Madisons – You Can Take Your Sorry Ass Back to West Texas!

I wish I could take credit for discovering Madisons. Hell, I wish I could take credit for everything about them because, for some odd reason, their music strikes a deep chord within me. But, alas, credit goes to writer Jim Caligiuri who has turned me onto so much good music over the two or three years I’ve been reading him that I’m afraid not to follow his recommendations anymore. About a year ago, he mentioned that if we (meaning the listening public) wanted an alternative to the pap the media was promoting, we should check out Madisons’ new album — at that time, Desgraciados. I did. I was impressed enough to write a very positive review, which I found out just this morning was never posted. Sigh. I need a keeper.

So, this time around, in the wake of their new album (You Can Take Your Sorry Ass Back to West Texas!), I am posting as quickly as I can get this written to make damn sure it makes it into the ether. These guys deserve the exposure. They really do.

I knew it the first time through, with the lyrics, “I’m not responsible for the way you say you feel / That’s what therapists teach assholes so they don’t have to feel like assholes”. I’m a sucker for good lyrics and those are among the best I’ve heard in recent years. Of course, it helps that they lay them across some fine mid-tempo country rock — with just enough twang and a bedrock of music, supported by a trumpet/violin combo, which raises the song up a level.  I don’t even mind the banjo on this track (or on the album, truth be told) — an instrument I have heard way too much the past decade, but which I think is just not used correctly most of the time. The song, by the way, is “A Long Slow Death in San Marcos Texas.” It’s only one outstanding track on an album packed full of solid tunes.

As with all albums, some songs strike deeper than others. I looped “A Long Slow Death” this morning while making coffee because it dug the deepest last night when I first heard the album. It dug even deeper this morning. As did “Carolina,” which took me back to the early 1970s and the early country rock years, and “Meet Me By the Riverside” with its overtones of ’50s and ’60s country gospel and bluegrass mix. “The Hill” and “Sucker Punch” step outside the band’s country-leaning sound — the first an upbeat but controlled rocker, the second a rocker with simple background guitar reminiscent of some of Jerry Garcia’s pedal steel work on songs by the Jefferson Starship and on David Crosby’s “If I Could Only Remember My Name.” Nice to hear a female voice up front, too.

Madisons are out of Austin, if that means anything to anyone.  I suppose Austin is to Americana, country, and folk what grunge was to Seattle and Southern rock was to the South. I may be over-reading that, though, because music out of Austin has in my mind been correlated with Austin City Limits. For these guys, I hope it carries some kind of cachet. They are too good to be just tossed in the mix with the few thousand bands out there fighting for an audience. 

If you’re smart, after checking this album out, you’ll backtrack to Desgraciados. Coupled with Sorry Ass, it is a solid one-two punch for fans looking for that smooth country-rock punch with raw edges, without going for the same old. Myself, I’m looking forward to hearing both over the next few months. It should suffice until Old Californio finishes up their next album. Madisons? Old Californio? Man, life is good!

Here is a video, a bit raw, of “A Long Slow Death” from Sorry Ass.  I think it was a party!