TODD HOKE
Heading West On 10
Niller Bean Records (2000)
http://www.texasmusicroundup.com

Ai Manuel Luna, teach us your wisdom.
Tell us your stories, sing loud your song.

Todd Hoke is from Austin, which is always a relief for me to process...that and the I-10 photo on the cover of Heading West On 10. HWOT is an album of Texas music, produced by Ray Wylie Hubbard and containing stories and impressions of Texas depression, land, and joy. Aside from an overpoweringly depressive Townes Van Zandt cover, "Marie" (why do we live in a merciful country where we bomb Afghanis rather than allowing our own people a minimum existence?...I can listen to this song about twice before skipping over the sorrow), all the songs were written by Todd. ["Red River Valley" is included as a bonus track.]

The arrangements and production on this album are wonderful: competent and unobtrusive...I don't know anyone in the band, though I've met Ray Wylie. As a relatively new artist, Todd shows much promise as a storyteller and landscape painter. He has a fine and clear voice, always more of a challenge, and I see his future as merging his tune and words into a cohesive and powerful style, in getting more control over his vocals as a tool.

My favorite on HWOT is "Trains Don't Stop Here Anymore," about the omnipresent dying Texas town. It reminds me of Darden Smith's "Clatter and Roll" and the cadence works particularly well. I enjoyed the lyrics of "Pearl's Song," which outlines the life of Todd's grandmother, and the ill-fated Marie is good listening before it gets abruptly turned off. A nice song with a traditional ring is "Short Time Here"...it reminds me of the hymn that goes "We're a long time traveling here below," though perhaps the point is different. He also has a song about "Columbine" and there is a nice Irish accompaniment on the social commentary, "Guthrie's Jig." Social comment is certainly an undercurrent here.

Sometimes I think of driving along 21, and up through Lexington, as I did so often, and think I left a part of my heart behind a hay truck. This album reminds me of that route.

judith@gorge.net

The Columbia Gypsy