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| Popmaster |
 There are many factors that have led to traditional country music’s resurgence in popularity among rock fans over the past 15 years, from the career resuscitations of classic artists (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard) to the influence on younger artists who have further shaped and progressed the genre (Robbie Fulks, Will Oldham, Neko Case, Paula Frazer et al). But all the Rick Rubin production and country-punk fusions wouldn’t mean squat if it weren’t for material that resonated with the millions of folks raised on mainstream rock radio, something Scott H. Biram likes to call “blood, sweat, and murder”. The realization via songs like Cash’s “Delia’s Gone” or Uncle Tupelo’s reading of “Lilli Schull” (or even the Lemonheads’ cover of “Knoxville Girl”) that country music’s ingrained heartbreak need not be quaint nor coiffured, cannot be overestimated. ...full text |
| Rollingstones |
| The best-ever sibling harmony duo, the Louvin Brothers sang about homicidal impulses and spiritual ones. Having revived a solo career at age 80 — brother Ira died in 1965 — Charlie Louvin plows similar fields. Murder Ballads features a scalded steam-train engineer ("Wreck of the Old 97"), a lovelorn suicide ("Katie Dear") and other doomed souls, sketched by Louvin's gentle warble and a stately string band. Louvin is releasing it in tandem with Steps to Heaven, a piano-driven clapboard-church affair that ponders where these characters may wind up. Let's hope the singer's not in a rush to get there himself....full text |
| Blogcritics |
| Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs is the second release in 2008 from the grizzled music veteran. Earlier this year Louvin got godly on Steps to Heaven, a strong collection of gospel songs that also included a sometimes-overzealous set of background singers. Showing a definite Christian religious conviction without being heavy-handed or dogmatic, it focused heavily on mortality, albeit with an uplifting underlying theme of the afterlife. Louvin’s latest album veers dramatically in the opposite direction; Sings Murder is far more morbid, bleak, violent, and darkly humorous than Steps to Heaven. Mixing a number of traditional folkie/bluegrass songs (some of which previously appeared on the excellent People Take Warning! box set) with other old-timey tunes that nevertheless still sound relevant today, the album also serves as a nice reminder of just how fascinating, bizarre, and strangely beautiful these aging ballads are. It also recalls Louvin’s earliest work; 1956’s ironically-titled Tragic Songs of Life dealt heavily in equally dark topics. ...full text |
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