Jim Lauderdale – Country Super Hits Bluegrass
Jim Lauderdale’s 1991 Warner Bros. debut Planet Of Love always struck me as one of that era’s most perfect albums, of the moment yet traditional, direct while remaining both imaginative and creative. In those days, the dominance of New Traditionalism was fading as the Garth juggernaut inspired Music Row to pump out some of the vilest musical feculence since the Urban Cowboy sapfest of the early ’80s. Unfortunately, at that particular point in time, Lauderdale was, to use an old-school entertainers’ phrase, too smart for the room. His music and voice were simply beyond the comprehension of mainstream marketers and radio gatekeepers even as George Strait and Patty Loveless, among others, covered his songs.
Since then, of course, a good deal has changed. Americana has asserted itself as a medium. Lauderdale’s fearlessness has manifested itself in a variety of contexts and collaborations. Along with his solo efforts came two stunning albums with Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, the second winning a Grammy, plus another collaboration with Donna The Buffalo. In 2002 he was named artist of the year at the first-ever Americana Music Association Awards Show, a notion that would have been unthinkable a few years earlier when the Americana concept was still developing. His energy levels undiminished, Lauderdale takes it a step further on his new label, Yep Roc, with two simultaneous releases.
Country Super Hits, its tongue-in-cheek title notwithstanding, places him back in the setting of straightforward, no-nonsense fiddle-steel honky-tonk. From the opening riffs of “Honky Tonk Mood Again”, it’s clear the same unforced directness and spirit that first emerged on Planet Of Love remains. His expressive, honest performances play perfectly against the austere instrumentation. The songs, mostly co-written by Lauderdale and his album co-producer Odie Blackmon, are consistently smart and well-focused.
“Are You Okay”, a plea for understanding, reflects Lauderdale’s greatest assets as a writer: durability, timeless lyrics, and melody. It’s a song Patsy Cline or Faron Young could have recorded in 1961. “Single Standard Today” would work for Alan Jackson or Mark Chesnutt, and one could imagine Merle Haggard taking a stab at the Lauderdale/Leslie Satcher composition “I Met Jesus In A Bar” or Buck Owens interpreting “Two More Wishes”. Elvis Costello could excel with the Burt Bacharach-flavored “That’s Why We’re Here.” George Jones could do likewise with the title song.
Bluegrass achieves the same ends with vocals, songs and sound solidly in a traditional context, featuring first-rate sidemen including Bryan Sutton on guitar, Jesse Cobb on mandolin, Randy Kohrs on dobro, and David Talbot on banjo. Not surprisingly, both the performances and the lyrics are the real thing, refreshingly free of the excessive infusions of pop-folk and hokey-folkie nonsense that have confused and congested bluegrass in recent years.
Lauderdale’s writing collaborators are equally worthy, among them John Leventhal, Buddy Miller and Satcher. “There Goes Bessie Brown”, written with Satcher, succeeds as a dark, rustic drama. Lauderdale’s cerebral side often surfaces, particularly on the searing “I’m Still Living For You” and “It Wasn’t That I Had To”.
Organizing two albums at once is a stretch for nearly any artist. Lauderdale does so admirably. Moreover, all these songs are strikingly interchangeable. “Forever Ends Today” from Bluegrass could become a current mainstream country hit in the right hands. Ralph Stanley or Del McCoury would have no trouble whatsoever handling “I Met Jesus In A Bar” from Country Super Hits.
It’s a no-brainer that the bulk of Nashville’s all-star collaborations and tributes are little more than contrived bullshit, motivated primarily by marketing, not art. That said, I’ll suggest one such project that would succeed: a Lauderdale tribute featuring yesterday’s and today’s great singers interpreting some of these numbers, taking them to levels even beyond the double triumph he achieves here. Hell, I’d buy it.