Stevie Agnew & Hurricane Road – Bad Blood & Whiskey

Features Nazareth Bassist Pete Agnew and Lead Vocalist Dan McCafferty on “The Fall of Man”

Sometimes it takes a few listens for an album and its songs to sink in. Takes a little longer still, for the ears, the heart and spirit to focus on favorites. But with lines like “…and I don’t know how to leave her, I don’t know how to stay…” from the first track of Stevie Agnew’s new collection “Bad Blood & Whiskey,”  there’s a genuine hint that something special is brewing and moving quietly through the arteries of Scotland’s Stevie Agnew’s musical embodiment. “Don’t Know How To Leave Her,” — is an instant favorite. Agnew and his crew have mastered this genre of music no doubt. This is not outlaw country, it’s not traditional country and thank God it’s not pop-country. It has an attractive edginess to it. It tugs at reality the way country used to. I have read that much music similar to this – is now being called EuroAmericana. How appropriate and respectful.

“Moonshine,” with female siren-type back up vocals from Circes mesmerizes. Considering that the prior song was very Scottish in tradition – this one journeys down Cajun roads with sorcery , into the Delta, where dark swampy music weaves its way through Spanish moss and sidewinders. To say Stevie has been able to carry a tune in a bucket with this adapted style as an equal accomplishment — is an understatement. There’s lots of humidity in this tune and it’s enchanting.

Chris Smith’s lyrics are hotter than a goat’s butt in a pepper patch. That is to say – just as  good as Steve Earle or John Haitt. “There’s a still in a hole in a field by a willow, in the floor of a barn where they make a moonshine.” A little Resonator guitar or a little more dobro would have added a little more atmosphere to an otherwise well-rounded ballad, a gritty piece of Southern hooch. “Whiskey,” continues the album concept with some tender vocals, and acoustic guitar.

“Tell me my love when you’ve been to the brink, and I’ve taken the edge off my thirst.” The somberness and sincerity in Stevie’s vocals interpret the lyrics in a manner not out of proportion with the song’s worth. Backup is perfectly entrenched in a nostalgic 50’s early 60’s country motif. The whine of the guitar from the classic country song book lays down a compelling and effective mood. “Tell me my love when you’ve been victimized…” – that is quite a good lyric. Absolutely heart wrenching and “victimized” not your standard fare country song lyric and that’s what I admire.

Someone not afraid to walk away from the clichés that are so evident in many of today’s songs – even alt-country songs. Chris Smith shines throughout with his sharp pencil and fascinating tales. A good lyricist is as important to a successful career as any composer.

And the singer – well, he wants to sing something that has value, meaning and a groove.  To get the whole swell of the words – you must follow the lyrics as Stevie sings on the collection and the lyric book included in the CD is excellent.

Don’t let any other reviewers or writers fool you either. Lyrics are important to a successful collection of songs. Procol Harum had Keith Reid, King Crimson had Pete Sinfield, the Grateful Dead had Robert Hunter and Elton John still has Bernie Taupin. It is critical…and a fine musician-composer like Stevie Agnew has always had a wealth of originality with the collaboration of Chris Smith. His little novellas make up Stevie’s consistently interesting albums and Stevie’s voice suits these energetic and sometimes poignant tales perfectly. The way Chris writes, if the words come first, can easily influence and motivate a good musician like Stevie Agnew to write just the most appropriate melodies. On this collection…Stevie and Chris have not created a donut they’ve created a pastry.  

To loosen things up Stevie strums into “I Will Find You,” with a melodic and hook whipped tune. Touches of fiddle, pedal steel, heavy bass line and crisp drums. Nothing to be analyzed. Just something to enjoy to its fullest. The song is infectious and when the musicians let loose at full throttle – the dance floor will get crowded. This song reminds me of John Mellancamp. It’s rural, it’s hot dusty roads, a rusty Coke sign, it’s a one pump gas station, it’s a squeaky weathervane on a barn and…it has personality. Agnew burns it up, his backup vocalists are fiery in a retro country way and Agnew has that rural personality in spades.

The pace on his album is ingenious, well-thought out because there is no sensory overload. Agnew’s next song leads with piano and fiddle and another graceful vocal. “Drunk On You Again.” It’s a perfect, reflective Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard type song. “I’m blinded by the headlights, and I’m drunk on you again…” sounds like Part 2 of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You.” Lesley Thompson’s fiddle dominates with a well-oiled sadness and a lilting piano run.  

In a deeper tone, Stevie sings a little like early Tom Waits on “Bad Blood,” low and subtle. “As the cars groan by I’m stoned, Fixing to get my way home…”  and “Suicide breaks in a vapor filled choke…” Heavy.

Drums are steady and funeral-like, backup vocals are delicate and other-worldly. The structure of the music is not like any other country, alt-country artist. It has that  feeling just before a whiskey that goes down smooth and warm on a chilly night. It almost sounds like a song that would sung by actor Nick Nolte if he could sing.

Away from the dark and mournful Stevie follows a solid map and compass to the “Ghost of Yesteryear.”  This is friendly, optimistic and the banjo, fiddle and Uilleann pipes are so, so gratifying and uplifting. “…he wasn’t taking a lip from the soup bums on the midnight strip.” The lyric tale is filled with concise products, aromas, flavors, moods, personalities, and it reeks brilliantly of Steinbeck, John Fante, Bukowski and the film “Ironweed.” This is a little masterpiece. This is something that isn’t written while seated on the toilet in ten minutes. This is a well-thought out piece of Americana. The fact that it is imported from Scotland makes it even more ingratiating. There is a little hint of the vocal magic of the late, incredibly talented solo artist Jackie Leven (former Doll by Doll vocalist) and former King Crimson lead vocalist turned solo singer Gordon Haskell. It’s simply a delight. Stevie is in good company if he’s lumped in with these men. I don’t share these artists with anyone. 

