You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying

I’ve noticed lately I don’t mind country music as much as I used to. Maybe this change of heart is due to getting older, or maybe it’s a natural response to being bombarded on all sides by thumping reggaeton and other Latin dance music.

When I say “country music” please understand I don’t mean poppy, adult contemporary-style country music. If I’m going to listen to country, it better have some damn twang to it.

A disk I recently got hold of (I think on eMusic, my source for all things obscure and wonderful) is You Can’t Buy a Gun When You’re Crying by Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs. I ain’t gonna lie: the title got my attention before anything else. Once I got inside, though, the music fit the bill for my current country music jones. It’s blues, it’s country, it’s folk – it’s great.

From ARTISTdirect.com:

Billed as the debut effort of Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs, it’s worth noting that, despite the pluralistic moniker, “the Brokeoffs” is actually a somewhat mysterious guy simply called Lawyer Dave, a one-man-band from Texas.

Though they come from seemingly different worlds, the two singers mesh well, with Golightly's soft warble playing against Lawyer Dave's slurring drawl. There are elements of the haunted harmonies of the Carter Family in the mix, as well as traces of lonesome Delta twang.

I will also admit that my introduction to Holly Golightly came via The White Stripes’ “It’s True That We Love One Another.” With that as my jumping off point, I dug a little deeper and found an artist with roots not just in country, but also in R&B, rockabilly, and 60s music. And a little trivia note, Holly’s name really is Holly Golightly. Her last name is Smith.

Damaged Goods Records released You Can’t Buy a Gun When You’re Crying in May. If you’re in England, Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs are currently on tour in that area. Visit her site for more tour and music information.

You Can’t Buy a Gun When You’re Crying.mp3
Black Heart.mp3

Labels: alt.country, blues

posted by aikin @ 8:36 PM