Well, this was an unexpected pleasure.
Old No. 1 Revisited drops a full half-century plus one (gulp) after Guy Clark issued Old No. 1, a timeless pillar of honest country roots music. Not a huge seller at the time, it is only with the passage of time and, inevitably, with Clark’s passing in 2016 that its value has become truly realized and recognized. It’s not the first time others have celebrated Clark’s songs; an earlier all-star tribute, 2011’s This One’s for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark, helped defray the not inconsiderable medical costs of his fight with lymphoma. But fifteen years have passed since then, and Old No. 1 Revisited gets the happy task of introducing Clark to the next generation.
Here we get a bevy of the current great and good in country and Americana, ranging from Margo Price and Sarah Jarosz to a returning Rodney Crowell, present on the earlier tribute as well as the original. Producer Dan Kobler put the album together, in conjunction with the Guy Clark Family Foundation. Players as noteworthy as Sam Bush (mandolin) and Mickey Raphael (harmonica) turned up, and guest harmony vocals come courtesy of the likes of Rosanne Cash and Ruth Moody. (Raphael appeared alongside Crowell on the original Clark release.) Besides the faithful track by track recreation of the original, there is a 100-page book, by Peter Blackstock, full of interviews of those involved with Clark at that time, and photos that document the process. All proceeds will return to the family trust.
Margo Price underlines her return to purer country music idioms with a vigorous “Rita Ballou.” Her voice sounding fresh and frothy, it is a spirited honky-tonker, full of heys and whoops, with steel guitar lurching gloriously all through every step of the tale. A great start, which only consolidates as Jade Bird glides delicately along “L.A. Freeway,” as languid strings tinkle and glisten emotively. Jarosz’s regular sidekick, Nat Smith, adds cello to a reflective “She Ain’t Going Nowhere,” her voice than transporting the song into classic weepy mode, awash with fiddle and piano notes to further wet the eye.
“Nickel for the Fiddler,” from Kelsey Walden, may be a somewhat generic song, the melody echoing many memories of songs elsewhere, notably, given the bluegrass arrangement, the Hillman/Parsons “My Uncle.” But the sound is so joyous as to disparage any concern or critique. Erin Rae is next given the unenviable task of covering one of the gloopier songs in the Clark canon, “That Old Time Feeling,” but manages to dial down the sentiment sufficient to have you nodding knowingly, rather than the wince that more oleaginous renditions can provoke.
Brennen Leigh was said, by no less than Clark himself, to “play[s] guitar like a motherf***er.” Sadly, she gets little opportunity to confirm that, but her version of “Texas, 1947” is lively enough, with one brief barrage towards the end, dueling with the steel. Is “Desperados Waiting for a Train” the best Clark song or just the best known? Andrew Combs and Crowell tackle this together, their voices not quite gelling, the feel being either could have tackled it better if alone. The musicianship is glorious, mind, especially the steel guitar of, I think, Russ Pahl, adding all the train-appropriate moans essential.
It is again his steel that opens the magnificent declamatory confessional of “Like a Coat from the Cold,” where Logan Ledger’s voice cracks and strains marvelously as Raphael’s harmonica swoops in. This may well be the album highlight, not least as the backing vocals encroach inward. Aaron Lee Tasjan’s voice is good, but not quite as good, and his “Instant Coffee Blues” suffers a little from the too close proximity to the song ahead of it. But no such risk for Caroline Randall William’s stellar drawl through “Let Him Roll,” which closes the disc on an undoubted high. Channeling Mary Gauthier’s sprechgesang, it is utterly sublime.
Old No. 1 Revisited is a fabulous record on both the points that a good covers album or tribute requires. It is a valid and enjoyable set in its own right, as well as casting long and appreciative glances at the original. I’d be surprised if, on playing this, you are not then drawn to hunt down and play the original. I did.
Old No. 1 Revisited track listing:
All Guy Clark covers.
- Rita Ballou – Margo Price
- LA Freeway – Jade Bird
- She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – Sarah Jarosz
- A Nickel for the Fiddler – Kelsey Waldon
- That Old Time Feeling – Erin Rae
- Texas – 1947 – Brennen Leigh
- Desperados Waiting for the Train – Andrew Combs feat. Rodney Crowell
- Like a Coat from the Cold – Logan Ledger
- Instant Coffee Blues – Aaron Lee Tasjan
- Let Him Roll – Caroline Randall Williams
