A few weeks ago I reviewed the Jeremy James Meyer album that had been recorded at the OK Theater in Enterprise, OR. Not long after, another release crossed my earbuds that was recorded there. The first solo effort from Boise resident Ryan Curtis, it also seems blessed with some magic from that venue. Entitled Rust Belt Broken Heart, it features songs Curtis wrote over many years about his childhood and youth in the upper Midwest.
The title track leads off the CD and is your baptism in the voice of Ryan Curtis. It conveys a wholesome sincerity even though it’s wrapped in the raspy accoutrements of a five day bender. Amtrak Wolverine is a song of regret, with a lonely pedal steel and acoustic guitar matching the inevitability of the twice-a-day train. Even more resolute is The Hide Away. The light-hearted honky tonk rhythm distracts you from the cold reality that “this ain’t a bar for fun, it’s for drinking.” I don’t know exactly where that place is located, but we’ve all been there.
350 Miles is a little more upbeat country number that notes you can take the man out of the UP, but you can’t take the you-per out of the man. Beautiful Day is a danceable tune that remembers the weather had absolutely nothing to do with how wonderful the day was when she left. Pour Another Glass is a little faster tune about living life’s ups and downs together, and the accordion gives it just a hint of polka roots. The CD finishes with Detroit Blues, a country ballad about a place you hate to love.
Curtis sings in the title track that being lonely and being alone are definitely not the same thing. That’s a theme that carries through the whole album and you can hear that loneliness everywhere, in both instruments and vocals. Rust Belt Broken Heart is an old school country LP that should be the soundtrack at the kind of dive bar that keeps a juke box to play it on.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.