Kevin Johnson – Sunday Driver
It’s fair to say that Washington, D.C., singer-songwriter Kevin Johnson plays roots-rock, so long as that statement is qualified by adding that he does so with the pop smarts of someone who can tackle Marshall Crenshaw’s “You’re My Favorite Waste Of Time”, and with a fondness for all things covered by the term “roots” that he wears like a “Dave Alvin for President” button.
On Johnson’s new Sunday Driver, that latter characteristic is underscored by songs such as the zydeco-infused “The Bad Old Days” and the dramatic “Heart Of Spanish Leather”, which has a title worthy of Townes Van Zandt and a rustic wall of sound that recalls Joe Ely. “Always Raining On My Street”, written by MVP sideman Scott McKnight, invites in some bullfight horns for a change of pace. (That’s Bill Kirchen on trombone, by the way.) Later, Johnson tackles another McKnight composition, a lullaby for the working class titled “Alright” that’s as perfect a closer as it is a showcase for Johnson’s rich, Arkansas-reared voice.
When McKnight isn’t playing guitar and bass in Johnson’s band the Linemen, he’s apparently busy home-recording several careers’ worth of songs. Finally, 45 of those, captured between 1986 and 1999, are being let out of the house on the two-disc set It Works For Me, which often comes off like the British Invasion and the alt-country movement taking shape simultaneously — and in DIY fashion — in a Northern Virginia basement.
Comparisons to Jack Logan’s Bulk are inevitable, and the two certainly share an all-you-can-eat nature. With so much to chew on, the occasional dud is also inevitable. But for every “Popeye Got Married”, you’ll find three tunes the quality of “Walkin’ Next To You”, “We Own A Baby Now”, and “Things I’m Not”, which suggest vintage Silos, NRBQ, and Ben Vaughn, respectively. Also on hand are two other songs covered by Johnson on earlier records, “Written On My Heart” and “Wouldn’t Be Easy”, wistful winners both.