Welcome
back to the CD Odyssey! This next album is one of the few I bought last year
without hearing it first. When Guy Clark’s writing the songs, it’s an easy chance
to take.
Disc 1386 is…. Guy
Artist:
Steve Earle &
the Dukes
Year of Release: 2019
What’s up with the
Cover? Another cover by Tony
Fitzpatrick. This one has a bird on it, which as we all know, makes all things better.
In fact, this is one of the best covers Tony Fitzpatrick has done for Earle.
This meant I disliked it a lot less than usual. Make no mistake, I still disliked
it. I just disliked it less.
How I Came To Know
It: I
had given up buying Steve Earle albums automatically a few years back, when I
felt his quality began to slip. However, Earle won me back here by doing a
cover album full of Guy Clark songs. I had loved “Townes,” Earle’s homage to Townes
Van Zandt, and I was expecting great things here as a result.
How It Stacks Up: I don’t think an album
full of cover songs should stack up against regular studio albums. It just
seems wrong. If I were to just stack it up against “Townes” it comes in a
distant second, though.
Ratings: 3 stars
Timing isn’t everything, but it does matter. Way back in 2009 when I
reviewed “Townes” (Disc 28) I had never heard of Townes Van Zandt. I’d
heard a couple of his songs along the way (“Pancho and Lefty” for
example) but I had no idea it was his song. So Steve Earle’s introduction to
his music was a revelation.
Fast forward ten years, and Earle does an album of Guy Clark songs, in honour
of Guy’s death three years earlier. The difference is that this time I was well-acquainted
with every one of them. This made me a lot more critical of Earle’s
interpretations. Sometimes he nails it, and sometimes I just hear the Clark
original in the background and wished that it was on instead.
That said, “Guy” is a solid record. Like “Townes” it is hard to go wrong
when your material comes from one of country music’s all-time great songwriters
and Steve Earle’s love for his old friend and mentor is evident throughout.
The best tunes are the ones that suit Earle’s temperament to begin with. Guy
and Steve are like your two favourite, but very different uncles. Guy Clark is
the uncle that grills up a mean hamburger at the family cookout, tells you vaguely
dirty jokes when your mom is still in earshot, and buys you a Swiss Army knife
when you’re still a couple years too young to play with one safely.
Steve Earle is the uncle that argues politics with his brother-in-law,
tells you stories about riding shotgun in a Humvee through Fallujah and how he
once saw one man stab another man in the parking lot of a Tijuana whorehouse.
Like I said, they’re both great uncles, just different.
I should note at this point that Townes Van Zandt is a third cool uncle
but doesn’t feature in this comparison; he got drunk at home and missed the
barbecue entirely. But I digress…
The point is that Earle is best doing Clark songs that are in his wheelhouse.
That tends to be the darker stuff, or the sad romantic tunes. “Desperadoes
Waiting for a Train” and “The Last Gunfighter Ballad” are both solid
tunes about broken down anti-heroes. Earle elevates them and makes them pulse
with heartache.
“That Old Time Feeling” takes full advantage of Earle’s classic
southern drawl, and sways in just the right time to make you want to circle
around the block if only to play it a second time. “Out in the Parking Lot”
has Earle delving back into the country-rock of his Copperhead Road days, which
works masterfully. Blasting out a nasty reverb guitar and singing about the
grimy activity that happens late at night in parking lots, Earle takes owns
every moment of this song.
When the songs really need Clark’s homespun happiness, Earle doesn’t
deliver at the same level. “Dublin Blues” is a Guy Clark classic, but
Earle’s version feels a bit rushed, and it takes away from the core of what makes
the song great; regret and reminiscence.
On “The Ballad of Laverne and Captain Flint” and “New Cut Road”
Earle and the Dukes decide to play loose and easy to create the down-home,
rustic quality. It isn’t that they’re out of time – the playing is impeccable –
but it is hard to match that easy, relaxed quality Guy Clark brought to certain
songs. Also, Earle slurs a little in the interests of being organic, and I wasn’t
digging it.
Finally, at 16 tracks and 60 minutes, the album is too long. I imagine it
is pretty hard to cut tracks when you’re playing covers of one of your idols
and closest friends, but that’s the task. Kill your darlings, Steve, or in this
case, kill Guy’s.
The album ends on a high note, with a delightful rendition of “Old
Friends” with Earle sharing the mic with a host of guest vocalists, including
Terry Allen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Rodney Crowell, Jo Harvey Allen and Emmylou
Harris. You can feel the love they all bring to the recently departed Clark,
who left a lasting impression on many lives with his music, including mine. If Earle’s
love-letter isn’t quite at the level he achieves on “Townes,” it doesn’t mean
there is any less love to be had here, and yeah, “Old Friends” tore me up a little.
I miss you too, Guy.
Best tracks: Desperados
Waiting for a Train, That Old Time Feeling, The Last Gunfighter Ballad, Out in
the Parking Lot, Old Friends
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