Thanks in large measure to that band chemistry, Erelli and the Spurs managed to record Hillbilly Pilgrim in just three days. Erelli claims that all his albums sound cohesive to him, but the songs on the new album seem especially of a piece — owing obviously to the consistency of style, but also to the emphasis on wordplay and, one suspects, to the speed with which the songs were recorded.
High points include the finger-snapping “Brand New Baby”, which offers a fictionalized account of how Erelli met his wife; the molasses-drip ballad “My Best Was Just Not Good Enough”; and a jukebox-ready stomp titled “Troubles” that splits the difference between Bob Wills and Carl Perkins. In addition to those two iconic influences, Erelli says he also felt a spiritual kinship with Hank Thompson during the sessions — in particular, Thompson’s tendency to toss in the occasional serious ballad among more upbeat, danceable fare.
“There are a couple of songs I put on the album because I wanted to make sure the whole thing wasn’t tongue-in-cheek — things like ‘The Farewell Ball’ and ‘Pilgrim Highway’, that give it a bit of gravity,” Erelli says. “Even on ‘Troubadour Blues’, which is a fun song, there’s a pretty dead-on reference to how I feel about our current president, and the way a lot of people feel about that.”
“But, looking back — and I’ve never really articulated this until now — the reason I put a couple of serious songs on here isn’t because I was worried about people thinking of me as a novelty,” he clarifies. “I was more worried that people might think that this brand of country music, or the people who had played this kind of stuff, were all lightweights. Even the early guys who played this type of music were sort of called hillbillies, with all the stereotypes that go along with that. The truth is, they were massively talented individuals — really jazz-quality, virtuoso players. I wanted to make sure I did the music justice.”
Russell Hall lives in Anderson, South Carolina, where he’s been writing about music for the past ten years. He still dreams occasionally of playing shortstop for the Atlanta Braves.
