Johnquest- #12 - Sign "O" The Times by Prince

LONE STAR STATE OF MIND | NANCI GRIFFITH

Country music is largely foreign to me. but that shouldn’t surprise you. I like folk, which is what Griffith’s earlier music was reportedly like- but this isn’t that. Apparently, she gets country here. Country reviewers say she’s not country enough so maybe I’ll like it. I probably will. Maybe. I’m tentative! And woefully inexperienced when it comes to the genres at hand… I would love to know more. And hopefully, by the end of this, I will.

As far as I’m aware, there’ve been no reissues of this. Isn’t that calming? I love not having to omit songs in order to comply with a rule I made up that has no basis in anything. What a world.

OVERALL VERDICT:

Is countryer than anything else thus far but I still wouldn't call it country. It's country flavoured folk with all that entails. There's tales and many guitars and religion but by a musician who's, like, normal about being religious. Griffih has a beautiful voice and a great backing band. I really like this one! It's not my normal deal but, like, it's a good listen. If it sounds up your alley I'd highly recommend it. If it doesn't? Well this is johnquest, not listen-along-with-mr.-Lennard-Johnquest. you've got free will. Make the decision. I like it though! And I'm, like, the least christian person imaginable!

TRACK BY TRACK:

1. Lone Star State Of Mind makes me think that reviewer guy was onto something. Maybe country music was just really different in the 80s- but aside from a slight twang in her voice and… well the way the string instruments here are played is also a folk thing. It's a little country. It's got all country's best parts- storytelling, heartbreak, pretty noises, but it's not so country that I find it hard to get into. It's a good song! And a good title track. It's very pleasant. I guess part of not being a country guy is getting really surprised when a country song is mixed like it's the 80s. It's very pleasant. The ending is very wistful.

2. Cold Hearts / Closed Minds is slower, but not, like, sad. It's got some Cindy Lauperishness to it. It's very time after time to me. Though the subject matter is fully the opposite. Good on you for leaving, narrator woman. He sounds like an ass. This one's sweet and simple but not, like, simplistic. It's still decidedly beautiful. It's music to listen to when you're waiting for a lunch pal to show up on a 16° day in august which O HEY I'M DOING THAT RIGHT NOW. it's doing something I feel a lot of sadder/slower songs don't which is it still sounds good and it doesn't feel drab. The guitar’s frolicking takes me back to 2nd-name-album Fleetwood Mac. It's very good. See? You're allowed to have instruments in sad songs, world. You don't need to go a capella. Please don't. Sad women of modern music- I want to hear an instrument please. You don't need to do anything for me but I'd like it if you would.

3. From a Distance gets christian with it but it also gets violinish with it so I don't really mind. This isn't country at all but it's okay she seems very nice. It has that raw vocal shit that I don't really dig but this song already isn't for me for a lot of reasons. I'm sure it would be beautiful live but this isn't live. It's a beautiful song about something beautiful and also god. And hey if you're christian, yeah, god’d fucking better be in your utopia. That's kind of the whole point right. Or is this about god seeing us from afar RIGHT NOW and being too distant to realize shit is fucked? Can I make this about politics somehow? That's a joke. I can make anything about politics. Good on you for calling for peace and not dehumanizing your nations’s “enemies”, Nanci. Far too many people are okay doing that.

4. Beacon Street is calm and pensive and pretty. You can always trust a folk lady to do something like that. Still… not entirely sure this is country. I like it though. Her voice is much akin to a rich velvet. It's really nice. The kind of thing you could fall asleep to not because it's boring or nothing but because she's just a really pleasantly-voiced lady. She makes being alone and and heartbroken sound… kind of like how it feels? It's that heavy acceptance, I guess. It's also, like, airy and crisp. This is a cold weather song. This is a cold weather album.

5. Nickel Dreams is about aging and sleep. And aspiration and sleep. I think we need more songs about sleep. And repression and insecurity. I'd call it bittersweet but it's really just bitter, mostly. She's holding herself up to past aspirations! She is overreliant and critical of other people's opinions at once! She sees no way out of this and no reason to leave even though it hurts. Lord, she's got problems. I want to give the lady depicted here a hug. Two hugs. Three hugs. I don't know. This lady needs a friend but probably wouldn't let herself have one. Heart wrenching!

6. Sing One For Sister is more decidedly countryish. It's about grief and family and loneliness. This poor lady. Lord nanci griffith is good at making you feel things- not that this isn't a general habit of country musicians. Or folk musicians or a good number of rappers and other such folk whose genres are defined by lyrical storytelling. It's an agonizing one. But lord does it sound good. The guitar- layers of guitar! Possibly two or more guitars- sound incredible. The piano, the fiddle… good instruments here. Nanci, or your band or whoever, you are very good at everything.

7. Ford Econoline does not have a crush. I know, I know it's sad. It has nothing to do with cancon. Sad! But it's a really good song. It's about a Mormon chick who drives away from her shit husband. I don't know if Nanci is Mormon but from this song I'd guess probably not? It sounds excellent. I think “lady with a shit husband lives him” is a pretty classic genre of country song but it's so classic because it's tried and true. I don't know if there's much I can say about it that wouldn't be better explained by just fuckin listening to it. It's really good! Ms. Griffith has a crazy good voice. I might seek out more of her stuff. Just for fun. Because she's good. And her other stuff is apparently more folksy, which, yknow. I dig.

8. Trouble In The Fields. It's a song. It's a good song. But come on lady this is NOT your native soil. That's too pissy. I'm a guy who knows many a rural farming family who struggles to make it. We've had crazy rain this year and it's totally fucked a lot of more southern grainfields. But, like, come on lady. Maybe I'm too woke. It's a good song. It sounds good. It's pleasant. I'm sorry. I'm getting pissy. Whatever. She still sounds nice. And who among us doesn't worry about another dustbowl (remembers more people don't live in Saskatchewan) forget I said that.

9. Love In a Memory goes crazy about the imagery. It's beautiful. And hey, who doesn't love a lady who sings great singing about a lady who sings great. This one has one of those just. Wholly breathtaking choruses. Which Nanci seems to excel at. It's really wonderful. She's really wonderful.

10. Let It Shine On Me is another christian one- see? When she does it twice in the same album it works. It becomes a theme and a facet of her deal and a thing she does. They're well dispersed and placed intentionally and and and I'm not talking about the song at all. It's about wanting to get to heaven. Not personally relatable but, like, not unpleasant. I'd be surprised if it was. John Allison seems like a pretty normal guy? Imagine if there was a song in one of these that just fully unironically was about like the white man's burden or something. That'd be fucked. But that's not going to happen. I can say that with 99.9% certainty.

11. There’s a Light Beyond These Woods is about childhood friendship and hope and growing up and lesbianism????. Probably not. I will see yuri everywhere because I am stupid. It's about growing up and apart and how time changes people and relationships. It hurts! Like a lot! Those of you who remember my GcD review may remember me also feeling agonized over a different song of childhood. These are just things that will always hurt me. It's a great song. It hurts my heart.

If you like this Album, you might also like: FIVE DAYS IN JULY by BLUE RODEO or JUDEE SILL by JUDEE SILL

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