Search - Dusty Wright :: Dust

Dust to the FUTURE!

Alexander Smith | New York City | 06/08/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"By definition, any artist whose work falls under the ambiguous "alternative country" header is bound to be somewhat eclectic. Despite the nebulous tag, Dusty Wright is more than just some latter-day cowpunk wannabe. A transplanted-Buckeye-turned-New Yorker, Wright's impressively informed take on C&W comes with a robust flair for convention, yet is steeped in a true musicologist's sensibility, incorporating influences from all over the map. Lovingly welding country clichés to a vaguely New Age sensibility, the self-proclaimed "Metaphysical Cowboy" makes stirring, intelligent music safe for Nashville and the Astral Plane alike. A genuinely cinematic opus, Wright's second album is a lovingly crafted morality play-of-sorts, invoking a narrative of some mystical Western film somewhere between vintage Peter Weir and Sam Peckinpah. Playing this idea to the hilt, Wright subtitles many of his songs as if to provide stage direction, while testing the parameters of musical genres without scaring anyone off. "Gave Me the Boot (the Hero's Lament)" could easily be found blaring out of some honky tonk's jukebox for truckers to sob into their beers to, while "Karma (the bad guy's lament)" bucks out of the gate with an ornery guitar line that barely conceals Wright's rockish leanings (perhaps left over from his days with NYC's proto-grunge guerrillas, Bastards of Execution). But Wright isn't just donning a cowboy hat, affecting a slight twang and throwing in a slide guitar or two for country credibility. His genuine affection for this music can be heard through this album's lush composition. While it's hard not to play 'spot the reference' during certain tracks ("Rattlesnakes" is an obvious nod to Wright's beloved Byrds, "Retribution Slide"'s haunting 12-string guitars echo Zeppelin's "No Quarter," and "Blossom of Fallen Time"'s slithery guitar coda almost mimics the Beatles' "Flying" from Magical Mystery Tour), Dust! never sounds dilettantish. True to the eclecticism, Wright employs a varied stable of guests (ex-Cult drummer Lez Warner, ex-Band of Susans guitarist Mark Lonergan, ex-Richard Hell & the Voidoids guitarist Robert Quine and alternative radio staple Matthew Sweet), but it's all very much Wright's show. While the lyrical text can be a bit weighty and histrionic at points, Dust! is an adventurous album that gracefully takes C&W to new frontiers."