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Tom Brosseau

Roger Gros | Atlantic City, NJ United States | 08/15/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Folk music is usually very fragile. Folk artists generally present themselves with nothing but an acoustic instrument between them and the audience. But for fragility, it's tough to beat Tom Brosseau, whose wispy voice, delicate melodies and haunting lyrics sound like they would collapse with simply an askance glance.



The North Dakota native evokes memories of Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson, Woodie Guthrie, and even Billie Holiday. While he generally performs with one acoustic guitar, it is sometimes supplemented by such instruments as harmonica, violin and odd keyboards here and there. In fact, some have suggested that Brosseau is developing a new sort of music category; a "prog folk" of sorts.



Tom Brosseau is his third release, all on indie labels. This is undoubtedly because the major labels can't pigeonhole him in any specific genre, making it more difficult to market his unique brand of music.



Unlike his debut effort, What I Mean to Say Is Goodbye, which includes such stars as Benmont Tench (Tom Petty) on keyboards, Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello) on drums, and Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) on fiddle, Tom Brosseau is stark and bare, with an aching honesty that is rarely seen in music.



If you're looking for the standard verse-verse-chorus-bridge-verse song construction, you'll be disappointed. Brosseau seems to wander all over the chart when building his music. That often means a pleasant vocal surprise or a jarring dissonant melody, but one thing you can't say is that it's boring.



On Tom Brosseau, the songs create separate themes that are like short stories or glimpses into the lives or ordinary people. What you won't find are stories about dating or politics (at least overtly). Songs like "Josephine" and "Rose" paint pictures of lonely women, while "I Have Been a Prisoner, O Lord" and "The Young and the Free" tells stories about breaking away. But the gem of the album is "I Live My Life With Other People in Mind," which is a tongue-in-cheek somewhat sarcastic portrait of a liberal.



Tom Brosseau is perhaps the most important artist you've never heard of. Pick up this CD or another that was released at the same time, Empty Houses Are Lonely. He won't be unknown for long."