Virginia-based country singer Randy Thompson’s second album is a sturdy if derivative collection of honky-tonk that shows him to be a strong songwriter and evocative singer.
There’s one moment of genuine greatness. “No Future In The Blues (Ode to Hank Williams)” turns an overworked subgenre of country on its ear by forgoing the usual worshipful tone for a mood of tough regret at the great one’s wasted demise and an explicit rejection of the purported glamour of living fast and dying young. “I used to want to be hurt just like you,” Thompson sings. “As a boy I found my shelter in your blues/I dreamed that someday I’d be the one to fill your lonesome shoes/I was just a kid then, and a fool.”
The rest of this album isn’t up to that standard, but in songs such as the title track and “Some Other Clown”, Thompson shows a real knack for a good line. The arrangements throughout are stone-cold simple and effective, with Glen Duncan’s fiddle playing especially standing out. And if the ambitious, seven-minute “Ballad Of John Henry Fortney” turns an occasional cliche — references to the “winds of war” and “links in life’s chain”, among them — it’s still a heartfelt tribute to the life of Thompson’s great-great grandfather, a Civil War veteran, and a worthy stretch beyond the more familiar ground on which most of the rest of the songs stand.