It’s well known that the Armadillo World Headquarters was at ground-zero for the Austin music scene in the early 70’s. Gary P. Nunn once noted, “It’s been said that our music was the catalyst that brought the shit-kickers and the hippies together at the Armadillo.” Presumably one of those hippies was Hank Alrich, a California transplant who was one of the co-founders of the legendary establishment. He’s about to release a new album, Broken River, that deftly combines his passion for environmental issues with the styles of music so closely associated with his home-away-from-home Austin. (Alrich actually lives in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.)
About half of the songs on the record touch on those environmental concerns, set to a variety of instrumental styles. Blue Guru is a jazzy number, with a western swing piano part to get things started. Like several cuts, it features daughter Shaidri on background vocals, in a treatise on climate change denial. Speaking of that, there’s Denial River Blues (nice pun), a good folk rock protest number about all the people “strutting around in proud denial.” The title track highlights Warren Hood on fiddle; the opener that quickly acquaints you with Alrich’s weathered vocals. Locomotive Wind, which could be subtitled Tornado Blues, is appropriately bluesy using the example of a twister in Oklahoma City to remind us Mother Nature doesn’t care how important or rich you are.
Speaking of bluesy, Where You Been could have come straight out of the Delta. It has a lazy tempo and one of the best blues lines I heard in a while, “I been up all night, I been down so long.” She Had Whiskey For Dinner isn’t so much blues as deep melancholy. It chronicles the path of a former friend who “can’t find any light in her personal hell.” He wants to help, but “she blocked me a long time ago.” I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down is one of my favorites. With a cosmic country sound it uses Alrich’s scruffy vocals to advantage to explain that the setting sun “reminds me that you’re gone.”
Although Hank Alrich decamped back to the California mountains decades ago to raise his family, his musical roots are still deeply planted in Austin. As one of the OG’s of their music scene, you can hear how well that melting pot of country, folk, and rock styles has held up over time on Broken River.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.