Pensive acoustic guitar and dobro start with the deep-throated Stevie Agnew tune “The Fall of Man.” This too – has a groove, a mood and it’s is a mini-novel painted with broad strokes of lyrical beauty. “The streets bare and austere, a man lay cold as wreckage…”

Female back up singers are perfection personified if you care about things like that – I do. This is like a Van Gogh painting. It comes at you intensely. Maybe songs like this are too deep for the average listener, too expensive for their ears, to idealistic or realistic. Maybe it gives them too much to think about. I’m the listener who takes it all in – the melody, the lyric, instrumentation, the vocal timbre, the mood and all the superficial additions that when they come together create all the transient colors of a successful song. It’s like when you mix two oil colors together and you’ve suddenly created a unique hue of your own. How can a banjo be so dark? It is on this and it sounds so good. This is another song to recommend the album. It’s worth trying to understand. Bass on this track was courtesy of Stevie’s father – Pete Agnew – from the world renown, classic band Nazareth. I may have said this before, but the acorn doesn’t fall to far from the tree.

There’s also a version of this song featuring former Nazareth lead vocalist Dan McCafferty with its bassist Pete Agnew available with Stevie Agnew and Hurricane Road. (See Bandcamp link).   

“Venal Street,” is a short song stimulating tune that in its stream has an under the surface harmonica, dobro and fiddle. The acoustic guitar is rich and the focus is on Stevie Agnew’s storytelling talent. It is quite effective. Heartfelt. It’s briefness – a glimmer.

Continuing with a slow burn on “In the Shadows,” Stevie sings with a more American traditional style. A weeping pedal steel, with Ali Bell’s refined backup vocal that adds a somber aura. It’s steeped in a decades old tradition that has embraced listeners of this kind of country music for decades in America. But now, understanding where this music is coming from – I must add the world. New Zealand and Scotland – two countries who are more country today than many music cities in the South of the United States. They’d better beware – if they look into their rear views – these countries are gaining on them on that musical highway. This is no example of a bunch of novices. The sentimentality is authentic, the angst in the voice is real, it haunts quietly and no one’s going to teach these musicians how to play country. These people all deserve a hat from Texas, a Mason jar of moonshine from Tennessee, and some hominy and grits. They earned it.

“Eyes Like Audrey Tautou,” is Stevie Agnew funneling his Shane McGowan & The Pogues with a touch of the Dropkick Murphys. While the song isn’t as fiery as those bands can get, Agnew’s approach is fueled by the same energetic storytelling. A genuine saloon tale between the whiskies, beers, and boilermakers. “Thirteen months on the run till she bore me a son…” – damn, I can see it, feel it and smell it. “I remember her eyes and I long for her thighs,” – no one in American country is mining this vein. None.

“Fare Thee Well,” is an appropriate closer. I wish Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash were still alive because both would have a wealth of material just from this Stevie Agnew and Chris Smith collection. Another poetic lyric rendered to chiseled perfection. None of the tracks are distilled, each are potent with melody and lyric. It seems even, by the album’s end the cleverness, beauty and creativity had not ebbed.

This final song is poignant, powerful and in many ways should be the impetus of the message Stevie Agnew, Chris Smith and the rest of the band wish to convey. On this album, they have all succeeded. This is without a doubt, Stevie’s best LP. Many of his previous albums were all good, all viable and well-played. But there is something special going on here. This album has a soul to it – nothing’s contrived, no filler, no repetition.  The lyrics reach into your soul and the music just helps it along the way. But isn’t that what it’s supposed to do? There’s not a stillborn idea among these songs and no one here is a minor-league player. If The Band still existed – they too would benefit by these selections. Agnew’s Hurricane Road band is diversified – the way we recall The Band.

The album art is marvelous. A six panel die-cut fold out with quite the artistic lyric booklet. Read the lyrics when you listen…it’s a lesson on how words marry up to music and don’t have to be contrived, cliché-ridden or pompous.

Hurricane Road – the back up band is: Chris Smith – drums, bass, bohdran, cahon, percussion and all lyrics // Jimmy Anderson on dobro, acoustic guitar and electric guitar // Chris Agnew on bass guitar unless otherwise noted // Lesley Thompson on fiddle //  Elaine Shorthouse on piano and backing vocals // Ali Bell on vocals

There are eight special musical guests listed on the inside spread.

There is a recipe for Moonshine on the CD art – that alone should be worth the price of the CD. You will have to arrange for a defense attorney on your own.

The marvelous cover photograph is by Marc Marnie and the artwork rendering by Chris Smith. Produced and Engineered by Chris Smith

Photography: Courtesy of Stevie Agnew website

Website:     http://www.hurricane-road.com/

FaceBook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stevie-Agnew/130643473626822

Bandcamp:  http://stevieagnew.bandcamp.com/album/bad-blood-and-whiskey

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this review / commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of No Depression. All photography is owned by the respective photographers and is their copyrighted image; credited where photographer’s name was known & being used here solely as reference and will be removed on request.

John Apice / No Depression / August 2015