Even though Americana is becoming more and more popular among younger generations, it is mandatory to keep in mind that there is still something to learn from those who practically invented the genre. Some of them are releasing records in this ear, and those can actually be used as instruction books for the genre.
If want to show somebody how to easily write, sing and record good songs, then the album Close Ties by Rodney Crowell might be the perfect choice for it. Blues, country and folk intertwine and complement in a way that is scarcely magic.
The album flows as whiskey from Tennessee, and Crowell sounds like he is 30 years old, and not he has 30 year old kids. He keeps acoustic close on this album. Streams are absent, only occasional harmony, instrumentals and strings. Crowell’s melodies are mellow, supported by singer’s mellifluous tenor. Intermittently, the vocal of his wife Rosanne Cash comes along. Other artists on the record include Sheryl Crow, John Paul White, Townes van Zandt, Harlan Howard, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle and Tom T.Hall, though they are not featured vocally, as Crowell only gives shutout to them.
The album commences with the curt and effective East Houston Blues. I mean, nomen est omen. This is a pure southern minimalistic blues enriched with top notch guitar work. Following Reckless sounds as it was written for men who have supplementary level of testosterone in their bodies that makes them crave sexual experimentation. In Crowell’s version, the song comes off as polite and anti-vulgar, as it is the most normal thing in the world. In Life Without Susanna, Crowell laments over wild girl, while I’m Tied To Ya sees him swearing that he will forever be monogamous. The sagacity of Nick Cave is highly present in this one.
Forty Miles From Nowhere evokes Dylan. Life Without Susanna and Storm Warning bring haste in the rhythm, while closing track Nashville 1972 is a charming spoken-word homage to all of his colleagues I have mentioned before.
Close Ties is one of those pieces that sound so simple to create and record, but there are no many authors out there who can converge simplicity, inspiration and skill in an epic record.
