Troubadour Keegan McInroe spent lockdown at his mother's home in Dublin, Texas adjusting to a surreal period when everything everywhere slowed down all at once.
The album was recorded with an ensemble of local musicians at Fort Worth and co-produced by Grant Wilborn,
The experience of “hard times and lean living” (to quote the title track) is reflected in his seventh studio album which is more Kristoffersonian than Waitsian
The ghost of John Prine, a victim of Covid, hangs heavy over the record. There’s a cover of Prine's Lonesome Friends of Science and John's Songs pays tribute to rich musical legacy left by the great man.
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With its horseriding rhythm, Only To Be Songs is the most upbeat tune while despite its title, Eat, Drink, And Be Merry is one of the most downbeat, a recognition that life’s celebratory moments are fleeting (“tomorrow we die”).
In the face of global events a droll mellowness prevails counterpointed by a determined we-can-make-it through philosophy.
Keegan McInroe’s website
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