There’s a famous lyric from Hank Williams, Jr., that asks “why must you live out the songs that you wrote.” In the case of Nashville’s Ron Pope, his signature move is the reverse: to write songs about the life he’s lived. You can argue that’s what many songwriters do, but in Pope’s case he has a deep catalog of ne’er-do-wells, anti-heroes, and drifters that nonetheless have some human quality worth highlighting. Those characters, including Pope himself, are the basis for a new set of songs, soon to be released as the album American Man, American Music.
The last verse of the chorus in the last song on the record (The Life In Your Years), “it’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years,” could be a summary of the whole CD. It’s a singer-songwriter folk number that’s Pope’s version of a road song where he’s longing to get home and be the family man he’s proud he became. With a similar goal, I Gotta Change (Or I’m Gonna Die) is a rock ballad where you can hear his resolve to avoid the opioid peril that took too many others. In the Morning With the Coffee On is a gentle love song to his wife and how special every moment is they share. Where You’re Kept is another love song, this time referencing how fate put them together, and hopefully will in another life. You can imagine either cut being as powerful with just Pope and his guitar and they are with the full band.
Some of the characters in Pope’s journey through life make an appearance in Nobody’s Gonna Make It Out Alive. It’s a Southern garage rocker that could be a theme song for any 20-something itinerant musician. The Queen of Fort Payne, Alabama is another Southern rocker that refers to a friend’s mom, but it’s really about living carefree, day-to-day and invincible, long before responsibility becomes a notion in a youngster’s head. I’m Not the Devil adds a touch of melancholy in a remembrance of a friend’s volatile relationship. There’s a bit of American Aquarium anthemic style in Mama Drove A Mustang, an ode to Pope’s single parent. There’s no mistaking the pride when he sings, “she flew down the highway, just like Petty in his prime.”
I think a lot of us have at least a little amazement that we made it as far in life as we did. While the journeys may have been quite different, the gratitude for where we are is a shared emotion. Ron Pope has tapped into that common feeling by sharing some of the harebrained situations that somehow led him to be the good parent and husband he is today. American Man, American Music is a fun-filled romp from youthful exuberance through to adulthood and leaves you with an appreciation for both.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.