If you’re one of those people who enjoys songs that tell stories, the first couple weeks of February, roughly, are a good time for you. There are two new releases by artists that are among our greatest musical storytellers coming out during the first half of the month.
On February 5 Todd Snider released a CD and DVD called “Live: The Storyteller,” and on Tuesday Hayes Carll releases his first album since 2008’s Trouble in Mind. Both artists are part of the tradition of America great singer-songwriters. But they also hail from an older tradition, going back centuries and transcending cultures, that of the troubadour who set their tales to music and, as Snider puts it, travel the land “playing them to whoever will listen.”
If you are not familiar with Todd Snider, his live albums are an excellent introduction. His studio albums give a good sense of his witty lyrics and catchy tunes, but his live shows are what really intrigues. To quote the Blurt review by John B. Moore, Snider is “an Americana poet, storyteller and barstool comedian.”
An Oregon native and East Nashville resident, he’s definitely a bit of a hippy folk singer. After all, most of the time he comes out on stage with an acoustic guitar, barefoot, in loose fitting old jeans and shirt or sweater, to sing about traveling across America and the people you meet along the way, with a fair amount of pacifist politics thrown in for good measure.

He has his emotional lyrics and poignant melodies and twangy bluegrass influenced tunes, but he also rocks. He has a song that’s not on this album called “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues” in which he mocks the Grunge rock scene, but with different instrumentation, a bit of distortion, and more angst in the voice, some of the music of this Oregon native could be recorded by a Grunge band.
On this album he is backed by a full band, Great American Taxi, a well known and highly respected jam band in their own right. When they feel the need to classify, people place the music of artists such as Todd Snider in categories like or “Alternative Folk or “Indie Folk.” I suppose I’d agree, but with the emphasis on “alternative.” Snider refuses to be bound by conventions, and this is album is a good example.

Snider’s songs are alternatively political, autobiographical, philosophical musings, and witty observations on the world around him. They are often based on a story. “Just Like Old Times,” for example, tells the story of a musician on tour who, while seeking company in his hotel room one night, stumbles upon the “adult services” ad of an old flame and calls her over. “America’s Favorite Pastime” tells the story of Dock Ellis, the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher who pitched a no hitter in 1970, and claims to have done so under the influence of LSD. My personal favorite is “Play a Train Song,” about a rowdy, hard-living bar patron with a love for train songs, who dies with a smile on his face. (listen here)
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Releasing tomorrow is another record by one of our best singer-songwriters that most people have never heard of, KMAG YOYO by Hayes Carll. Todd Snider makes an appearance on the album, doing guest vocals on “Bottle in my Hand.” Carll was born in Arkansas but, though he often jokes about leading a movement to put Arkansas music on the map, was raised in a Houston suburb, began in career in Texas and is widely associated with that scene.
He’s also a master of narrative songs, witty lyrics and genre defying music. Carll, however, is much more of a rock and roller. He sings with are real twang in his voice that gives the music a real country feel, and you can certainly sense the influence of the country greats, especially the “Outlaw Country” artists like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson in his songs. If, however, you are looking for the mainstream, slick country sound that dominates the charts today, this is not your guy. He rocks. His music isn’t simply a conglomeration of the simplistic hooks that dominate songs in the charts today. Nor are his lyrics simplistic, sentimental and full of the cliched platitudes so common today.
Perhaps the best introduction to the album is provided by Carll himself in this short video. He talks about everything from the title and cover image, to each song on the record.
Hayes Carll is one of the most intriguing artists making music right now, and KMAG YOYO (& other American Stories) is his best effort so far. To be sure Carll draws from his own experience in songwriting, but he also has the ability to write from character. In fact, with Another Like You he’s written from the perspective of two characters, a lefty liberal guy and a right-wing Republican girl who are insanely attracted to each other in spite of their contempt for one another’s views. The song is recorded as a duet with Cary Ann Hearst, and it written with written with a wry sense of humor. Spoiler alert: By the end of the song it looks like our lovers are going to live happily ever after, or at least for that night.
The Lovin’ Cup is one of my favorite songs, a great Valentines Day song. Have it fade out at the 2:20 mark and you have a great “I’ve had enough” break up song. Let it play through to the end of the four minute tune and you have another verse from a guy who’s realized the error of his ways and wants to come home. The false ending at the switch in position really adds to the tone. “Stomp and Holler” is the most up tempo tune on the album, hard not to tap your foot to. Though it’s about facing hard times financially, it does make you want to stomp and holler. KMAG YOYO is brilliant, but you just have to listen to it. Hayes not only has a way with words, but he has a way with letting them dance around his tongue at record speed. This is a hard song to sing along to, but it is fun to try. The lyrics are fun, yet somehow unsettling.
When Hayes Carrl turns his attention to the melodic and serious, a whole other side emerges. In In chances are the singer is trying to get up the nerve to approach a woman he is interested n”Hide Me!” the narrator take stock and asks his love to shelter him from the world. It’s heavily influenced by the Southern Gospel tradition.
KMAG YOYO is a tour de force. It owes a lot to the amazing musicians working on it and a talented producer, Brad Jones, who knows when to polish up the tunes and when to back off. It is a real triumph.