Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

Worth the Wait: Marty Brown’s “American Highway” (CD Review)

When I bought Marty Brown’s fourth album Here’s to the Honky Tonks when it was released in 1996, little did I know I would have to wait more than twenty years for a new official release from a record company. Since I lamented his disappearance from the national music scene on Chimesfreedom in a 2011 article, Brown has returned to the national scene in a number of ways, including a successful run on America’s Got Talent in 2013. And now, after the release of some outstanding independent releases in the last several years, he has a wonderful new full album, American Highway (2019). The album features a range of music styles and includes several immediate classics.

The album, released by Plowboy Records, features ten songs Brown co-wrote with Jon Tiven (including one with Marty Brown Jr.). Tiven also co-produced the album. Although Brown is probably best known for traditional country songs, here he shows off his vocal and songwriting strengths with a range of styles. While his voice always adds a country touch, on this album Brown croons, he rocks, he inspires, he breaks your heart, he shakes, he gets the blues, and he shows he knows his way around a catchy pop song.

Marty Brown Rocks

The album includes tracks that are perfect for a live show. One may imagine Brown closing a performance with a couple of the rockers, which include “I’m On a Roll (Better Than It’s Ever Been),” “Shaking All Over the World,” and “Right Out of Left Field.” The latter song even ends with Brown saying, “Don’t forget to turn out the lights” over a driving guitar, leading one to imagine him walking offstage. Throw in “When the Blues Come Around” as an encore, and you can practically see the lighters and cell phone lights swaying in the crowd.

These are all solid songs. “Shaking All Over the World” and its “Na-na-na na’s” sounds like it could have been on a Bruce Springsteen album. “I’m On a Roll,” co-written with Tiven and Marty Brown Jr., further shows Brown’s songwriting skills run in the family.

The talking blues “Casino Winebego” tells a fun story with a great groove. The first single, “Umbrella Lovers,” is a sweet love song inspired by when Brown got caught in the rain with his wife Shellie while they were in New York City.

The opening title track “American Highway” aims to be an anthem with a catchy chorus. One reviewer, who loves the album, has complained that this song’s cliches and flag-waving are “lazy.” Inspired by the highway near where Brown lives, a song with “America” in its title in 2019 creates certain expectations. So I can see a fan wishing that this song included additional verses to encompass a broader portrait of the country. But I still find myself singing along.

Three Instant Classics

“Kentucky Blues” is an immediate country classic. It is a beautiful song about heartbreak: “My baby’s gone and I’m all alone / I’ve got those Kentucky blues.” Select this one on the jukebox and it would make George Jones cry in his beer (as well as want to record the song). Perfect.

The album ends with two songs with great pop-country hooks that show off Brown’s talented singing voice at its best. “Velvet Chains” is a beautiful lament of one leaving his lover behind.

Brown’s songwriting often justifies comparisons to another talented songwriter who knew his way around a catchy hook, John Denver. Here, one may see Denver’s influence on the thematic elements of “Velvet Chains,” inviting comparisons to Denver’s “Leaving On a Jet Plane” (and perhaps some connection in the title to Denver’s “I’d Rather Be a Cowboy (Lady’s Chains)”).

And then there is “Mona Lisa Smiles.” After repeated listening of the album, I have fallen for this song.

“Mona Lisa Smiles” is a beautiful song about changing times, mortality, and the persistence of art. Recounting the temporary nature of our lives and everything in it, the singer reminds us, “Still, through it all/ From her frame on the wall/ Mona Lisa Smiles.”

When the strings back up Brown’s powerful voice, you know that like Mona Lisa, he is a survivor. Black Francis (former frontman of the Pixies and who many years ago recorded a fantastic duet with Brown) also provides backing vocals. This one is a fantastic song and recording.

Marty Brown Perseveres

Overall, American Highway is a great return to form and a worthwhile addition to Brown’s other classic albums. If I had one complaint, it would be that the album only has ten songs, especially considering Brown has many great songs that have yet to appear on an album. Among that group, he has a number of songs I consider to be among the greatest country songs of the last thirty years, including “Leaving Side of Me,” “The Devil Was an Angel Too,” and “My Love Will Follow You.” Another great song, “Whatever Makes You Smile,” did appear on Brown’s excellent privately released album, Country Strong in 2013.

