Shawn Mullins - My Stupid Heart '2015

Tracks list

Tracklist
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01. The Great Unknown
02. It All Comes Down To Love
03. Ferguson
04. My Stupid Heart
05. Roll On By
06. Go and Fall
07. Gambler’s Heart
08. Never Gonna Let Her Go
09. Sunshine
10. Pre-Apocalyptic Blues
On his first album in five years, Shaw Mullins releases what is perhaps his best
album. “My Stupid Heart” is a virtual dead heat with 2006’s
“Ninth Ward Pickin’ Parlor” as his career best. “My
Stupid Heart” exhibits a diversity of styles. The core of the album, as
always, is Mullins melodic songwriting. There is a Pop foundation from which all
of these songs are built. From that base, the songs are layered with his other
influences from New Orleans style Jazz, Gospel, Folk and even a little Country.
As diverse as the musical styles are, the subject matter of the songs is just as
varied. There is no overriding theme on this record. Instead you have everything
from love songs to social commentary and he mixes in a little humor along the
way. 

Produced by Lari White (Toby Keith), and recorded at The Holler in Nashville,
Tenn, My Stupid Heart features appearances by Michael Rhodes (bass), Gerry
Hansen (drums, percussion), Jerry McPherson (electric guitar), Guthrie Trapp
(mandolin, bazouki) and Dan Dugmore (steel guitar.) Mullins was also joined by
Chuck Cannon (acoustic guitar, vocals) and Max Gomez (vocals), who helped to
co-write several of the songs this release. 

My Stupid Heart addresses some of the perceived relationship failures Mullins
was experiencing when he wrote this album. The result is Mullins’ most
revealing record yet. A collection of 10 deeply personal songs, it explores
themes of love and loss. Mullins says, “This record came out of all that;
all the feelings, all the heartache.” 

Throughout the album, Mullins deftly balances songs of suffering — from
the title tune and “Go and Fall,” to the powerful, yet subtle social
commentary of “Ferguson” — with songs such as “Roll On
By,” which strikes an upbeat note of hope. 

There’s humor, too. “It All Comes Down to Love” targets
preachers, politicians, the NRA, Wall Street, and street dealers; and
“Pre-Apocalyptic Blues” hilariously lampoons the doom-mongers arming
themselves against Armageddon. The Levon Helm-influenced “Never Gonna Let
Her Go” reveals the thrills of riding that relationship roller-coaster,
and even the sigh of resignation that is “The Great Unknown”
contains lines so striking, you can’t help but smile at their brilliance
and depth. 

The theme of this record, he says, is summed up most succinctly by another song
title: “It All Comes Down to Love.” In that respect, Mullins says,
it’s not all that different from most of his discography, including his
last release, 2010’s Light You Up. Mullins has garnered acclaim and
amassed a devout fan base with his previous releases, including 1998’s
Soul’s Core, the album that shot him to fame on the strength of its
Grammy-nominated No. 1 hit, “Lullaby,” and 2006’s 9th Ward
Pickin’ Parlor, which contained his AAA/Americana No. 1, “Beautiful
Wreck.” 

„Unbeknownst to the average listener who never heard anything beyond his
1998 AAA hit Lullaby, Shawn Mullins spent the better part of the next two
decades deepening, undergirding his sighing melodicism with an underpinning of
country-rock. Such Americana leanings mean hes at home on Sugar Hill, the
renowned folkie label that released My Stupid Heart in the fall of 2015. Despite
this connection, My Stupid Heart isnt a simple singer/songwriter record, one
where he supports himself with nothing more than an acoustic guitar. Its a
fairly full-blooded album, one where Mullins is as at ease with burnished
ballads and shuffling showtune blues as he is with broken-in country-rock and
elegant tunes that echo his big hits. Despite a protest song for Ferguson,
Missouri, whats striking about My Stupid Heart is how it doesnt feel explicitly
connected to its time: it draws from Americana traditions and finds new elements
to explore within that vein.“ (Thomas Erlewine, AMG)

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