Won't Have To Be Lonesome

It was years ago in Rolling Stone magazine that I read a review of the (then) most recent Pearl Jam release which began with this basic sentiment; that something bad should happen to Eddie Vedder because it would make his music better.

First of all, it's a crappy thing to wish tragedy on someone in the hopes that their music will improve. What made it worse was that the guy was right, the worse Eddie's life gets, the better his writing seems to be.

Well, I wouldn't ever wish tragedy on Eddie and I wouldn't wish it on Micah Hinson, either. God knows he's had his share. Fortunately, I don't have to. The fact that his life seems to be improving has done nothing to diminish his songwriting skills. 

In fact, it's nice to hear what happens to Hinson's music as his life's circumstances improve (the best of which, I can only imagine, is his recent marriage). Hinson's in no danger of going shallow or syrupy, but he has gotten hopeful and his music (which was always great) has only gotten better as a result. 

Make no mistake, this is an album about loneliness and the desire not to be alone. It carries with it the recognition of that old Biblical truth that "man was not meant to be alone", but also the hope that maybe he won't have to be. The opening track (Come Home Quickly, Darlin') is a plea to do as the title asks, come home and keep me from being alone. The album continues this theme, but uses it to expand and not contract, it follows a motif, but never bogs down in redundancy. The orchestration on songs like I Keep Havin' These Dreams and We Won't Have To Be Lonesome give the album a sweeping scope that's only been hinted at on previous recordings. Even the brooding nature of tracks like You Will Find Me are a departure from previous work, even as they are informed by it.

The influences here are also broader and pleasantly surprising. Certain tracks are as old school country as Hinson has ever been while others harken back to the Pixies and the Cure and the haunting ballads of the 50's and 60's that inspired them.

All in all, Hinson's most recent album has my vote for his best work to date. Building on what was always brilliant songwriting, Micah P. Hinson & the Red Empire are bold and daring in a way you might almost call epic. In fact, let me be so bold as to call it epic. If Hinson's previous work was a soundtrack to Lent, this newest collection gets you from Good Friday to Easter morning.

I can't wait to hear this stuff live.