s. There’s some proof in his solo career which is a bit more pop than the band’s output. 

If you have seen the band in concert, a highlight has been guitarist Ken Bethea’s verbal asides. Bethea is a great compliment to Miller, a Peter Buck to Miller’s Stipe. Drummer Philip Peeples hardly gets any press but is a fantastic stickman giving that country punk beat. Like REM or U2, it’s apparent that every member is important. I hate to belabor the REM comparison but bassist Murry Hammond is a bit similar to Mike Mills in many ways. A solid bassist with beautiful vocal talents who doesn’t look like a rock star On the band’s first run through 2008s Blame it on Gravity, the band usually gave Murry two songs on each album to write and sing, including the band’s classic “W Texas Teardrops”. He contributed two songs to 2020s Twelfth as well.

Hammond is perfect in that role as second vocalist, in the way Steve Diggle was a great counterpart to Pete Shelley, or Grant Hart to Bob Mould. 

Trail Songs of the Deep isn’t Hammond’s first solo album (He released his debut in 2008) but this may be his first high profile one. Unlike Miller’s albums, this isn’t an album to listen to once and make a decision. It’s laidback and a bit melancholy. 

Opening track “3:10 to Liverpool” shouldn’t be surprising but Murry is more spaghetti western than his band ever gets to be. Its references are probably more artists like the Derailers and Charley Crockett (who also shares producer Mark Neil). The title of that track gives you in a sentence the genesis of the sound that the band Hammond created- a bit of Beatles, a bit of American West cool.

In fact, there’s a bit of “country noir” vibe. It doesn’t really sound like Calexico but you could describe the music the same way. There’s a little bit of the same vibe of David Olney, especially his last album- the Goth tinged Whispers and Sighs -or the likes of Jim White who has done quite well in the genre. It might not be for everyone but give a chance and you might find a nice under the radar record for alt country fans.

My experience was that if didn’t grab me at first, but it will go down as one of my favorite albums of the year, once I realized it was a slightly different vibe than Old 97s or Rhett Miller.