The second album by the New York-based singer is a playful enjoyable sample of modern country music.
Allen sings crisply and clearly, and his material is full of great hooks and clever lyrics. "Jack Daniels" is the standout track. This clever drinking song has me repeating the catchphrase "Jack Daniels take me away" in my head. "The Train Song" and "Hold Me Now" are also great. As a father, I can't help loving the slower "My Biggest Fan."
"Your Northstar," a bittersweet goodbye, is what Allen seems to be pushing as the album's single of sorts (see the video following this paragraph). As good as the song is, I still would have preferred to see "Jack Daniels" pushed. Though admittedly I have a bias toward fast material, and am therefore not the best person to make such a call.
"Country Love" is a great followupto re-Deuced, standing up to repeated listenings. It's available for purchase through his website or from CDBaby.
The other day I was in the subway at Grand Central, and saw a musician whom I'd seen before. Harold Allen is a country singer from the Midwest.
I remember the first time I saw Allen, (a couple years ago?) he was playing in the same spot. I liked his music enough that I wanted to buy his CDs. But I didn't have cash with me, and figured I'd try to catch him on my way back about an hour later (after hitting an ATM). On my way back, he wasn't there. Oh well. Some time later, about a year ago, I saw him again But this time I had cash so I bought both of the CDs -- re-Deuced and Country Love -- that he was selling. These were good country albums. You can hear a lot of his music at his website (linked above).
One of my favorite tracks, from Country Love, is "Jack Daniels," an infectiously energetic drinking song. Allen also displays some humor in this -- about two minutes in, he breaks the fourth wall and speaks to the listener explaining that the song is still missing a few of the five ingredients necessary for the perfect country song (mama, trains, trucks, prisons and getting drunk) so he added the next verse to complete it:
I'm gonna jump on that northbound train And go see mama locked up in Sing Sing. If I can stumble through the pouring rain, Jack Daniels take me away.
Another great track is "My Biggest Fan," a reminder of what's really important in life. It's about a little girl (at first listen one would think she's a daughter, but for reasons I will mention below I believe she's a niece) who listens to his music and dances to it. This always gets me, partly because it reminds me of my own daughter; it's an amazing feeling to walk by her room, see her coloring or playing a game or something and hear her singing one of the songs I wrote. The key phrase is:
I may never sail the oceans Or ever go out on the road. But as long as my song's in that little girl's heart I've got the biggest fan in the world.
But "My Biggest Fan" notwithstanding, I generally prefer the fast songs to the slow. That is, of course, on par with my general taste in music.
Other choice tracks, from re-Deuced, are "I Do" and "Payin' Dues." My favorite, though, is "What I Need," which is what call a meta-country song -- a country song about listening to country songs.
As I was saying, I saw Allen again a few days ago, playing in the same place. This time, though, he had another CD for sale. This one is a live album, Live from Arlene's Grocery. (Arlene's Grocery is a music club on the Lower East Side. Here, Allen is backed by a full band, performing songs from his past two other albums as well as a few others. The sound is clear and the band is tight. This is a worthy live set. At one point between songs, Allen talks about writing songs for his nieces, which is why I am guessing that "My Biggest Fan" is about a niece and not a daughter. (Harold, if you're reading this and I am wrong, please feel free to let me know).
In one of those "small world" moments, I noticed after I left that one of the musicians backing him in the show was Alan Lee Backer, a musician who has been in a couple of bands that I've liked. I'll try to blog about that at some point in the future. There are a couple of other "small world" moments in that story.
Following are a few videos of Harold Allen. Enjoy:
A live performance of "Train Song"
Being interviewed by Cognac Wellerlane. Interview starts at about 6:27
Video for "Your North Star," the song he mentioned (and sang a bit of) in the interview above
My intention, right now, is to blog about music -- that means any aspect of music and my relationship to it. That's kind of vague, I admit. But the simple rule is that I decide what's acceptable. I'll probably touch on other topics -- politics and religion for example -- but for the purpose of getting at whatever music or music-related point I am trying to make. I have no intention of writing about politics for the purpose of debating politics.
So, I may as well describe the role music plays and has played in my life.
To star with, I enjoy music (duh). Generally speaking, I like most forms of rock (and rock-related) music, with special attention to British pub rock of the 1970s (and related acts), early new wave, C&W, and cowpunk. Oh, I also love the Monkees, even though they don't fit into any of those categories.
In college, I wrote for the music sections of a few campus newspapers -- mostly record reviews, but there were a couple of essays, interviews and concert reviews. At one point I was Music Editor for one of those papers. In grad school (at a different college), I wrote a couple of record reviews for the campus paper. I have also done some freelance music journalism (most notably for the now-defunct Tower Records' Pulse!). I toyed with the idea of pursuing a career in music journalism, but realized that, for a variety of reasons, that's not for me.
I also do a little songwriting on the side, At this point I have exactly three songs that I think are worthy of trying to sell. By contrast, I have written many, many songs that (how shall I put this delicately?) aren't worthy of trying to sell. As a songwriter, I have made about $20 in royalties (which isn't enough for me to quit my day job) and gotten into ASCAP.
I also collect CDs. I haven't really embraced the new digital reality of buying music as downloads. For me, it's got to be on a physical CD or it doesn't feel right.
I can play a little bit of guitar, enough to support my songwriting. But I'm not particularly good at it. As a singer, I'm an excellent guitarist.
UPDATE: I should have mentioned that in college I was also a DJ for the campus radio station. I did a show called The Alternate Version Show, in which I played, back to back, two versions of one song by two different performers.
