Once in a while, an album comes along that, as a songwriter, I wish I'd written. Without a doubt, this is one of those few and rare albums.
I've written about Chris in the past. And here we are again. Chris should have been huge, but like most great artists, his material just wasn't accessible to the masses.
This debut record, released in 1991, stands as one of the greatest debut records I've ever heard. He has some other great records in his catalog, but none of them stand up to this amazing collection.
He writes about big open skies, dusty dirt roads, flirting with booze and guns, Texas prisons, neglectful fathers, forbidden love, and bible-belt inspired visions. His music - a perfect match for his lyrical content - features incredible blues and country-based riffs and melodies on a steel dobro. His vocal style is unique and mesmerizing - haunting.
I love every track on this record, but the three that stand out for me are, "Big Sky Country," "Dust Radio," and "Bordertown."
We lost Chris to lung cancer - he was never without a smoke - in 2005.
I got to see him twice on the tour for this album - once with the full band, and another time, solo, in a small club with about 50 people in attendance. That night, he played every song from the record in its rawest, purest form: just Chris with his dobro and a stomp box to keep the time. He wasn't going to play "Dust Radio" (if you hear the huge production on the album with the band, you can understand why he was reluctant) but we convinced him to do it. It was magical.
To this day, it's still the best show I've ever been to.
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