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If Jim Lauderdale weren’t a great songwriter, he’d be playing at your local tavern this weekend, singing spirited versions of country classics. As it is, Lauderdale is an established Americana star and a writer of hits for mainstream artists including George Strait. Lauderdale’s gifts as a composer allow him to easily cross the boundary between commercial country and the quirkier realm of Americana, a real feat.
Lauderdale’s voice, at least on I’m a Song, is less transferable. More a fan of great country singers than one himself—George Jones and Buck Owens are his most obvious influences—Lauderdale’s vocals work best on his less commercial, slightly left-of-center songs.
The album’s opening track is a winner. “Let’s Have a Good Thing Together” opens with a pounding 1960’s Bakersfield beat followed by Lauderdale’s smooth introduction: “Hello. My name is Mr. Sunshine, I’ve been away until you smiled. You gave me something I will treasure. Let’s have a good thing together.” The pop of Kenny Vaughan’s Telecaster is joined by the pedal steel of original Burrito Brother Al Perkins as Lauderdale swoops up, down, and around, casually connecting the notes. It’s the sound of a small band playing in a small room; every note is crystal clear. Yet, as catchy as the song is, you wouldn’t have heard it on country radio when the style was in vogue. It’s a modern-day take on a classic. Lauderdale succeeds in recreating the sound without mimicking it, another real feat.
In keeping with Lauderdale’s writing ability, I’m a Song is chock-full of wonderful songs. Two George Strait covers-in-waiting, “You’ve Got a Way All Yours,” and “Let Him Come to You” (co-written with John Oates) are examples of the project’s songcraft. The second title is a slow, stately swing, aching with romantic longing (I found myself imagining it being sung in French). Instead of taking the customary approach, offering romantic advice to the listener, the singer surrenders to the fickleness of his beloved: “there’s nothing I can do, let him come to you.”
“End of the World Rag” is a product of Lauderdale’s ongoing collaboration with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. It’s a country-rocker that encourages a guffaw in the face of an approaching apocalypse: “End of the world, what do you know? Grab your honey, get ready to go!”
Country artists Lee Ann Womack and Patty Loveless contribute to several tracks. Loveless’s mountain-strong harmonies on the chorus of “Today I’ve Got the Yesterdays” give the recording a large share of its authenticity. Lauderdale’s lyric sums up the power of the past over the grieving: “just visiting what’s gone away, today I’ve got the yesterdays.”
Lauderdale references other singers in his vocals besides Jones and Owens. On “A Day with No Tomorrow” he borrows Merle Haggard’s drop-down inflections, for example. But it’s on a song co-written with country veteran Bobby Bare, “The Feeling’s Hanging On,” that the album’s weaknesses converge. The song itself is solid enough, but Lauderdale renders it with Bare’s signature half-spoken, half-sung delivery. The arrangement and production take the stock approach for a Music Row country ballad circa 1980, down to the generic studio arrangement and big room reverb. Paying tribute to a great artist or classic style is commendable, but here Lauderdale only produces a pale imitation.
I’m a Song contains twenty tracks, making it a real bargain, but the project would have better showcased Lauderdale’s talents with some judicious weeding. Even so, there are still more than an album’s worth of excellent songs included here.
I had the good luck of hearing Lauderdale and his band perform earlier this summer at a local park for a small crowd in folding chairs and on blankets. The music created a vibrant sense of country’s past while remaining firmly situated in the present. Lauderdale’s vocals weren’t an issue. He and his band seemed to be saying, to each other and to the audience, “Gee, ain’t this fun?” And it was.
