I'm listening to this album for the first time in quite a while. I bought it when it came out (back in January?) and listened to it to death, as you do. I'm still really annoyed that I didn't see him on either the tour for this album, or the "Digital Ash..." tour this summer, but he's young and I guess there will be other chances...
It's an incredible album, one of my absolute favourites from the last couple of years. So many cracking tunes and apt lyrics. It's "First Day Of My Life" at the moment, ripping off "Don't Think Twice", to some sweet (though just the right side of sickly) lyrics - a beautiful portrayal of young love...
I'd rather be working for a pay cheque
Thanks waiting to win the lottery
The exuberance of "Another Travelin' Song" and it's depiction of a chap in a hurry to get whatever it is out of his head ("Now my ashtray's overflowing/I'm still staring at a clean blank page"); the hushed confessional of "Lua" (When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend/I get a coffee and a paper have my own conversations); the riot that is "Road to Joy" - and through it all the album flows together, making more than the sum of it's parts. Album-making like this is becoming a lost art.
And then there's the show stopper - "Land Locked Blues". Part "protest" song, part love song, and including my favourite lines on the record:
A good woman will pick you apart
A box full of suggestions for your possible heart
But she may be offended, and you may be afraid
So don't walk away, don't walk away
Emmylou Harris' duet is just the icing on the cake, as well. I haven't been too blown away by her solo work, but whether singing with Gram Parsons, Dylan, Steve Earle or Conor here, she's just beautiful.
This is still my album of the year, and time is running out for something else to offer much of a challenge.
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