Every time this city boy feels a little bit country, he ponders on why the ways of Nashville have such an appeal for him. Is it perhaps the wholesome values that the music machine promotes? No, of course not. Late television was the root cause of it (as normal) and it was basically the fault of the Mandrell Sisters. There was Barbara, Louise and Irlene – later, dontcha know, a spokeswoman for handguns (aka “home defense kits” as political correctness spreads into the bang bang you’re dead business) – and so much glitz and sugar that a city boy couldn’t fail to be entranced.
So, when the weather turns cold and wet, the urge to be a good ole boy overcomes me and off I go in search of some vinyl to satisfy the needs of a bedroom stetson wearer. Since I’m always being told size is important, I reckoned that ten inches should do the trick (as usual) and, as if guided by the hand of God, my hand yanked a copy of Caitlin Rose’s “Dead Flowers” out of the rack in that meat free Glasgow record shop.
Hungrier than a hog for my fix of pedal steel and heartbreak, I rushed it back to the turntable of destiny in Bluesbunny Towers and spun it up to 33rpm. Woah! This wasn’t the sound for rednecks in pickup trucks singing along to songs for urban cowboys. No, this was a sparse and diabolically effective reflection on a back road long forgotten by the Nashville musical sanitation department. Taking the Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers” and stripping it clean of sentimentality but retaining the bitter sweet emotion marked Ms Rose as a singer who had heard the words of the preacher Gram Parsons. Even in more whimsical moments such as found in “Shotgun Wedding” and “Gorilla Man”, Ms Rose nonetheless achieves a directness that dares your attention to wander as her sweet, clear voice proves itself the weapon of choice in defence of the way it should be.
The sound quality, especially for songs that just wouldn’t have a massive recording budget, is really rather good. An inspection of the runout groove suggested a reason why. The scribble found there suggests this record was mastered by none other than Guy Davie at Electric Mastering in London. Once more, the hand of God is at work.