Album Review- Rodney Crowell- Airline Highway

I was born up in a home where country music was played often. There’s a few really good artists on country music radio these days but more often than not, I generally am not a fan. I was born as the era of Anne Murray, Crystal Gayle, Kenny Rogers and Conway Twitty gave over to Urban Cowboy. 

While that was the image of country I grew up with, I occasionally found some things I would like- for example, songs like Willie and Merle’s cover of Townes Van Zant’s “Pancho and Lefty” and of course, old Johnny Cash classics. 

Trends can only last so long and towards the end of 1987, the next big thing was something called neotraditional country and the biggest star was a guy named Randy Travis who sang songs like the last decades hadn’t really happened. It’s not that much different than the current era of country radio where years of lightweight party content has given to more serious fare. As with the current environment, it doesn’t mean that I like everything on the air, but as someone who prefers the singer-songwriter style, I can find a lot to like. 

I also can’t separate 1988 with it being a time that I would read copies of Country Music magazine from cover to cover at my Aunt’s house after school. Some of the biggest stars of the day were Rodney Crowell and Roseanne Cash- who were a real life couple. Their songs weren’t that much different than Mellencamp and Springsteen who would play on the pop and rock stations. Looking at a list of the # 1 country s in those years is revelatory. While I am not particularly a fan of all the bands of that time, it’s interesting that even some of the bigger bands of the day - the Judds, Keith Whitley, George Strait had similar neo traditionalist styles. Of course, Whitley and another huge star of the day- Ricky Skaggs came from a bluegrass background, having played together in Ralph Stanley's band. You had plenty of artists who were born out of either Bluegrass or Bakersfield- Dwight Yoakum, Kathy Mattea and the Chris Hillman-led Desert Rose band all took the top spot at some point in those years as did some old timers like Vern Gosdin, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson who had # 1s I would turn to the back of the magazine and a lot of times in those days, near the top was a band called Shenandoah- a band that mixed country with gospel and bluegrass. They would have four # 1 country songs in those two years and a few years later, would record a collaboration with Allison Krauss which would be her chart debut. You rarely hear about the band nowadays. (As I write this, they have just announced a new recording of their biggest hit "The Church on Chamberlain Road" with Nickelback to introduce it to a new generation). 

I would say there’s two things to bear in mind. One is the fact that I am nostalgic for the music of my early teens, which is no revelation. That’s going to pretty typical of everyone on the planet. Secondly, despite the influences and a handful of truly great songs, most of the country songs of this time suffer from what I call sterile production. My preferences were always going to be rock and pop. But I did particularly like Crowell and Cash. Crowell’s album Diamonds and Dirt had five # 1 country songs - the first album to achieve that. Songs like “I Couldn’t Leave You if I Tried” and “Above and Beyond (the Call of Love)” weren’t all that dissimilar from what Mellencamp or Steve Earle (who had jumped from country charts to a rock audience) were doing. 

Although Crowell wrote many famous country songs, his chart career was as red hot as it ever was, but his time at the top ended up being short lived (he would touch the Top 20 with 4 more songs between 1990 and 1992 but no more chart toppers) Roseanne Cash’s biggest hit was “Tennessee Flat Top Box”, a cover of a song her Dad had once did. Cash was already an established star with crossover appeal but here she was with a truly all time great song. I remember it getting some play on pop/rock stations. I had a hard time finding where it landed on the Billboard 100 but I found a mention that it only reached # 84. She had 5 Country # 1s between 1987 and 1989 (and was on one of Crowell’s # 1 as a duet if you want to say 6) Yoakum made a big impression too. He was not quite as dominant on the charts, but a big enough star that he had two number ones in 1989 and had seven other Top 10 country hits from 1986-9 including the title track of his breakout album “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc…”. Earle had a lesser amount of chart success (seven Top 40 Country hits in 86-89) but was getting plenty of buzz. His 1988 album Copperhead Road was notable for him changing from country to rock. Even if it didn’t get a ton of airplay (it did manage to find a spot on the mainstream rock chart) somehow everyone knew the title track and it had become one of the most iconic country songs of all time. It regularly is listed as one of the most played songs on jukeboxes year after year and it is now the current song used in Chevrolet ads. Earle would have one last country chart hit in 1989. His cover of “Six Days on the Road” reached # 30 as part of the Planes, Trains and Automobiles soundtrack. 

As with any genre, the influence remains, but the industry looks to find a way of bending the sound to something that will increase sales. Starring in December of 1989, you have the first # 1s from Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt and Clint Black. 1991 brought Alan Jackson and of course by 1992 it was time for Billy Ray Cyrus. I still heard plenty of country radio riding in a car with my father but hardly any songs I liked. Earle got into trouble but reemerged with a string of albums that didn’t care about pop charts and were as good (maybe even better) than his previous albums. Yoakum stayed on the charts, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, who had emerged with a couple of top 20 songs in 1989 would find a niche for a few years as folk influenced country music. But these were now the exceptions. You could occasionally find something exciting that might show up on CMT. In 1996, the Western swing influenced BR549 would hit # 44 on the country charts with “Cherokee Boogie” and bluegrass legends Del McCoury Band would get some occasional video airplay with “My Love Will Not Change” in 2003 but it would take another couple of decades to again find some interesting music on country radio. 

