MUSIC REVIEWS
Contemplating the treacherous political landscape of West Virginia, Steve Earle decided to build a bridge.
The singer-songwriter known for his liberal views undertook a project that would speak for the other side on the issue of coal mining. Earle’s empathetic attempt to address the divide has resulted in one of his best albums: “Ghosts of West Virginia.”
The set draws material from the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 men. Earle wrote folk songs for a play about the disaster, and has used them as the foundation of a concept album that considers coal’s role in the life of West Virginians from their perspective.
Earle’s grunting, gravelly tenor is perfectly cast as he assesses the state’s mythology and geology. On the song “It’s About Blood,” a fanfare for the common man, Earle lists the victims of the 2010 tragedy, his voice more anguished with each name recited.
“Black Lung” offers a nuanced, wrenching look at another aspect of the risky profession. There’s poetry in the simple observations of the songs, which are even more topical than Earle intended as his characters weigh the need to make money versus the risk of not being able to breathe. Sound familiar? — Steven Wine, Associated Press
Indigo Girls “Look Long” (Rounder)
“Look Long” is the Indigo Girls’ first studio album in five years, a passionate and tuneful collection on which the combined voices of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers sound as instinctive and magical as ever.
Recorded in England at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, it’s where they made 1999’s “Come On Now Social,” one of their most memorable albums.
With 11 songs covering themes from romance and parenting to family memories, gun culture and gay identity, Ray and Saliers do their best to rinse the salt out of a few wounds, gently dress others and also attempt some preventive care.
The yearning “Country Radio” is about “just a gay kid in a small town” who hears and loves the songs, even if the stories don’t quite fit his identity.
“Muster” questions gun culture and all sorts of violence with a mandolin-supported melody, while “Change My Heart” focuses on galactic vibrations and the consequences of the “American schism.”
“Feel This Way Again” and “Favorite Flavor” deal with the challenges of being a parent, the sweet harmonies and banjo of the former reminding of the Dixie Chicks, while the latter is a joyful pop tune with backing vocals from Lucy Wainwright Roche. It’s a quirky creation, like a collaboration between fellow Georgians R.E.M. and the B-52s.
Indigo Girls are their most elemental and best on “Look Long,” with Reynolds and the ace band attractively sprucing up the tunes without breaking the duo’s foundational folkrock mold. — Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press
Jimmy Buffett “Life on the Flip Side”
(Mailboat Records)
Jimmy Buffett’s first studio record in seven years arrives with equal parts seduction and absurdity.
Coming just as we crave a margarita in a mason jar, sand in our toes and the salty wind of the ocean, Buffett’s beach bum life — often mocked — has never been so aspirational. What we wouldn’t do right now to join a goofy conga line.
The 14-track “Life on the Flip Side” is no departure from what Parrotheads have come to expect — that special Gulf Coast mix of country, pop, folk and rock, topped by Buffett’s swaying voice. Few can mix steelpans, trombones and pedal steel guitar so effortlessly.
Though the songs were written before the global pandemic, the album nods to our viral troubles. Buffett writes that he’d like them to be the soundtrack as we claw our way to normalcy. Think of it as the flip side of COVID-19.
“Hopefully, the songs we wrote and recorded, will also help folks deal with the fallout,” he writes in the liner notes. “There will be a time and a place when we emerge from these troubled waters and things will change for the better.”
Buffett’s incredible ear for hooks and light grooves are often overshadowed by his lyrics about fish tacos and sunsets, but don’t underestimate his song skills.
Produced by two members of his longtime backing band, Michael Utley and Mac McAnally, Buffett is also clearly having fun on the new album, including the jokey ditty “Cussin’ Island” where he rhymes “hypocrite” with “Messerschmitt.”
He salutes the folk who take the time to look around in “The Slow Lane” and mourns that so much of his surfing is on a website (“Hey, That’s My Wave”). He seamlessly mixes salsa and mambo for “15 Cuban Minutes” and gets jazzy in “Half Drunk.” The only song on the album that doesn’t quite fit in Margaritaville is his cover of Paul Brady’s “The World Is What You Make It,” which wanders too far lyrically and musically from the rest.
Toward the end of the album, Buffett treads carefully into Tropical House with the superb “Live, Like It’s Your Last Day,” which has lyrics seemingly perfect for this pandemic. “Live like it’s your last day/Time just keeps slippin’ away.” You’ll sing along with Buffett — and wish. — Mark Kennedy, Associated Press