It’s easy to overlook what a talent Rodney Crowell is (and a bona fide pioneer of Americana music). He is an extremely intuitive and empathetic songwriter, an accomplished guitarist and has a pleasing and recognisable voice. He has consistently written songs that have just stepped up to the plate and reached a standard that only the very best songwriters achieve (early examples were ‘Bluebird Wine’ and ‘Til I can gain control again’, written in the early 70s, that Emmylou Harris recorded on ‘Pieces of the Sky’ and ‘Elite Hotel‘ respectively and Crowell did on his third self-titled album, ‘Song for the Life‘, that Crowell recorded on his debut album in 1979 or ‘Please remember me‘ that he recorded on “Jewel of the South”, which were covered by several artists from Alison Krauss to The Waterboys to Tim McGraw!). He later described these songs as “projections into the future that I later lived through . . . and it was exactly like I predicted.”
Hanging out in the early 70s with Townes van Zandt and Guy Clark must have taught him a thing or two about songwriting, but it was as rhythm guitarist in Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band that he first found a degree of fame. This was indeed a ‘hot’ band, with the remnants of Elvis’ band in Glen D Hardin on piano and the immensely talented James Burton on electric guitar. In 1977 he formed The Cherry Bombs, a side project with Tony Brown and Vince Gill. With limited commercial success, though highly regarded by critics, his first three albums produced a number of tracks that became hits in the hands of others. Turning his hand to pop songwriting, his biggest success was ‘Shame on the Moon‘, recorded by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.
With his superstar connections, many of whom appeared on his first three albums (Ry Cooder, Willie Nelson, Amos Garrett, Albert Lee, etc) he met with Rosanne Cash (son of Johnny), who appeared on his third album, and following divorce from his first wife, Martha, he married Cash in 1979. His lack of commercial success led him to take a musical recording break and he spent 5 years producing his wife’s albums. He had a number of Grammy nominations and won two, plus ACMA awards and, later on, Americana Music awards.
His return to recording in 1986 led to:
Can’t Live with it. “Street Language” (1986) is an attempt to widen Crowell’s appeal to a more pop/soul-oriented audience, and in some ways it was a success in that regard, because it led directly on to “Diamonds and Dirt”, his most successful album up to that date – you can get the two albums in a doubles package. “Street Language” was produced by Booker T Jones (he of ‘Green Onions’ fame) and included a mixed cast of likely sidesmen – horns and brass ensemble courtesy of Jim Horn and Wayne Jackson, multiple guitars (often reverbed for sonic effect) from the likes of Vince Gill, Richard Bennett, Dean Parks and superstar picker Steuart Smith, one of the most in demand of all country/Americana players. And even the late lamented David Lindley. Add to that Booker T’s groovy organ and plenty of heavier than usual synth and keys sounds from Randy McCormick, Ralph Shuckett, Robert Sabino and others. It should have been a great success – it wasn’t. It did not play into Crowell’s sensitive songwriting, only two of the songs were solo writes and one more was a John Hiatt number, ‘She Loves the Jerk‘. Nevertheless it was not without good songs as the co-write with Roy Orbison ‘When the Blue Hour Comes’ testifies – it just sounds like Roy Orbison or some other 80s pop star. ‘Let Freedom Ring’ is OK as a song to play loud but it is a fairly ordinary song-by-numbers by Crowell’s standards. ‘Oh King Richard‘ is a tribute to Richard Petty, the record-breaking NASCAR driver. If I was in the mood for a rock/pop star vehicle, I might listen to it but it is not essential in this writer’s collection (though I do have an original vinyl copy). Strangely the album is not available on the Spotify/Amazon/iTunes listing, which might be saying something.
Crowell reverted to out-and-out country with “Diamonds and Dirt” in 1988, his most successful album with a very strong honky-tonk flavour (the only country artist to have five No 1 singles off the same album, including the Grammy winner ‘After All This Time’), then followed a series of acclaimed albums into the 90s with decreasing commercial success (until the couple of duet albums he made with Emmylou Harris in 2013 and 2015). Signing to MCA for a huge sum halfway through this disappointing period did not improve his commercial recording success, although his songwriting continued to be in demand. At the same time. though, his marriage to Rosanne Cash was falling apart and he found himself with four daughters to parent or co-parent, and a new partner Claudia Church to produce an album for. He took a six-year hiatus before he recorded again. But what a return and “The Houston Kid” in 2001 was deemed to be his best album at that stage. It also represented what Crowell felt was the beginning of his grown-up stage “ “I don’t think I really quite grew up while I was married to Rosanne, but something about Claudia made me approach it differently.” “The Houston Kid” was a look back at his past and is probably the first of his albums that could truly be called Americana as we now know it – partly down to lyrical content and partly down to the way it sounded.
And from then on came another series of highly acclaimed albums which all made respectable placings on the charts (“Fate’s Right Hand”, “The Outsider” and “Tarpaper Sky” all contained songs of the highest order), and then came the album that I…..
Can’t Live Without (it). “Close Ties” (2017) was introduced to the listening public through one of Crowell’s most compelling and thought-provoking songs ‘It ain’t over yet‘, a reflection on life, how he got to where he was at the time of writing and realising that he still had a life to live, notwithstanding all that he had been through – carpe diem indeed. It was written in the wake of the death of his great friend and mentor, Guy Clark, and it has his ex-wife, Cash, and one of the current crop of superb singer-songwriters, John Paul White, on vocals and harmonies.
“It’s like I’m sitting at a bus stop waiting for a train / Exactly how I got here is hard to explain / My heart’s in the right place, what’s left of it I guess / My heart ain’t the problem, it’s my mind that’s a total mess / With these rickety old legs and watery eyes / It’s hard to believe that I could pass for anybody’s prize / Here’s what I know about the gifts that God gave / You can’t take ’em with you when you go to the grave”.
Whilst it might be the best track on the album, the rest are no slouches – his song dedicated to Guy Clark’s wife (who had died a few years previously) ‘Life without Susanna‘ is an honest description of how he had a falling out with her and how they could not reconcile “‘Life without Susanna’ started when Townes Van Zandt died / From that day on, she hid out undercover /
Her Percocet and cigarette along for the ride (she was a very close friend of van Zandt). ‘Forgive me Annabelle‘ describes how Crowell acted when his relationship was failing, with him asking for redemption. ‘East Houston Blues’ traces Crowell’s somewhat difficult childhood (he was known to have fired a gun to break up and prolonged argument between his parents) and is one of Crowell’s very few ventures into the blues, which he attacked with a throaty growl. The inimitable Tommy Emmanuel plays guitar on this one. Crowell’s carpe diem mantra drives ‘I’m tied to ya’ (a duet with the brilliant Sheryl Crow) ‘Tomorrow don’t mean much to me, look what we have today / Right here in this minute babe is where I want to stay / Tied to ya’. ‘Storm Warning’ addresses climate change with frustration, backed by dark foreboding instrumentation and heavy guitar and keyboards. The album is a songwriting masterclass.
No apologies for the rather amateur video of a live version of the album’s classic song. Great backstory, too
Crowell has delivered a few more albums since this masterpiece (‘Texas’ in 2019, ‘Triage’ in 2021 and the excellent Jeff Tweedy-produced ‘The Chicago Sessions‘ in 2023). He has been honoured extensively including being inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, awarded Grammies and nominated as well. He is referred to from time to time as the Godfather of Americana and who can challenge his claim to that moniker? An outstanding songwriter still going strong at the age of 74.
