James Talley – Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got A Lot Of Love

First released in 1975, at a time when the Outlaw movement was opening Nashville up to all manner of previously unimaginable sounds, James Talley’s debut sounds as revelatory now as it did then. A New Mexico native with family roots in Oklahoma, Talley writes simple, straightforward, folk ‘n’ western workingman songs that embrace and extend the Woody Guthrie tradition. But they’re not protest songs; they celebrate love and family (the title track), and the hard-won pleasures of driving 80 miles every Saturday to dance to the western swing of “W. Lee O’Daniel And The Light Crust Dough Boys”. His voice is straight from the Dust Bowl, his melodies are built to last, songs such as “No Opener Needed” boast unshakeable hooks, and there’s some sizzling hot fiddle from Johnny Gimble. Talley is sometimes sentimental but never precious or cloying, sometimes nostalgic but never starry-eyed. Closing with the haunting instrumental “Red River Reprise”, this quietly proud album evokes a time and place and way of life like very little other music before or since.