Bosque Brown
Baby
Burnt Toast; 2009
Friday Night Lights – while the term itself is a phrase often used to describe the atmosphere surrounding high school football games, it has entered into true modern cultural parlance on account of H. G. (Buzz) Bissinger’s tell-all expose of the Odessa, TX Permian High School Panthers’ 1988 season. In this book, the accompanying movie (starring Billy Bob Thornton as the conflicted coach of that team), and the subsequent NBC television drama (critically lauded, but ignored by viewers engorged on reality programming), we learn of the extraordinarily great lengths a school, town, and region go to in order to support their one true love and diversion – football. But what of that small minority of people who are turned off by how seemingly everything in West Texas takes a back seat – earns fourth place on the social importance scale – to the sport? There must be some outlet for their perspective on life and love amidst the dirt and cattle.
This is where Baby, the new record from Bosque Brown, comes in, painting a desperately bleak, yet hopeful picture of the region. You can almost hear the wind blowing, the tumbleweeds rolling, the oil derricks pumping, and the dust whipping around as Mara Miller leads her cohorts in creating some enchantingly weary West Texas folk. Vocally, Miller calls to mind, from one perspective, a Moon Pix-era Cat Power, and from another, a Joni Mitchell acolyte raised on a steady diet of Patsy Cline and Hank Williams, Sr.
While Miller’s big voice carries the tenor of the record, it is the minimal and understated instrumentation – primarily drums and piano, with slight guitar/bass work – that gives the songs their true charm. These are talented musicians who take pride in their craft and know when to ramp up the volume, but are also capable of creating quality empty spaces at just the right time, permitting the listener to engage his/her own feelings, as opposed to band foisting its emotions upon him/her.
“On And Off” serves as the axis upon which Baby spins, and it’s a whispy, mournful, a capella song that the band made the odd choice to split up into three tracks (numbers 4, 7, and 10). Also, on “This Town,” “Oh River,” and “Phonecall,” the tempo becomes more than a bit too sleep-inducing, but then again, I’m sure there are times at dusk on the Texas plains when sleep is all that’s on one’s mind. The true standout tracks here are “White Dove,” “Went Walking,” and “Train Song” – songs that capture Mara’s voice and the band’s arrangements at their most atmosphere-creating peak.
All told, Bosque Brown has fashioned a remarkable example of Texan country music, one that stands in stunning contrast (but not opposition) the typical Texas Country stylings of Pat Green and Robert Earl Keen. This is not a soundtrack for raucous, beer-swilling, outlaw carousing; these are contemplative, whiskey-sipping tunes.
For more perspective on Bosque Brown, Houston Calling recently interviewed Mara in advance of SXSW.