I get that not everybody’s going to like Justin Rutledge. He’s fairly unabashed about the twangy elements in his music, his songs are all mid- to low-tempo, his lyrics are poetic and romanticized, the general vibe on his albums is a very quiet, low-key one. A lot of people are going to accuse him of being too mellow, too boring, too country, or just plain not their taste. I’m cool with that, but he’s still one of my favorite songwriters of all time, which is pretty damn cool too.
Here’s an example of the man’s awesome power: the moment I heard him – on the song “Too Sober To Sleep” from his debut album No Never Alone – I realized I loved country music. Years of deepest, most stubborn denial smashed clean to pieces by five minutes of sparse piano playing and a chorus that goes, “I’m too sober to sleep/but I’m too drunk to cry,” which, out of musical and lyrical context, would probably fit right in on any watered-down and overproduced bit of country-pop crossover frivolity you’d expect to hear on the radio right now. But Justin makes it work. He’s the (or at least my) antidote to glossy, written-for-radio country music.
So, I got No Never Alone, an unassuming but as it turns out, gorgeous record. And now – with his third album due to be released any day now, whoops – I finally have in my hot little hands a copy of his sophomore effort, Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park. The latter is maybe a little bit ‘bigger’ in vibe and energy than the former, but on both of them, Justin’s understated songwriting skills are apparent. In fact, if I had to pick one word to describe him, it’d probably be just that: understated. The production, the lyrics, the melodies, and the vocals are all simple and sparse, but the way they come together never fails to produce that good old unidentifiable longing feeling in my chest. I don’t want to oversell him (too late eh?) so that you hate him if you do check him out, but you know, I have a crush on him and I can’t help myself. Both of these records are like instant contentment for me.
Highlights:
- “Lay Me Down Sweet Jesus” from No Never Alone: best listened to loud and over headphones. It sounds like a rejected, possibly slightly bent, gospel song, and lopes along, slowly building until a whole chorus of voices just kinda envelops you in the final verse.
- “A Letter To Heather“, also from No Never Alone, which features Mary Margaret O’Hara on vocals: I’m just going to quote what Neville Quinlan of NQ Arbuckle* said about it because he’s awesome and right, too: “This is a beautiful love song. If you put this on and lip synch to your girlfriend … make-out city.”
- “This Is War” from Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park: Holy crap. Sorry, I know that’s sort of uneven coverage. Being from a new (to me) CD, me and this song don’t go as far back as the others, but it makes a hell of a first impression. Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo plays some fantastic electric guitar on this track.
Six Degrees/Pointless Trivia Section:
- No less than 2/3s of Blue Rodeo appears on Devil. Bazil Donovan and Bob Packwood play bass and piano/B3 organ, respectively, throughout (though Bazil also plays acoustic guitar on “The Suffering of Pepe O’Malley [Pt. IV]“), you already read about Greg Keelor, and Jim Cuddy lends his voice to the closer, “I’m Gonna Die (One Sunny Day)”. Which I guess isn’t really surprising since Justin was part of their Blue Rodeo and Friends tour which just recently wound down (along with Luke Doucet* and Melissa McClelland*, Ron Sexsmith, and Oh Susanna. You know I have to add these things in.) Still. 2/3s.
- Speaking of, Oh Susanna also laid down some lovely vocals on “Backseat Honeymoon/Blue Is What I Do”, and Melissa sings backup on a good chunk of the album.
You can purchase all of Justin’s records at his awesome record label’s website.
*If I do actually decide to go on with this whole music reviewy thing, it’s very likely that any of the names you see in this entry will probably turn up in a later blog post, but anybody who’s asterisked is pretty much a guarantee. Just warnin’ ya.
