(Beggars Banquet)
Everyone needs some variety from their day job. Buffalo Tom's Bill Janowitz takes a short breather from his normal gig with this set of country flavored tunes aptly titled Lonesome Billy. The album was recorded on 16 track in a railroad freight yard in Arizona with friends from Giant Sand/Friends of Dean Martinez. With only 3 days of recording, 2 days of mixing, and no soundproofing, Lonesome Billy represents Bill Janowitz in its rawest form.
Raw is Janowitz's specialty. The best Buffalo Tom tracks have always been gritty, in your face nuggets of pop and angst. This time out the theme is "Backwoods Bill," and the bulk of the songs are slow and sad. Production values are set aside for spontaneity, and, depending on your taste, the album comes off as either a loose invigorating jam session or an uneven collection of hastily recorded songs.
A silly country song "Girl's Club", gets you in the mood. It's a meandering 3/4 time waltz about the trials and tribulations of a guy with a week spot for feminists, but it suffers from some annoying distortion in the guitar. Later, "Strangers" offers a send-up of the sad country guy song that adds a little bit of harmless 4 A.M. stalking to the "crying in your beer" theme.
Janowitz strays from the country theme for a few tracks. "Gaslight" is closest to the Buffalo Tom sound, but it is too distorted for its own good. "Ghost in My Piano" is a circus drunk instrumental pilfered from Tom Waits, and there is a semi-serious cover of "My Funny Valentine" thrown in for luck. These songs are fun, but they probably will only appeal to Buffalo Tom fanatics for novelty appeal.
Fortunately, Janowitz redeems Lonesome Billy with some truly powerful songs that are reminiscent of Elvis Costello's acoustic tinged King of America album. Fans who are familiar with the solo tracks on the Buffalo Tom singles know exactly what to expect. "Shoulder" and "Peninsula" deliver distraught lyrics, acoustic guitar, and passionate vocals. The melancholy organ and minimal back-up vocals in the background up the ante. Add the "warts and all" production values, and you feel as if you're sitting in with the band.
A duet, "Red Balloon", with Chris Toppin of Fuzzy closes the album. It is a nice guy/girl ballad that, unlike most country duets, is actually heartfelt and honest. The song's metaphor of love drifting away like a balloon slipping through ones fingers avoids seeming hackneyed or cliche'd. The song and the album drift away with the musicians tinkering quietly on their instruments and the sounds of railway trains fading away outside of the studio.
By design, Bill Janowitz offers an album that is loose and relaxed. Thereis a certain artistic indulgence in recording songs for the sheer pleasure of it, and it's refreshing that Beggar's Banquet is releasing an album like Lonesome Billy. Clearly, this is a "fan's" album. It's not quite on par with acts like Wilco or The Jayhawks who are exclusively "alternative country", but it's still a decent album that's a lot of fun.
