She's gone (for Anna) - Darrin Hacquard

Rusty's waltz wednesday presents: She's gone (for Anna), by Darrin Hacquard

We're back! Let's get serious:

Today I'm going to share a song off my favorite album of 2015, Darren Hacquard's Signs and Wonders. I know that last week I hinted that I was going to mostly highlight songs from our pop culture, but in a sense this album is like...my pop culture right now, and I'd like to share it with you.

Darrin Hacquard:

I met Darrin last August at a weeklong old-time music party in west virginia. He seemed like a colourful character, so I later contributed to his crowd-funded album, not really knowing what to expect.

When I got the digital download for Signs and Wonders I was floored. I would call it an alt-country album, and it retains so much of what's great about country music - especially storytelling - and eschews a lot of that new nashville nonsense like the cheesy harmonies and instrumentation. The sound on this album ranges from sweet to psychedelic, always with a good helping of grit, and the texture of something that - wisely - was not overproduced.

In the interest of full disclosure, the artist isn't aware of my writing this, and I bought the album myself. That said, I would be thrilled if some more people listened to (and bought) Signs and Wonders, because I do think it's great, original, music.

The song:

There are actually three waltzes on this album. I've chosen the first, which starts off the album.

I like the way this one starts out - Darrin's voice, alone, followed by the rhythm section's bass and drums kicking in. The lyrical storytelling here is great: the song is a story about a rough and tumble character "born on the thirteenth of june - it was a friday night" who had "run-ins with the law - a real backseat driver". There's a slow-motion banjo solo, an electric guitar solo, and some accordeon (I think?) and synth/or organ providing backing.

Have a listen yourself. You can check out the other songs by pressing the universal symbol for "computer: play next track": >>>

That's all for this week - tune in next time, I have lots of good songs in store!