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| Americanan, Blues, Sex, Power & Chaos |
| band: James, Ruby |
| Album: Desert Rose |
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Cuttings
(Theodore Roethke 1948)
This urge, wrestle, resurrection of dry sticks,
Cut stems struggling to put down feet,
What saint strained so much,
Rose on such lopped limbs to a new life?
I can hear, underground, that sucking and sobbing,
In my veins, in my bones I feel it --
The small waters seeping upward,
The tight grains parting at last.
When sprouts break out,
Slippery as fish,
I quail, lean to beginnings, sheath-wet.
Americana, blues, sex, power and chaos describe rock 'n' roll, Maria McKee with Lone Justice, Bette Midler on a power ballad, and Ruby James on her new CD Desert Rose. These are love songs you want to play LOUD. This is a road record. You can get out on Route 66 with the windows down and crank this sucker up. You will know you are not alone, but the neighbors won't complain. Sing along with the volume up and find out what that V8 can do. There's nothing but crows and vultures out there between the towns. Keep an eye out for the red rocks, the tribal gift shops, and the rare beauty of the desert rose.
Ruby's voice rides above the fray. The band doesn't need to hush to hear the lyric. She's got enough power to ride out the storm. There's enough longing in her voice to put her up where the air is thin. This album grows in stature as it plays through a second time. Hat's off to John Avila for production to fit the substance of these songs. His guitar is a fine instrument. He plays what the song longs for. Co-songwriter Rene Reyes plays acoustic and electric guitars, and sings the background vocals just right. That lap steel she plays adds something that can't be played without a heart. Mitch Marine has the song in mind when he beats those drums. He's solid as a rock. Michael Bolger on Yamaha Electrone organ has the church of what's happening now clear and strong where it counts. This is all music. No showboat in the bunch. These songs couldn't ask for more.
Bonnie Raitt is holy. That may be a comparison best left for an album down the road. But Ruby James is well on the way. She's got a voice like a force of nature, and a band to back it up. Desert Rose
THE SONGS
1. THE WORDS GOODBYE has that great big nasty sound of Lone Justice on a rampage. Ruby James has the sense to put it on the line and throw caution to the wind. There's a cute and dangerous quality to her voice on this song that matches the fuzz tone power of the anthem force guitar. Best line in this heartbreak song: "And I wonder who's gonna help us now?" If this is what Ruby sounds like in pain, she won't be alone for long. Sounds like she's about to paint the town ruby red.
2. EVERYTHING GOOD GOES AWAY has a sense of drama in the slow power blues ballad. There's church in the Hammond B3, and gospel in the power of the blues. "Everything good goes away" is fine line for the down time. After all is said and done, it's the happy lies that make us feel alone. "They're shooting me down, but they got nothing on me / it's wearing me out, why can't they just let me be?" Sure as shootin' everybody feels like that sometime. For those days when Up With People or The Polyphonic Spree might tempt you to abuse the medicine cabinet, try a dose of "Everything Good Goes Away." You won't feel alone. Everybody hurts. Everybody. Hold on!
3. DESERT ROSE is a trip down the road through the desert with the top down and a lap steel compelling that lead foot breakin' the law. There's a dose of Bette in Ruby this time out. That voice could fuel the fire on Amanda McBroom's power ballad of damn near the same name: "The Rose." That deep guitar and bass pound the pavement in this song slow and painful. "Desert Roads, carry me home / to the place, where love was born / these painted souls, now buried in gold / they still live on, like a Desert Rose." There's a touch of Country Road in this lyric, but this song is on the long road. It's about longing for a place where love is born, where we belong, and the flowers bloom along Route 66. There aren't any hot houses in that heat. The desert rose grows because it wants to. It's not a rose at all. It's four ruby red petals for each compass point, and one extra pointing home.
4. PASSENGERS is the ballad of waiting in the passenger seat down the long road. "I've been waiting / all of my life to be here tonight / I've been waiting they say love is blind, / but right now all I see is you." The words pass by like road signs. There are lots of signs. We are waiting to get there. The rhythm of the road feels right under our tired hearts. Home seems far away. Every stop is somewhere else. We might wonder what saint would strain so much toward a new beginning.
5. MISTRESS OF THE DEVIL has a smoky voice and 12 bars of blues to count the blessings of the love that hurts your soul but gives you a reason to stick around. "I've been the Mistress of the Devil, ever since you came around / I've been in and out of trouble, and it's all around the town / you told me you'd never leave me, then you were nowhere to be found." It's love for the lost and found. It ain't right, but it's good enough.
6. SUICIDAL SERENADE is a country stomp "[w]hen it's too late for a Suicidal Serenade / it's too late to say goodbye." Ruby's voice rides the guitar down the downhill slide. "I can survive another day," is enough for now. Still, this song is caught in something less than love and afraid to be alone. Ruby gets this right down to the double bind. Sometimes we are bound for glory, sometime just tied to the bumper. It's enough sometimes to be going somewhere.
7. WICKED GAME covers Chris Isaak's sad sensual song and soundtrack for Kubrick's last flawed masterpiece. The smoke in Ruby's voice seems to come from below. This is a dark pleasure. The drumkit taps that splash cymbal in an insistent strict time. "(This world is only gonna break your heart.)" That parenthesis is an after thought. Thought got you into this mess.
8. STRAYED is the waltz of caring enough to save the one you love from yourself. Seems that love should have been there when another lover made his play. But you have to break the news: "Oh darlin' I've strayed." It's that tough time when you want to say you love him now, but last night it was somebody else. He deserves better. "No hope for forgiveness, now you've figured me out." You can't unring a bell.
9. WHEN I'M GONE is that unrestrained rocker of a good bye song. "Well you tell me that you're leavin', but you only say you love me when I'm gone." Don't know what you got 'til it's gone is a song of sweet revenge. Living well is the best, they say. The sweetest. "Play that guitar boy!"
10. I DON'T MIND is a sweet slow ballad like a 1950's love song. Ruby's voice is in the no smoky section, or nearly. "Until that night calls / there is no doubt at all / I'd walk you back through time / I don't mind." Right up front you know she minds. It hurts worst at night. Been there. Felt that.
11. OH MAMA steps back from the falderal to sing a simple song. A phase shifted guitar and Ruby James' voice is all that is necessary for this one. "Oh Mama / tt's hurting / when did / life get so hard? / no one said how to be / I'm so sorry now." The change of pace is welcome. Life is messy. "I worry that I've let you down / now I hope that I don't let you down anymore."
12. NO WAY TO LOVE YOU TODAY has the atmosphere of time run it's course. The music seems to hang in the air like smoke after a fire. "I'm stuck in your doorway, got nowhere to run / with the weight of your worries, as I try to hold on still you say / there's no way to love you today." There a touch of Bonnie Raitt in this one. The song lingers in the haze like a quiet Bruce Hornsby trail of tears gospel song. Ruby's voice holds onto the pain like a puppy. An all male choral chant comes back again and again. "No way." This is one step out of love land, and a pocket full of regret. When the smoke clears, it's time to hit the repeat button. has an occasional choir of voices in the background, but Ruby rises above. A lesser voice would rest on the background as sweetener. This is a damn fine album.
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