Totally worth it.
Vickita | Oklahoma, USA | 07/06/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Donal Hinely is a split-personality kind of guy. On the one hand, he plays glass harmonica at renfaires and other family-ish events; on the other hand, he is a lauded singer/songwriter who spins tales of love lost, love found, lives regretted, and civilizations coming undone.
That second thing, there, pretty much sums up "Blue State Boy." The politics are a little thicker on the ground in BSB than in his previous efforts, as you might expect from the title of the CD, but all of the players are present and accounted for.
We start out strongly with "Song For Bob," the first of five politically-influenced songs on the disc.
: Got all of his records at home in a stack;
: still think his best effort was 'Blood on the Tracks'."
: He made me a promise; I know it sounds strange,
: but I guess I'm still waitin' for the times to change.
Remember that last line.
Let the games begin.
The second track, "Mona, Mona," was written for Hinely's sister-in-law, who passed away unexpectedly following a brief illness. It's a haunting song, and it ends with the tinny sound of a distant banjo, fading away.
Track three, "Shattered Glass," speaks to unspecified loss, with the ringing sound of the glass harmonica in the mix. I may be reading things into this song that aren't there, but I can't help wondering if this is a song for Hinely's big brother, Terry, who was the original glass player in the family, and who was killed in a car wreck in 1997. The CDs that the two of them recorded together in the 90s as the Glasnots are still popular sellers. Terry Hinely remains an important influence on his little brother.
Track four brings us back to the political theme, with "Blue State Boy." Hinely's voice is sweet as he sings sympathetically about the lonely blue state souls, hangin' in and hangin' out, out here in the red states.
Track five gives us a break from the seriousness and lets us grin a little. "Mrs. Boxer" has Donal fanboying on Barbara Boxer and inviting her out for "beer and jello shots." Barbara Boxer would be a fool not to say yes. JMHO.
Track six, "Shelly's Got the Wheel," features a quintessential Hinely character. The story is told from the POV of a spectator at a truck pull, of all places, watching a girl named Shelly do her thing, driving her lost boyfriend's truck in his memory. A sweet-voiced girl singer sings backup on this song, and it feels very much like Shelly is speaking for herself.
: Chained to a ghost,
: Running on gasoline.
: Goin' the distance, now,
: She's the truck pull queen.
Time to cheer up and dance with track seven, "Cecilia's Kitchen," which is pretty much 100% southern fried food porn. Donal likes to say that it also includes the single worst line he's ever written for a song. I will not tell you what the line is. You have to listen to the song for yourself.
Warning: this song is a total earworm. If you listen to it, you will wander around singing, "She sticks to my ribs like a slow cooked brisket, and she butters my biscuits with love," for the rest of the day.
Track eight, "Dream Going Down," is a look at the darker side of Nashville, where Hinely makes his home these days, and the down-on-their-luck characters who are always treated with kindness and respect in a Donal Hinely song. "Dream Going Down" reminds me of "Drunkard Moon," and "Promise of a Dream," from the We Built a Fire CD, which I also love a lot.
Track nine is another tribute to Hinely's musical heroes, following in the footsteps of "Before Music Was a Product," "Talkin' Cheap Trick Blues," which were both on the Giants CD, and "Song for Bob," earlier on this disc. "Half as Cool as Nick Lowe" is about how Hinely wishes he could write a love song as elegantly as some of the greats. (I have news for Donal: he doesn't need to be any of those guys. He's doing just fine being Donal Hinely. /gushing fangirl)
Track ten! "She Comes Around." This is an upbeat song, probably the most rockin' tune on a disc that's pretty heavy on the country sound.
Track eleven, "Nashville Blues." I love this song. No, really, I LOVE this song. A paean to the failed love affair between an alcoholic songwriter and his lost muse. Donal sings this song with a gentleness and simplicity that rocks my world.
Track twelve. This is the fourth political song on "Blue State Boy," and the gist of it is that Amerigo Vespucci is unhappy with the way his namesake country has been conducting itself in the world lately, and he wants his name back. C'mon, how often do you come across a song that is not only named "Amerigo Vespucci," but also mentions Ponce De Leon and Sir Francis Drake? It takes me right back to those first couple of weeks of every American History class I ever took in the public schools, and it leads into...
Track thirteen, and we've come full circle, with "Winds of Change." Remember I said to remember that line from track one? "Guess I'm still waitin' for the times to change"?
Well, wait no longer. It's time.
: When reason drowns in foolish pride,
: And you believe God's on your side,
: You think you own the only truth,
: The winds of change won't wait for you.
: Sometimes a storm knocks down the walls,
: The levees break, the towers fall.
: And when that storm comes blowing through,
: The winds of change won't wait for you.
So there you go. The end calls back to the beginning, and this CD is an entity, an integrated thing that needs to be heard -- *listened to* -- in its entirety to appreciate it the way it deserves to be appreciated.
Highly recommended."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1