Pete McCabe: “Many Storyed” (2020) CD Review

Pete McCabe is a singer and songwriter born in Colorado, and now based in Los Angeles. He put out his first album, The Man Who Ate The Plant, in 1973, and revisited the title track to that album on last year’s Head Tones. Now he is following Head Tones with Many Storyed, an album of mostly original material. This is largely a solo effort, with Pete McCabe providing all the vocals and playing most of the instruments. He does get a little help on a few tracks.

The album opens with “Forgotten Folkies,” which takes us back to the early 1960s, when the folk revival was going strong, and gives us a sense of what it was like to take part in it. “Playing our three chords to an avid crowd.” This track mentions some of the well-known folk artists of the time, including Joan Baez and Peter, Paul And Mary, and then gets into how The Beatles and Dylan going electric changed things. There is a fondness for the music which is clear in the delivery, but also a sense of humor about it, heard in lines like “There must be a home for forgotten folkies/Our glory time was golden, but brief/I’ll live out my days in banjo heaven/And let the normal people get some relief.” The song itself has a relaxed, somewhat laid back vibe. On this track, Pete McCabe is joined by Leon Rubenhold on dobro and harmonica. That’s followed by “Ghosts From Your Past,” a song that Pete McCabe also recorded for an earlier album, Homeward. This song has a gentle sound, and its opening lines grabbed me: “Just when your life has slowed down/And things are dull but very easy/And you almost think you’ve found a way to be alone without being lonely.” The vocal line is interesting, the pace at which it moves, and there is an unusual beauty to this track. “And thinking change comes too fast/Is it then that you feel haunted by ghosts from your past.” Though it speaks of being haunted, this song has more of a soothing quality and effect, and holds appeal particularly for those of us who are beginning to be aware of our age. “Then do you find yourself reaching for a soft hand/Letting it pull you deep into a dream.”

“A Protest Doughnut” is the strangest and more humorous title of this release. Yet as it begins it has a rather sweet sound, his vocals supported by keys, as he describes a morning, some ordinary details taking on a strange significance. Soon that humor is apparent, as Pete McCabe sings, “So I got back in my car and went to eat a far-from-perfect waffle on my own,” and then introduces the doughnut of the song’s title. “I set my mind on a chocolate sprinkled glazed filled with sweet raspberry jam/But posted in the window was a crudely written sign/‘Death in the family, please come back some other time’/I felt so inconsolable, my anguish uncontrollable.” That last line always strikes me as funny, that he is inconsolable when he has just learned that someone else suffered the death of a loved one. Talk about not being able to put things into perspective. But who can’t relate to that feeling, when one little thing goes wrong and it seems just too much? “A Protest Doughnut” is followed by “Hair Of The Dog,” a rather sweet and somewhat goofy song, equating the love of a person to alcohol, and needing just a bit more to set things right. A little hair of the dog, you understand. When it kicks in, this song takes on a jazzy feel. It was written by Pete McCabe and Alfred Johnson, as was the song that follows it, “Maybe Mae.” And on this one Alfred Johnson plays electric piano. The piano begins this track, and has a somewhat romantic sound. This song is about hoping his love will make a decision about their wedding day, so that they can finally begin their lives together. “Once again you’re in a hurry to postpone our plans away/So now you tell me maybe May next year would be better/And after that we’ll be together forever.” You might expect a bitter or frustrated tone or even a snarl in the delivery of lines like that, but this song has a loving and understanding sound. “I have more patience than most hearts allow,” he sings, perhaps unnecessarily, in the second half of the song. Yet by the end, he is telling her she must make up her mind. And still, he doesn’t get his answer, and is likely still hanging on out there.

“Plague Baby” is a timely number. While the pandemic has left most of us feeling anxious and depressed, this song takes a different approach to the situation. Certainly spending all of one’s time with just one person could strain a relationship, but it also can be a blessing, and can strengthen the relationship. For me, getting to spend so much time with my girlfriend has been the one very bright spot in an otherwise dark reality, and that’s what this song is about. “She’s got a stockpile of emergency supplies/But all I really need is the magic in her eyes.” There are a lot of lines in this song that I can relate to, including some lines that are close to things I’ve said to my girlfriend (to which she unfailingly replies “Don’t be goofy”). Leon Rubenhold joins Pete McCabe again on “Plague Baby,” this time on electric guitar. And Richard Barron is on digital drums. The disc then concludes with “Simple Gifts,” the only track not written or co-written by Pete McCabe, and also the album’s only instrumental track. Pete delivers a pretty and light rendition, a track to help ease our minds.

CD Track List

1. Forgotten Folkies
2. Ghosts From Your Past
3. A Protest Doughnut
4. Hair Of The Dog
5. Maybe Mae
6. Plague Baby
7. Simple Gifts

Many Storyed is scheduled to be released on September 17, 2020.