Pat Carter – Big Machine
There’s a whole industry dedicated to pointing out the differences between you and other people. There’s a whole lot of money funding this industry, and a lot of interests that need to be served. One more unhappy person is one more notch under their belts.
The people who handle the marketing for this agenda are well-financed and thus highly motivated. They’ve created the impossible – to make you feel different from others, nearly just like you. And artists like Pat Carter can’t understand how we’ve fallen for it.
That’s because Carter can still see the similarities. The artist is still touched by all the hardships, aches and angst that we all have regardless of where we were born or what convictions we have.
Besides, Pat Carter, along with his band Rodeo FM, knows one more thing that brings the world together – art. Inspired by high and konesome Americana sounds, Carter uses the single “Big Machine” to tell the story of people fighting for survival in the world’s large cities, in the places where dreams, supposedly, are meant to come true. It’s one story that nearly anyone can understand, and it’s a song that reminds us of the things that unite us.
Graham Farrow – Deadbeat Dad
Tom Petty once said that if you’re lucky to have one terrible parent, you might just have a career in music, but if you’re fortunate to have two of them, there’s no telling how far exactly you would go. There are plenty of songs written because of bad parents, but very few written about them. Musicians typically use the hurt to fuel their music, rarely the stories.
The irony, of course, is that the cycle rarely ever ends. Read just about any biography about old-school rock n’ rollers or country stars and you’re unlikely to want them as your guardian. Regardless of this, few of these musicians manage to know themselves well enough to the point that they can forgive the ones who wronged them in the first place.
Graham Farrow tries to set things right with “Deadbeat Dad,” an empathy-filled look at everyone who thought that they could be a good parent, but were deeply, sadly mistaken. Farrow employs classic C&W songwriting tactics for this and, for the most part, plays it straight. This ain’t no comedy, and if it was a tragedy, well, that’s in the past now. Even those who mess up get to have their story told if the right person happens to be around to tell it.
