The remarkable debut of a 21st-century crooner.
Where do crooners come from? Surely this thought must have kept you awake in the late hours, when time stands still and there’s nothing to do but face the big questions in life. If we were to make a case study of Andrew Sa, nothing would seem strange about a childhood riding around in a Ford F150 for his mother’s travelling karaoke business. It would also only be natural for names like Roy Orbison or Patsy Cline to emerge as inspirational figures for the young crooner-to-be. But of course, regardless of origin stories, the central elements to focus on would always be the voice and the style. Sa possesses both and has proven so with an impressive first album that merits attention received in previous ventures such as the Cosmic Country Showcase music revue.
American Rough is the title of both the album and its inaugural song. This first slow soulful ballad paradoxically both eases you and throws you headfirst into the musical landscape of the album, directly pinpointing its thematic core, even if a wider range of themes are later explored.
“He’s mean handsome
Can’t hardly be decent together
He’s American rough
Eating the heart out of this room
He’s bumping uglies
With the luckiest queen
He’s American rough
Eating the heart out of this room”
What a way to kick off an album, and a debut at that. “He’s” sings repeatedly the deep backing chorus, like the voice of a hushed down past while the main vocal line, clear above the rest, sketches initial impressions of a story that feels all the more present in contrast.
Produced by Missy Thangs and H.C McEntire (who also co-wrote several of the album’s songs, some of which he features on), American Rough, displays a wide range of influences. There are slow, plaintive, empty-ballroom ballads like Your Whisper or Gorgeous Things, but also playful songs like You Turn Me On and others of bleed-out intensity (Follow) that you can easily imagine as part of the repertoire of Roy Orbison himself. Nonetheless, Sa’s lyrical turn of phrase, even if referential at times, is distinctively his own.
With American Rough, Sa expands upon classic genres, adding seldom publicised perspectives on universal themes. In this way, treading the ever-shifting fine line that marks the end of tradition and the start of developments at the forefront of one’s times. Such a position also affords the possibility of rewriting old narratives. One of the album’s central compositions is the lead single Lavender Cowboy, whose title holds more meaning than first expected, as a reference that blots out an old homophobic novelty song of the same name. Reaching further, however, the track also alludes to Sa’s friend and mentor, Patrick Haggerty from Lavender Country, a band sometimes credited as having “the first known gay-themed album in country music”. In this way, Sa’s Lavender Cowboy can be seen as both a tribute and a reminder of the fifty(ish) years gone by since the release of said album in 1973, as well as the circumstances and views that might or may not have changed.
