First Neal Weiss:
> Although one I'll suggest doesn't quite work as
> well as I'd hope is what I've heard of Jim Lauderdale's work. A wonderful
> voice and the boy's got plenty of twang 'n soul in him. So how come I find it
> all mostly dull?
>
Then Junior:
> Sadly (sort of?), I have to agree. I respect Lauderdale, he's worked
> with a lot of great people, etc., but his own stuff just never moves
> me. Oh well.
>
then Stevie Simkin:
> I've tried hard too, and it may be just me, but in general I dont find the
> songwriting up to snuff.Maybe he gives his best stuff away (You Dont Seem to Miss
> Me...)
Well, matters of taste and all, who's to say. I'm not surprised that Neal, Junior
and Stevie don''t find Jim Lauderdale especially compelling. It's a fairly common
reaction, in that I've lost count of the number of times I've read folks mentioning
that they "just don't get Jim Lauderdale". Given that he's never had anything
particularly close to a hit himself and has made several records, I guess that this
would be the reaction that most people have. Since he's pretty far from popular, I
guess at this point I'd wonder why it's continually worthy of mention. <g>
I'm a fan. I first saw him play solo, just him and an a acoustic, as the warm-up for
Nick Lowe on the 1994 IMPOSSIBLE BIRD tour. I was taken by his voice of course, and
the songs hit me right away. His then-current record was PRETTY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH,
which stands up for me as his best record and one of my couple-hundred favorites. <g>
I'd say of that record, and of his records in general, that they aren't all
consistently high-quality. Not all the songs grab me on every release, but there are
at least three or four on all of them that end up being favorites of mine that year.
His most recent release, WHISPER, took a little more traditional country approach
than usual and works pretty well overall I think. I'd place it right after PRETTY
CLOSE TO THE TRUTH and his first record PLANET OF LOVE in his catalog. He's got a
great voice, and I think he's got to be one of the best, if not the best harmony
singers in the business. (Check his work with Dwight Yoakam or Lucinda Williams) As
regards his songwriting, I suppose that's a matter of taste as well. I will say,
regarding Stevie's observation, that he worked with Buddy Miller and Harlan Howard
(among others pictured in the insert) on WHISPER, and in the "Naked Nashville" series
he's seen, uncredited, sitting having coffee with Matraca Berg (the female JL?) and
Harlan Howard. As regards songwriting and taste, when I see Jay Farrar having coffee
with Harlan Howard maybe there'll be some hope for my faded love of Son Volt.
b.s.
p.s. I saw a used copy of PLANET OF LOVE a couple days ago and nearly picked it up
just because it took me so long to find my copy. It's out of print and some think it
the best JL record. If anybody out there wants it, let me know off-list.
