In the annals of country music, the company he’s kept has often overshadowed Kris Kristofferson’s achievements. After all, it’s hard to hang out with heavyweights like Willie, Waylon and JC without suffering by comparison. However, Kristofferson’s friendship with those giants was built on his status as an equal. More than a mere songwriter – even if he has had some 500 songs recorded by other artists – Kristofferson built his own legacy over the past four decades by being one of the most original and influential voices in country music.
Part of the excellent Austin City Limits series, Live From Austin TX captures a dynamic Kristofferson performance from September 1981. Sure, the sixteen songs featured include the expected hits, one-of-a-kind songs like “Loving Her Was Easier” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” but it also offers much more. Drawing from his ’81 album To the Bone, songs like “Magdalene” and “Star Crossed” document Kristofferson’s divorce from singer Rita Coolidge and uncertainty over his future and career. It’s heady stuff, Kristofferson’s marvelous baritone supported by a whipsmart band that includes guitarist Stephen Bruton and keyboard wizard Donnie Fritts. With a back catalog in serious disarray, Live From Austin TX is a fine snapshot of the greatness of singer, songwriter and performer Kris Kristofferson.
Many of country music’s greatest talents have considered him their favorite tunesmith, and his songs have been recorded by everybody from Bobby Bare and Kris Kristofferson to Elvis Presley. Chance are that you’re probably familiar with Billy Joe Shaver’s songs even if you have no idea of who the man is himself. Suffice it to say that what makes Shaver a great songwriter is that, for good or for bad, he puts a large part of himself into each of his autobiographical songs. As such, listening to Billy Joe Shaver’s Greatest Hits is like opening a book and looking at a cracked and faded old portrait of the artist.
Shaver is a Texas storyteller in the vein of Guy Clark or Townes Van Zandt. He’s grizzled and gruff, humbled by too many miles and sobered by too much alcohol, and he pours his life into every song. Greatest Hits includes some of Shaver’s best known material, like “Georgia On A Fast Train” and “Old Chunk Of Coal,” as well as some of his best songs in “Old Five and Dimers” and “I Couldn’t Be Me Without You.” The album also offers up two previously-unreleased songs, but it’s the recent remake of the high-flying “Live Forever,” recorded with Big & Rich, that best showcases Shaver’s warm voice above his songwriting skills. Billy Joe Shaver’s Greatest Hits offers up old-school honky-tonk country with a bit of Lone Star spirit for both new and old listeners alike.
There’s often a fine line between sin and salvation and, like most outlaws, Billy Joe Shaver has one foot in the honky-tonk and one in the church pew. Shaver has long expressed the desire to record a “gospel” album and it’s fitting…the same weathered voice that speaks convincingly of barrooms and broken hearts is also perfectly suited for singing the praises of Jesus. And it’s not like religion is a little-traveled path for Shaver; he has typically included a spiritual song on each album through the years.
With Everybody’s Brother, however, Shaver focuses more on salvation, bringing friends like Kris Kristofferson, John Anderson, Marty Stuart, Bill Miller and Tanya Tucker along for the joyous ride. Listeners expecting a collection of staid church hymns will be disappointed; although Everybody’s Brother has its loftier moments, much of the material approaches God from the sinner’s side of the fence, and songs like the rollicking duet with Stuart, “Winning Again,” wouldn’t feel out of place in a beer-soaked honky-tonk. Shaver’s performances, captured by producer John Carter Cash, are heartfelt and passionate while the album’s closer, a late-70s duet with Johnny Cash and a 15-year-old Eddy Shaver burning up the guitar, will put a smile on the face of any listener.
For a musician, living up to a famous father’s legacy can be tough – just ask Hank Junior, or even J.C. Cash. It’s album number three for Shooter Jennings, not counting last year’s pitch-perfect live set, and it seems that Waylon’s boy done got it right…just forge your own path and let the comparisons be damned. In the past, Jennings has dealt with the looming presence of Waylon’s shadow either by rocking hard or by defiantly picking up the country outlaw torch. With The Wolf, Jennings seems to have hit the sweet spot, an artistic middle ground. There are fewer references to his infamous daddy in the grooves, and more musical experimentation. Jennings’ vocals are softer and more soulful, albeit stronger and more assured than on his first two albums, and sound less like Waylon than they ever have.
In fact, The Wolf seems less inspired by the ‘70s “outlaw movement” than by the work of Texas wordsmiths like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. The slow story-song “Concrete Cowboys” waltzes to the sound of weeping pedal steel while the rocking talking blues of the autobiographical “This Ol’ Wheel” shoots straight to the heart of Jennings’ birthright. A solid cover of Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life” is juiced up with spry fiddle and energetic vocals while “Old Friend” mixes some damn fine bluesy guitar work with Mariachi-flavor. Not to say that Jennings doesn’t get rowdy with his friends every now and then. “Higher” kicks up some dust with a swampy Southern rock vibe and the title cut is a grand, epic musical journey with swells of sound and crashing instrumentation. With The Wolf, Shooter Jennings continues to evolve as an artist and songwriter, doing it his own way…and of that, I’m sure his daddy would be proud.
All reviews published by Country Standard Time, 2007
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