Tim Carroll – Always Tomorrow

There is not a moment of self-indulgence on Tim Carroll’s outstanding new album. A compilation of two-to-three-minute songs that meld humor and heartbreak with the best of roots-rock and Nashville twang, Always Tomorrow is as straightforward and honest as they come. Carroll plays all the instruments (electric and acoustic guitars, drums, etc.) on half the tracks, all of which he wrote or co-wrote. He seems capable of capturing any mood in song, from the good-natured sneer of his irreverent foot-stompers to the yearning of his thoughtful ballads.

“The T.G.V.”, for example, is a self-assured and jaunty little track about a train in France, which is said to be the fastest in the world. On a swinging midtempo number called “[Why Do I Need A] Job?”, Carroll puts a comic spin on a question we’ve all asked ourselves at least once.

The slower songs are just as good. “In Days To Come” relies heavily on a pair of sad guitars, as Carroll tries to put the “lies of last year” behind him. Before long, though, he’s feeling optimistic: “The problem at hand will be gone/And I will be carrying on in days to come.” The title track is another quiet and gorgeous lament, with Carroll strumming and singing about second chances and better times ahead.