In 1989, I might have considered Crowell, Cash, Yoakum or Earle my favorite country artist depending on the day. But after the mid 90s, the only one I followed consistently was Earle I hadn’t really given Crowell any thought until in 2019, Uncut magazine named his Texas album one of its best of the month. There’s a point in an artist’s career that the record company thinks the best bet is to surround the aging star with talented guests. This, Texas also features Earle, Ringo Starr, Billy Gibbons, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett, and Lee Ann Womack. Texas was a great album though. Crowell still had the songwriting chops and so the pattern would repeat. 

2021s Triage took a direction without the A List guests and the songs gathered more around the themes of mortality, faith and love. Texas was a very good record. Triage was even better. I dig a bit deeper in Crowell’s 21st century catalog but it’s pretty hefty. 2001s The Houston Kid and 2017s Close Ties have been a nice discovery but there is still a lot more to dig into 2023 saw Crowell teaming up with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco as producer. Pulling out more of a blues influenced and late 70s country sound, it’s not a bad album, but I don’t rate it as high as his other records, and I doubt I will revisit it anytime soon. 

2025s Airline Highway sees Crowell match up with a producer and fan who I think has a great ear for his work in Tyler Bryant (of Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown). The band is top notch - guitarist Dave Grissom (John Mellencamp, Joe Eli, James McMurtry), keyboardist Catherine Marx (Willie Nelson) Drummer Conrad Choucroun (NRBQ, Bob Schneider) Grammy winner Accordion player Dirk Powell (Joan Baez, the Ranconteurs) and violinist Eleanor Denig (Eric Church, Margo Price, Old 97s). The guest list is a perfect complement of rising alt country stars who fit Crowell’s sound- Bryant, Lukas Nelson, Larkin Poe, Ashley McBryde and Blackberry Smoke guitarist Charlie Starr. The songs feel like classic Crowell with “Rainy Days in California” showing that pop sensibility, “Maybe Someday Down the Road” is the whisper/sung reflective narrative and “The Twenty One Song Salute” the nostalgic celebration. In the case of the latter, he’s made it a dedication to GG Shinn- a legendary swamp pop musician who led the Boogie Kings during a decades long career- and Cleoma Falcon- one of the first musicians to record Cajun music and a trailblazer being one of the few women to perform live music onstage in the 1920s and 1930s. 

Airline Highway is a strong album that catches Crowell’s spirit. I still picture him as the guy on the Diamonds and Dirt album, but these days he is the elder legend. It’s hard to say this is better than Triage or Close Ties. Crowell has been so consistent so the idea of “star with one last great album in him” is not really applicable here, if otherwise it would have been true. But this is a great one and hopefully finds its way to a lot of peoples’ ears

Album Review- (The London) Suede- Antidepressants

I was a huge fan of the band Suede (who were forced into the moniker the London Suede in the US). They were one of my favorite bands of the 90s. Suede were a big deal in the UK, so their career in the US is overshadowed by the fact they could not make the same impact here. Though Britpop in general had only a mild effect on charts here, bands like Oasis, Elastica and the Verve did become household names. 

With hindsight, 1993s self titled debut album was a bigger cultural shock than we probably give it credit for. Even Blur ended up with a radio hit, but Suede remained outside looking in. But their was a lot of buzz around the first album, even some MTV airplay and it seemed that everyone who needed to know, knew. Most bands would be jealous of that kind of success. At the time though, it seemed they were one and done. 

I saw them in 1994 and they were playing a fairly small venue. No surprise with returns like that they gave up conquering the US so easily. Even then, Dog Man Star, the second album, is in my mind, a masterpiece. Much loved by the UK press, you never hear about it on this side of the Atlantic. Unlike the glam stomp of the debut, It was overdramatic and overblown in all the best ways. It also caused a lot of problems with the band, with guitarist Bernard Butler leaving the band before the album was finalized and released. Richard Oakes and Neil Codling joined the band then in Butler's stead. Oakes took the reins as lead guitarist and Codling as keyboardist, with both taking over most of the songwriting (usually in combinations of Anderson/Oakes, Anderson/Codling or Codling and Anderson individually). 

