A couple of blind listens to “Dead Roses” and you’re convinced Kasey Anderson is a middle-aged man from the south, a former rocker who got tired of the road and the band but can’t quit the music, and so he turns introspective and begins to express himself by singing mournful ballads about ghosts and the rain.
So it’s quite a surprise to learn Anderson is a 24-year old native of Washington state with such a haunted soul he writes a song about the rain in Hattiesburg from the viewpoint of an abused child. He certainly is convincing; you worry for such a weary young man.
With the exception of “5th Avenue Queen”, which moves at a distinctive James McMurtry gallop, and the title track, with its bright electric guitar stings at the solo breaks, the bulk of the album is an exercise in depression (as if the title didn’t give enough of a clue). “This Old Town”: Loneliness. “Emaline”: Lost love. “Weary Heart”: Hopeless love. “What’s A Man To Do?”: Helplessness.
The folk-based melodies are solidly arranged — you could teach a songwriting class with them — and artfully produced, with e-bow, organ, dulcitar and electric guitar accents (usually performed by producer Eric “Roscoe” Ambel) keeping things sonically interesting. Anderson would like his songs to be moving, to get the listener personally involved in the poetry and narratives; but unlike his influence Townes Van Zandt, Anderson’s depression is too much his own for a stranger to find reflection within it.