Abe Partridge
COTTON FIELDS & BLOOD FOR DAYS
Skate Mountain Records
Southern Gothic Alt.Country-Folk Fights Punk at Midnight Behind a Dingy Bar.
Every now and again an album comes along that absolutely blows me away and I can’t wait to share it with you out there in Internetland…….and this album from Alabama singer-songwriter Abe Partridge is one such.
COTTON FIELDS & BLOOD FOR DAYS arrived a few weeks before Christmas when I knew I didn’t have much time for even listening to music never mind writing about it; but when I saw the intriguing song titles I listened a couple of times late at night when I was doing my ironing; and then more recently at the crack of dawn while driving to work; and the sense of loneliness those hours create is just perfect for diving in at the deep end with Partridges rough and ready and deeply personal songs.
It was the stark opening track Colors that initially caught my attention; with Partridge sounding like a prodigy of Townes, Guy and Rodney the way his lyrics poetically twist and turn via a grizzled and lived in voice over a jagged acoustic guitar and a cello or violin.
It was only on the third time I listened to track #2 Ride Willie, Ride that I actually realised that it was a love song from a songwriter to Willie Nelson; and the actual title is Ride Willie Ride (Or Thoughts I Had While Contemplating Both the Metaphysical Nature of Willie Nelson and His Harassment By The Internal Revenue Service) and boy; is the world a better place for this song being in it!
Just as I thought I had a handle on where Partridge was coming from track #3 I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker turned everything upside down. Who among us can resist a dirty electric guitar intro followed by the opening lines “Put on my black steel toes/and my free jacket from Goodwill/Gonna get me some dark sunglasses just like Dylan used to wear/ gonna go to my barber and tell him/won’t you do me the wildest of hair’? That’s not even the best bit; but I will leave you intrigued enough to buy the album and hear it yourself.
Like the very best of his ilk Partridge is no ‘one trick pony’ as that last song proves; but it’s his haunting acoustic ballads about his home town Out of Alabama Blues and The Ghosts of Mobile that make him stand out from his contempories and peers; and not just because he sounds like every single word comes from the darkest recesses of his worn out heart.
Choosing a favourite here hasn’t been easy; even before I actually heard it I hoped Our Babies Will Never Grow Up To Be Astronauts would live up to the title; and it does with ease; and it was a similar gut wrenching feeling I had with Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down; and hearing him channel his inner RL Burnside had me slapping the steering wheel with delight when I heard it that first cold morning.
But; and it’s eventually become an easy choice; Prison Tattoos is even better than I’d ever dared hope for from reading the title on the sleeve. This could easily be a lost Townes Van Zandt or Jim White song remixed by Nick Cave as the layers of choppy electric guitars and piano are played without the aid of a safety net as Partridge’s grizzled and Demonic voice purr out a delightfully dark tale.
WOW…….I love my job on days I discover diamonds like Abe Partridge; and you are welcome to fall in love with him too; there’s plenty here for everyone.
Released January 26th 2018
https://www.abepartridge.com/home
The Rocking Magpie 