The International House of Bacon

Willie Nelson - “Gravedigger”: This was found on the Paste sampler for this month, a pleasant surprise. While I’m a little disenchanted with Willie since he’s decided to be a Truther, I have to say that this song impresses me on a number of levels. For one, it’s the first Dave Matthews-penned song that’s really spoken to me in close to 10 years, and if someone told me that Matthews could write a song like this, I would have never believed them. For another, Nelson’s got the perfect voice for this - he’s never had a great singing voice, and his delivery has always been the selling point for me, and this song fits right in. Third, it really reminds me of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” in the sense that you’ve got a guy who’s at the end of his career and, in a way, his life, and it works as a good reflection. Cash’s “Hurt” was perfect because the imagery and narrative was almost the perfect finale to a man’s perfect career but imperfect life, while Nelson’s “Gravedigger” kind of sticks to that rootsy, down-home persona that he’s cultivated for himself. I’m sure Nelson, who’s typically prolific, will have stuff after this, but if this ends up being one of his last popular tunes, it’ll be for good reason. I don’t have an mp3, but it’s at MySpace.

Kathleen Edwards - “The Cheapest Key”: I’m not a lyrics guy, which means that when I hear a song, I may go months (or years) singing along with a song completely blind to what it means. With that said, there are more than a couple lyricists that get me to listen right away, and when it comes to the angry at your significant other song, there are only a couple modern songwriters who I feel really get it right: Elizabeth Elmore (may her Gibson rest in peace) and Kathleen Edwards. Her latest kiss-off of sorts is this song, which is up at her MySpace right now, is just another great tune. It rocks harder than I’m used to, and while her voice isn’t entirely suited for such a rollicking effort, the somewhat jarring vocals match up quite well with the urgency. Plus, I think my new favorite lyric may exist in the bridge: “But don’t get me wrong/Here comes my softer side/And there it goes.” A nice little pause there for good measure. I’m excited about the new R.E.M. album in April, but Asking for Flowers is a very close number two.

Tift Merritt - “Broken: “Broken” (currently up as a track at her website) is like most other Tift Merritt songs for me - a pleasant, yet engaging diversion. I have her first two albums and I don’t know a single other human being who knows her (even though Tambourine was nominated for a Grammy), and it’s a shame. Maybe she’s too polished, maybe she’s too corporate, maybe she’s too popular for the indie crowd and too indie for mainstream country. I don’t know, but “Broken” is another song in what’s becoming a long line of great songs from her. It really just steps right up to the plate and gets it done, which is sometimes all you need.

R.E.M. - “Supernatural Superserious”: I posted a bit about this yesterday, and it’s up at Pitchfork, and it’s getting better. As I said before, it falls somewhere between my expectations and what it actually sounds like for me, but I’ve figured out why it’s taken me this long to get into it - a number of people who have heard more of the album than myself have compared it to Lifes Rich Pageant-era R.E.M. in terms of sound, and while I get that now to a point (I still feel like this has an “Ignoreland” feel without the angst), the problem I’m having is that it’s clean. VERY clean. Granted, Jacknife Lee did the same thing to Snow Patrol’s sound for Final Straw, and has the same sharpened polish for Editors, but in terms of what’s hurt R.E.M. for the last two albums is how incredibly clean and shiny they’ve been. The shine still stays on with this tune, but it doesn’t work 100% because you can tell that they’re actively trying to shake things up a bit. I mean, we’re not going to get back to the grit of Monster and New Adventures in Hi-Fi, but at least hearing the live version of “I’m Gonna DJ” (both in person and on the live album) gave me the hope that perhaps it would be a dirtier record than this. Does that make sense?