Bobby Bare - Down & Dirty… plus
Bobby BareDown & Dirty …plus
Raven RVCD-243
*****Noted by Waylon Jennings as the best song-hound in the world, Bobby Bare was also one of most forward thinking acts to come out of the 1960s and emerge in the 1980s as one of the shrewdest acts of the day
Bobby Bare was hugely popular among the singer-songwriter fraternity during the 1970s and 1980s, when, he hosted his own television show for TNN, Bobby Bare and Friends. He would search out songs from the men who told great stories. One that Bare was particularly fond of was Shel Silverstein, and he even recorded an album, a double at that, of his songs—LULLABIES, LEGENDS AND LIES. DOWN & DIRTY, 1980 features a modest eight of Shel’s songs, bolstered by Townes Van Zandt’s Tecumseh Valley, where, the live audience gives a warm, appreciative applause, as the songs tumble forth. Though played live, the crowd never take over…., just giving Bobby the prod of encouragement to let rip at the appropriate time. Blind Willie Harper, Numbers, Tequila Sheila and the superb, good timey Good For Nothin’ Blues being prime examples. Top class.
While on a more serious and sombre note, Bare’s pre-Kenny Rogers version of The Gambler—one of nine bonus tracks, taken from five other albums of the period, and the album it hails from, BARE, 1978, like with AS IS, 1981, he rarely bettered either. The former also features Shel’s This Guitar Is Not For Sale, and the Rodney Crowell produced AS IS, where among others you’ll find Ian Tyson’s stellar folk-country ballad Summer Wages, wrapped in steel guitar/fiddle, figures, was Bare at his best.
Bobby’s sensitive handling of Boudleaux Bryant’s Take Me As I Am is another where his mellow and thoughtful side registers, a perfect foil for the likes of those already noted and a wacky Diet Song (another Silverstein gem), thus whetting my appetite for more from these true CBS classics! MH