2008 Tinderbox   CD   SRV-047 

1 Sweet Corn    
2 Chain Gang    
3 Shoulder To the Plow    
4 Quietly    
5 Tinderbox    
6 Killing Me    
7 Worked Up Field    
8 I Pray Now    
9 You Can't Trust Them    
10 Get On Your Knees    
11 Fancy God    
12 Wheels    
13 Killing Me II    
14 Stand    
15 Reprise    
16 The Light Brigade    
17 Shoeshine    
18 When    
 
Now that John Stewart has gone and left us, and Tom Waits seems to have all but disappeared (well he hasn’t really as he’s about to undertake an European tour), Eaglesmith is poised to pick up the mantle of the gruff man of Americana.

When you name an album ‘Tinderbox’ then maybe you’re looking to start some sort of blaze. But whilst this album doesn’t exactly burn in its fiery delivery it’s certainly intense. 

Eaglesmith has been around for ages; always bubbling under as the next big thing, but in reality merely a cult, with his dedicated followers. Much like Waits and Stewart then.

As with those guys the message is in the lyrics. The music seems to merely accompany what he’s saying, whereas other artists try to hide their thoughts behind a wall of sound, Eaglesmith does the opposite. You can imagine these lyrics with different musical genres accompanying them and they’d still work. 

There’s a lot of laments for poor souls here. ‘Get On Your Knees’ outlines how the narrator has come to save souls from Satan and ‘Fancy God’ states “That God you got is a fancy God and he’s not one I know”. Yikes, that should get the bible belt up in arms. ‘Killing Me’ sums up the trials and tribulations of day to day life; “Up on the high ground, down on my knees, this old world is killing me. Gotta have rain if you want to plant seed.” 

And not forgetting the shysters and swindlers who are also after your soul, which drug dealers are of course. ‘You Can’t Trust Them’ advises amphetamine buyers to “Count your fingers, when you shake their hand cause they steal your wealth as fast as they can” and insists “Bells softly ring beneath their steeple, they’re selling souls and they’re dealing people.” 

Eaglesmith captures loads of eccentricities in his musings and also manages to deceive the listener with music that shouldn’t ‘match’ the words. ‘I Pray Now’ uses the working chain gang spiritual chants so beloved of film directors, whereas ‘Chain Gang’ doesn’t. See what he did there. Clever ain’t he? And he does the same on other tracks when he brings in the alt-country, gospel and folk blues.

Eighteen songs and not one ‘happy’ one amongst them. But there are plenty of songs of hope and that’s as it should be.

cd ripped by EAC

please seed
 
https://dickthespic.org/2010/10/30/fred-eaglesmith/