Rodney Crowell - The Outsider

Rodney Crowell is probably one of the finest singer/songwriters in Americana and country music. He's related by marriage into the greatest country music dynasty of all time (he was married to Rosanne Cash), and he's written songs for everyone from Waylon Jennings to Tim McGraw, but above all else, his songs have to them an ethereal, otherworld quality that makes them transcend mere genre boundaries and reach into the very depth of the soul.

Rodney Crowell makes good music. It's pretty much as simple as that. His songs have a depth of feeling. Either warm and comforting or harsh and cold; he speaks from the heart and it shows on every track, with every well-chosen, poetical word. The music is beyond genre, a subtle blend of country and retro-rock that somehow manages to transcend time; it could have been recorded fifty years ago or today. Why not pay homage to the roots-rockers? They were all country boys who were too radical for Nashville: Elvis, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins; all were from the country and did something wild & weird and ended up as rock legends. Crowell very successfully conjures their spirits in his performances.

I did have one small problem with this disc, which had nothing to do with the music at all. While I very much support artists and their being paid for their art, the "anti-piracy" software installed on this disc made it impossible for me to listen to it at work, where I'm not allowed to install any outside software. It would not allow me to simply listen to the disc without that install. At home, I was able to finish the install and gain the special player. However, all this apparently did nothing to actually prevent me from ripping the tracks. Since I do most of my serious listening to music at the office, I was somewhat disappointed, but I made time to listen, and I'm glad I did.

Problems aside, the music is what counts, and Rodney Crowell delivers in spades.