Fred Eaglesmith
Lipstick, Lies and Gasoline
Razor & Tie, PO Box 585 Cooper Station, NYC 10276
Release Date: October 21, 1997
Listen just once to Fred Eaglesmith and you'll know this is no ordinary man with a guitar. Indirectly, at least, Eaglesmith's latest reminds me of Ben Harper, who manages to pay obvious homage to Hendrix and Marley while producing music that sounds wholly original. Eaglesmith plunders a different musical tradition -- the breadth of modern folk and country -- but he too forges a unique musical vision that is simply stunning.
Permit me to ramble for a minute. I have been listening to Eaglesmith's latest, Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline, on my Walkman for more than a week now, with hardly a pause, in a vain attempt to answer a simple question: how can everything old be new again? "105," with its power-strum guitar and half-shouted vocals, hearkens back to the best of Steve Earle's winking machismo. Then there are "Thinking" and "Pontiac," both of which borrow the dark, supple groove that Joe Henry introduced to the roots-rock family. "Drinking Too Much" sounds downright Texan, reminiscent of touring mate Lyle Lovett's best Large Band-less work. Finally, "Alcohol & Pills" and "Water In the Fuel" are devastatingly sad laments that echo John Gorka's compelling storytelling style. So what gives? Is this guy a rip-off artist or what?
No. Not even close. Perhaps what makes Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline so remarkable is that all these disparate voices can be woven together into a single fabric. Of course, Eaglesmith is part of a much longer tradition -- the child of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, the heir to Mississippi blues, Texas swing and Kentucky bluegrass. Listening to Eaglesmith is like occupying a privileged perch that lets you see a whole broad sweep of history. Standing there at the head of the line is Fred Eaglesmith, struggling to explain the brink of the 21st century with a vocabulary that was born a hundred years earlier. Somehow, though, America has come full circle, and many indie rock fans are finding that so-called "roots music" possesses a potent language to express feelings of longing and loss. Eaglesmith found that, too, and in borrowing bits and pieces of the past and present, he finds a voice that is all his own.
-- Chris Schwartz
schwartz@outersound.com
