Thirty years ago a group of young New Hampshire musicians bonded over the burgeoning alt-country music scene. They formed a band, Say ZuZu, and met with success, putting out half a dozen albums over the next decade. But, as they say, life happens, and in 2003 the members went their own separate ways. Fast forward to 2020 and New West Records owner George Fontaine decided to follow up on a deal he didn’t get done earlier. He called two of the band members, Cliff Murphy and Jon Nolan, and signed the band to his own label, Strolling Bones. Fresh off a couple of reunion dates that energized the band, they went into the studio and made short work of cutting a new album, No Time To Lose.
You can clearly hear the Tweedy and Farrar influences throughout the record. Climb in the River could be a Wilco number, while Old Soldier feels like an earlier incarnation of the alt-country vibe. Look Whatcha Done is a little more restrained and you can practically see the heads shaking when Nolan & Murphy sing, “not one word you muster is kind”. Waking Up has a jangly sound I tend to associate more with LA than New England, but it serves to kick off the CD with an upbeat sound that conveys the group’s appreciation for this new chapter in life.
As much as I enjoyed the rougher edges on many of the songs, I came to admire the insights and life lessons that inhabit much of the second half of the album. As Much Love is a ballad noting, “you can only accept as much love as you think you deserve.” What It Looks Like in Heaven is a country crooner about wanting to know what’s next, but fearing that knowledge could come too soon given how great life is now. Pawn Shop Guitar must be autobiographical for someone in the band given the regret and resignation that pours through in the decision to accept “three hundred dollars for all the years of joy it brang.” Plum Island Sand brings the CD to a close. It has kind of a Dylanesque, rollicking folk feel about it, and there’s probably no better statement of losing one’s youthful perspective than when the passenger tells his driver, “I’ve stopped looking for heroes, ’cause man, it’s just us.”
As much as I respect people that can stick with something for 20, 30 years or more, I know there’s also value to being able to step back and see a broader picture. Say ZuZu, while not planning it, got the chance to rebalance the journey and the destination. They made the most of it, and No Time To Lose conveys where they’ve been, and where they’re going, in a stellar musical embrace that hits all the right notes.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.