To mark 15 years in the game, Marley’s Ghost released Live at the Freight, and it is fair to say that a decade and a half is quite an achievement for any band in the rough-and-tumble world of live music. That was 25 years ago! Now forty years down the line, it is the album, Honky Tonk that acts as the waymarker for this important sonic milestone.
Like The Band before them, this enduring Seattle outfit takes an old-time vibe and delivers it through a more modern sound, tradition moving with the times, and a reminder that it was, and indeed is, quality, not quantity that makes for great music, something worth musing on at a time when half-baked, digital-driven, fashion-led, throw away songs seem the order of the day.
Honky Tonk is a 14-track deep dive into American musical traditions, and if, as a person penning this from an ocean away, the term Americana sometimes confuses me, in my mind, this album sums up everything that term stands for perfectly; music that is the identifiable sonic essence of that great nation.
Although the title suggests this might be a dedication to the upbeat and unpretentious dancehall sound of the 40s and 50s, there is a lot more going on here as this group of seasoned and sensational players wanders through the iconic back catalog of the Great American Songbook.
Ray Price’s much-covered “Invitation to the Blues” kicks the album off in fine style, an infectious slice of boogiesome barn-storming, barn-dancing, and a reminder of the fact that early rock and roll and country music were easy and creative bedfellows. “Burn Down Another Honky Tonk” waltzes the listener gently around the floor as martial beats and accordions carry us off three-fouring into the night, and “If I’d Left it Up To You” sees the band deliver a beautiful tribute to the early Merle Haggard ballad. “Midnight” is suitably slinky and seductive, and “Birmingham Bounce” is the band partying like it’s nineteen forty-nine!
Honky Tonk isn’t a covers album; it is a history lesson. And rather than merely replay the sound that American music is built on, these deft and dexterous musicians add even more to the mix, more poise, more polish, more sass, more sonic joy. Fantastic.
Here’s to the next 40 years fellas!
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