Cowboy, Make Me Cry

Gene Watson - Still They Call Me Love (mp3)(buy)

"The truth," Gene Watson (myspace) sings on the title track of his latest record, "don't satisfy me like I thought it would."  This is country music, so he elaborates upon a metaphor until it's overstuffed:  "In fact, it leaves me hollow, with a bad taste in my mouth, it's hard for me to swallow, tears won't wash it down."  Happy Thanksgiving.

A Taste of the Truth turns out to be, by design or happenstance, a testament to the power of denial and a celebration of country music's role in serving that power.  In "It's My Lie," the narrator sacrifices his f in favor of a radical reinterpretation of evidence his spouse has left him; "in this empty house tonight, there ain't no room for the truth."  He'll hide out in old songs - "Three Minutes at a Time" ("I drop a quarter in the jukebox and for a while you're still mine," "It's heartache in rhyme, but it helps me hang on") - and crave new ways to live in the past ("'Til a Better Memory Comes Along").  It's his duty to keep miserable:  "Staying Together" is a duet celebrating a commitment to loveless marriage; in "We've Got a Pulse," a rousing country-ain't-dead anthem, Watson declares that "Just as long as I'm alive, there'll be songs about grieving."

The album's unassuming presence and direct delivery make Truth hurt.  Watson's got guest stars -- Alison Krauss, Trace Adkins, Rhonda Vincent -- but nothing to distract from his own earnestness.  The production can sound rinky-dink or cornball ("Pulse" pauses for a heartbeat sound effect), the CD cover almost screams "Not Available in Stores" (it is available in stores), and that almost helps.  There's just enough self-awareness to make the self-delusion devastating; wrapping the record on "I Know an Ending" both seems simple logic and a way out of the escapism.

"Still They Call Me Love" -- recorded previously, just last year, by Ken Mellons -- is surface-silly.  Love, the emotion, is sucking up adulation and chiding its victims.  Shove that aside and see it instead, in its place here, as country's "I Write the Songs."  "I make people... cry like little babies, I just watch and smile, I make 'em all unhappy, still they can't get enough.  You'd think that they would hate me, but..."

You can stream the full album here, buy it here.

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Surprise, rare Magneta Lane tour!  They (well, 2/3rds of them, plus guest bassist) have been added to Sloan's upcoming dates in the Northeast and Midwest US and Western Canada.  They'll be at Maxwell's in Hoboken on November 30th (tix) and Brooklyn's Bell House December 4th (tix).  Other dates are on their myspace. 

You still can't buy the band's very good new record from their label -- hopefully they will have piles of copies in the merch booth.  Go there and get yourself one and make yourself happy.

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Fela! is now on Broadway, and even though Broadway is usually only for tourists and old people, too many people are saying too many good things about this one for you to wait until you age or move away.  Antibalas has released a coupon code so that you don't have to wait until you're wealthy, either.

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James Brown, Live in Kinshasa, 1974.  Merle Haggard & The Strangers, Live at Opryland, 1981.

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Sticky .

tags: gene watson  magneta lane  

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