Once upon a time, this used to be called country music. Renamed Americana now, country had little connection to the pop world; in fact, it wasn't supposed to. But as easily palatable Southern folk like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers began making superstar trips on Top-40 radio, the dam slowly started to burst, leading to its crassly commercial makeover in the '90s with Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus.
You won't find Carl Wirkkala (http://www.deafjimrecords.com) compared to any of them city slickers. No, Wirkkala really takes the genre back to its roots. Unlike his Americana counterparts, Wirkkala isn't about placing a postmodern edge to country music. After all, country was already edgy enough with legends like Johnny Cash singing epic poems of death and retribution. While Wirkkala isn't that dark, the home-on-the-ranch sentimentalism and Southern storytelling that once characterized country music is alive and well in this gentleman's bootstraps.
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"Ghost Town" is basically a eulogy for America's dying soul. As society moves forward, what once characterized America - wide open spaces, logging, trains - is being washed away by the shifting tide. The album is a nostalgic look back at once was, from the roaring locomotives of "The Train" to the spiritually liberating vast acres of land in "A Man Walking."
Wirkkala has a soulful, deep voice a la Cash but he's not trying to mimic the Man in Black. The similarity is there simply because Wirkkala has a road-tested voice; it bellows with the wisdom of age.
This is a special record, one that I'll plan on continuing to delve into in the months ahead.
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