That is a small quibble, and I realize that there may be legal rights issues to these unreleased songs. But I want more, and I want the world to hear more. The more Marty Brown music in the world, the better.

The music industry has changed drastically since Brown’s 1990s albums. When Brown last released an album through a record label, you could easily go to a record store and buy the CD. And many artists could make a living selling records. Neither is true today.

In today’s streaming and digital world, albums play a different role in an artist’s career. But we are lucky that Brown survived to provide his fans with another outstanding album and that he continues to perform.

His art lives on. And Marty Brown makes us smile.

What do you think of American Highway? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Marty Brown: “American Highway”
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  • Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Opens Exhibit on Marty Brown
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    Matthew Ryan Finds Beauty Within Our National Affliction: “On Our Death Day”

    Matthew Ryan On Our Death Day

    Matthew Ryan has released a new single, “On Our Death Day.” The song, in the form of a “maxi-single,” arrives now without an album because Ryan felt an urgency to release it. It’s a song about our national moment, timely yet timeless, trying to find some sanity and hope in spite of what is coming out of Washington.

    In October 2016, Ryan put music to the pre-election mood with his instrumental album, Current Events. Part of the purpose of that album was to create a soundtrack for information overload and the troubles of the times. With these new singles, he wrestles with the the post-election situation through his lyrics.

    On Our Death Day

    Although “On Our Death Day” comes out of our current political moment, the song is not political in the sense of a call to arms or of being in the voice of an activist. Instead, the singer asks timeless questions. The voice comes from someone troubled by our world. And the person could be someone who voted for our current president, or not.

    The singer asks these questions of someone named Mary. The context leads one to imagine the conversation taking place between a man and his beloved. Perhaps they are an older couple in Ryan’s home state of Pennsylvania. Maybe they are farmers in the Midwest, or they could be anywhere in the country. (Or one could find the singer’s appeal going to a more spiritual place in light of the woman’s name.)

    There are no accusations here, and Ryan has called “On Our Death Day” a love song. The opening verse ponders how we got to this moment in our lives. The singer understands the unhappiness that brought the current occupant to the White House. When those in the city and in the country are hurting, they look for answers: “You’ll start looking where you hurt.”

    There is understanding, not blame, for those who opened the door. But it is clear who is the target of the second verse.

    There’s a vulture with his head down,

    The captain’s butchering Gunga Din;

    He calls for darkness and darkness comes;

    Our fellow slaves invite it in.

    Yet this darkness, this person, this situation, is not really as new to the world as one might think. This same darkness is “in every book ever written.”

    It would be easy to find despair in this darkness. But the singer reassures us that when all hope is gone, “all that’s left is hope.” In the chorus, he asks Mary if it is too late or if they will still have each other. Maybe it is love that gets us through. “Will you be standing / Under a black and silver sky / By my side, / By the graves,/ On our death day?

    The song’s title referring to “our death day” may lead one to expect a dark song. But Ryan explained to Chimesfreedom that “a death can also be the end of an idea.” In fact, he explained, the song is looking for “context and redemption, and above all, a way out.”

    It is not surprising that Ryan feels a special connection to this song. Many artists have avoided the challenge of the current political situation, perhaps hoping for additional clarity with more time. Some, like Son Volt, have released an album trying to sort through current events. Others have found mostly rage. With the new single, Ryan felt compelled to dig deeper, seeking his way around to find hope and love as ways to lead all of us out of this mess.

    And It’s Such a Drag

    For the B-side to “On Our Death Day” Ryan reworked his song “And It’s Such a Drag.” The song originally appeared in a quieter form on his album In the Dusk of Everything (2012). On the new amped-up version, Ryan is joined by Doug Lancio (guitar), Aaron “The A-Train” Smith (drums), and Kelley Looney (bass). This group provides great energy to the song. We hope there might be an album with this lineup in the future.

    Ryan explained that he included “And It’s Such a Drag” with “On Our Death Day” because the B-side is about “an intimate confrontation with a narcissist.” One should be troubled by how a song originally written about a broken relationship can work so well as a commentary on our president.

    But it is the perfect B-side for “On Our Death Day.” While the A-side is about quiet redemption, the B-side’s rock sound lets out a little anger. Sometimes you need to vent before you can get around to peace and understanding.

