Hayes Carll-Trouble In Mind (2008-VBR-Country)

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-=AMG Review=- by Hal Horowitz



The Americana singer/songwriter rises from the Stephen King approved indie ranks to the major-label sweepstakes on his third release, and first for Lost Highway. It's a strong if characteristic collection of rugged country folk-rock sung with Hayes Carll' Texas drawl, that seems to be somewhat exaggerated so that we know he's from the land of Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, and Guy Clark, some obvious influences that snake through these 14 tracks. He's been there and done that, struggling through years of the hard living that informs tunes such as the humorous take on his trying times detailed in the self-explanatory "I Got a Gig." The usual suspect topics of heavy drinking, bad wimmen, hell raisin', misplaced love and life along the lost highway dominate the lyrics, and even though Carll isn't exploring these well-worn subjects in particularly new ways, his melodies, words, and especially his professional backing are strong enough to put them over in tunes that aren't as clichéd as the topics covered. He also has a wry, dry sense of humor, best exemplified in "She Left Me for Jesus" ("She left me for Jesus," and that just ain't fair, she says that 'he's perfect.' How could I compare"). Carll is clearly a Tom Waits fan; he sings Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" with an effective amount of irony already built into the tune. "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" (interestingly not the Waits tune) is another cover, this one from Canadian Scott Nolan, given a peppy, rocking, Stones styled makeover that epitomizes the album's areas of emphasis. Carll is occasionally too cutesy for his own good as on "Girl Downtown," a singsongy tale with a simplistic melody that trips over its own sardonic intentions. Multi-instrumentalist/producer Brad Jones frames these tunes with terrific backing musicians highlighted by veteran Al Perkins' always inventive pedal steel. It all sounds great; full when it needs to be but sparse enough to shake off any concerns previous fans of Carll's indie releases might have about a major-label sellout.



-=From the Artist=-



"When I started, I moved down to this place called Crystal Beach, Texas where you need to take a ferry from Galveston across the bay to get to this little peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico," recalls Carll. "It's this isolated coastal community with a wild assortment of people either hiding out, hanging on or getting lost-- a lot of drugs and drinking, a fair amount of violence, but at the same time a lot of really interesting people with great stories to tell. Folks in the bars there weren't necessarily interested in what I had to say as a songwriter-- they wanted to hear David Allan Coe and Merle Haggard, and other stuff they knew. So that's what I did six nights a week for four years. I haven't run into tougher crowds since. It was an initiation into becoming a performer."



"My first record I did in five days, and my second one we did in twelve," Carll explains. "This time around I had a solid month, so it was really a luxury. It was amazing to get all these talented people in the room and have them listen to me describe my vision and then go out and try to realize that and capture it on tape. My strength isn't that I have the world's most amazing voice or that I'm this incredible player -- hopefully it's that there's some aspect of my personality and my lyrics that people can relate to."



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Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind





Rip Info

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Artist: Hayes Carll

Album Title: Trouble In Mind

Record Label: Lost Highway

Rip Date: 2008-04-12

Catalog Number:

Genre: Country

Year: 2008

Source: CD

Encoder: LAME 3.97 -V2 --vbr-new

Quality: 166 kbps avg / 44.1KHz / Joint Stereo





Track List

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01 Drunken Poet's Dream 3:28

02 It's A Shame 3:47

03 Girl Downtown 3:27

04 Bad Liver And A Broken Heart 4:22

05 Beaumont 3:27

06 I Got A Gig 4:00

07 Faulkner Street 3:25

08 Wild As A Turkey 2:29

09 Don't Let Me Fall 3:45

10 A Lover Like You 4:23

11 I Don't Wanna Grow Up 3:37

12 Knockin' Over Whiskeys 2:55

13 Willing To Love Again 3:35

14 She Left Me For Jesus 4:04

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00:50:44

63.80 megs



Rip Notes

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On his new album, Trouble In Mind, the 32 year-old Carll navigates his way

through both stormy weather and calm, sun-drenched waters with ease, emerging

with songs that melt even the hardest heart in town. Their impact is heightened

by the fact that they're songs born of both immersion in the works of his

songwriting heroes and plenty of real world experience.



Those elements certainly permeate Trouble In Mind, but there's a much sharper

focus to the material, thanks in part, to more time in the studio and some great

players sure to be familiar to roots-rock aficionados, including, Dan Baird,

Darrell Scott, Will Kimbrough and former Flying Burrito Brother Al Perkins.



Carll's personality, emotional but never too sentimental, mischievous, funny,

world-weary and sardonic, imbues every track of Trouble in Mind.