The album opens with an original number written by Rich Dembowski, “Shorten Your List.” This song has a beautifully sad country sound, but with a sense of humor. You are familiar with that need to laugh and cry at the same time. Check out these lines: “I oughta drive off a cliff in the dark/Ah, but the car would refuse to start.” How are those for some good country blues lines? And those lines are followed by the song’s main line, “I’m learning to shorten my give a shit list.” Oh yes, and maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but my list has certainly shortened in recent times. Well, it’s not just age, but the overwhelming amount of crap out there these days. Trying to care about it all would give us all heart attacks. “Accept the world for the mess that it is/Just do what you can and leave the rest in higher hands.” This song is one of my personal favorites of this album. It’s followed by “I Won’t Cry,” which was written by John Avila, who sits in with the group on bass on this track (and on a couple of others). You probably know John Avila from his work in Oingo Boingo, and possibly from his work in The Mutaytor. This song has a sweet vibe and a rather pretty sound, and features some wonderful vocal work as well as some excellent playing. This is the best of that delicious California sound. I love these lines: “And if you think that she was wrong/Then you’re right/Because I fell into her arms just one night.”
Old Californio delivers an unusual rendition of The Beatles’ “Because.” The vocal approach is similar to the original, but the music is quite a bit different. They’ve given it an enjoyable country vibe, and sped everything up a bit, and it all works really well. There is something cheerful about it, particularly that picking. Cheerful and yet a bit lonesome, the image I get being of a man standing on a hill seeing his place in the vast universe. Then toward the end, they slow it down, more in line with the pace of the original recording, or perhaps even a bit slower. The group follows that with a cover of John Prine’s “The Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness,” a song from his 1986 album German Afternoons. Artists have been covering Prine’s songs for decades, but since his death at the beginning of the pandemic, it seems they’ve been turning to his material more and more. And that is just fine with me. Old Californio does a wonderful job with this song, which again features some great vocal work. This is one of two John Prine songs on this disc.
Woody Aplanalp takes lead vocal duties on the group’s cover of “Lonesome Fugitive,” and does an excellent job with it. This is a song written by Liz Anderson and Casey Anderson, and recorded by Merle Haggard. The line “the highway is my home” has a different connotation for those of us who live in Los Angeles and have spent countless days stuck on the 405 freeway. The second John Prine song is a more recent number, “Knockin’ On Your Screen Door,” which comes from his 2018 album The Tree Of Forgiveness, which ended up being his final studio album. Old Californio’s version has a very different sound as it starts, with that cool, heavy rhythm on guitar. I totally dig it. This is another of the disc’s best tracks. “I’m dreaming ‘bout a sailboat/But I don’t need a fur coat/Underneath the dashboard/Got some sweet potato wine.”
“I Say That Too” is an original song, written by Woody Aplanalp, and is another of the disc’s highlights. The first verse is about driving an older, damaged car, while being among those with the money to drive expensive vehicles, so right away I’m on board with this song. It is strange sometimes driving in Los Angeles, because some people here have just an incredible amount of money, while the rest of us are struggling, and yet we’re all on the same roads. The second verse then touches upon communication in the age of social media: “In the turbulence of modern social media/World wide spider web’s ablaze/Doesn’t anybody like to talk no more/Pushing buttons is the latest craze.” The third verse is a wish for a better life: “Someday I want to buy me a nice house/Have a dime to spend/Just living being happy with a good girl/Who’s a lover and a friend.” While each verse is different, the song is about how we all want love.
“Maybe It’s Time” is a song written by Jason Isbell and performed by Bradley Cooper in the most recent film version of A Star Is Born. I haven’t seen that movie, because I felt three versions of that story were enough, but this song is making me wonder if I should give it a chance. It’s a beautiful song. “Nobody knows what waits for the dead/Nobody knows what waits for the dead/Some folks just believe in the things they heard and the things they read.” This track features some really nice work on pedal steel. Old Californio then delivers a good rendition of “Wild Horses,” a song from The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers album. “I watched you suffer a dull, aching pain/Now you’ve decided you’re gonna show me the same.” This track features some excellent work on guitar and dobro. This is also one of the tracks to feature John Avila on bass.
Little Feat’s “Willin’” is one of those songs you want to hear when you’re on the road, lost in thoughts, lost in the landscape. Old Californio’s rendition contains some beautiful work on pedal steel and harmonica, and a heartfelt vocal performance. That’s followed by a really good rendition of Guy Clark’s “Stuff That Works,” which features more wonderful work on dobro and of course more excellent vocal work. “Stuff that works, stuff that holds up/The kind of stuff you don’t hang on the wall/Stuff that’s real, stuff you feel/The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall.” That in turn is followed by “The Cuckoo,” a traditional song that has been recorded a lot. The first version I ever heard, as far as I recall, was a recording by Big Brother & The Holding Company. As you might imagine, this version is quite a bit different from that one. This one has a rather cheerful, easygoing sound. The band then wraps things up with a cover of Neil Young’s “Lotta Love,” a song from his 1978 LP Comes A Time. This song was true then, and is perhaps even more apt now, with lines like “It’s gonna take a lotta love/To change the way things are/It’s gonna take a lotta love/Or we won’t get too far.” It’s difficult at times, of course, but it is still the answer. This track features more wonderful vocal work.
CD Track List
- Shorten Your List
- I Won’t Cry
- Because
- The Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness
- Lonesome Fugitive
- Knockin’ On Your Screen Door
- I Say That Too
- Maybe It’s Time
- Wild Horses
- Willin’
- Stuff That Works
- The Cuckoo
- Lotta Love
Old Californio Country is scheduled to be released on November 18, 2022. The band is holding the CD release party that night (which happens to be tomorrow night) at Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena, California, so if you are in the Los Angeles area, you should check out the show.
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