He opens this disc with “Hard Blue Stones,” a short and
unusual bluesy folk song presented with just Curtis’ sparse work on banjo
accompanying his vocals. The first lines are: “You stand forever over me/Without kindness or concern/I know I must
look desperate here/With nothing left to burn.” But my favorite line is, “You’ll notice I still wear the bandage even
though the wound has healed.” That’s an excellent line. I don’t want to
compare Curtis to his father, James McMurtry, but clearly he has his father’s
knack for writing a great lyric and creating compelling characters and tales.
Curtis follows “Hard Blue Stones” with “Smooth As Thorns,” in which he asks, “Will you be all right if I fall to pieces?/Will
you be all right if I don’t become the one you dream of?” Toward the end,
the trumpet comes in like a lonely voice in the night.
“Loves Me More” is one of my favorites, and is one I saw
him perform more than two years ago at The Hotel Café. This rendition is quite different from the
solo version I heard then. It has a cool, old-time vibe, thanks to the work of
his band. This is a fun tune, and I love the lead on trumpet. It’s about a man
betraying a friend with his woman. “I did
it for myself, you know/I never meant to hurt you so/But I can’t say I won’t do
it again.” Yes, it has a playful feel. Check out these lines: “It’s not a race unless I win/I know where
her mouth has been/Believe me when I tell you I don’t care/And anyway, she came
to me/I never made her do a thing/You’re a grown man, now, it’s time you
learned to share.” And oh, that instrumental section led by the cello is
absolutely wonderful. Sometimes a despicable character can make for a great
song.
“Wrong Inflection” is another delight, and on this one
Diana Burgess sings lead on certain lines. “I
tell you everything/You still don’t trust me/Am I so easy to despise?/Sometimes
you say the right words/With the wrong inflection.” Yet another favorite of
mine is “Can’t Be Better,” in large part because of Diana’s work on cello, and
I love the way that instrument sounds with the banjo. But this playful love
song also boasts some good lyrics: “There’s
nothing I prefer to being pressed against your skin/And no one can convince me
feeling this good is a sin/I will get down on my knees if you want for me to
beg/With your fingers in my hair, my mouth between your legs/Because I think
you are perfection, I think you are divine.” Ah, yes! And then that horn!
What a wonderful song.
“Together For Now” has a gentle, romantic feel, but its
lyrics tell us more of the truth behind the couple of this tale. “No matter how hard I try to be careful/I
still end up in the fire somehow/Your honey tongue dripping all over/And we’re
still together for now.” And it ends with the line, “Together forever for now.” The album concludes with “Silver World,”
which has an excellent instrumental section with the trumpet, clarinet and
cello combining to create a compelling sound and atmosphere. “The dead don’t care if they’re forgotten/But
the old, they surely do/Build your towers to the heavens/Nothing made is here
to stay/Put up a stone to mark our bones/’Til the wind wears it away.”
CD Track List
- Hard Blue Stones
- Smooth As Thorns
- Loves Me More
- Wrong Inflection
- Bayonet
- Rebecca
- Can’t Be Better
- Coward
- If I Leave
- Tracker
- Together For Now
- Shot At The Title
- Silver World
The Hornet’s Nest
is scheduled to be released on February 24, 2017.
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