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The album kicks off with its title track, “Southern Comfort,” a delicious country rock number. This one features some special guests, including Rick Richards (of The Georgia Satellites) on slide guitar, Charlie Starr (of Blackberry Smoke) on electric guitar, Jeff Spirko on fiddle, and Paul Jackson and Trina Meade on backing vocals. It’s a song about missing home, about needing that special feeling one gets there. “We need some southern comfort/To cure these homesick blues,” Michelle Malone sings on this track. She grew up in Atlanta, and that city is still home. “I’m going home to find a friendly face.” I’ve said it before, but there is something about going home that is always appealing in song. And I love when Michelle starts belting out the line “I’ve got to get back home” just before the end, the energy of the music matching her drive. This song was written by Michelle Malone and Gary Stier. By the way, underneath the CD tray in the case it says, “Bless your heart,” which is funny because that phrase can have two very different connotations. “Southern Comfort” is followed by “Like Mother Like Daughter,” which also has an appealing southern vibe, that sense of place being a part of the song. “‘Cause she’s hot-headed, lead-footed/Down to the bone, rooted deep in her southern ways/And she’s sharp as a tack, won’t have you talking back/And there’s nothing that she’ll take to her grave/Oh, it must be in the water/Like mother, like daughter.” It’s a playful and honest song about that mother-daughter relationship, delivered with love. This track also features some nice touches by Jeff Spirko on fiddle. This song was written by Dean Dillon and Michelle Malone.
“I Choke On My Words” has a softer sound, and looks back at the past, though because of the encouragement by others. “People come up to me and they bring up the past/It never fails, they always ask/If I remember the time I did this or did that.” And I love how her response to these inquiries is always yes, not exactly delivered with pride or anything, but answered honestly, owning her past. And then she sings, “From my current perspective, all I can do is forgive.” What’s interesting there is that the person she speaks of forgiving is herself. We’ve all done some things we’re not proud of, but for many of us those things can remain in the past. I can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up now, with social media sites and cell phones keeping a record of everything you do, keeping it all forever in the present. In a decade or two, we’ll be getting a different sort of songs about being reminded of the past. Buddy Miller plays electric guitar on this track, and Randall Bramblett is on electric piano. Eliot Bronson and Brian Bisky provide backing vocals. This song was written by Dean Dillon and Michelle Malone, as was the song that follows it, “Simple Life.” This one has a cheerful vibe as it begins, even including some finger snaps. “I’m just trying to do the best I can/Saving pennies on my nightstand/If you’re in need, I’ll lend a helping hand.” She delivers a sweet, rather pretty vocal performance on this one, and is joined by Kala Warner on backing vocals. “Some people think life’s about making money,” Michelle sings, then adds, on a personal note, in contrast, “Give me a road trip somewhere I’ve never gone/Someone to go along on a road trip high/Make some memories along the way/There’s a lot to say for the simple life.”
The sweet vibes continue on “Easter Sunday.” There is something soothing about the sound of this song. “We made breakfast and drank red wine from coffee cups/On Easter Sunday.” Lines like those give us such a strong sense of the place, of the atmosphere, that we feel we are there. And a little later she sings, “I felt warm and safe like I belonged,” and the whole vibe of the song has that feeling. This track features some nice work on electric guitar toward the end. That’s followed by “Believe.” Eliot Bronson co-wrote this one with Michelle Malone, and provides backing vocals. This song has strong opening lines: “Time on my hands, hands on the wheel/Wheels keep on turning.” It is a beautiful and moving song of loss, in which Michelle asks, “Will I see you again if I believe?” And for me, perhaps the more difficult and pressing question she asks is, “Who am I now that you have gone?” The line before that is “You always made feel like I belonged,” the second song in a row to use the phrase “like I belonged.” And that makes us think a little more on it. What seems positive at first, belonging, perhaps now strikes us as a bit more sad, because she isn’t saying she belonged, but rather like she belonged. This is one of my personal favorite songs from the album, and I love how it grows in power toward the end, as she concludes, “I believe.”
“Undercover Mother” is a playful number, featuring some good stuff on keys. Trina Meade joins her again on backing vocals for this song. I like that spoken word bit at the end: “Don’t you mess around with her/She’s gonna take you down/’Cause she’s a bad mother/She did the best she could.” That’s followed by “I Want To Be In That Picture,” which looks back, though an old snapshot, to a better time: “There’s Mom and Dad beside an old Ford/Big smiles in 1984/Back before they had me and my brother.” Soon she sings, “Dad lost his job and his love for my mother.” We can’t help but wonder if the character of the song blames herself and her brother for things getting worse. She longs to be in the picture back when her parents were still in love, for what she witnessed, what she experienced of their relationship was not like what she sees in the photo. The next photo she looks at is from her birthday, and it lacks her father. I appreciate the play on the word “presence,” which sounds close to “presents,” in that stanza. This pretty and sad song was written by Dean Dillon and Michelle Malone.
“Barbed Wire Kisses” has a good power behind it. “I felt so dumb, I wanted to run/My feet wouldn’t move, but my mouth was a gun/I tried to hurt you the way that you hurt me.” Special guest Will Kimbrough plays slide guitar on this track. “That knife in my back could have been a mistake.” There is some strong imagery in this song, as you might gather from the song’s title. “Barbed wire kisses like a rusty chain around my heart.” That’s followed by “One Track Mind,” a love song in which that special someone dominates her thoughts. “People think they’re talking to me/I don’t hear a word they say/ ‘Cause in my head sweet words you said/They take up all the real estate,” she sings. Charlie Starr plays guitar on this one. The album then concludes with “Wine And Regret.” Michelle Malone delivers some really nice work on harmonica at the beginning. “So this is how it feels when your heart/Your heart gets peeled from your chest/And leaves an empty hole/You fill up with wine and regret.” This is a beautiful song of loss, featuring a passionate vocal performance. “And I’ll never let you go/And I’ll always keep you close/So close to me/Close as any ghost, close as any ghost can be.” And the harmonica returns, like a spirit answering her. The guitar work near the end is stunning. This is another of the album’s highlights, perhaps its best song.
CD Track List
- Southern Comfort
- Like Mother Like Daughter
- I Choke On My Words
- Simple Life
- Easter Sunday
- Believe
- Undercover Mother
- I Want To Be In That Picture
- Barbed Wire Kisses
- One Track Mind
- Wine And Regret
Southern Comfort is scheduled to be released on October 4, 2024 on SBS Records.
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