Humourous and touching perspectives on life’s fleeting and provocative banalities.
In 2014, Chris Acker left his childhood home of Seattle in Washington State to hitchhike to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Since then, he’s worked as a line chef whilst fitting in gigs around his cooking duties and becoming a key name in the city’s underground country scene for nearly a decade. ‘Famous Lunch’ is his fourth long-player and Acker says, “It was definitely the first record I had to make while working and trying to be a real musician”. He’s joined by some fine performers who are called the Growing Boys and comprise Zach Thomas on bass, Nikolai Shveitser on pedal steel, Dave Hammer on guitar, Sam Gelband on drums, and Howe Pearson on piano.
On this record Acker skilfully transcribes the ordinariness of life. The song ‘Shit Surprise’, despite its title, is a heartfelt track which has a certain element of twisted humour in it, as Acker proclaims ‘I thought I’d grow up to love you by now’. There is some great imagery in ‘Stubborn Eyes’ such as ‘peanut butter on a wedding ring’ and ‘I follow whims as birds carry seeds’ which reflect how relationships can work. Shveitser’s beautiful pedal steel guitar work underpins the whole thing.
‘Swimming In My Calvins’ describes the youthful joys of going bathing in your underpants and was inspired by a dip Ackers took in the Jourdan River in Mississippi. ‘Bunn Machine’ is an unlikely stomper centred around a coffee machine. ‘Game 6 Of 86’ documents the error made by Bill Buckner that led to the Boston Red Sox being beaten by the New York Mets in the 1986 baseball World Series. After the game, Buckner received death threats and was heckled by his own fans. Acker’s song tenderly details how a sportsperson’s career can be summed up by something that happens in a few seconds. ‘Eyelash’ sounds like it could have been written by Gram Parsons in which Ackers cautions against getting sentimental if ‘you can’t love her everyday’.
Ackers has summed up the album by saying that “the songs are of a quietly tumultuous time of indulgences, friendships and relationships trained in a near constant cycle of touring, odd jobs and carnivals”. Ackers has been touted by many critics as a “torch carrier for the legacy of the late John Prine” and judging by this release that’s a pretty good assessment.
