I was first introduced to Hayes Carll through my great love of Lee Ann Womack. Being the writer of ‘Chances Are’, one of the real highlights of ‘The Way I’m Livin’’, Hayes immediately became one of my favourite songwriters, portraying an authenticity and beauty that great music should. It has taken me a while to delve into his own records, but I am pleased to say ‘Lovers & Leavers’ is a fantastic introduction into the sincere music of Hayes Carll.
Make no mistakes, this is a deep album. I wouldn’t go as far as to say joyless, because the beauty of the writing and the music provide the listener with a certain joy, but there aren’t many happy songs making up the 10 track record. From the start, there is a melancholic sound in the production, with ‘Drive’ made of a slow guitar melody with understated percussive backing, overlaid with very soft vocals. The picture painted by the words is also mesmerising, with a particularly great lyric being “Round and round that Colorado town, like a mustang in the mountains, you’re too wild to settle down’’, representing the reminiscent atmosphere adopted in the song, a wistful look at a relationship and the constant yearning for escape. This is certainly a theme running through the album, with ‘Sake Of The Song’ telling the particularly blunt and honest story of many songwriters, exploring the pain that writers expose for the sake of making their art. Hayes is obviously a brilliant writer, and by not hiding the message in metaphor or allegory, he truly shows who he is, both in the writing of the lyrics, and the subject of the song.
‘You Leave Alone’ pushes the musical boundaries a bit further, with a more percussive backing made up of claps and clicks. This is a great soft effect, and adds a relaxing beat to the song to complement the double bass and guitar picking that adds to the melody. The song tells the story of a man running away from his dead-end town in Mississippi, only to meet a girl who suggests living there, and suddenly the town doesn’t seem so dead-end any more. The story is beautiful, sorrowful and happy all at once, with the allegory being a man fixing his car, listening to baseball on the radio and dreaming of places he’ll never go. It’s a vivid picture, that reflects the many contradictions of real life and priorities changing over time.
‘The Magic Kid’ is one of the real highlights of a beautifully written album. Possibly one of the most stripped back songs on an album which hasn’t heard of electricity, the story explores individuality through the metaphor of magic tricks, and how even unusual hobbies are admirable as we see the narrator admire his child for being himself and not conforming. The line ‘‘who we are is who we are, why is that so hard to be, when I watch you shine your star, it’s so magical to me’’ sums this up well, and whilst the lyrics to this song are less poetic than in tracks like ‘Sake Of The Song’ and ‘You Leave Alone’, the message resounds in similar ways, with no frills in the writing.
This is a wonderful album, really showcasing one of the very best writers around. It may not be music you want to drive to since the wind will almost certainly drown out its subtleties, but I could sit still for an hour doing nothing but immersing myself in its wonderful stories. ‘Lovers & Leavers’ is the definition of authentic.
Originally posted here.
