Monday, June 1, 2020

The Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers: “Don’t Think About Tomorrow Tonight” (2018) CD Review

I am a fan of that old-time country and folk sound and I love hearing it, particularly these days when I am looking for some escape from the current reality, and The Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers really make the most of that sound while delivering new original material. These guys take a classic sound, and make it their own, adding a welcome dose of humor. They are the duo of Nikki Grossman on vocals, guitar, fiddle and kazoo; and Joe Hart on vocals, guitar and mandolin. On their 2018 release, Don’t Think About Tomorrow Tonight, they are joined by Liz Draper on bass; Chris Hepola on drums, piano and percussion; Toni Lindgren on electric guitar; Patrick Harison on accordion, lap steel and washboard; Randy Broughton on pedal steel; Adam Kiesling on banjo; Marya Hart on piano; Gerard Ahlgren on trumpet; and Cory Grossman on percussion and whistling. The disc contains all original material, most of it written by Nikki Grossman and Joe Hart.

The album opens with “Borrowed Time,” a song with an easygoing vibe and a friendly sound to the vocal delivery, a track that features some nice work by Nikki Grossman on fiddle. “Borrowed time, borrowed time/Pay the balance somewhere down the line/All you weary wanderers, raise a glass of wine/To borrowed time.” Indeed! As we are constantly reminded these days, there are no promises about the amount of time we get. And “The highway is my home” is a line I love, and one that reminds me of the songwriting of Steve Werner. That’s followed by “Come On Back, Break My Heart,” which has a fun vibe, sounding like a song played at a country venue where folks are kicking up their heels on a dance floor that may or may not contain the odd strand of hay. Also, this one has one of my favorite song titles. “Fools Were Made To Be Broken” is a slower number with a cool sound (in large part because of Randy Broughton’s work on pedal steel and Chris Hepola’s work on piano) and some really nice vocal work. I love their harmonies. And check out this line: “But I thought just once you’d treat my heart as if it mattered.” That is one heck of a good line.

“The Flower Girl” is a song that makes me smile from the moment it starts. I love the sound, which includes washboard. There is a delightful innocence to both the sound and the lyrics. “She ain’t rich, and I ain’t either/But I buy daisies just to please her.” And then, when you think it can’t get any more wonderful, there is a kazoo section. So there. “The Flower Girl” is followed by “Don’t Think About Tomorrow Tonight,” the album’s title track, a sweet and completely enjoyable song of desire and heartache, featuring some nice work on pedal steel. “There’s no one waiting for me, believe me/I just need to find what’s inside me/So gently, softly hold me beside you/Don’t think about tomorrow tonight.” Then “Dump Run Rag” is another track that is a delight from the moment it begins. This one is an instrumental track featuring Nikki Grossman on fiddle and Patrick Harison on accordion, and in its second half it contains several little teases that it will end before it does. It is a wonderful track to take our minds off our current troubles, something I am thankful for. That’s followed by “Road To Outlaw Bridge,” the album’s only track to credit another writer. Its lyrics were written by Nikki Grossman, based on a poem by Milon Peterson. I like the harmonies on this track, the song telling of a dangerous, winding road. The music has something of cheerful vibe, particularly the work on bass and drums.

“You Don’t Exist” is a song that has me smiling like a fool every time I listen to it. The vocals have a classic, timeless sound, an endearing sound, but the lyrics certainly have a more modern sense, and that juxtaposition is delightful. Check out these lines: “You’ll be dead to me when you walk out that door/You can’t break my heart/If you don’t exist/Because a man who never was/Never can be missed.” This is one of my favorites. There are a lot of reasons to recommend this album, but this track certainly stands out among them. Then “It’s Lonely At The Bottom” is one of those wonderfully sad country numbers, a song that almost demands you have a warm beer in your hand. It is a song of despairing one’s current station in life, a song of loneliness and failure, yet delivered with a hint of humor. “Now that failure and hardship threw dirt in the face of my dreams/I’ve stopped dreaming, and dreaming was all that I had/Woe is me/It’s lonely at the bottom.”

“This Song” is yet another track that makes me smile from its first lines, which are “Oh, how does it go/Well, I just don’t remember/I don’t think that we played this one since last November/So until we recall it, let’s continue to stall it/And string ‘em along.” Yes, it’s about performing a song they don’t quite recall. Hey, it’s okay to fake it, and this song directly acknowledges that they are, and also that folks probably won’t mind. And we certainly don’t. There is a section that had me laughing out loud, where they just make various noises in place of the lyrics that they can’t remember. This track is just completely bloody wonderful, and I imagine it is one that is requested a lot during their live performances (do you remember live performances?). There is a twist at the end, which even includes a plug to purchase the album, which you should absolutely do.

“Empty Gestures” is a slower, more serious-sounding number with something of a relaxed island vibe. It is about a man who is cheating, and a woman who won’t be fooled. “Empty gestures and empty threats/Well, that’s no way to get, no way to get things done.” That’s followed by “Nashville Hero,” which opens with the line “I grew up in a town so small that it hurt,” a line I can relate to. But I can’t quite relate to the other part, about being a superstar in Nashville. Well, not yet, anyway. Joe Hart sings lead on this one. The theme of this song, and some of the lyrics remind me of a Violent Femmes song, “More Money Tonight,” lines like “I made more on my last song/Than you’re going to make your whole life long.” My favorite lines, however, are “Ran into Bobby Sue working at the liquor store/She looked a whole lot older than when she turned me down before.” This song also includes a humorous little nod to themselves, to their band in the line “Sapsuckers in my entourage.” The album concludes with a track not listed on the back of the CD case, a delightful tune that features some whistling, a good bass line and some wonderful work on trumpet. “And now I see that you are waiting/For my happiness to stop/It’s in your eyes, the expectation/That the other shoe will drop.” And it has a cha-cha-cha ending.

CD Track List
  1. Borrowed Time
  2. Come On Back, Break My Heart
  3. Fools Were Made To Be Broken
  4. The Flower Girl
  5. Don’t Think About Tomorrow Tonight
  6. Dump Run Rag
  7. Road To Outlaw Bridge
  8. You Don’t Exist
  9. It’s Lonely At The Bottom
  10. This Song
  11. Empty Gestures
  12. Nashville Hero 
  13. The Other Shoe
Don’t Think About Tomorrow Tonight was released on March 23, 2018.

No comments:

Post a Comment