Well, here I am wanting to listen to Wolftown all day as well. God knows I love writing about music, especially the deep indies, but I miss having the time I used to have to simply engulf myself in the music. To drown myself in it. Luckily, when a Wolftown comes along, I can justify doing it. Carl Anderson’s music has latched on and just will not let go.
I must be tired. Even the upbeat tracks don’t seem that upbeat and I’m not sure why. I hear 1945, as much of a rocker as there is on the album, and I find myself still under water and subdued, much like I feel when I hear Jackson Browne’s Running On Empty or Van Morrison’s Moondance. They don’t make me want to dance, they make me want to listen. Carl Anderson, I’m listening.
I’m listening to the almost folk/country Far Away From Here, which might well be just another country tune in anyone else’s hands but turns introspective in yours. I’m listening to Don’t Stop Trying, its chorus a cry for both strength and mercy. I’m listening to the rockin’ Good, Good Man which somehow rocks but doesn’t. How do you do that, make a song less and more at the same time much like Tom Petty does on some of his better songs? But mostly I am listening to Hold Me, a song which strikes a cord so deep in me that I almost bleed.
Wolftown is all about Carl Anderson, but that shows up in different ways. It showcases an enormous songwriting talent. It rides on Carl’s perfect/imperfect voice (it is called phrasing, friends, and Carl has it down). It is production and arrangement and musicianship all brought together for one album. It doesn’t happen that often.
It happened here, though. Well done, Carl. Pass that along to everyone who had a hand in Wolftown. While I can’t not wait for your next album, I am certainly looking forward to it.
-Frank Gutch Jr. (No Depresion)