![]() ![]() 27, '71," hidden away on the second side because it's too subtle to make its impact broadside. While in the past the dull sentimentality that is the downfall of so much country music has flawed his albums, here even the worst song, "Second Hand Flowers," qualifies as bright sentimentality (with a twist). ![]() B+įorget arty pontificators like Kris Kristofferson and Mickey Newbury-wouldn't you rather have Woody Guthrie? Hall's politics are only liberal, his ironies sometimes pro forma, but like Guthrie's his observations and presentation are direct and unpretentious in a way that can't be faked or even imitated-he has a few things to say, he says them, and that's that. The method isn't original, foolproof, or the only one in his kit. The two greatest songs here-"Salute to a Switchblade" and "The Ballad of Bill Crump," one an autobiographical tale of barroom violence (and discretion) abroad, the other a biographical tale about the death of a carpenter-are documentaries in rhyme. Its flaw is that its truth is metaphorical-it sounds made up. I'm a fan of this Nashville original's most famous song, "Harper Valley P.T.A.," because like all his best work it combines pithy narrative with pithy ethics.
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