[rating=7.00]
If it seems implausible that Waitin’ For the Sun is Rusty Young’s first-ever solo album, it’s well to keep in mind his long-term role in the seminal country-rock band Poco. His innovative steel guitar playing, not to mention his vocal harmonies, highlighted the group’s sound from its 1968 inception through the 1973 departure of co-founder (with Jim Messina) Richie Furay, within a year of which Young had become one of the three major sources of original songs for the band ( he was, in fact, the author and lead singer) of the band’s first hit “Crazy Love”). Over the years, as the personnel in Poco continued to shift, he eventually became the focal point and leader: a position he holds as these pioneers of Americana head toward the fiftieth-anniversary milestone next year.
Not altogether different at all than Rusty Young’s work with Poco, Waitin’ For the Sun was no doubt as liberating for the artist to create as it should be for listeners to experience. The music reflects the stylish cover art of the album, especially the title tune and “Gonna Let the Rain” that bookend the ten tracks. Rather than any evidence of any self-consciousness in this music, there’s a definite sense this sound comes perfectly natural to Rusty Young; accordingly, there’s an air of patience in play on the former, while the gospel elements in the singing support the optimism on the latter. And, perhaps not so coincidentally, the lush sound reveals bass and organ as clearly as electric guitars.
Co-produced with Jack Sundrud, latter-day bandmate in Poco, the quality of this all-original material of Rusty Young’s is no doubt a major reason he was able to enlist assistance from collaborators of years past. Jim Messina and drummer George Grantham appear on “Honey Bee” to maintain the high-flying spirit, while Rusty renews the chemistry with Furay and bassist Timothy B. Schmit (now of the Eagles) during an affectionate but bittersweet encounter called “My Friend.” The presence of these stalwarts makes the saxophone solo on “Heaven Tonight” sound that much more out of place: the subsequent segue into the modified hoedown of “Hey There” offsets that faux pas, particularly as Young’s razor-sharp pedal steel cuts through the air in the wake of shimmering high harmony vocals.
Recording in Nashville at Johnny Cash’s former home studio no doubt encouraged simple and deceptively intricate arrangements. The variety of stringed instruments Rusty blends on the evocative “Season”—acoustic guitars, dobro, mandolin banjo—suggest just how indispensable he’s become to Poco over the years, but even more importantly, the informal atmosphere such tracks exude make them all the more charming: the innocence is refreshing on “Down Home,” which lives up to its name.
The quick interlude of horns that appear ever so briefly after the close of the final track here would sound like a complete non-sequitur if those strains of quasi-Dixieland jazz didn’t so accurately evoke the lighthearted optimism that pervades the best moments on this record. An equally abbreviated snippet of acapella singing might be more stylistically appropriate, except that it would overstate the obvious, a mistake the likes of which Rusty Young and company do not commit anywhere on Waitin’ For The Sun.
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