    In this context, I imagine “And It’s Such a Drag” being in the voice of a disillusioned Trump supporter, or really any American voter: “Who loves you/ More than me/ Who gave you/ All that he had.” Then, the realization that this president (lover) does not care: “And you talk about me/ Like I was just another one of your deals.” The more I listen to this song, the more I think it is about this moment right now, even though Ryan wrote it years ago. Crank it up loud.

    A Leonard Cohen Cover Bonus Track

    Finally, the digital version of Ryan’s “maxi-single” release includes a bonus song. Ryan covers Leonard Cohen’s song “Steer Your Way.” The tune originally appeared on Cohen’s haunting final album recorded while he was in declining health, You Want it Darker (2016). Ryan had recorded the song for a Cohen-tribute vinyl album after the 2016 election, Like a Drunk In A Midnight Choir. It is a nice addition here as a bonus track.


    Cohen’s song, in the voice of one nearing the end of life, coaxes us to review our own choices and our lives. The singer advises, “Steer your heart past the Truth you believed in yesterday.” Again, I find in this song Ryan’s compassion for people who are open to growth and to changing their minds.

    Ryan has disclosed that Cohen’s song helped steer him back toward hope. He adds that the lyrics to “Steer Your Way” say “so clearly what needs to be said right now.”

    In releasing these three recordings together now, Ryan explained, “Each of us should do what we can to offer intelligence and beauty and conscience in contrast to this stormy weather.” With beauty, grace, contemplation, compassion, and poetry, Ryan has lived up to his end of the bargain.

    Of course, those are just my impressions of the songs. You may find something different in them. To purchase “On Our Death Day” on vinyl with “And It’s Such a Drag” or as a digital maxi-single with the bonus Leonard Cohen song, head over to Matthew Ryan’s website or his Bandcamp page.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Trini Lopez: Hammerin’ Out Danger

    Singer-actor Trini Lopez was born in Dallas on May 15, 1937. At the age of 26, he had his first hit recording with “If I Had a Hammer.”

    Lopez’s released a live album as his first record, Trini Lopez at PJ’s, in 1963. That album featured his live version of “If I Had a Hammer” that became a hit song for him.

    Although the song seems timeless, Pete Seeger and Lee Hays wrote “If I Had a Hammer” in 1949 and first recorded it in 1950 as “The Hammer Song” with The Weavers. I believe the first time I heard the song was in the version by Peter, Paul & Mary. They had a top ten hit with the song in 1962, one year before Lopez’s release.

    Other artists continued to record the anthem, even immediately after the hit versions by Lopez and Peter, Paul and Mary. For example, Sam Cooke featured a live version of the song on his 1964 album Sam Cooke at the Copa. And Martha and the Vandellas included their version on the 1963 album Heat Wave.

    There is something about the song about the hammer. It reminds me of “The Riddle Song (I Gave My Love a Cherry)” where the final verse of the songs answers the riddles about the cherry, the ring, the chicken, and the baby. Perhaps the way “If I Had a Hammer” is similarly structured gives it the timeless quality of the old English folk song, “The Riddle Song.”

    As others have noted, though, with “If I Had a Hammer,” Seeger and Hays beautifully combined activism with a popular song format. The lyrics re-purpose the working person’s hammer, the laborer’s song, and the work bell. And the writers use those tools as patriotic instruments to change the world and protect civil rights.

    And while “The Riddle Song” is melancholy like a lullaby, “If I Had a Hammer” has more energy. Lopez’s driving version really captures that it is a song about the hammer of justice, the bell of freedom, and the song about love between my brothers and my sisters.

    What is your favorite version of “If I Had a Hammer”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Why “GUY”? (Steve Earle album review)

    Steve Earle has released a wonderful tribute to one of his mentors, Guy Clark, with his album GUY. Yet, the album is a bit of a surprise. Earle has long been outspoken on important issues, incorporating political messages into many of his songs. So, one may wonder why, during a crazy period of American political history, Earle’s new music is largely silent on the issues of the day. The question about why Earle is doing this album at this time is further complicated by the fact that there is already an outstanding multi-artist tribute to Clark. So, why GUY?

