Maybe it’s because we haven’t found anything else to agree on that we need to take music so seriously. Maybe it’s because it is, still, one of the few things that can bring together people from all walks of life and from all over the world.
But, certainly, it is because music, more than any other tool, can communicate an idea to someone living an ocean away and make them live life differently. Stories told through music can tell you all that you need to know about freedom and outlaws. And these stories will allow you to ally yourself with these rulebreakers regardless of who you are, where you live, or how little freedom you actually possess.
Where do the people who made The Man and the Southern Poetry come from? Is it the North American plains or the Norwegian fjords, and why would it really matter? This is honestly rowdy Country & Western for all the people who’ve dreamt about taking the law into their hands, for everyone who imagined playing the role of hard-living law breakers that they saw in movies.
The music and movies made those characters into heroes. It’s only natural that we were seduced by those stories and that we’d want more. The Man and the Southern Poetry is an anthology of tales about people who love their freedom, and the ones who’d love to take it away.
The EP’s opener, “Just a Criminal” is a country honky tonk complete with a guitar tone that would make you think Mark Knopfler made unto the record as an uncredited guest. It’s a song about knowing one’s place and believing that this place is never beneath anyone’s feet. It’s no wonder outlaws have their dedicated fan clubs.
And the sound itself tells a similar story. The country genre has its punks, and they don’t play power chords and sport mohawks. The likes of Waylon Jennings or Hank Williams Jr., inspiration for these songs, thought long and hard to break away from the stuffy traditions of Nashville-approved country music.
The stories keep pouring like a hard drink from bottles hidden underneath the cash register. “Whiskey Running” is a classic ballad about the drink, the road, and the inevitable conclusion of these kinds of wanderers.
“Ain’t Robbin Banks” introduces some convincing pop melodies and instrumentation underneath the Johnny Cash-like baritone. If anything, it’s a cautionary tale for all those convinced that the life depicted in these kinds of songs is an easy one.
There’s more musical daringness on “Fallen Outlaw,” where the Roy Orbison-like sweetness of the vocals is blended with drum machine-produced grooves and expressive guitar fills.
Where does it all leave us? The greatest heroes eventually find themselves stranded, forced to gun their way out of an ambush and, inevitably, made to accept their defeat. But it’s quite the adventure that leads to it all. “Ain’t Robbing Banks,” the EP’s highlight, chugs like a freight train and tells the story of a captured, but remorseless outlaw. Johnny Cash would smile knowingly and appreciatively! And people from all over the world might grin in much the same way.
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