There must be something about the water and the environs of Lubbock, TX, that breeds singer-songwriters. That town has given us The Flatlanders (Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock), Delbert McClinton, Terry Allen, Lloyd and Natalie Maines, just to name a few. This generation boasts Noel McKay, who delivers his fourth full-length album with the well-crafted, James Bond-like title You Only Live Always. Don’t worry. His stories are not spy novel stories, but a few are certainly filled with memorable characters and cinematic imagery. McKay is known to most through his work with fellow Texan Brennen Leigh, though he’s also co-written songs with the late Guy Clark and David Olney and his songs have been recorded by Sarah Borges, Sunny Sweeney, and Guy Clark. These days McKay shuffles between Austin, Nashville, and Spain.
For this effort, he enlisted friend, bassist, and producer Jay Weaver, who has been behind the glass for Jim Lauderdale’s recent output. Together they gathered a who’s who of Americana in a collective backing group dubbed the Galicia Cowboys: Ben Sanders, Billy Contreras, Katherine Marx, Brett Resnick, and a chorus that includes Lauderdale, Leigh, Kelly Willis, Becky Warren, and more. McKay has ten originals in these eleven: the lone cover, rather surprisingly from Billy Joel. McKay is a talented writer with a limited vocal range is limited that’s greatly enhanced by these harmonizers.
Opening “53” has us smiling and laughing from the outset. While it’s not necessarily reflective of all the fare, it’s a nice touch (“When you’re 38/When you’re 38/You wish you were a hot thing but it’s too late…”) Yet, he quickly turns melancholy and a bit abstract on “Interstellar Rescue Service,” with a dreamy backdrop of pedal steel, he sings of an imaginary vocation with thoughts of a teenage mind. He teams with Leigh on the poppy, retro-like “Are You Still Taking Them Pills.” It’s the kind of radio-friendly song that would be suitable for almost any era. The string-infused Joel cover “She’s Always a Woman to Me” fits lyrically as it’s akin to “53” in one sense, but otherwise, it is a bit of a misstep as the musical arrangement is a hot mess. There’s a swaying, rhumba-like shuffle to the title track, set in back streets of Paris, France, with a musical accompaniment that lies somewhere between vaudeville and a Texas dancehall. It’s a bit odd but indicative of the surprises embedded in this album that swings between easily accessible and weird when we least expect it.
He reaches his lyrical apex in the middle of the album, especially with “Motel King” singing about a vintage-looking place you’d associate with the hinterlands of West Texas – “I come rolling in off the highway at a quarter to nine/At the office I get my key. The room is just fine/I can tell that it hasn’t changed since 1973/ So I take off my shoes, I lock the door and watch black and white movies on the color TV.” The penultimate gem is “The Impermanence of Things,” written while walking on the beach in Spain, lost in thought about his mother’s recent passing, only to see a mother with her young son wading through the surf. The notions of mortality and immortality converge in this verse (which though strong, seems derivative of Joni Mitchell’s writing)– “And you’ve got your cotton candy on the carousel of time/Take the pony, and the tiger, and the seahorse for a ride/At the break of day, the stars will fade to deep resplendent color/But as the years go by I feel my senses growing duller.”
Lighter fare also imbues the gently rollicking “The Ballad of Tombstone Poker” and the let’s-not-take-ourselves-too-seriously “If Your Heart Ain’t In It.” McKay closes in autobiographical fashion with the string infused “An Old Cowboy in Spain,” conveying palpable affection for the Galician culture, where he now lives part-time.
We can accept a couple of missteps because there are more than enough indelible gems to dub Noel McKay a winner.
One Response
Thank you!