Steve Forbert – Any Old Time: Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers

Jimmie Rodgers’ body of work, some 100-odd tracks culled from a recording career cut short by tuberculosis, cannot be overestimated. Artists through the years, from 1997’s tribute platter of heavy hitters (Bob Dylan, Dwight Yoakam, Van Morrison) to perhaps the best of the lot, Merle Haggard’s epic, heartfelt 1969 double album, Same Train, A Different Time, have paid homage to his pioneering brew of country blues, train songs and yodeling workouts.

For Steve Forbert, Any Old Time completes a kind of circle. As a rock ‘n’ roller (albeit with strong folk roots) coming up in the late 1970s, Forbert was hardly interested in the ancient father of country music who just happened to hail from his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi. But there’s always been a bluesy, rural, populist undertow to Forbert’s work, from “Goin’ Down To Laurel”, the first track on his 1978 debut Alive On Arrival, to “The American In Me”, from his 1992 Pete Anderson-produced album of the same name. And he’s always been reverent to worthy antecedents — see his fabulous cover of “Starstruck” on the recent Kinks tribute This Is Where I Belong.

Any Old Time, from its gorgeous, period-piece CD sleeve to the finely detailed music within, goes down as smooth as a candy-flavored elixir. Forbert doesn’t try to replicate Rodgers’ originals here, nor stylize them unto a particular genre a la Haggard (though his rollicking, Buddy Holly-ish “My Rough & Rowdy Ways” is a nice touch). Instead he aims to capture the songs’ restless spirit, and he largely succeeds.

With a deft ensemble in tow, Forbert traverses Rodgers’ catalog with easy grace. The title track rolls and swings on Bobby Ogdin’s piano leads; Forbert finds the heart of the song’s pathos and delivers a relaxed vocal, sly and knowing, that demonstrates the timeless simplicity of Rodgers’ best songwriting. Likewise, “Ben Dewberry’s Final Run” works beautifully, its snaky, sinewy melody wrapping itself around the song’s narrative sweep. And Forbert’s raspy voice is nigh-on perfect for the gorgeous ballad “Miss The Mississippi And You”.

While some may carp that we don’t need yet more renditions of warhorses such as “Waiting For A Train” and “Blue Yodel #9”, Forbert’s intuitive feel for Rodgers’ rambling Americana makes Any Old Time worthy of its subject’s name.