Outside-Inside-Out

I interupt this Downbeat Mag CD review writing session to give y’all another example of why I have maybe the most Catholic music taste ever

as I write this I have a custom mix of rap I call “Rap that’s  Good” going on Window Media Player that includes hot tracks from El-P, Ghostface Killah, The Roots, Murs, and A Tribe Called Quest.  I told you, I like everything.

Exhibit A: Ricky Skaggs’ 1982 album Highways and Heartaches from Epic Records.  I needed something to put on while I ate lunch to clear my ears of the same record I’ve been listening to for two days, so I pulled out Skaggs’ record from my massive LP shelf.  There’s nothing spectacular about Highways and Heartaches – it’s just solid country music that’s pretty much a blueprint of what I like best about country: honest vocal delivery, crying pedal steel guitar, fiddle, dobro, hints of Western Swing, and country’s #1 narrative: stories of love lost or love on the rocks (it’s not quite on the same level as other burlesque abjection as exhibited by Dwight Yoakam, but it’s still about heartache).  The record is impeccably recorded and mixed and there’re no weak spots.  For those of you who don’t like contemporary country, give this a spin; it’s one of Nashville’s more solid efforts.

….and now back to writing up a review of Brad Goode’s Tight Like This.  Laters.