July 2024 Music Highlights

Sturgill Simpson, Charley Crockett, Tom Petty tribute, Red Clay Strays, Skeeter Davis & NRBQ,

This will be the first newsletter I've published since receiving the news that I've been laid off from Xperi, the company that owns the music database once known as Allmusic. I'm still sorting out all the ramifications of this change but I do know that it will allow me to publish a newsletter more frequently, as it won't be something I do in my spare time. 

My initial plans are to publish at least twice weekly—a longer free piece, then some record reviews and recommendations for paid subscribers on Friday—and I'll transition to that template over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'm going to clear the decks by running through the music that's made an impression on me over the course of the last month. 

Johnny Blue Skies—Passage Du Desir (2024)

There's always been a theatrical streak to Sturgill Simpson's music so his decision to don the pseudonym Johnny Blue Skies for Passage Du Desir—his first album since the bluegrass songcycle The Ballad of Dood and Juanita in 2021—seems somehow fitting. The moniker may be a tad corny yet it entirely suits Passage Du Desir, a record lacking even a hint of the flintiness that's fueled Simpson's records since breakthrough Metamodern Sounds in Country Music a decade ago. He sounds content but not complacent, laying into mellow grooves that contain a palpable soulful undercurrent hidden beneath their smooth surfaces. The ease of the record can be beguiling, camouflaging how the album does chronicle Simpson's journey from darkness into the light. Maybe memories of the "Swamp of Sadness," but they're recalled from a place of gratitude, a perspective that makes Passage Du Desir feel profoundly reassuring. 

Charley Crockett—Visions of Dallas: $10 Cowboy Chapter II (2024)

Appearing without fanfare in late July, Visions of Dallas is billed as the second chapter to $10 Cowboy, providing a counterpart to its Austin-focused predecessor. The shift is thematic (and evident in the artwork) because the aesthetic remains the same: Charley Crockett remains determined to bring the sound and attitude of the progressive country era into the modern world. As it happens for this Texan, his sweet spot isn't the hippie rednecks that crawled through the Armadillo World Headquarters. Rather than outlaw swagger or Tex-Mex exuberance, he's an urban cowboy roaming through lonesome highways and dive bars, using Merle Haggard and Glen Campbell records as lodestars. He still touches upon the Country & Western storyteller aspect he showcased on his earlier records—"Killers of the Flower Moon" feels like an excavated folk tale—but Visions of Dallas is a country record for the city. "Loser's Lounge" is a barroom lament for daylight hours, "20-20 Vision" is a grinding blues for the dead of night. With its baritone fuzz twang and shuffle, "Trouble and Misery" sounds like a truckstop 45 from the dawn of the 1970s, while the hazy roll of "Crystal Chandeliers and Burgundy" serves as a song for hitting the open road. Crockett's emphasis on these subtle, soulful textures gives Visions of Dallas its pulse and resonance. 

Zach Bryan—The Great American Bar Scene (2024)

Appearing less than a year after Zach Bryan debuted at the top of the Billboard charts—and that record arrived a little over a year after the release of his double-disc major label debut, American Heartbreak—The Great American Bar Scene is evidence that the songs keep pouring out of the Americana singer/songwriter. He might want to think about turning the top off, at least temporarily. Bryan's skill isn't sculpting songs, it's creating a vibe; the poems and picking contribute to texture, not tunes. It doesn't help that Bryan murmurs his introspection and bellows his catharsis, a technique that obscures whatever melody he's conjured. It's telling that the record only comes into focus when he's assisted by John Mayer and Bruce Springsteen, old pros who provide clear, distinctive musical momentum. Left to his own devices, Bryan is happy to drift, disappearing into the horizon without leaving a trace. 

Petty Country (A Country Tribute to Tom Petty) (2024)

At nearly eighty minutes, this country music tribute to Tom Petty runs a bit too long yet I'm not sure if I'd cut anything from Petty Country. At worst, the record is amiable, professional product that hits its targets expertly. At best, there's real invention and inspiration here. My particular favorites: Steve Earle's country ramble through "Yer So Bad," Rhiannon Giddens's eerie rendition of "Don't Come Around Here No More," Marty Stuart driving his Fabulous Superlatives through "I Need to Know" and, especially, Margo Price teaming with Heartbreaker Mike Campbell on a ripping "Ways to Be Wicked"—a song I had forgotten that I loved. 

The Red Clay Strays—Made By These Moments (2024)

For the most part, this Dave Cobb-produced major-label debut from the Alabama Americana outfit is raw and robust, showcasing the band's Southern-fried kick as effectively as it does Brandon Coleman's gutbucket vocals. When they kick up dust on the Skynyrd-styled boogie "Ramblin'" and rev up the arena-country riffs on "Wasting Time," the results are pretty hard to resist. When they succumb to their inner Nathaniel Rateliff, as they do on "On My Knees" and its accompanying trio of closers, it can be pretty easy to resist. 

Blur—Live at Wembley Stadium (2024)

Blur sounds thrillingly alive on this document of their triumphant gigs at Wembley Stadium last summer. Further thoughts at my review for Pitchfork.

Jack White—No Name (2024)

Covered extensively in my last newsletter, this is a terrific little record that benefits from an unusually focused attack from Jack White

Skeeter Davis & NRBQ—She Sings, They Play (2024; 1981-1985)

Terry Adams, the one constant in NRBQ, loved Skeeter Davis since childhood. His father brought home a 45 of "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know," a 1953 single Skeeter released as part of the Davis Sisters, the sibling duo she had with Betty Jack. Years later, Adams made it a mission to reissue the '50s singles of the Davis Sisters on NRBQ's Red Rooster Records. The dream was deferred—Bear Family issued a double-disc set in the 1990s—but a friendship was struck, leading to She Sings, They Play, an album recorded in 1981 and released in 1985, now expanded with six bonus tracks by Omnivore Records. Adams said NRBQ "treated it like she was a member of the band" and there's indeed real spark here, a connection accentuated by the welcome addition of "I Want You Bad" and "I Gotta Know," rocking bonus tracks added to the end of each side. The remaining extra material is taken from a promotional gig at the Bottom Line in '85—fittingly, it ends with Skeeter's classic "The End of the World"—which shows that Davis and NRBQ maintained their playful chemistry on stage. As fun as that live material is, it's the proper record that's a quiet marvel: their interplay is so natural, it really does seem like Skeeter Davis was part of the gang. 

John Lennon—Mind Games (The Ultimate Collection) (2024; 1973)

Spent a considerable amount of time navigating the intertwining mixes on the extensively expanded Mind Games, all documented in a previous newsletter. 

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers—Hypnotic Eye (2014)

I wrote a piece commemorating one of my favorite Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers albums for the AV Club

Drive-By Truckers—Southern Rock Opera (2024; 2001)

Also at the AV Club, I reviewed the new vinyl reissue of Southern Rock Opera, the magnum opus by Drive-By Truckers.