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CD review: Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses ‘Junky Star’
Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses
‘Junky Star’
(Lost Highway)
Grade: B+
When last seen, Ryan Bingham and producer T-Bone Burnett had just picked up an Oscar for “The Weary Kind,” his stick-to-your-ribs ballad for “Crazy Heart.” Naturally, they reteamed for “Junky Star,” 12 songs of dark alt-ish country. (Recorded in three days, the songs were written prior to the March win.)
Framed in sepia acoustic guitar, sketched in with spare electric instrumentation, the songs’ are largely defined by Bingham’s craggy voice, a distant, passionate ragged instrument that moves from the darkness of too much junky business (the title track) to the multiple meanings of “Depression” (“I could make some friends down at the courthouse/ get bailed out and go on Welfare/ I’d rather lay down in a pine box … in this depression/ it’s just me and you”).
The latter is the closest thing to a barnburner on here, but he’s not out to burn barns, he’s here to tell you about what goes on inside the houses next door. Or on the streets and alleys in the nearby towns.
Now that Ryan Adams isn’t quite Ryan Adams anymore - was he ever really the Ryan Adams we thought he was? - we could all use a new one. Bingham is doing a top-flight job, even better than the original in many ways. Points added for a song called “Hallelujah” that is not a Leonard Cohen cover.
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