Same Shirt, Different Day
Moody Spring
Having gotten his debut out of the way six years ago with a collection of songs going all the way back to when he first started writing, Colorado-by-way-of-Texas troubadour Rodney Rice loosens up with a set that’s more in the moment.
Lyrically he’s been compared to John Prine, and vocally he’s reminiscent of Joe Ely with the phrasing of Jerry Jeff Walker. With the crew of musicians backing him up this time including several players from his last record, the arrangements are in even more of an outlaw-country vein, possessing a sharper edge to the electric guitars and organs. There’s also a wider instrumental palette, encompassing the occasional resonator, pedal steel and slide guitar, as well as fiddle, mandolin and dobro (the latter courtesy of special guest Jeff Plankenhorn).
Characters inhabiting Rice’s tales are unemployed, disillusioned, divorced and stepped-on; but the solemn subject matter is tempered by his humor and wit. Politics, the economy and the environment are touched upon, too. “Pillage and Plunder” addresses global warming, pollution and oil drilling. “Company Town” alludes to the 2010 Massey mining disaster.
Perhaps the centerpiece of this collection, though, is “Middle Managed Blues”: It evokes an Everyman sentiment as its protagonist endures a performance review that many a white-collared worker surely can relate to.
Tracks
1. Ain’t Got A Dollar
2. Hard Life
3. Free At Last
4. Can’t Get Over Her
5. Pillage And Plunder
6. Middle Managed Blues
7. Walk Across Texas
8. Company Town
9. Right To Be Wrong
10. Memoirs Of Our Youth
11. Rivers Run Backwards
12. Don’t Look Back
Total time: 44:35
External links
artist site
Bandcamp
