Beaupre's Home (Red House) is Montreal based Hart-Rouge's first U.S. release (they've released six highly acclaimed recordings in Canada). It features dazzling instrumental work, and the awe-inspiring vocal harmonies of the group's core members, siblings Paul, Michelle, and Suzanne Campagne. Hart-Rouge explores both traditional and modern, pop-tinged expressions of French-Canadian musical idioms. The McGarrigle sisters have worked these musical sources for many years, presenting traditional and original songs with a distinctly pensive, romantic nostalgia; Hart-Rouge brings a wider variety of styles into play and a tad more kinetic energy. The group really nails some cover versions of material already done beautifully by the writers, but there are no second bests here. Nanci Griffith's "Love at the Five and Dime" gets a spacious, quietly emotional rendition; fellow Canadian Roy Forbes' "Lifting My Heart" is done up in light, Reggae style, with lots of bounce, and carefree, transparent vocals by Michelle Campagne. Both Campagne women contribute some fine original songs. Especially noteworthy is Michelle Campagne's "Ramona," a poignant tale of a mentally ill rural woman and her child. Singing is in French, English, Spanish, and Mic Mac, with no communication lost. One of 1997's finest, most varied, catchy, and, I expect, enduring releases.

Some of U. Utah Phillips' most hilarious stories are included on Loafer's Glory (Red House), an easy-going collection of material about tramps and hoboes, some of them legendary. "Suspenders" (I won't spoil the punch line by even hinting at the story line) and "Blackie and the Duck," the story of Idaho Blackie's run in with the head of the Church of Aryan Nations over possession of a shot-down duck, are unforgettable. There's a tirade on Country music folded into a story about a crooked manager, a thought-provoking object lesson about the lost art of gaffing, telling a colorful lie to "hook" your mark when panhandling. Pithy wisdom of master tramps drips from every tale - "Never own anything you have to feed or paint (Roadmaster)," "What did reality ever do for anybody anyway? We've earned the right to make up as much of it as we can possibly get away with (Hood River Blackie)." Fellow tramp Mark Ross (official troubadour of the Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa) plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and Hawaiian guitar. One of Phillips' most uniformly accessible recordings, and probably a therapeutic gift for your local over-achiever.

A PAIR OF TEXANS

Tom Russell's honorary Texan status has changed to that of "real" Texan by virtue of his recent move to San Antonio, if you're wondering how he rates. Unrepentant Tom Russell addicts such as I might be prone to skepticism toward a Tom Russell release that is mostly duets with other singer-songwriters and nothing but previously recorded songs. My first listen to The Long Way Around (Hightone) left me wishing for the familiarity of the old recordings. But, after that, I began to respect and appreciate the value of this recording. First, you can hear the breadth and depth of Russell's writing without having to listen to a dozen or so CDs. Second, these duets are without exception done in the service of illuminating the songs - no walk-throughs here. Third, these are mostly people whose careers have been entwined with Russell's own and whose interpretation of Russell's lyrics makes perfect sense. "St. Olav's Gate" and "Outbound Plane" (co-written with Nanci Griffith) are done here with Griffith, who years ago gave these songs a wider audience than Russell himself could have. "Walkin' on the Moon," "Manzanar," and three others are done with long-time cohort, co-writer, and Russell interpreter Katy Moffatt. "Blue Wing" and "Haley's Comet" are done with Dave Alvin, whose interpretation of "Blue Wing" on his King of California is probably the definitive interpretation to date. Iris DeMent's collaboration with Russell on "Big Water," the only song getting its premier recording here, is inspired. DeMent's voice and Russell's lyrics convey the smallness and powerlessness of humans in the face of Nature's wrath, and evoke the world of the Dustbowl, Woody Guthrie, and John Steinbeck: "Big water rising, on the plans of mice and men/ Mother Nature's tears are flooding the levee/ Of the worn-out Promised Land." The only names I'd like added to this list of duets are those of Chris Gaffney and Peter Case, two more great Russell interpreters - maybe another time. The Long way Around will serve confirmed fans and new listeners with fine interpretations of some of Russell's best material.

Never for the faint of heart, Terry Allen's brand of Texas outlaw country wails wide-open down dusty dirt roads and flat Texas highways with motor screaming and no quarter given to any in its path. His twofer reissue of Smokin' the Dummy and Bloodlines (Sugar Hill, originally released 1980,83) is obviously no exception, as the opening lines of track one "The Heart of California" make clear: "Runnin hard an runnin mean/ Down the San Joaquin/ Diamond Reo with your crazy rollin wheels." Allen has written some of the best trucking songs there are. Just listen to "The Heart of California," "The Night Café," and "Roll Truck Roll," all on this eighteen track gem, and you'll be wondering along with me why at least one of them wasn't included on that Big Rock Deluxe collection (Diesel Only/Upstart, 1996) of some of the alleged best truck driving songs. These Terry Allen songs are the truck stop verite of trucking songs.

Terry Allen's imagination thrives on iconoclasm. Be prepared to enter a world where theological questions about Jesus and Mary get sidetracked into Chuck Berry's "Maybellene," and hitch-hiking hold-up men claim to be the son of God before robbing you. Allen's special brand of honky-tonk piano playing makes his songs a different animal from the usual guitar-led country styles. They often have a rhythmic quality more like R & B or early rock & roll. Allen plays with his Panhandle Mystery Band on both these reissues, with the same hot Lubbock Mafia people at the core of the band - all long time members of Joe Ely's band. Joe Ely, harmonica and harmony vocals; Ponty Bone, accordion; Lloyd Maines, steel, a variety of guitars, dobro, and banjo; and Jesse Taylor, electric guitar and harmony vocals. Fans of Allen's rough wit will exult in this reissue of these legendary and hard-to-find recordings.

Dwight Thurston

Copyright 1997 Dwight Thurston and RootsWorld.