Like most non-cowboys, I abstractly despise country music, meaning that the country songs I like are the only ones worth liking. And that’s it! No more, and don’t push ’em on me, Billy Jack. And I can count the number of country tunes I enjoy on two hands (and, OK, both feet). Most of them I learned in the late 1990s right after college while playing drums in an “alt-country” cover band consisting of several fortysomethings and one of their teenage sons. I could drum with one hand while drinking beer and smoking cigs with the other. All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I want to offer the good word on East Texas Blues. And don’t get me wrong. I do. Released by local label Dreamy Life Records, the debut album by early twentysomething singer-songwriter Vincent Neil Emerson is performed brilliantly, immaculately, and the music is thicker and richer than 20 cocoa-rubbed all-natural filets from Bonnell’s. The catchy melodies (and down-but-not-out lyrics) are simply delicious. East Texas Blues is the kind of album that both grandson and Grandpa will love. But even a city rat like me thinks he’s heard it all before.
That’s because I probably have.
“Emerson is relatively new at the singer-songwriter life, and he’s still searching for his identity,” said Jeff Prince, a longtime Weekly staff writer and veteran songsmith. “So far he’s been replicating the styles of his heroes rather than establishing his own sound, which is fairly common for young artists. Painters typically learn the styles of masters before developing their own styles. Emerson has immersed himself in the mindset of ‘three chords and the truth with a minor chord thrown in for good measure,’ harking back to his honkytonk heroes. And while he pays homage to them by recording covers or writing similar-sounding songs of his own, his music lacks the inventiveness and adventurous spirit that he will need to progress. He’s got an excellent voice –– and soul and mojo for days. He’s still in his early 20s. There’s plenty of time to find his muse. In the meantime, these borderline generic-sounding songs will hold us over.”
This isn’t to say there’s a dearth of contemporary vibes on East Texas Blues, recorded and engineered by Britt Robisheaux at Eagle Audio Recording on the Near Southside and co-produced by Robisheaux, Emerson, and Robby Rux, who co-owns Dreamy Life with wife Jennifer Rux and the good folks at Lo-Life Recordings. “Another Song for You” could have come from Springsteen’s 9/11 tribute, The Rising, and “Ugly Boy” sounds like, well, every John Prine song ever written, according to Prince, who “loves” Prine. (“Unlike most people, he can make three chords sound perfect every time.”)
Purely traditional? That’s the rest of the album, especially the title track, which, Prince said, “relies on a steady two-four beat and steel guitar to give it a happy, country feel. It’s similar in structure and sound to Billy Joe Shaver’s ‘Georgia on a Fast Train,’ a song that Emerson has played live.”
And a story about East Texas Blues would not be complete without referring to fellow Fort Worth boy Townes Van Zandt, to whom Emerson pays honest tribute throughout, especially on “7 Come 11,” referring to a song that Townes wrote but never recorded. Still, the Stockyards crowd could do well to give East Texas Blues a listen and see how both kinds of music are done well. And honestly.
Along with a few other Fort Worth heavies –– Jake Paleschic, Chucho, and Quaker City Night Hawks’ Sam Anderson –– VNE will perform as part of a celebration of the album release on Saturday at The Chat Room Pub (1263 W. Magnolia Av., 817-922-8319).
Ed. note, July 9: This story has been updated to include the fact that Dreamy Life is co-owned by Lo-Life Recordings.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
