I look to Fortune Magazine for a lot of things, but music has never been one of them. Hence my surprise to be flipping through the magazine several years back and finding a snippet about Will Kimbrough’s debut solo release, This. I’d known about Kimbrough for several years, most notably through his work slinging guitar for Todd Snider and, later, Rodney Crowell.
This was an Americana gem, chock full of sharply written roots pop songs. Album opener “Closer to the Ground” leads with a Who-like drum solo before settling into a candy-coated chorus. The fun continues with the Byrds-like 12-string guitar “Need You Now” and the wistful ballad “Dream Away.” From start to finish, the album is a fine introduction to Kimbrough’s talents.
Kimbrough hit stride with 2002’s Home Away. The percussive “Piece of Work” leads off the album with flair, “I’m a sweetheart, genius, reckless jerk; Lord have mercy, I’m a piece of work.” The song was later covered by Jimmy Buffett and led to an on-going collaboration with the Parrothead-in Chief.
The album could almost be a character piece with Kimbrough taking the persona of the perpetual underdog. The songs are tinged with insecurity and timidness, but always retain a sense of optimism. On the self-effacing romantic ballad “Champion of the World” Kimbrough declares “My daddy always told me you throw a baseball like a girl, but when my baby holds me I’m the champion of the world” and decides in the harmony-driven rocker “Letdown” that “It’s the disappointment that gets in the way, makes a Monday morning of Saturday.”
Kimbrough dug into the archives for 2003’s Godsend (Unreleased Songs 1994-2002). Favorites include a relaxed but rocking version of “Godsend”, written by Kimbrough but originally recorded by Snider. He also re-visits “You Don’t Know Me So Well,” originally released on Home Away. The original version was a plaintive ballad but it is re-imagined here to equal effect as a brooding rocker.
In 2006, Kimbrough got political with Americanitis. He summarizes his views in the track “Less Polite” when he announces “I’m trying to be less polite, I’m saying what I really think, the President’s a fool I don’t wanna get up early and I wish I had a good stiff drink.” Over a fine 1960’s groove on “Everyone’s in Love” he continues, “strange times, hate crimes, I ain’t afraid of nothing but what I don’t know, where did we go so wrong?”
The Mighty Will Kimbrough marches on and remains a talent on the Americana scene. He has just released a new acoustic ep, appropriately titled EP. In addition to a re-worked version of “Godsend” you’ll find “Horseshoe Lake,” another track written by Kimbrough but originally recorded by Todd Snider. Although the lyrics reflect a man questioning his life’s progression, I’ve always been taken by his hopes for the future, “I wanna feel like it makes a difference, what difference one man makes.”
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.