Steve Earle

Steve Earle

Album: “Guy”

Grade: B

Guy Clark was one of Steve Earle’s main mentors – Townes Van Zandt, the other – and Earle has honored the brilliant songwriter, who died in 2016, before.

On his previous album, from 2017, Earle wrote a farewell to the master, “Goodbye Michelangelo,” and sang “The Last Gunfighter Ballad” on an extended 2011 Clark tribute record that also featured Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, among many others.

With the Grammy-winning “Townes” added to Earle’s catalog in 2009, it was only a matter of time before “Guy” came along. “When I get to the other side, I didn’t want to run into Guy having made the ‘Townes’ record and not one about him,” Earle says, and the Clark songs fit him and his weathered voice like a second skin.

Earle chose nine of the 16 tunes here from Clark’s 1975 debut (“Old No. 1”) and its 1976 follow-up, “Texas Cookin,”’ including such classics as “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” and “L.A. Freeway,” and the performances with The Dukes add some occasional electricity to the originals but don’t stray far.

The wattage gets an extra boost on “Out in the Parking Lot,” which a late-career Clark co-wrote with Darrell Scott, and the change from Clark’s more reflective reading suits it just grand. Touching closer, “Old Friends” expands the circle to include vocals from other Clark acolytes like Harris, Crowell, Terry Allen and Jerry Jeff Walker.

From Johnny Cash to Lyle Lovett, Clark’s songs have been covered extensively over the years, but the Texan had a knack for recording the definitive versions himself. Still, “Guy” ensures that, whenever Earle’s next meeting with Clark may come, Earle has done well by his old friend with this heartfelt tribute and there’ll be no need for reproaches.

–Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press

LOCASH

Album: “Brothers”

Grade: B+

If there’s a such a thing as Bingo for country song references, go ahead and spin the latest LOCASH album and brace yourself. You’ll get a whole lot of trucks, beer, jeans, dogs, back roads, mom’s cooking, God and weekend parties. And that’s just the first few tunes.

The vocalist duo of Chris Lucas and Preston Brust may seem comfortable around lyrical cliches but thank goodness they know a good tune, too, because “Brothers” is a bro-country hoot, filled with catchy, poppy tunes that fizz like a just-opened Bud. In fact, two are ready-made for brewski commercials – “Cold Beer Kinda Night” and “Beers to Catch Up On.”

What’s really refreshing is that it’s clear everyone’s invited. Right out of the gate is “One Big Country Song,” which opens its arms wide, something some country songs don’t. “A city boy, a country boy, yeah we all just tryna survive,” the lyrics go. “Everybody’s got holes in their blue jeans/If you bought ‘em that way or not.” This is welcome-all party country, not afraid to add dashes of rock, dance, pop or some guitar solos.

The bulk of the 11-track “Brothers” is produced by Lindsay Rimes, who has worked with such artists as Kane Brown, Thomas Rhett and Dylan Scott. The songwriters include Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure, Corey Crowder, Jordan Schmidt and Chris DeStefano.

Lucas and Brust contribute songwriting to three songs – the really nice title track, the throwaway “Feels Like a Party” and the first-class rocker “Secret Weapon.” A sunny, optimistic tone runs through the album, reaching a high with “Summer in a Truck,” an infectious ode to curly fries and wearing no shoes. You can try and hate on it but that’s like hating on a Lab puppy.

The duo get religious in “God Thing” – but always grateful and in awe; they’re not the hellfire kind – and are heartfelt in the album’s outstanding power ballad “Kissing a Girl,” a superb bit of song-crafting that traces a romance from a “couple kids playing grown-ups” to being a daddy.

It’s a deeply moving tune but LOCASH don’t dwell on it. The album closes where it began – with friends, alcohol and an embrace of good will on “Beers to Catch up On.”

–Mark Kennedy, Associated Press