In the early ’90s, Hear Music’s mail-order catalog introduced me to Alejandro Escovedo and Michael Hall when I read about, and instantly purchased (the writers were nothing if not persuasive), Escovedo’s Gravity and Hall’s Love Is Murder. In that same period, Hear introduced me to another guy who’s now also seven albums into a solo career, Greg Trooper. I can still remember the quotes from Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg and Lucinda Williams featured in the catalog blurb for Trooper’s second album, Everywhere. Those peer endorsements are telling, as Trooper seems forever to have been appreciated more by fellow artists — his songs have been covered by Bragg, Steve Earle, and Vince Gill — than by record buyers.
That said, I’m a record buyer, and I appreciate the hell out of Trooper. His work is never less than solid, and Floating keeps alive a four-album streak of excellence, with each release bringing something new to the table. The crisply executed Popular Demons found him claiming a spot smack between Buddy Miller, who produced the album, and Joe Ely. Straight Down Rain brought a vaguely trippy backbeat into the mix on a few songs, and his live Between A House And A Hard Place successfully bottled the BYOB spirit of a house concert.
This time out, Trooper tries his hand at country-soul with the organ-nourished pair of “The Road So Long” and “Apology”, and he nails it like the pro he is. While Floating highlights this new bent, it doesn’t forget about Trooper’s well-established strengths. His writing can make you long for romance (“Rose, With You” and “Inisheer”, a duet with Maura O’Connell) and, more painfully, make you think (the superb “Muhammad Ali (The Meaning of Christmas)”). And his affable vocals make everything go down easy, even the title track’s tragic twist; his is a voice that would make good company from 9:00 till last call.
Is 10 years after the fact too late to send a thank-you note?
