“Comin’ Down” is the final track on the Meat Puppets’ eighth and most successful album, Too High to Die. It is also the most country song on that record, harkening back to some of their most alt-country work of the previous decade. The song is a jaunty, upbeat country stomper that is actually either about giving up drugs or giving up on the search for enlightenment (or both). The lyrics don’t really match the tone.

Jaimie Branch was a Chicago-based trumpeter with two studio albums as a leader to her credit. She has also played in a number of other combos. Her third album as leader is a posthumous release coming out in August. (She died last summer.) The album features a cover of “Comin’ Down” she recorded with bassist Jason Ajemian, retitled “The Mountain” for this release. Continue reading »