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June Carter Cash
Wildwood Flower
label: Dualtone (Red)
released: 09.09.03
our score: 4.5 out of 5.0
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Every
time I see that damn Ford Truck commercial with Toby Keith I always
have the urge to show Mr. Keith exactly where I’d like to
place my boot. Somewhere between Nashville and Branson, Missouri
country music turned into fluffy adult pop with no teeth but plenty
of twang, and seeing these new cowboy hat sporting wannabe’s
makes me want to swear off everything Southern.
But
if you ever need to have your faith in country music reaffirmed
all you need to do is throw on anything “Cash” and
you’ll be driving to Dixie before you can say “Waffle
House”. Much like her husband Johnny, June made country
music in its truest sense; it is folk music about the simple country
life and the people who live it. But make no mistake about it;
although this album may have its eyes on the rearview mirror it
is certainly pushing country music into bold new territories.
For
her goodbye to the world June leaves a true country masterpiece;
a retrospective of what the music was, and what it hopefully again
can be. In between the old Carter Family favorites and June originals
we, the listener, are granted a tour of this amazing women’s
life. Stand out tracks like “Big Yellow Peaches” and
“Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea” feel like pieces
directly out of the Carter family scrapbook with touching but
often hilarious introductions using old Carter family clips.
But
by far the best track off the CD is “The Road to Kaintuck”,
featuring a duet between husband and wife Cash. In it June and
Johnny tell a frontier story that would be folksy enough to come
straight out of an old Disney Daniel Boone movie if it weren’t
for the bittersweet despair lurking behind their voices.
And
that is exactly what makes the entire album great. Recorded with
the acknowledgement of impeding death, June uses country music
to do exactly what it was invented for, to tell a damn good story.
While most modern country makes you wish the U.S. Government would
just ship off everything south of the Dixie line to the Middle
East in hopes that they could use it to rebuild Iraq, Wildwood
Flower actually makes you yearn to be part of a rugged frontier
in “ol’ Kaintuck”.
The
genre of Alternative-Country is always good for a few folk tinged
indie rock songs, but hopefully some one will be able to pick
up where the Cash’s left off and start making some real
American country music. But if not at least there will always
be Wildwood Flower.
10-Dec-2003
2:30 PM
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