Americanitis

Album Review

Nashville-based guitarist Will Kimbrough is usually so busy performing with others (Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider, Jimmy Buffett) that he is typically too busy to work on his own records. Americanitis marks his first solo outing in four years and only his third since 2000. Rather than being simply an album of stockpiled songs, Americanitis stands as a strong statement about what Kimbrough sees as happening around America and the world. What saves this disc from being a shrill set of screeds are Kimbrough's sense of humor and his varied musical palette. His contempt for corporate amorality gets disguised in the darkly comic, front porch jazz-flavored "I Lie." Similarly, he slips some Bush bashing into the sublimely power poppy "Less Polite," while the boppy soul of "Everyone's in Love" could be a lighthearted Elvis Costello Get Happy! outtake except its political lyrics talk of "strange times/hate crimes." Not every song is leavened with humor. On the powerful "Pride," Kimbrough sermonizes on hypocrisy ("When did pride get crossed off this list of deadly sins?" he asks.) that sounds like something his recent employer Rodney Crowell might do. The title track is a moving country duet with some Dylanesque touches, while bluegrass/gospel-infused "Warring Ways" is a spare, eloquent plea for peace. Kimbrough, however, stops short from making this disc a completely sociopolitical song cycle. Several tunes concentrate on the politics of relationships. The twangy rocker "Another Train" concerns a man trying to coerce a woman to stay over for the night. Both the rootsy rave-up "Let Me Say Yes" and the bluesy "Enemy" find the man in apology mode. Kimbrough concisely sums up the entire album in his closing tune, when he sings: "I won't be afraid and I won't be proud/And I won't be ashamed about singing out loud/About peace in the land and a brand new song." A bold, deeply felt effort that is never not entertaining, Americanitis is a potent reminder that Kimbrough should devote more time making his own "brand new songs" rather than just being a sideman.