I first heard about Greg Trooper in a 2001 article in the now defunct magazine : No Depression. It was a review of his excellent album Straight Down Rain. His songs are all country tinged but certainly not pure country. They have been covered by the likes of Steve Earle and Billy Bragg. I searched out in a small record shop in Pasadena on a business trip soon after as I had never seen any of his music in NZ.Years later I was rifling though sale bins at JB Hifi in Melbourne (before they appeared in NZ) and found Make It Through This World for less than $10. I did not hesitate in buying it after I saw on the back cover it was clearly written "Produced by Dan Penn"
The songwriting, arrangements and productions and singing are all sympathetic and in in a country-soul vein as you would expect with Dan at the controls. I really do not think there is a bad track on the album but highlights are the title track, Dream Away the Blues, I love it when She Lies, This I'd do and the great history ballad No Higher Ground.
I was particularly taken with No Higher Ground as at the time coincidentally I had just read Eric Larsen's book Isaac's Storm about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane which until Katrina had been the deadliest to hit the US. A book I would happily recommend as well.
I have three or four other Trooper CDs but it is this one I keep going back to.
No comments:
Post a Comment