Eric Hisaw ­ Thing About Trains Independent

By William Michael Smith

	There is nothing better in Rockzillaworld than discovering worthy new young starving artists in the OKOM Texicana field. So meet young Mr. Eric Hisaw from Austin, Texas. The Las Cruces, New Mexico transplant has released a fine first CD, "Thing About Trains," with ten original songs and a sound that hits dead-center in the OKOM genre. Not only does Hisaw pen a fine song and have an expressive and disarmingly genuine way of singing them, he plays all the guitar on "Thing About Trains." He is backed by some of Austin's most respected session players (Roy Heinrich, Ponty Bone, Ernie Durawa, Dodd Meredith, Charlie Larkey, Champ Hood, Cody Braun, and David Lanham) and the end result has a decidedly Austin feel to it. But beyond that, it also has a quiet honesty and originality that is hard to find. I like it even more because it is apparent that Mr. Hisaw hasn't recorded this CD to make his big move to the Big Time, to grab some promoter or recording mogul's eye. He's made this CD because he loves the music, he believes in his songs, and he wants to be heard. Hisaw's songwriting is well developed and very earthy. While he works mainly in the alt-country form with songs like 'Don't Know Any Better,' 'Go To Sleep' and 'Speaking with No Grace,' he can find the roadhouse groove with lively tunes like 'Big Brother' or he can do that Austin hot-pickin,' fast fiddlin' hick rock country thing on songs like 'Down the Road.' Hisaw and production assistant Don McAllister keep the instrumentation simple and the playing authentic, clean and unpretentious. What results is a very fine debut CD. There is a common folks, good-timing Texana feel to all of the songs on "Thing About Trains," even though the songs aren't all happy and bright. Hisaw has a gift for simple lyrics and rhymes that hit our emotional buttons in just the right way. Who hasn't had or can't relate to a big brother who tried to impart life's great rules, lessons and truths, but who also broke those rules and ignored those lessons and denied those truths in his own behavior? I was listening to the CD with my younger brother the first time I heard 'Big Brother' (and in our family I am the big brother), and we just looked at each other. He didn't have to say anything and neither did I. You told me not to drink or fight or hold the hand of another man's wife And always make it home before the sun comes up at dawn You told me to work and save and I'd have it all some day And never spend those cold grey nights all alone But big brother you talk so loud about all the bad things you've done I'd do as you say not as you do but it sure seemed fun Hisaw, who supports his musical habit and financed "Thing About Trains" by laying tile during the work week, knows how it is for young guys on the job, living from pay check to pay check, more interested in having a good time than in saving money or building a meaningful life of some kind, and he personifies those characters perfectly on 'Don't Know Any Better.' Hotter than hell on the highway, driving just as fast as it will go Case of beer air cooled on the back seat, Rolling Stones on the stereo Ain't a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he follows along Trying to live out the words to his favorite songs Never learning any skills, pounding stakes in the burning sun Missing work Monday morning, laid up from the weekend fun Now those are OKOM neo-outlaw lyrics in spades. Hisaw seems to be particularly adept at those dark, love-is-a-tricky-thing-to-do-right songs. He knows it can all go wrong with one hurtful or uncaring word and that getting too close can drive people apart. Hisaw can dig awfully deep into the slippery emotional side of relationships for a young fellow. If I could read your mind, I wouldn't Give you some freedom this time If I could only see you smiling again It wouldn't even have to be mine On the title track, Mr. Hisaw has more woman trouble. This cut has a Merle Haggard feel and lyric and would indeed make a nice song for Haggard to record, but Hisaw delivers it in an angst-country style with a resigned voice that says something akin to "that's just the way she is, so why ask why." Her words cut like a razor, she had nothing nice to say I stood on the front steps just begging her to stay I made it down to the tracks in time to hear an old hobo say Hope you ain't too fond of that one, son, she jumped a car on the Santa Fe Hisaw shows his depth on the painful and emotionally subtle 'Speaking With No Grace." Nothing can cause love to go wrong or cause two people's perceptions of each other to change for the worse than the words that come out our mouths and the nuances surrounding those words. Hisaw has done a masterful job of reconstructing that situation and mining the depths of despair of ruining a relationship with harsh or imprecise words. I can feel the lips moving across my face And I hear the words that I misplaced I don't feel guilty but I feel disgraced 'Cause that's my own tongue leaving such a bad taste And that's my own voice speaking with no grace With Reckless Kelly fiddler and vocalist Cody Braun playing some hot fiddle, Hisaw scorches the strings of his acoustic guitar and demonstrates his ability to pen a good-time country song that qualifies for membership in that niche that Reckless Kelly has dubbed "hick rock" on 'Down The Road.' And on 'Hell on 71,' Hisaw shows off his twang abilities on another high-spirited hick rocker that meets all the criteria for good Austin barroom music. And he paints a sharp and pointed True Confessions portrait of the Austin music scene with 'Legend or Loser.' I don't know who the model for this song is, but I'll bet most Rockzillaworld readers can come up with several candidates without too much thinking. He stepped out of rehab for the fourteen hundredth time Looking like a skeleton who walked through a land mine His face was gaunt and withered, his hair a greasy mess Levi's hanging off his hips, his shirt like a baggy dress Seen him a few months ago in a rib house off the strip Singing like an angel for barbeque and tips He spoke of being strung out and trying to get along Said it had been a long damn time since he wrote any new songs Legend or loser, super star or bum depends on where you were on a good night back in '91 Now that's Austin if I've ever heard it. Hisaw closes the record with another deeply perceptive been-hurt-bad-by-a-woman song. Hisaw's vocal intonation is perfect for this slow-dancer, and Ponty Bone's mellow accordion riffs just pile on the mirth. Despite being in a town overcrowded with hot-licks guitar pickers, Hisaw's guitar playing is already good enough to see him play lead in almost any band playing in the genre. And his already accomplished songwriting can only get deeper and more sophisticated as he continues to ply the trade. Like Houston Marchman, Max Stalling and other notable writers in OKOM, his songs are too good and too deep for the current tastes of the Nashville machine. But American fans are going to find them to be just what they expect and demand. So if you liked the loose, countrified sound that Reckless Kelly had when they showed up in Austin about five years back, check out "Thing About Trains" by Eric Hisaw. He's got the sound, he's got the genuine Austin feeling, and he's got the songs. We'll be hearing a lot more from this fellow, more likely sooner than later. Even if you could find a better debut CD by a young Texas artist, you'd still want to go to www.river-bottom.com/hisaw and buy Eric Hisaw's "Thing About Trains" because if you could find a better debut CD you'd still want this one because that's the kind of person you are or you couldn't have found the other CD. Right? Ah, hell, quit trying to figure it out and just make out the check, OK? Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

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