Back on the 1971 train I’ve been on, I decided to check out some of Kris Kristofferson’s music today. I’ve never listened to his solo stuff, but I’ve heard some of his work with The Highwaymen, a country supergroup featuring Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and aforementioned Kris Kristofferson. That being said, I guess I’ll jump on in.
“The Silver Tongued Devil and I” starts out with some nice acoustic work, and super serious country style lyrics. I don’t have much experience with the genre, but it definitely reminds me a bit of the New Riders of the Purple Sage. The pedal steel guitar work is awesome. Wow, this song really gets awesome as the chorus breaks through. The guitar work in the song creates a really nice chorus effect, and the drums really builds the song up extremely well. Very impressed with Kris Kristofferson already.
“Jody and the Kid” is up next, and it starts out quite gentle and personal. The violins really add a nice, almost story-like texture to the song. It’s quite a heartfelt tune. Wow, that harmonica adds some great country soul to the track. Great story song.
“Billy Dee” sounds a bit more rock-y in a way than the other tunes so far, but definitely a great country sounding tune. These songs have had a great storytelling aspect so far. The layers are quite intricate, and impressively so. Wow that little breakdown at the end adds a sort of milkiness to the tune – and picks up the tempo after the song slows down to allow the story to get through the music – pretty sweet.
“Good Christian Soldier” has the great country twang to the electric guitar – kind of reminds me of an early 70s relaxed Jerry Garcia tone. This song is pretty awesome honestly. There’s a whole lot of feeling in the song. The jangles of the acoustic guitar is completed very well by the little additions of the electric guitar and piano and organ. The bass really gives the song a sturdy platform to stand on.
“Breakdown (A Long Way from Home)” has some excellent instrumentation to it – the piano has some great taste to it. The reverb of the vocals makes it sound like it’s being sung an empty desolate room, only for the room to filled with music by a plethora of instruments: acoustic guitar, piano, violin, harmonica, and even background vocals – a testament to how far the song, or perhaps the singer, or perhaps the listener, has come since first leaving home and then breaking down. A very beautiful song indeed.
“Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” starts out very loving and personal sounding. The echo of the drums really gives a heartbeat sort of feeling to the song. There’s also a flute as well I think that really adds to that sort of dimension in a loving way. There’s some great use of strings. Wow, the sparing use of background vocals this entire album has made the use of them that much more intense and interesting, in my opinion. This song has a great chorus to it.
“The Taker” has quite a different feel to it, almost jazzy, almost mariachi, very interesting nonetheless. I guess Joan Baez sings on this track, according to Wikipedia at least. This some very “on the border” country music for sure, especially the way the horns are used. Baez’s voice adds such a different texture and feel for the entire album in just this one song. The range of this country album has colored me impressed – my lack of exposure to the genre is becoming quite obvious to me.
“When I Loved Her” sounds like a personal heartfelt song – it sounds like slowly rowing a boat down a slow-paced river. That harmonica is back at it adding some great country soul to the album. Wow, that acoustic guitar is absolutely awesome.
“The Pilgrim, Chapter 33” starts out with Kris just talking a little bit about the background behind the song. Really has a folky feel to it in a certain sense. That back and forth country guitar sounds really awesome. The album definitely feels like it’s winding down at this point, though still some incredible musical moments happening right in my ears. Wow this song really has some great emotion to it. The deep country voice of Kristofferson talking over parts of the track adds some great ad libbed feeling to it.
“Epitaph (Black and Blue)” is incredibly gentle and kind of darker and sadder than the rest of the album. At the same time, Kris Kristofferson is showing off his pipes on this one, choosing for more singing in his delivery than a sort of talk-singing that he’s done on other tracks. This one is a great final track to the album; everything feels like it’s being wrapped up and finished. The other instruments come in and add almost a positive, hopeful spin on the track, as emotionally sad as it may be in both lyrics and instrumentation. Really awesome, unexpected way to finish the album, and really adds to the range heard in the entire album.
Wow. I need to listen to more country music. My queue of things to listen to is getting quite long at this point in time, but I’m going to try to fit some more in. If you don’t think you like country music, I recommend giving this one a try, you might surprise yourself at how much you enjoy it. If you do like country music and you haven’t listened to this album yet, it’s definitely worth a listen. Either way, at only 34 minutes the album can further your appreciation for the genre in a relatively short amount of time, if you have it to spare.
-A