Frank Carlier - Americana 101 http://frankcarlier.com/
Well into his middle years, Frank Carlier has been playing music a long time; as far as I can make out this is his third solo record, and it has been attracting enough attention to put him on the Americana map. Deservedly so, too, because this is a strong record marrying excellent musicianship to some strong songwriting. His manifesto is laid down in the rocking opener, "White Trash": "I'm 'white trash' born, I'm 'white trash' raised/ From my first breath to my dying day/ All my life, sweat, toil and slave/ For a dream that won't come to pass/ I'm just a legacy of 'white trash' ".
What we get here, then, is a tour of blue collar woes, from the illegal immigrants working below union rates for a shot at the American Dream, through the poor kids scooped up by recruiting sergeants to serve in wars they don't understand, to the death row prisoner in his final hours hoping his victim's family will find comfort in his punishment. ( More sentiment than analysis going on there, I think).
Plenty of celebratory songs, too: a paean to his favourite old car that opens with a whole verse of love song before he reveals that the object of his affection is a ton of metal, not his favourite lady; a song to the memory of a childhood idol ("I wouldn't want him as a role model if I had a son") and, most out and out comic of all, "I'm Going on the Jerry Springer Show"; he skewers the awful fascination of watching and wanting to join in: "I'm gonna have to save up my welfare check for the cash that I'm about to blow/ On the giant plasma tv so I can see me on the show". Best song for me, though is "Julia Painted", a stately and dignified tune celebrating his mother's facility for art that brought colour and dreams to a family life that epitomised the working poor. Beautifully structured so that it demands a sincere performance, this is really a very moving song.
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There's a wide variety of arrangements here, from the electric rocking country of "White Trash", through acoustic numbers and the Tex-Mex of "Manuel's Farewell", a beautiful instrumental, to the country gospel of "I'm Not Forsaken". Throughout Frank Carlier's guitar playing shines through: he can be very delicate, which always amazes me from a big man, and it's a pleasure to listen for his playing as each track comes by. I can't say there's a knockout punch that leaves you gasping for more, but there's plenty to enjoy and there's the ring of truth about his songs that'll make this record well worth revisiting as the years go by, just to see where we've come from.
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