Comments on: Album Review: Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind

By: james

james — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:43:55 +0000

I dig this album. Thank you for the review or I would not have found it.

By: Mike Parker

Mike Parker — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:23:15 +0000

This is a nice album. I agree with the reviewer- it’s not perfect, but it aspires to something great. Hayes lyrics and phrasing remind me a lot of Todd Snider’s earlier work. I’m a big Todd Snider fan, and I think I’m going to be a big Hayes Carll fan. Thanks for introducing us.

By: Double-L

Double-L — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:16:00 +0000

LOVE LOVE LOVE him!

By: Leeann

Leeann — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:51:34 +0000

I do plan to give it another try though. I’ll be the first to admit that, often times, I have to listen to albums a few times to really get into them.

By: Brody Vercher

Brody Vercher — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:40:10 +0000

Leeann, I guess it’s different strokes for different folks. Guy Clark is my favorite songwriter, and like Kelly said, Carll is “mercilessly compared to Guy Clark.” So I suppose I’m more susceptible to enjoy something in that same vein.

That is interesting, Ben. I like the fun atmosphere of the upbeat songs, but it’s the vulnerability of the quiet ones that I crave. On the other hand, if I could drop one song from the album it’d be “A Lover Like You.”

By: Hollerin' Ben

Hollerin' Ben — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:01:50 +0000

Brody,

That’s interesting, I almost added a section to the review that talked about how I felt that he’s at his weakest in the quiet songs, and that the album would have been stronger had the album been trimmed down to 11 songs or so, with “Don’t Let Me Fall”, “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”, and “Willing to Love Again” being the ones I think should have been left off.

but it looks like it’s a good thing he included them.

By: Leeann

Leeann — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:56:56 +0000

I thought I would like this album because of all of the hype surrounding it. I guess my music taste just isn’t refined enough, because as Chris N said about Kathy Mattea’s album, this one just didn’t drive me crazy.:)

By: Brody Vercher

Brody Vercher — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:42:47 +0000

To be fair, I don’t think Carll is necessarily trying to be a good country songwriter so much as just a good songwriter in general. He has co-writes with Ray Wylie Hubbard and Darrell Scott on this album, one with Guy Clark on his last album, and covers a Tom Waits song–all are great songwriters, but not easily classifiable. And that’s the same mold that I think Carll is trying to follow. He’s marketed as country because it opens him up to a bigger audience, but he could easily be labeled folk, roots, Americana, etc. with varying degrees of truth behind each one. However, I do see the need to look at the album from a country standpoint since that’s what it’s being marketed as and this is a country music blog.

As far as the album goes, I loved it. “It’s A Shame” could easily be covered by a bigger artist, although it’d lose the affecting charm of Carll’s voice. And while I enjoyed the songs where he “swings from the chandeliers with his songwriting,” I find myself returning to the ones where he saunters through the lyrics like a three-legged dog: “Don’t Let Me Fall,” “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up,” “Knockin’ Over Whiskeys,” and “Willing to Love Again.”

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:40:17 +0000

Great review, good points. I actually dig that there isnt a real running theme sonically. I think he effectively pulls of the changes of pace that can seem odd with other artists. “Bad Liver & a Broken Heart” is the newest in his line of great “driving” songs. For a guy who is mercilessly compared to Guy Clark, Carll has great country-rock songs on each of his albums “little rock”, “Down the road tonight” from his previous work are great examples as well.

By: jeff

jeff — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:48:03 +0000

record of the year. so far, at least.