Aside from tributes and fund-raisers, the idea of concept albums fell out of favor about the time disco came into vogue. Sometimes though, there’s a theme that runs through a record. It doesn’t necessarily drive what gets put on disk, but it ties the songs in the project together. That’s the case with the sophomore album from Austinite Michael Paul Lawson, entitled Love Songs For Loners. It’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to the first song on the CD, I Know Where I’m Going Tonight, where Lawson admits, “there ain’t no love songs for loners, it’s a losing game.”
The music weaves between the country shuffle of the aforementioned tune, to an angry rock ballad, 849, about how the pandemic took away everyone’s civility. Although currently a Texan, Lawson grew up in upstate New York. Several songs draw on that experience, like The Snow. It’s a rockabilly number about small towns where people leave and only come back for the holidays. Similarly, Maple had to come from that time in his life since the symbol of life in the northeast is driving a recurring dream of mortality.
Varick Street finishes the disc, with an appropriate look at being focused on leaving, without a destination in mind. It draws a bookend on a set of stories about misfits and ne’er-do-wells that, while not necessarily sympathetic, they’re familiar to all of us. Set to the rich tone of Michael Paul Lawson’s velvety baritone voice, Love Songs For Loners is a study in folks that don’t quite get it right. It’s also an engaging album that doesn’t fall to the temptation of melancholy and instead delivers an enjoyable listen from start to finish.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.