Reviews
Artist:Big Bob Young
Album:Hard Way to Make a Dollar
Tracks:10
Label:Man around the House Records
Website:http://www.myspace.com/bbuiltonblues
I have to admit that knowing nothing about this artist I had no idea what to expect; compounded by initial confusion at a male name with a female image on the cover! However, Big Bob Young is indeed a new male artist who hails from TULLAHOMA, Tennessee. Real name Robert L Young, age 53) He has had a life that be the basis of a song - A married father and high school dropout at 17, he has been an airman, soldier, mechanic, collegian, jazzman, country bandleader, farrier, telegram singer and clown. He has twice married and divorced and lost a wife to cancer. Young served his country for 23 years in the Air Force and Army National Guard, including a 13-month stint (April '03-May '04) in Iraq for which he was awarded a Bronze Star and an Army Commendation Medal. I guess he found his way to music via a somewhat unusual path, though you can tell as he sings that he has seen a lot of life. Hard Way to Make a Dollar is his debut CD on which he began work in 2008 upon retiring from the military. He contacted a longtime friend - bassist Jeff "Stick" Davis (Amazing Rhythm Aces/Burrito Deluxe)and together they tracked down other talented musicians for the project, including: Michael Webb (Gary Allan/Allison Moorer) on piano, organ and accordion; Rick Lonow (Poco/Burrito Deluxe) on drums; Carlton Moody (Burrito Deluxe/Moody Brothers) on acoustic guitar and mandolin, and bluesman Colin Linden (Bruce Cockburn/The Band) on electric guitar, slide guitar and Dobro. The album was recorded and mixed in Nashville, with Davis, Webb and Moody also taking on roles in production. It is clear from the opening track that Big Bob's vocals and the musicianship of these talented men was a match that would be hard to rival.
Presented in the increasingly popular digipak format, the CD includes a booklet with all of the song lyrics - a sure fire way to curry my favour - but then, even more impressively, under each song title, is a statement as to the song's origins. There is always something special in hearing a song and knowing from where it is derived.
Immediately obvious from first playing the CD is the face that this is a man who writes and sings real traditional style country music; the kind we don't hear a lot of these days. The song's title track, Hard Way to Make a Dollar, was inspired by a waitress named Marie in a town called Heber Springs, Arkansas, who he tells us in his notes, 'gave as good as she got' From rowdy customers.
Young's father told him that if he died, he wanted to be buried not in Chicago where he had been working but back in his native Arkansas; "Take me south where I can hear the Mockingbirds". This remark inspired the beautiful song Bury me in Dixie, an old style country song with piano and without a doubt the most moving on the album.
Mississippi Nights brings the pace down with a slow moving song with Southern undertones whilst I Call it Love is the closest we get to a ballad. Ship of Fools is a stunning song, with a country blues sound, using slide guitar and dobro to good effect.
Another fine addition to the album is Somewhere Tonight- inspired by his worry for his four children - two of whom were daughters. He states that whilst the events in the song never happened he often wondered what if they had? The song is basically about how in such situations prayer is often the only thing there is.
Other impressive songs include Green Country Stomp, Can I take you Home and Best of a bad Situation. Prevalent throughout the whole album are the stand out, gravelly vocals of Bob, which bring to mind several old timers, or current singers such as Tom Russell, and in all of these instances the gravelly sound adds an extra dimension to the vocals.
In short, it may have taken Big Bob Young a while to find his way to music and to creating this debut album but I am confident that once you have heard it you will be glad he did. Having looked on his MySpace page and found tracks such as The Letter, Mr Moon and If We'd Had Paris I am confident that his next album will be equally as good!
Helen Mitchell