His first since 2022’s REALITY, and one of his finest for several years since his many albums under the Smog moniker, the Texan, rich-voiced, witty, droll, singer-songwriter returns with lo-fi, resonant, frank reflections from his 58 years, on songwriting, family life, touring and death, with a free-flowing, sometimes improvised sound that refreshing, stripped back and direct. As with the last album, he’s joined by the core band of guitarist Matt Kinsey, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi and drummer Jim White, but taking note from songwriter, fan and friend Jerry DeCicca, he recorded the initial demo tracks for all but one song in a duo with White to bring a simplicity and directness to the sound. The end result benefits from that approach, his voice commanding pin-drop listening, intimate and lyrics. But with additional musicians to flesh out the sound (Richard Bowden on fiddle, pianist Pat Thrasher; bassist Chris Vreeland; trombonist Mike St. Clair; and pedal steel player Bill McCullough) there is also another dimension to this album, an improvisational spontaneity, as seen in the more experimental flickering lyrics images and stop-start sections of And Dream Land, with unusual key changes, changes of pace and a chuffing train sound, before the gentle closer The World Is Still. But as well as this Callahan really delivers on the profound and reflective, with beautiful opener Why Do Men Sing in which he has a dream about dying and meeting Lou Reed, The Man I’m Supposed To Be, a metaphysical, philosophical and life-affirming number in which he also reflects on after he has gone, and the welfare of his children - “I saw that demon inside me/ Trying to claim my body as its own / Invader, enslaver, little headstone / Tell me, has it grown? / The kids in the end will be fine / Playing on the island in my mind / And when the island's gone they will be finer,” while before that time he resolves for self-improvement: “I don't wanna be the man that I am anymore / I want the man you see to be the man you adore / Cut out that little piece of me, throw it on the floor.” Another powerful number is Empathy, in which he examines his flawed realtionship with his father, and the tender admiration for his kids: “My daughter, she makes beauty /My son makes empathy / So, so, so much / So much more than me.” Lonely City, with gentle clarinet and pedal steel, is another sensitive beauty, but perhaps the highlight, and classic Callahan, Pathol OG, in which he reflects on the role of songwriting in his life, mixing talking and singing, droll as well as candid and catchy, gradually building momentum and perfectly weighted delivery on lines such as: “So I took my show on the road and I made some good friends that I still have today / And I talked to the girls that smiled at me / But in the end I realized it's probably best just to let them be / I remember one girl in East Tennessee/ Wherе girls in songs always seem to be/ She said You should spend thе night / Looking for a hotel” and the fabulous refrain: “It's important to not treat your lifeboat into a yacht.” With more wordplay on pathology and the title, he again reflects on having “always one foot on the ladder to heaven … Jacob’s Ladder.” With that, and the bluesy jazz and easy feel piano-inflected Stepping Out For Air building into a gorgeous horn sound, an album full many other rich reflections and delicious, subtle moments. Fabulous. Out on Drag City.
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