[ SUNBURNED COUNTRY AND THE URBAN BLUES ]
“Well I ain’t been down on the farm for quite some time / now I live in concrete canyons where I barely see the sky.” – The Emperor Of Wyoming’s Urban Blues, Mark Lucas.
(This is the story of two urban troubadours in different corners of the world who have survived to release their fourth albums. Mark Lucas is an English born, latter day Blaxland balladeer who also lived in the west of the US. He recorded White Man Soul (One Stop) with the Dead Setters – fiddler Mark Oats, double bassist Michael Vidale and Glenn Skarratt on mandolin. The other is Arizona movie hit writer John Coinman whose Songs From The Modern West was produced by Teddy Morgan for Netherlands label CoraZong.
Coinman wrote songs for Clay Pigeons, Head Above Water, Goin’ To Montana, Slumber Party Massacre II and TV series Melrose Place. He was music supervisor for Academy award winning Dances With Wolves and three songs in Kevin Costner film The Postman, in which he appears as musician/actor. We’ll return to him later as both albums have a sense of space and travel.)
Lucas kicks off with his freedom eulogy When I Call Your Name, and poverty paean Monster’s Ball. The singer is deft at celebrating a musician’s plight – “I’d rather dance with the devil on the gallows poll / than eat the crumbs from a rich man’s cake.” And if that doesn’t fill the tableau there’s “the bulls and the bears still take the lion’s share / while the poor man works the vein.”
Lucas romps through field of dreams with vignettes as diverse as Girl On A Motorcyle, Is This What You Think You Are Missing, Satin’ N Lace Blues and finale Mansion. He delves into the magic of the outback in Dryland Sea and In Truth and the cultural divide in sibling song Charlie.
Lucas milks the nostalgia of better days in The Emperor Of Wyoming’s Urban Blues, a tune akin to the rollicking spirit of Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks. Equally accessible are wry love lament Canal Street and the climactic chill of faded romance in Whiskey Dents. Don’t let the blues reference in the title dissuade you - this is far more country and a sheer joy on repeated listening.
DAVID DAWSON
awaits return of Nu Country TV.
Info: www.nucountry.com.au.
He is reached at saddle@alphalink.com.au
