A Long Road Home

     Where was I, darlin'? Did I lose my place again? Oh yes, we were talking about heart and wouldn't you think that one heart could only hold so much pain and joy, longing and yearning, heartache and delight without bursting? There's a heart I know of that seems to be boundless in that regard.... His heart takes in and pumps back out more than you would think one could handle in one lifetime, but it just keeps on pumping and beating, going on and on..... Mickey Newbury mines the mountains that we all climb everyday..... He stands amidships on a vessel that sits just offshore of our long, lonely nights and our loving, joyous days..... He pilots a train through the tunnel of our memories and our lost, aching pasts and comes out the other side whole and fresh and bursting into a morning's sunlight.... At a time in a life and a career when most people are redoing the one or two old hits that link them to their public, Mickey has given us Ten new pieces of that heart and Ten new tales of his life and ours.... But, enough about us, darlin', let's deal.....

     I had thought that when I heard last year's, Stories From the Silver Moon Cafe, that I was satisfied, full up, push me back from the table and close my eyes.... But this..... well; it continues all that Stories started and gives even more..... The concise, aching melodies, so lovingly surrounded by beautifully crafted arrangements, and layers of sounds that can actually make you feel like you are soaring above yourself.... The range of vocal power, that has not lost, but gained as the years have passed, like a fine scotch taking in the flavor of it's oaken casks..... from a full throated cry to an aching whisper in the same line..... There comes a time when experience and life's fullness conspire to meet at that perfect juncture and an artist is at his peak.... This is one of those times, and my goodness, do these folks know how to make an album..... Credit must go to Paula Wolak, Marty Hall, Bob Rosemurgy, Joe Gilchrist and Michael McDonald for crafting and shaping this wonderful sound....
     Mick opens with "In '59". Man alive, this isn't just entertainment, my friends.... When we're born, unfortunately, we don't get an owner's manual, do we?.... Every once in a while it's nice when somebody leaves a well in the valley for us to tarry at as we travel.... This is such a place.... This man; born in Texas, baptized in England and Tennessee, and now living in the Northwest, has been down many of the same roads you will travel.... He shows us that, yes, there is pain and heartache and loneliness and despair, but that there is also room for dreams and hopes and love and, most importantly, redemption.... He was so close to the Ring of Fire that he must have burned his feet, but then he chose to walk away and turn his back forever; but he never forgot, and now he shares a little of the tale with us....

"So, Que Paso? to the Hotel California.
Adios to the Mason-Dixon Line.
I've a rendezvous with the Lady, East of Eden.
I burned that highway down in '89.
Yes, I burned that highway down in '89."

Unequivocally, one of the great songs of my 50 years on the planet, and I really mean it; this song ranks with all those songs that when you mention their name among friends, you all stop for a moment of silence, hear angels sing, then go on your way..... You know what I mean.... "In '59" is absolutely life-changing..... [Song exits, but not really, Liza Martin and Mick continue with various strings through a train sound....]
     "I Don't Love You (she said....)" with thunder and beautiful, soothing rainfall, may just break your heart, the way it did mine.... This is the songwriter as singer and actor, as the Anthony Hopkins of song, who with One line of lyric can let you hear the whole years of the relationship in his voice, as the actor does with his face....
     "The Last Question (In the Dead of the Night)" continues with the same folks, only now He has heard her, finally, and He realizes, deep in the dark-heart of the night, that he has missed something, and that he will be missing it for a long time.... "How could I not know you were pretending? Where did the truth lie in your eyes?"
     "Here Comes The Rain, Baby", violin and cello lead to Mick's voice seamlessly.... Our man, looking back, now, putting on the brave face that he'll need to continue his life.... "For a while you were mine, But the sun can't always shine. Here comes the rain, Baby...."
     "One More Song of Hearts and Flowers" finds us back on the winding, lonely highway again.... Lonely hours, yes indeed, but also, "new beginnings, all the glitter, all the gold...." Mick hits some of those high notes that chill me, the acoustic guitars tug the heart.... The mandolin eases in for flavor and we are back to rain....
     A lovely string ensemble piece leads us into "Where Are You Darlin' Tonight" and the Brave Face is lying in bed not feeling anything as much as wistful desire as the winter unwinds and he realizes, once again, that all he lies with is memories and walls..... The camera pans up and back; this is where we leave the story.....
     "So Sad" is another Major song, not that they aren't All great, but if I say that too much, you won't believe me, here in black and white, so I have to highlight the, um, highlights as I hear them.... Everything about this song is.... beautifully crafted.... like a butterfly's wing.... The guitar, the cello, the flute-sound.... But mostly Mickey's voice, the actor on stage again, selling the story, delivering the lines for all he is worth until the climax on the So Sad after the fourth verse.... Mick whispers so sads throughout, haunting, aching, heartbroken.... [melts into waves and beach sounds]
     "Maybe" should be the ballad that you would hear all of the "standards" singers clamoring to cover if, God Bless Us All, radio and media were the way they used to be.... This is THE standout "song" on the album; remember that I said that some of the others were More than songs..... This is the song that you would play or sing to that young lady or man that you wanted to feel about you the way you feel about them.... A vocal straight from heaven, my friends, straight from heaven, Mick, I can't say it any other way.... A Song for the Ages....
     The Centerpiece, The Masterpiece.... After all we have already been through, is it possible that there is still another well in this valley? "A Long Road Home" bookends "In '59" as something you will take your hat off when it comes on for years and years.... It is a man's life; Ulysses' voyage, Mick on the road of his life, carrying us on his shoulder.... It is a movie, a book and a roadmap; places lived in and places just passed through, but all places remembered on the way Home.... and a line I can barely write, it means so much to me.... " Here's to tomorrow, here's to today, Here's to whatever I never could say, Here's to the piper; the bastard's been paid...."
     And there is "116 Westfield Street" a look back at the home of a childhood.... If you have ever done that, gone back and taken a peak, you'll feel it here again.... " My life is measured in small bits and pieces of time. Small bits and pieces of life that perfectly rhyme...." The perfect coda for this long road trip of a voyage that we've been on.... Where the laughter began, the dreams were dreamt in bedrooms late at night, the heartaches not yet envisioned, the walls and halls still standing proud, strong and tall, and everything still in perfect rhyme.....
     Our lives, to each of us, are generally private.... Oh, you share a History with families and friends, but your dead of night, heart of darkness fears are your own and only you know them, and that's as it should be.... But to hear the soul of another traveler, who has stumbled on some of the same rocks, turned down some of the same alleys, weathered some of the same chilling storms; is a wondrous thing to have happen, it is a joyous moment when that light hits your brain like a diamond-tipped needle and you feel a familiar feeling coming back to you from outside yourself.....

    Now, it might sound like I'm gushing, or throwing around fawning praise, and I probably am.... I surrender, I'm guilty... But consider this: when you try to describe the face of your child sleeping to a stranger, are you gushing? When you stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon and tell of it to a blind man, are you throwing around feint praise? I promise you this, as I stand here free, um, handsome and proud..... You have never heard anything this good, this tender and this beautiful before..... and may never again..... Do something for yourself for a change..... Listen to A Long Road Home..... Don't just get it and put it on while you wash the dog, either.... Sit down and Listen to it.... You will never regret it..... Have I ever lied to you before, campers? See you further on down the trail, my friends...... Hank [Rev Buckman] Beukema