Many years ago i went to a Cowboy Junkies show,
and the opening act was Butch Hancock, of whom i had not then previously
heard.
One set and i was hooked.
So i was ecstatic when this CD became available.
It collects material from several LPs released on Butch's own Rainlight label,
plus four new cuts.
Butch delights in wordplay for its own sake -- "West Texas Waltz" contains
some of the most surreal rhymes you will ever hear, and "Firewater (Seeks
Its Own Level)" and "Like a Kiss on the Mouth" are right there, too.
"If You Were a Bluebird" (title song for an Emmy-Lou Harris album) is lovely.
"Wind's Dominion" and "The Ghost of Give-and-Take Avenue" have caused me
more than once to declare that if the Zimmermans had lived in Lubbock instead
of Hibbing, Little Bobby would probably have grown up to be Butch Hancock.
A great introduction to the work of one of our more quirky and original American
voices. |