1996s Coming Up is focused on three and a half minute radio ready singles. In my mind it’s overshadowed by the brilliance of the predecessor but it’s still a very good record. 1999s Head Music is in “difficult fourth album” territory, made tougher as Suede had also cranked out two additional albums worth of material in B-sides and non album tracks. It’s a pretty good album even if it didn’t quite match previous heights. It took me awhile to find a copy of 2002s New Morning- the final album in the first chapter of the band. I find it quite uninspired though Allmusic gives it a generally positive review. Suede would break up but reunite a decade later. 

They have now equaled the original iteration’s output - five albums in nine years. Suede’s reunion albums have got plenty of positive reviews and yet in a lot of ways, I found the “second act” a pale imitation of the original. Of these albums, I generally only rate the second (2016s Night Thoughts) highly which is also probably the closest they have gotten to returning to the sound of Dog Man Star.

2025s Antidepressants may be the most well received album of their post reunion years. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. The joke has always been that Suede was too indebted to Bowie and specifically Ziggy Stardust. There’s not been a lot of diversity in their sound since Headmusic and perhaps they have decided that they aren’t going to venture far away from what their fans want. But Antidepressants does feel like Coming Up. Every song has that radio single three and a half minute feel. It’s hard to say why it works so well. Ed Buller is the producer again after the band opted for Alan Moulder on their last album. That’s probably a good thing as he helmed the band’s first three albums, and really has an ear for them. The songs feel like they are made to be played live. The previous album’s orchestral accompaniment is gone. Brett Anderson has made a big deal about the band being a forward looking concern and not Oasis style nostalgia. 

With bands like The Cure and Pulp capturing a bit of their old lighting in a bottle. Producer Buller and songwriters Anderson, Oakes and Codling (the three credited together on many songs) have managed to do a bit of that themselves.

Album Review- Jim Bob- Stick

On August 22, Jim Bob released his 13th and 14th albums on the same day- Automatic and Stick. While this is a basic generalization, Automatic is in the mold of his last three albums- a series of narratives from everyday life in which Jim Bob can skewer society when it needs it and compliment the positive aspects we need to hear too. But Stick is a louder, noisier affair that is closer to the albums he made 30-some years ago as part of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. 

Songs like “Art” and “Last Day of the Tour” are pure glam rock stomp a la Slade and the Sweet and not altogether that much different from Carter USM’s 1991 album 30Something. 

Closer "There’s Not Enough Space in the Hall" brings the proceedings to a close with an (almost) life affirming singalong with a reference to Amazon Alexa thrown in (it’s Jim Bob after all). Opener “A Song by Me” is an expletive filled statement that would have opened a Carter album with the band in “power trio” mode. A song like “What a Sh*tshow” wouldn’t fit on Automatic lyrically or even musically (its melody similar to a punk reading of “I Had too Much to Dream Last Night” but we are better for having it. 

While Carter USM were one of my favorite bands of that era, they probably weren’t in my top five favorites. But as implausible as it seems, Jim Bob has been honing his craft. I would put him up against any songwriter today, and Stick is kind of the fun punky record but the lyrics are solid too. On Bandcamp, Jim Bob says ‘Automatic’ and ‘Stick’ are both the greatest album (sic) Jim Bob has ever made. He might not be wrong.

Album Review- Jim Bob- Stick

In the early 1990s, Carter USM rode a wave of indie rock that incorporated dance, hip hop and punk.

The band hit their peak in 1992- going to # 1 on the UK Album charts and their biggest success in the US with 1992:The Love Album.

Though the music of that time has faded largely from memory, 1992: The Love Album is an all time favorite of mine. Critics will occasionally bring up the band that form forgot. Carter threw puns about while making wry observations about the mundane day to day or sneaking in social criticism into catchy pop songs. The band had Ian Dury show up for a cameo, and though it may have seemed an unusual pairing at the time, there was definitely a linear path from Dury to Carter’s lyricist “Jim Bob”. 

Although it felt trendy at the time, the music from the era didn’t age well. Now if doesn’t help to name your band “the Unstoppable Sex Machine” or have unconventional hairstyles or have the guitarist name himself Fruitbat. But none of these bands get much praise anymore. In the US, the most successful band in this genre and time was Jesus Jones. Even with their massive success, you never hear anything about them. 

I often hear among those friends around 50 years of age who much they loved Ned’s Atomic Dustbin but between Britpop and Grunge, it seems like this music was just a short lived fad. Jim Bob didn’t stop when Carter broke up in 1998. He wrote an autobiography and then became a novelist. From 2003 to 2016, he released 7 albums. But it was 2020s Pop Up that brought him back to attention, breaking back onto the UK Album charts. It was also the first time I had heard his solo music (and indeed, the first I had given him some thought in some time). 

 That album Pop Up, 2021s Who Do We Hate Today and 2023s Thanks for Reaching Out were revelations. Each record took personal narratives to make comment on the current world- whether it be toxic masculinity, cancel culture, gun violence or any number of other topics. For my money, I am not sure there’s a better songwriter with that much quality output in that time frame. My expectation would have been that after being so prolific, the quality would go down or the artist burn himself out. So I was shocked when JimBob approached 2025 by releasing two albums on the same day. More shocking is that they seem to be both quality.

