Music City Joke (studio album) by Mac Leaphart

From Mercury 04/26/2021 16:29

(A wryly smiling, sad-eyed country album. Best country I've heard this year filled with some touching and beautiful and, at times, quite devastating lyricism that will be right up all you John Prine fans' alley.)

Musically this is a pretty traditional country singer/songwriter album from Mac Leaphart, with some slight folk music touches. Within the genre the music does move between various styles and emotions and tempos so there is variety. The musicianship is on-point and solid. But, as is the case with most of these types of albums and artists, the real star of the show and what keeps bringing me back is the words and the stories and the emotion of the singer.

There may be no better song this year that I've heard than "That Train". A sad and honest song about never breaking out and never even sniffing your dreams as your life rolls on and the dreams dim or fade in the distance. Heartbreaking stuff, indeed, but written delicately and performed with a mix of emotions and a bare and direct voice that leaves room to bask in the beauty of the music. Just a fantastic song.

That isn't the only highlight. "Blame it on the Bottle" is both an amusing and deep look at the burden of responsibility for the plight people often find themselves in, "The Same Thing" is a brilliantly done heartsick ballad about watching that someone leave you behind, "Music City Joke" is a brutal and, again, quite wry take on the problems of Mac trying to make it in the Music City, etc. There are many songwriting gems here.

I had almost forgotten about my love of this type of direct songwriter album, and when it started playing it re-acquainted me with some of the best music that ever was. Mac Leaphart fits nicely in that tradition of observational country/americana singer/songwriter. If you love John Prine and that style of country and folk humorous and honest songwriter, you may love this.