Rodney Crowell has, in the last four years, turned himself from
\na country-music has-been to one of the freshest and most brutally
\nhonest voices in American roots music. Not quite country any more,
\nhis music exists in the twilight zone where Harry Chapin meets
\nJohnny Cash; straightforward, earthy, and yet still penetrating and
\nthought-provoking. He achieved this breakthrough on 2001’s
\nThe Houston Kid<\/i>, a CD where he shed his
\nDiamonds & Dirt<\/i> image for an unblinking look at his
\npoverty-stricken childhood. We’ve met the child; now, on 2003’s
\nFate’s Right Hand<\/i>, the same calculating lens is focused on
\nthe man.<\/p>\n
Would that we all could be so honest with ourselves.
\nFate’s Right Hand<\/i> is simply breathtaking. The musicianship
\nis elegant, with great turns by Pat Buchanan and Crowell on guitar
\nand Paul Leim on drums. Several guest stars, including luminaries
\nlike Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and Gillian Welch give the CD
\nadditional punch and power. Woven through it all are the powerful,
\nperceptive, and occasionally funny lyrics of Crowell’s work, the
\ncenterpiece of a heck of a table.<\/p>\n
Let’s put it this way; how many people do you know who could get
\naway with writing the line “Jesus and Buddha and Krishna and Minnie
\nPearl knew \/ Do unto others the things you want done unto you”?
\nBetter yet, how many people could sing it and plainly mean it as
\nsomething serious, not as a hokey pop culture reference? Crowell is
\na genius, y’all.<\/p>\n
There’s not a bad song on the CD, but I have a particular
\nfondness for “Still Learning How To Fly,” a touching summary of a
\nlife in transit; the lyrical quirkiness and heartfelt celebration
\nof memory in “Earthbound”; the chilling honesty of “The Man In Me”
\nand “Ridin’ Out The Storm”; and finally the wisdom of “This Too
\nShall Pass,” closing
\nFate’s Right Hand<\/i> with a moment of grace.<\/p>\n
We have too few songwriters who can quote Johnny Cash and Maria
\nRainer Rilke with equal grace, and make it all sound damn fine in
\nthe end. Don’t miss
\nFate’s Right Hand<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6409],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37730","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rodney-crowell","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37730"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}