Kevin Gordon - Long Gone Time (2015) review

Kevin Gordon - Long Gone Time (2015) 

Listen: https://kevingordon.bandcamp.com/album/long-gone-time

Don’t ask me why, but I was takin’ the backroads from El Paso to Albuquerque when I first heard Kevin Gordon’s song “Colfax” slip through the ether and out through my speakers.  After the first few minutes of a ten minute musical and social journey I pulled my car off the highway and onto a dirt road, wanting to hear this saga play out without needing to concentrate on anything else.  And of course, just as I dimmed my lights, a set of red and blues were blinking behind me, with the conversation going like this:

“You alright,” the Officer asked?  “Oh yeah, it’s just that this amazing song’s playing, and I wanted to hear it with a bit of luxury ... without driving.”  He walked around the car with his flashlight, Kevin still doing his thing, delivering a blistering story about marching though the south with Mr. Minifield as I lowered the passenger side window, takin‘ a chance, and turning up the volume.  And just like that the Officer said, “Hey, that’s Kevin Gordon.  I love that guy, though ‘Tryin‘ To Get To Memphis’ is my wife’s favorite number.”  And there we both were in the middle of nowhere, lost in the chorus, lost in the dream, lost in a true to life story, with a flatland silence broken only by Kevin’s saga.  And just like that, when the song was finished, the Officer slapped the roof of my car and said, “Drive carefully, that song's gonna haunt you all night long.”  

And he was right, “Colfax” has been haunting me for years, so you can imagine my surprise when “Long Gone Time” was delivered to my door, an album filled with more of the bluesy swamp infused toe tapping front porch tunes he carefully measures out, distilling them with lyrics that don’t so much demand your attention, but rather evolving in the atmosphere right in front of you, making them impossible to ignore, and even more impossible not to get lost in.  All of his songs are delightfully ragged around the edges, yet filled with a heart as big as a summer moon slipping across the midnight sky.  At times Kevin bobs and weaves like he’s training for an outing with the Champ, with the the championship of the world at stake, and while he certainly may not be able to take a hit from Muhammad Ali, he certainly could give the great-one something to ponder over.

I can hear you thinkin’, asking yourself, “What happens now?”  That’s easy, time for me to climb into my Jeep, drop “Long Gone Time” into my stereo, and head east into the mountains ... it’s only 4:30 in the morning, there’s a sweet little roadhouse 45 minutes out with a breakfast to die for, and I’ve got Kevin riding shotgun, telling me stories as dawn drifts in from all sides. 

Review made by Jenell Kesler/2015

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