Most music made in the modern age is made for entertainment, and to a degree, that has always been the case. But there was a time, perhaps as far back as prehistory, before the written word, when songs were also stories, keeping a culture’s history and legendary past alive. Even medieval European troubadours used their tunes to tell tall tales and spread more recent news.
And so it is with Wild West: American Stories, the fourth album in a series of themed releases from Grant Maloy Smith. As the name suggests, the album centers on the events around the opening of the American West. It follows his critically acclaimed Dust Bowl, Appalachia, and Mississippi albums, blending a piece of sonic history with deft songwriting. Like those previous releases, you get a potted history of the subject, providing enough information to make you want to dive into the more weighty textbooks to flesh out what you have learned here. It’s a great first encounter with some of the finer points, not to mention darker days, in America’s rich history.
Opening with the tumbling banjo and swooning fiddle of ‘Go West, Boys,’ the song cycle begins shot through with old-time sounds and the call to adventure that began the rush to tame the West. But this is no mere celebration of Manifest Destiny or a blinkered retelling of the less controversial chapters, Smith clearly acknowledging the events and actions that took place to clear the way for such settlement: ‘Voices on the Wind,’ a gentle ballad celebrating the role that Sacajawea played in the success of the Lewis and Clark expedition; ‘Tear Trail,’ telling the shameful tale of the forced relocation of tribes from their ancestral lands as told by an army private who witnessed it first hand.
This first half ends with the lilting sounds of ‘Pony Express’ and the beginning of long-distance communications through this land, and by the time we get to the drifting dobro and gentle acoustic cascades of ‘The Golden Spike’, the railway age is upon us, and the West has changed forever.
We are led through the age of ‘The Gunslinger’ as seen through Bass Reeves, that rarest of things, a black US Marshall, a song that ebbs and flows with all fluidity and freedom of an age where life was cheap. ‘Kill the Cowboys’ is, surprisingly given the title, peaceful and pastoral and poised and perfect, belaying the complex and ephemeral nature of the newly opened West, and particularly how the mass transit potential of the railways put an end to the way of life of those who drove the cattle herds.
‘El Paso Senorita’ is an infectious blend of country revivalism and timeless sounds, energy and romance on the border, and ‘Western Dreams’ brings us full circle; a lilting ballad tumbling into a jaunty and optimistic summation of all that has gone before.
But as I said, Wild West: American Stories is more than just a suite of songs, great as they are, because the album comes with an 88-page hardback book. Not only does it give you plenty of background – The Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, the Monroe Doctrine, the War with Mexico, and the development of Manifest Destiny as a means of justified expansion – but also the lyrics, richly researched historical context, and a wealth of images relevant to each song.
This is more than a musical release, more than a history lesson, and it isn’t just the exploration of the creation myth of the USA…Wild West: American Stories is an artistic and cultural revelation.
Purchase from GMS website only – HERE
