Mac McAnally - Down by the River '2009

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Blame It on New Orleans
02. Down by the River
03. If You Hang Around Long Enough
04. On Account of You
05. (Nothing Like A) Sunny Day
06. Over and Out
07. You First
08. Unresolved
09. Bound to Get Down
10. Big Disappointment
11. Until Then

As a performer, Mac McAnally has had a limited run of success on the charts,
though he's had a long career that began with in 1977 with his self-titled debut
and the hit "It's a Crazy World." He didn't scale those heights again until 1990
with the single "Back Where I Come From." He's recorded only 11 albums between
1977 and the self-produced Down by the River. But this only tells a tiny part of
the story. McAnally is a wildly successful songwriter, penning hit tunes for
everyone from Jimmy Buffett and Alabama to Ricky Van Shelton and Steve Wariner.
Again, that's only another part of the story. McAnally's own records are amazing
in their consistency, craft, and material. He seldom covers anyone else, and in
recent years, he's taken the producer's role upon himself. He is in a league
with songwriters such as Randy Newman, Bobby Charles, and Robbie Robertson. Down
by the River is a stellar example. Age and time haven't hindered McAnally's
ability as a recording artist. He's in terrific voice, and the array of styles
and lyrics on the set is startling. The album opens with the easy living,
laid-back stroll of "Blame It on New Orleans," with its horn section, clarinet
fills, and righteous upright piano and syncopated drums. Then there's the
Caribbean-kissed blues of "(Nothing Like A) Sunny Day," with its hip B-3 organ
fills, popping bassline, and mandolin riff. "Over and Out," melds Western and
Gypsy jazz swing, featuring some smoking guitar work by McAnally and fiddle work
by Aubrey Haynie and Larry Franklin. There are some tough honky tonk songs such
as "If You Hang Around Long Enough," (written with Jeff Hanna). The title track
is a funky jive shuffle co-written by Mac and Al Anderson. There's even a
contemporary country ballad in "You First," co-written with Lenny LeBlanc.
McAnally wrote most of the set himself, however, and the finest track on the
disc is the gospel-inflected, Muscle Shoals groove on "On Account of You"
(McAnally has a right to that pedigree, having worked as a member of its house
band before going solo). The entire album has a warm, intimate feel. The sound
is very organic and doesn't carry a whiff of contemporary country's sheeny
production. McAnally is a real Americana artist whose is not as easy to
pigeonhole as singer/songwriters like Guy Clark, Tom Russell, or Steve Earle --
brilliant talents all. He uses the entire array and history of American roots
music, and is musician enough to pull them off, not only in his writing, but in
his recording and performing. The bottom line, of course, is that Down by the
River is a real achievement by any standard, and coming so far into the artist's
career it stands as an anomaly in the music biz: rather than revisit his
successes or rest on his laurels, McAnally has gone wider and deeper to release
what is arguably his crown jewel, which is a fertile as the land and the history
of America itself. This is music that comes from the ground and ascends to the
heart.



DOWNLOAD ALBUM [flac]

Related artists