CJ Music Review:
Tom Andes' Wonderful Days
by Adam Van Winkle
In “Black Dog Redux,” an atmospheric blues meets Wilco toned, Woody Gutrhie-esque down-and-outer, Tom Andes sings:
Every hand’s a winner but I always lose
Keep runnin holes in my walkin shoes
I’m beggin every dollar and I’m stealin just a dime
Life hands you lemons and you make lemonade
You eat a shit sandwich and you can’t get paid
I’m standin out here just tryin to catch a ride
Why one earth then is Andes’ new album called Wonderful Days?
The last line of the chorus above might be a clue: “I guess I do alright, I’m doin fine.”
“When I First Came to New Orleans,” an upbeat, almost rollicking good time reflection on a seventeen-year-old in jeans getting to New Orleans and living rough—getting high, losing work, getting robbed, getting kicked in the head by the cops—similarly seems to celebrate a hard worn happiness in the scars one earns. The speaker in the song boasts that the tough city and tough times has made him something special.
You’ve never met a man like me
From Delaware to Tennessee
With greasy hair and denim jeans
You’ve never met a man like me
Oh I’ve got stories…
In the title track, the speaker remembers, “It wasn’t so easy when I was young,” yet is thankful that there is “food on the table and a bed where I lay.”
“Oh Man This Country Livin’s Got Me Down” turns a lament about a life of living off what the land can grow into a romantic invitation:
Said hey now baby come with me
We’ll buy some land in Tennessee
We’ll stay home every Friday night
And never see the city lights
We’ll work all day ‘til the sun goes down
Until this country livin gets us down.
As this theme develops over the course of the album, that hard times can be a blessing, I’m reminded of a couple of Harry Crews lines.
“Survival is triumph enough.”
“There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.”
The tough times are wonderful days because they make you grateful for your own persistence. It’s a beautiful thought.
I mentioned Woody Guthrie and I kept coming back to him as I listed to this excellent album. Andes’ songs travel around the country, elevate the downtrodden, and deftly move between the best of folk, country weepers and the blues, between the depressing and the inspirational. Andes’ delivers all of this with straightforward and honest vocals.
There are too many stellar lines herein to list. Too many images that stun. Too many characters and stories to convey without just writing out the album lyrics in full. I'm just scratching the surface here. But then, I suspect, this is the kind of album that will get under your skin, that will have you return to it again and again, that will get under your skin, into your blood and bones.
Highly recommend.
Wonderful Days is out now from Southern Crescent Recording Co.: https://tomandes.com/music/.
Every hand’s a winner but I always lose
Keep runnin holes in my walkin shoes
I’m beggin every dollar and I’m stealin just a dime
Life hands you lemons and you make lemonade
You eat a shit sandwich and you can’t get paid
I’m standin out here just tryin to catch a ride
Why one earth then is Andes’ new album called Wonderful Days?
The last line of the chorus above might be a clue: “I guess I do alright, I’m doin fine.”
“When I First Came to New Orleans,” an upbeat, almost rollicking good time reflection on a seventeen-year-old in jeans getting to New Orleans and living rough—getting high, losing work, getting robbed, getting kicked in the head by the cops—similarly seems to celebrate a hard worn happiness in the scars one earns. The speaker in the song boasts that the tough city and tough times has made him something special.
You’ve never met a man like me
From Delaware to Tennessee
With greasy hair and denim jeans
You’ve never met a man like me
Oh I’ve got stories…
In the title track, the speaker remembers, “It wasn’t so easy when I was young,” yet is thankful that there is “food on the table and a bed where I lay.”
“Oh Man This Country Livin’s Got Me Down” turns a lament about a life of living off what the land can grow into a romantic invitation:
Said hey now baby come with me
We’ll buy some land in Tennessee
We’ll stay home every Friday night
And never see the city lights
We’ll work all day ‘til the sun goes down
Until this country livin gets us down.
As this theme develops over the course of the album, that hard times can be a blessing, I’m reminded of a couple of Harry Crews lines.
“Survival is triumph enough.”
“There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.”
The tough times are wonderful days because they make you grateful for your own persistence. It’s a beautiful thought.
I mentioned Woody Guthrie and I kept coming back to him as I listed to this excellent album. Andes’ songs travel around the country, elevate the downtrodden, and deftly move between the best of folk, country weepers and the blues, between the depressing and the inspirational. Andes’ delivers all of this with straightforward and honest vocals.
There are too many stellar lines herein to list. Too many images that stun. Too many characters and stories to convey without just writing out the album lyrics in full. I'm just scratching the surface here. But then, I suspect, this is the kind of album that will get under your skin, that will have you return to it again and again, that will get under your skin, into your blood and bones.
Highly recommend.
Wonderful Days is out now from Southern Crescent Recording Co.: https://tomandes.com/music/.
