Published on Oct 10, 2003
Rodney Crowell has, in the last four years, turned himself from
a country-music has-been to one of the freshest and most brutally
honest voices in American roots music. Not quite country any more,
his music exists in the twilight zone where Harry Chapin meets
Johnny Cash; straightforward, earthy, and yet still penetrating and
thought-provoking. He achieved this breakthrough on 2001’s
The Houston Kid, a CD where he shed his
Diamonds & Dirt image for an unblinking look at his
poverty-stricken childhood. We’ve met the child; now, on 2003’s
Fate’s Right Hand, the same calculating lens is focused on
the man.
Would that we all could be so honest with ourselves.
Fate’s Right Hand is simply breathtaking. The musicianship
is elegant, with great turns by Pat Buchanan and Crowell on guitar
and Paul Leim on drums. Several guest stars, including luminaries
like Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and Gillian Welch give the CD
additional punch and power. Woven through it all are the powerful,
perceptive, and occasionally funny lyrics of Crowell’s work, the
centerpiece of a heck of a table.
Let’s put it this way; how many people do you know who could get
away with writing the line “Jesus and Buddha and Krishna and Minnie
Pearl knew / Do unto others the things you want done unto you”?
Better yet, how many people could sing it and plainly mean it as
something serious, not as a hokey pop culture reference? Crowell is
a genius, y’all.
There’s not a bad song on the CD, but I have a particular
fondness for “Still Learning How To Fly,” a touching summary of a
life in transit; the lyrical quirkiness and heartfelt celebration
of memory in “Earthbound”; the chilling honesty of “The Man In Me”
and “Ridin’ Out The Storm”; and finally the wisdom of “This Too
Shall Pass,” closing
Fate’s Right Hand with a moment of grace.
We have too few songwriters who can quote Johnny Cash and Maria
Rainer Rilke with equal grace, and make it all sound damn fine in
the end. Don’t miss
Fate’s Right Hand.