    During the George W. Bush administration, Earle released the album Just an American Boy (2003), along with a documentary by the same name. The album featured songs criticizing the war, and Earle provoked controversy with his song humanizing “enemy combatant” John Walker Lindh (“John Walker’s Blues”). When Bill Clinton was in the White House, Earle called for Woody Guthrie and other activists to “come back” in “Christmas in Washington.” When Barack Obama was president, Earle sang about a “City of Immigrants.” Going back to the beginning of his career, Earle was never afraid to take on important issues, recording several songs about capital punishment.

    But now, as the current occupant sits in the White House, Steve Earle gives us a tribute album for his friend? Really?

    What “GUY” Is

    Let’s start with the fact that GUY is one of Earle’s best albums in recent years, perhaps since 2004’s The Revolution Starts Now. As a starting point, Guy Clark was one of the great American songwriters, so Earle had a great group of songs from which to choose.

    And Earle and the Dukes sound great. Earle and the Dukes, for the most part, do not change a lot in their interpretations of the songs. There are a few exceptions, like a more rocking version of “Out in the Parking Lot.” While Earle does not radically rework “Dublin Blues,” Earle and the band highlight the boasts in the song (“I’ll stand up and be counted”). While Clark’s voice emphasized the sadness in the lyrics.

    Throughout the album, the Dukes give new energy to the songs, and the band’s work is a large reason to get this album. The Dukes include Kelley Looney (bass), Ricky Ray Jackson (pedal steel guitar), Eleanor Whitmore (fiddle and mandolin), Chris Masterson (guitar), and Brad Pemberton (drums).

    And the world can always use another version of “L.A. Freeway.” It is one of the best songs ever written about leaving somewhere.

    GUY is a personal album for Earle. Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt were two important mentors to Earle. Earle has jokingly explained that the reason he made GUY was that he had already created a tribute album of Van Zandt’s songs, Townes(2009). So, he feared meeting Clark in the afterlife and having to explain why he made an album for Van Zandt but not for Clark.

    It is a funny story, but perhaps there is a sense of obligation that helps explain why Earle made GUY. And it gives Earle a reason to gather together friends like Rodney Crowell, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Emmylou Harris to sing Clark’s song, “Old Friends.”

    So Come Back Steve Earle, Come Back To Us Now

    So, why GUY? Well, Earle crafted a beautiful album of wonderful songs played with energy by the Dukes. And even in troubled times, we need to affirm personal values and our own lives and bonds. Like Earle, who recently saw the ending of his marriage to singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, all of us must trudge on with our own real lives.

    So, singing songs about friends, fathers (“Randall Knife”), broken hearts (“Dublin Blues”), old men (“Desperados Waiting for a Train”), and other personal connections is needed in troubled times, perhaps even more than other times. We need to remember our departed friends, as Earle is remembering Guy Clark. We all need sanctuary from the evening news and our lives.

    So if you do not have this album, which is one of Earle’s best, get it. He will get around to the political message songs. Earle says he has already been working on such a political album. He plans to release it in time for the 2020 election.

    What is your favorite Steve Earle song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Tribute to Guy Clark CD is “Stuff That Works”
  • Nanci Griffith’s Superstars on Letterman: “Desperados Waiting for a Train”
  • Steve Earle’s “Ghosts of West Virgina” (album review)
  • Steve Earle: “Dublin Blues”
  • The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris
  • New Documentary About Guy Clark
    • ( Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)


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    “Blinded by the Light” Film Features Inspiration From Springsteen

    For anyone who found Bruce Springsteen’s music as a young person, you will relate to the upcoming movie, Blinded by the Light (2019). Not only does the movie include Springsteen’s music, but the music plays a major role in the main character’s life.

    Blinded by the Light follows a British-Pakistani youth, played by Viveik Kalra, finding his way in 1987 England. One day, he discovers the music of Bruce Springsteen. And it changes his life.

    Blinded by the Light is based on Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir, Greetings from Bury Park. Manzoor also co-wrote the screenplay for the movie, which is directed by Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha.

    If the rest of the movie makes me smile as much as the trailer, I think I’m going to love Blinded by the Light. Check out the trailer below.

    Blinded by the Light hits theaters on August 14, 2019. For an early review out of Sundance, check out this one on Collider.

    What do you think of the trailer for Blinded by the Light? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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