The long, native grasses seem to find a way to root in no more than a half inch of soil, deposited by the never-ending wind in every crack and crevice. Â Concrete crumbles and slowly resembles the sky in the many months of winter. Â Steel, on the other hand, turns a reddish-brown that’s indistinguishable from the dirt when viewed at any distance. Â What differentiates Rust Belt decay from civilization-claiming jungle a half a world away is the end state. Â Equatorial climes return to lushness, whereas the upper Midwest fades back to desolation. Â Canadian folk singer Donovan Woods captures that Rust Belt solitude on his latest album, Hard Settle, Ain’t Troubled.
The flag bearer of that sentiment is They Don’t Make Anything In That Town. An autobiographical tale with sort of a happy ending (Woods gets out), it’s nonetheless a matter-of-fact observation when he sings at a funeral that for every mile of road they have to build two miles of ditch. Â That’s followed up with We Never Met, an interesting take on a break up song where instead of pining for lost love the singer just imagines it never happened.
Woods has a silent partner that elevates many of the songs on the album. Â Producer James Bunton’s arrangements frequently utilize a subtle addition of strings for some important texture. Â On the Nights You Stay Home the strings add a low level of tension to a song about a boyfriend who just doesn’t understand the attraction of an evening alone. Â On Between Cities, the violin somehow conveys the distances of the road life.
The record finishes with Leaving Nashville, a wry observation on life as a musician in Music City, where despite the frequent lows everyone stays for the brief highs.  In many ways it’s a good analogy for the entire album.  There’s really not much happy content.  Yet Woods avoids melancholy through simple delivery of stories that are too interesting to be sad and have hooks that bring you back to listen to Hard Settled, Ain’t Troubled again.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.