A few weeks ago while listening to Pandora, a singer I hadn't thought about in awhile came up on the rotation. One of the reasons this artist had been off my radar could be that Bobby Bare has not released an album in 22 years. But given that Bare is from next door Lawrence County, Ohio and I dated a daughter of his cousin you would think that I would have at least Googled him in the past couple of years.
The track from the new album The Moon Was Blue on Pandora was a cover of Shel Silverstein's The Ballad of Lucy Jordan. Marrianne Faithful had recorded the song in 1979 and it was featured in Thelma and Louise yet I can't say I had heard the song before but something about it was familiar.
With my interest in Bare's career rekindled I headed to the local (30 miles away) mega books and music store to see what they had in the bin for old Bobby. The Moon Was Blue was the only CD of Bare's work in stock. I picked it up and made my way to the register where an early twentysomething clerk informed me that it was a “great CD.” I was thrilled on many levels. I kind of miss the old days when store clerks assumed that reviewing products was a part of their job, but to have a kid who was born in the 1980s show interest in a 1960-70s Country singer-songwriter was a bonus. I explained that Bare and I were both from southern Ohio and that I had been friends with some of his relatives. I also gave the guy a rednecromancer.org business card since I never pass up an opportunity for promotion.
Once in the car I replaced Johnny with Bobby and started the drive back home. But somewhere between Short Pump and Gum Spring on SR250 my mini-van became a Buick Electra 225 and I went all the way home to 1973.
The Moon Was Blue is classic Nashville or “Countrypolitan” of the 1970s with some strange effects layered in by Bare's son, Bobby Bare Jr. I don't think young Bare's additions are any more bizarre than the strings of the original Nashville sound nor are they quite as subversive as Bobby Bare Jr. would like to think. Indeed nothing in this recording distracts from his dad's warm and still powerful vocals. Warm, powerful and imperfect just the way I like it.
I think one of the reasons that Bare's new album has such an ability to transport me back 30 plus years is his natural and unaffected Appalachian Ohio accent. This isn't someone trying to sound authentic. This is authentic and in that way I hear the voices of my older male relatives in each of these tracks. That is the only way I can hear some of them now.
The tracks are all covers of standards that were typical of that era when so many Country artists were finding success with crossover hits. This is kind of odd seeing how Bobby Bare is on the short list of singer-songwriters like Billy Joe Shaver, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and Kris Kristofferson. Among Bare's most famous songs are Detroit City, 500 Miles Away From Home along with the more controversial Drop Kick me Jesus and Redneck Hippie Romance.
I must say that I respect singer-songwriters for the covers they choose almost as much as for the songs they write. Townes Van Zandt's cover of The Stone's Dead Flowers is among my favorites. Joining The Ballad of Lucy Jordan on Bare's new album is Everybody's Talkin' and Yesterday When I was Young. Many of those hits on this album and from the 1970s in general were penned by songwriters who had never stepped foot in Appalachia. Somehow that doesn't bother me. It may just be the nostalgia talking.
In the early 1970s my mom and dad were likely to have been listening to Neil Diamond or Charlie Rich at any given moment. I guess I associate those Countrypolitan crossovers with my parents.
And yesterday when they were young.
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