█████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▓▓ ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▒ ████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▓ █████████████████████████████████████████ ░▒ ▒▒ ░██████████████████████████████████████▒▒▓ ▓ ███████████████████████████████████████ ▒░ ████████████████████████████████████ █ ██████████████████████████████████▒ █ ▓█████████████████████████████████ ▒ ████████████████████████████████ ▒▒ ▒██████████████████████████████ ▒█ █████████████████████████████ ▒█▓▒ ████████████████████████████ ░██░ ░█░ ███████████████████████████ ████ ██████████████████████████▒ ▓████ █████████████████████████▓ █████░ █████████████████████████▓ ██████░ ████████████████████████▓ ███████ ███████████████████████▓ ████████▒ ▓█████████████████████▒ ▓█████████ ████████████████████░ ░███████████▒ █████████░██████▓░ ▒█████████████▒ ██████▓ ██ ▒▒█████████████████▒ ░█████ ███ ░ ░▒████████████████████▒▒ ██████▒░█▒██░█ █▒ ████████████████████████▒ ████████▒ ▓███ ████▓█ ██████████████████████░ ███████ ▒ ░██░ █ ███ ▒███████████████████████ ███████░ ▒ ███ █ ░██████████████████████████ ████████▓ ▓█░ ▒██████████████████████████████▒ ████████░▒██▒██████████████████████████████████ ████████████ █████████████████████████████████▒ ████████████ ████████████████████████████████ ████████████▓░██████████████████████████████▒ ████ ██ ██ █████████████ █████████████████████████████▒ ██ ██ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ █████████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ███████████████████████████████████████▓ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ ██ ████████████████████████████████████▒ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████████████████████████████▒ ▒ █████████████████████████████████ ▒▒░ ELITE RECORD PLAYERS ███████████████████████████████ ▒▒ █████████████████████████████ ▒ ▒▒ ██████████████████████████▓ ▒▒▒ ████████████████████████ ░▒ ████████████████████ ░▒▓▒ ░ ███████████████▒▒░░▒░█░ ░ ┌────────┐ ────┤ Info ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Artist | Rodney Crowell Title | Close Ties Genre | Country Format | Album Source | CDDA Time | 43:38 Label | New West Records Store | 2017-00-00 Catalog | NW6354 Rip | 2017-05-13 Bitrate | 226 kbps Size | 74.50 MB Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Tracks ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ 01. East Houston Blues 3:37 02. Reckless 3:30 03. Life Without Susanna 4:11 04. It Ain't Over Yet (Feat. Rosanne Cash & John Paul White) 5:14 05. I Don't Care Anymore 4:28 06. I'm Tied To Ya' (Feat. Sheryl Crow) 3:59 07. Forgive Me Annabelle 4:10 08. Forty Miles From Nowhere 5:59 09. Storm Warning 4:37 10. Nashville 1972 3:53 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Notes ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ When Rodney Crowell first gained widespread recognition as a leader of the new traditionalist movement of the mid-80s, he was, in fact, a singer, songwriter, and producer with roots and ambitions extending far beyond the movement's perimeter. Born to a musical family on August 7, 1950 in Houston, Texas, Crowell formed his first band, The Arbitrators, while in high school, and in 1972 moved to Nashville to become a professional musician. There, he struck up friendships with singer/songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. In his song "Nashville 1972", Crowell looks back on his early days in the music business, meeting heroes and legends such as Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall, and Harland Howard, and occasionally making a fool of himself, as men in their early twenties are likely to do. That song closes out Crowell's 2017 album "Close Ties", and it's a fitting footnote to an album by an artist who, in his own way, is as much of a hero as any of the artists he cites in the song 45 years later. Crowell certainly sounds like a seasoned veteran on these ten songs - "Close Ties" is full of stories of a life lived richly, if often recklessly, and though Crowell is still full of energy and has a clear eye, he sings with the voice of experience and knows which choices were good and which were unfortunate. Dominated by acoustic arrangements, "Close Ties" is emotionally intimate and frequently confessional, as Crowell sings about broken hearts ('Life Without Susanna', 'Reckless', 'Forgive Me Annabelle') and lives out of balance ('I Don't Care Anymore', 'Storm Warning') with honesty and a welcome lack of self-pity. "Close Ties" is a set of stories of a roaring boy, sung from the perspective of the older and wiser man he would become, and Crowell's voice is in fine shape, giving his stories flesh and form with the talent you'd expect from one of the best singers and songwriters of his generation. Producers Jordan Lehning and Kim Buie give these sessions a feel that's open but clearly focused, and there's a sharp sense of purpose to this material that's mature but full of life. "Close Ties" shows that it's possible to be an experienced professional and still make music that's emotionally urgent and immediate; it's also a reminder that Rodney Crowell was and remains a talent to be reckoned with, and this album shows he's a long, long way from used up. ┌────────┐ ────┤ Group ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