A mere three years after
Boats to Build,
Guy Clark offered
Dublin Blues, a record filled with sizzle, inspiration, and his best batch of songs in years. Teaming with
Miles Wilkinson for the third time and using in the studio for the first time his road band -- which includes ueber guitarist and singer
Darrell Scott --
Clark delivers a batch of searing portraits, intimate observations, first-person narratives, and one dumb throwaway cut (
"Baby Went to Memphis in a Limo"). As usual, some old friends return to the fold --
Rodney Crowell,
Emmylou Harris,
Sam Bush,
Verlon Thompson,
Kenny Malone, and
Suzy Ragsdale -- but there are new faces as well like
Ramblin' Jack Elliott,
Nanci Griffith, and
Kathy Mattea. The magic begins with the title track. Haunted
Celtic melodies played on the fiddle and a mandolin with an acoustic guitar usher in a
country song that could be from the countryside of Ireland. With
Mattea on the backing vocals, the listener is transported between worlds in time and space.
"Black Diamond Strings" is a friendly little number about what else: guitar strings! Its catchy hook and singalong chorus make it a
Clark winner.
"Shut Up and Talk to Me" features
Scott playing the swinging
blues as
Clark counts off the music like a fierce memory.
"Stuff That Works" is another of
Clark's quiet observation tunes, where his words speak volumes and the instruments underline their meanings. It's a workingman's anthem sung seemingly from the workshop bench. But
"Hank Williams Said It Best," "Tryin' to Try," "Cape," and
"Hangin' Your Life on the Wall" are all tremendous in their scope and intimacy. They are full of dimension and depth, and
Wilkinson gives them textures. The set ends with a re-recording of the spooky yet shattering elegy
"The Randall Knife" Clark cut on
Better Days. The difference here is age. The view
Clark sings from is one of distance and age.
"The Randall Knife" doesn't feel quite so spooky this time out, but it does resonate with empathy and even tenderness. As it winds to a close, the listener is left not in bewildered silence but in awe that such a bond exists at all. ~ Thom Jurek
