Planes, trains and automobiles travel through Crashyertown. So do suicide, pregnancy, hard-luck lovers and one admitted “white trash fool.” While these are common topics in country music, Craig Aspen and Cynthia Frazzini — the restless spirits behind the Believers — display a sharp eye for life on the other side of the tracks, elevating their music out of the ordinary.
They fill Crashyertown, their second outing, with some strikingly lurid tales. “Railroad Spikes & Shotgun Shells” gets the disc off to a fast start, with its story of a “crazy love” gone wrong. The darkly dangerous “Jordan” deals with a woman who has “a baby in my belly and my man on the run.” On “Good Days”, Aspen and Frazzini swap verses about an ill-fated couple “who even on good days, still feel the pain.”
While these noirish tunes grab your attention, Aspen and Frazzini also shine on their sunnier songs. The hooky title track conveys the urgent need to get back to one’s love. “Nobody’s Business” (the “white trash fool” song) marvelously essays how love can bloom between a mismatched couple.
Frazzini, whose strong voice conveys both toughness and tenderness, and the gruffer-sounding Aspen form a rough-hewn harmony pairing, something like Buddy & Julie Miller. Musically, they create a rich pan-Americana sound, making smart use of pedal steel, mandolin, organ, accordion, banjo and even tuba (the last two courtesy of Danny Barnes).
Despite one misstep here — a cover of Dylan’s overly familiar “Subterranean Homesick Blues” that sounds like a Timbuk 3 outtake — Crashyertown is a well worth a visit.