Americana Music Reviews

 

Lonesome Bob
Things Change
Leap Recordings

by Jud Block

The name "Lonesome Bob" itself evokes an array of images and suppositions as to who the man behind the moniker could possibly be. Is he one of those "rediscovered" delta bluesmen whose lifetime of hardship and anguish is being exploited by yet another watered-down, white, university-educated expert who sees the chance to escape from his own anonymity in exchange for little more than a bottle of whiskey? Or is he chiseled from the same slab that Woody Guthrie, Luke the Drifter, and Robert Burns fell from, an erudite recusant who disguises himself as a simpleton and then travels the countryside making the lives of the average man and woman into poetry? Well, neither, really. But that doesn't mean the Lonesome Bob I'm referring to is any less intriguing; hell, the guy's originally from New Jersey, which could easily be seen as a form of hardship and anguish, and he came to Nashville to get involved in the music scene, which shows that he's traveled. In fact, Bob was just recently voted "Nashville's best damn singer/songwriter" in the Nashville Scene, which, I understand, can be looked upon as a dubious honor, kind of like being voted the most improved pedophile in the therapy group. But after a few listens to his latest release, Things Change, I think the geography of that award can be extended quite a bit farther.

When I first saw and heard Lonesome Bob, he was singing harmony with Allison Moorer, so, naturally, I thought he was a part of that burgeoning neo-traditionalist movement, and I don't think it would have been possible for me to have been more wrong, except to think that, perhaps, he sang sea chanteys. Ten of the twelve songs on Things Change are written by Bob, and they run the gamut from incendiary rock 'n' roll to folk. The opening track, for instance, called "Got Away With It," uses the metaphor of crime to speak about falling in love and sounds like a hybrid of The Smithereens and Warren Zevon.

I pulled off the ultimate deception
I recreated the Immaculate Conception
My plan was perfect right from its inception
Now I'm swimming around in my own redemption

I got away with it, I got away with it
I should be behind bars tonight
I got away with it, I got away with it
I'm gonna dance under the stars tonight

"Heather's All Bummed Out" goes in the complete opposite direction of "Got Away With It," and brings out the pedal steel for a little honky-tonk number; of course, Lonesome Bob's version of country has much more in common with Lyle Lovett than, say, Johnny Paycheck. "Heather's All Bummed Out" is about a gal who's reaching her mid-thirties, her life is stagnating, and she's in a polar struggle between continuing to pursue her aspirations or resigning herself to what's expected (which we all know is when death really begins).

She's smart and she's pretty and she's got a good heart
And a good imagination and that's where her problems start
Cause she's pushing 35, and we all know what that means
So she's settling down and setting some goals
At the expense of her dreams
She's starving for excitement, but she's running out of time
And adventure's getting harder to find,
And it's weighing on her mind

Heather's all bummed out, she doesn't know what to do
There's something inside and today it's making her blue
She's got an upscale hotel pastel landscape life
In a tasteful frame, and it's not anything she can explain
But Heather's all bummed out today

"I Get Smarter Every Drink" is another foray into the sawdust floor side of life, and is probably my favorite track on the disc if, for no other reason, an unsettling personal recognition in the behavior and sentiment of the narrator; in fact, I'm damn close to asking Bob for an inspirational writing credit on this one.

Now I don't drink because I'm sad and lonesome,
Or from some congenital defect
I drink for the courage that it brings me,
It helps me handle things I don't expect
Some folks seem to think I've got a problem
And way down deep inside I must agree
But going out and watching bands
And drinking 'til I cannot stand
Is a lot more fun than years of therapy

The next few songs shift drastically in tone and subject matter. "Dying Breed" was written by Allison Moorer and it is a sparse (twelve lines total) yet harrowingly gothic look at a family's lineage of self-destruction.

I take after my family
My fate's the blood in me
No one grows old in this household
We are a dying breed

And then there's "Where Are You Tonight," which is really the centerpiece of the disc. It is quite simply a lamentation from a father to his deceased son; in this case, Bob to his son Zachary. It begins with a Lou Reed Berlin era-like dirge quality and builds to a heart-wrenching scream of bereftness as Bob describes the restive aftereffects of such a loss in a powerful noun-verb litany.

I had that dream of you last night again
You were running leaving footprints in the sand
As I followed I fell farther behind
'Til the footprints washed away in the tide
And I stood there calling out to you
Watching as you faded out of view

I wake up not knowing where I am sometimes
Reality and dreams become entwined
As I stumble through the darkness I find
Memories of you the daylight leaves behind
And I stand there reaching out to you
Watching as you fade out of view

I sit, I stare, I wonder, I swear
I drink, I smoke, I breathe, I choke
I sleep, I dream, I speak, I scream
I walk, I fall, I stumble, I crawl

Lonesome Bob is a singer/songwriter whose various musical influences definitely make themselves present in his work, which is exactly what makes a CD like Things Change so entertaining. He is an artist who should be better known outside of Nashville, and with his intelligence and eclecticism it won't be long until he has no other choice.

*Help keep Bob company over at www.lonesomebob.com.


Contact Jud Block at jud-at-rockzilla.net

 
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