Bruce Robison
Eleven Stories
Sustain Records
www.brucerobison.com
Bruce Robison is not the sort of performer that grabs you by the throat. Robison’s albums are filled with gentle vocals, lilting melodies, minimalist production, and subtle lyrics of longing and heartbreak. His latest CD, Eleven Stories, is no exception. A collection of eight originals and three covers, Eleven Stories finds Robison employing most country-related music styles from Texas swings and waltzes to down-home acoustic blues and folk, all the while staying true to the lyrical intimacy and musical simplicity of the singer-songwriter genre.
The album’s opener, “Every Once in a While,” is a wistful folk tune laced with tender pedal steel that finds the narrator reminiscing about a lost lover. The first single, “Virginia,” has a similar lyrical bent – this time about falling in love with a wayward girl. “Virginia” features a moseying country-folk melody that builds into a country-rocker, driven in part by Randy Scruggs’ jangly banjo. Robison’s cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed” is equally engaging. An acoustic guitar and pedal steel Delta boogie, “Tennessee Jed” boasts an anthemic gospel feel. Robison and wife Kelly Willis adeptly cover Webb Pierce’s “More and More,” turning it into a languid, old-school country romp.
The true standout track on Eleven Stories, however, is the Robison-Miles Zuniga co-write “Days Go By.” The story of a down-and-out drug addict, “Days Go By” highlights Robison’s greatest asset as a storyteller – his ability to empathically convey yearning caused by desperate times as first-person narratives. Consisting mostly of ambient electric guitar and minimal acoustic guitar, “Days Go By” also features perhaps the most subtle – practically non-existent – production on the album. “All Over But the Crying,” by contrast, finds Robison exploring the world of late ‘70s pop music, while “Don’t Call It Love” is an adult alternative-flavored ballad about a barroom pick-up.
The rollicking love song “You Really Let Yourself Go” is a fiddle- and pedal steel-infused Texas swinger that would be a perfect vehicle for George Strait (who previously recorded Robison’s “Desperately”), while the daydreamer’s lament “I Never Fly” features a folk core with cello, Wurlitzer, and dobro touches. The Roger Miller-inspired “Kitchen Blues” is another highlight – a fun little ditty about finding joy in simplicity that hinges on the immortal refrain, “Living is its own good news.” Eleven Stories ends with Robison’s cover of the Ernest Tubb classic, “Bandera Waltz.” Beginning as a lilting, Marty Robbins-esque fiddle reel, “Bandera Waltz” fits well with Robison’s recurring lyrical theme of “the one that got away.”
Eleven Stories is Bruce Robison’s most impressive collection to date. Robison has matured immeasurably as a songwriter on this CD, imbuing each story with his trademark wistful longing while delving more deeply into the lives and emotional landscapes of his characters. Musically, Robison does not allow his lyrics to dictate but rather forges a compromise where neither music nor lyrics overwhelm the listener. It may take a number of spins for Eleven Stories to make its lyrical and musical prowess known, but the time and effort are well worth it.
– Tracy M. Rogers