Townes Asked Did Hank Williams Ever Write Anything as Good as Nothing
Leave a little space for the review, why don't you? A little cumbersome for an album title, perhaps, but the line not only suggests the late Roxy Gordon's style but also provides essential reference points. Gordon, part-Choctaw, long based in Dallas before moving to family land near Talpa, was a poet in the beat tradition, using first hand observation and experience to construct distinctively stylized chapters (29 on this album, ranging from under one minute to over five) from a patchwork road novel/biography. Poetry not being exactly a boom industry these days, Gordon was blessed in finding a collaborator who could add a musical dimension to his spoken words, and his recordings with McGhee are far more than the sum of their parts. Though he never pretended to be one himself, he ran with the epic crew of hard living, hard drinking, rambling and gambling Texas singer-songwriters (Rhythm Rebels is pretty much a Who's Who), but he also drew on his Indian heritage and his family's rural West Texas roots. Roxy Gordon was not an easy man to deal with but he had a streak of real genius, and McGhee is a virtuoso musician. Together, they made records that can't be compared with anything except those of John Trudell and Jesse Ed Davis, though Gordon is much grittier and less political. 5 out of 5 daisies.
Leave a little space for the review, why don't you? A little cumbersome for an album title, perhaps, but the line not only suggests the late Roxy Gordon's style but also provides essential reference points. Gordon, part-Choctaw, long based in Dallas before moving to family land near Talpa, was a poet in the beat tradition, using first hand observation and experience to construct distinctively stylized chapters (29 on this album, ranging from under one minute to over five) from a patchwork road novel/biography. Poetry not being exactly a boom industry these days, Gordon was blessed in finding a collaborator who could add a musical dimension to his spoken words, and his recordings with McGhee are far more than the sum of their parts. Though he never pretended to be one himself, he ran with the epic crew of hard living, hard drinking, rambling and gambling Texas singer-songwriters (Rhythm Rebels is pretty much a Who's Who), but he also drew on his Indian heritage and his family's rural West Texas roots. Roxy Gordon was not an easy man to deal with but he had a streak of real genius, and McGhee is a virtuoso musician. Together, they made records that can't be compared with anything except those of John Trudell and Jesse Ed Davis, though Gordon is much grittier and less political. 5 out of 5 daisies.