Today, I am going to focus on Automatic. The other album Stick is a noisier affair that recalls the Carter USM days, but Automatic is very much in the vein of the three previous albums and is recorded with the same backing band. On lead single “Danny From Nowhere”, he sings “I have broken a promise that I made to myself I’d never write another one of these songs” But he has and he has done another album of them. Whether the lyric is true or artistic license Automatic follows the template and showcases his narratives of common people and their hobbies and worries whether it be drones, knitting or mortgage. There are everyday villains and everyday heroes. There are also killer one liners like “wars don’t end/just like Boy Bands they just go on hiatus”. As good as his recent run is, the album unexpectedly may be the best one of his solo run yet. “Danny” is the single and it’s fantastic but my favorite song on the album is “Can you hear us at the back of the room”. At its heart, a riposte to people who complain about new music being derivative, but is a celebration of a lot of bands that influenced Jim. 

There’s still no one quite like Jim Bob. Half Man Half Biscuit come to mind but they seem to come at things slightly different. There’s a bit of “how the hell do I categorize this” in that way you might say the same thing about The Divine Comedy or The Wedding Present or Gorkys Zygotic Mynci. While Jim Bob says Automatic was originally planned as B-sides for his other album (an idea he quickly gave up deciding on two records) it is really one of my favorite records of the year and proof that Jim Bob is one of the planet’s underappreciated artistic geniuses.

Album Review -Cody Jinks- In The Blood

I find Cody Jinks one of the more interesting artists in music right now. 

He broke through about a decade ago at the forefront of a new generation of Outlaw Country. No surprise that Jinks (like Hank Williams 3) came out of metal first. This new breed looked upon Johnny Cash as their hero, but superimposing what they thought he should be- a bit of Bon Scott and a bit of Lemmy, or had come to Ronnie Van Zant via James Hetfield. 

This was the direct descendant of Copperhead Road- bluegrass at the crossroads with heavy metal. When Jinks started making this music, mainstream country music was transitioning from a Fleetwood Mac/Eagles and Kenny Chesney’s Jimmy Buffet influence to a party style that was strongly influenced by early 00s hip hop (Nelly and Florida Georgia Line had one of the biggest country collaboration hits of 2020). 

But the current country music landscape has switched to a more serious introspective vibe. While critics generally don’t like Morgan Wallen and Jelly Roll, their style is build off this vibe, and all across the charts - Zach Top, Cody Johnson, and Lainey Wilson among many others. It’s hard not to think that if Jinks had played the major label game, he could have cashed in. That said (like Charlie Crockett who comes to the genre with a slightly different approach), Jinks probably isn’t too disappointed. He’s filling larger size venues while making the music he wants. At the end of the day, this is probably his ideal outcome. Heck, his song “Loud and Heavy” is (along with Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”) one of the top walk up songs in Major League Baseball.

 Armchair critics can find plenty to complain about - Jinks has been over prolific at times, the production quality has sounded DIY, etc But 2025s In My Blood sounds like the kind of album you would want him to make. It is very much in the vein of 2024s Change the Game. Produced by long time bassist, collaborator and producer Joshua Thompson along with engineer Charles Godfrey (Dropkick Murphys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Swans) it provides an accessible starting point for new fans, while generally providing the kind of front to back listen to satisfy most long time fans. There is a guest spot from Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke who if you don’t know, play blues influenced Southern Rock. That style mix would seem a good fit for Jinks fans. 

That 2024 album introduced Jinks as a newly sober troubadour who was looking inward like a late era country star might have done. Those themes run through here as well. That said, it’s not like his MO has changed that much - Hank Williams and David Allen Coe get namedropped, the rock songs rock and the country ballads could fill an arena. It’s drawn from the crossover radio appeal of Hank Williams Jr and Travis Tritt just as much as it is from the outlaw feel of Merle and Waylon, but it also reflects the more modern mindset of Tyler Childers or Colter Wall. 

Which means this won’t change anyone’s opinion - songs like Lost Highway will scratch the itch for renegade country and closer When Time Doesn’t Fly could for seamlessly on country radio. But most songs like Monster and Found ride both sides of that. Which is the genius of Cody Jinks. Chris Stapleton may be the only artist that fits the tightrope of country radio and serious songwriting. 

For example, Jason Isbell would sound out of place on country radio (even though his songs when sung by others have become hits) and Blake Shelton is never going to be taken seriously by critics, despite his booming voice. In-between lies Jinks. 

There will be some people who will never be satisfied (chasing the fresh sound of 2015s breakout album The Adobe Sessions) but for most fans, it’s a solid set of songs from a now well established artist.