Chris Wall – Just Another Place
Chris Wall starts off his sixth album with the startling lines, “No, the poet is not in today/He did not say where he’s going or how long he’s apt to stay/He mentioned that he did not have a worthwhile thing to say/No, the poet is not in today.”
Has one of the most reliable honky-tonk cowboy poets in the business gone to the well one too many times? Fear not: Despite that leadoff track, Just Another Place is chock full of the vivid images and raw-boned emotions that have festooned Wall’s previous work. On “Hank Williams’ Cadillac”, Wall sings about the potential pitfalls of success: “I don’t want to die in the back of Hank Williams’ Cadillac/Crucified on a treble clef made of gold.” Another highlight, “An Outlaw’s Blues”, is a sincere tribute to Waylon Jennings.
Though recorded in three sessions over two years — an acoustic session at the Cold Spring studio in Round Top and two at Cribworks in Austin (one with his Cowboy Nation band, the other with Dale Watson & His Lone Stars and the South Austin Jug Band) — Just Another Place flows seamlessly. There is little of Wall’s trademark electric honky-tonk, but these contemplative ballads about life, love, loss and redemption bear a beat that will be easy to rev up in a live setting, where Wall flourishes.