Don't be misled by the generic-sounding album title, Hill Country Folk Music. Singer-songwriter Terry Klein's eleven songs therein are those of a master craftsman. It's Klein's fifth album and third with producer/guitarist Thomm Jutz, a collaborative pair as strong as any in roots music. Jutz didn't even listen to the demos before agreeing to book a studio. Their mutual trust level is at that point now. Klein writes about real people and real emotions that we can relate to. He also has a plan; no two songs are to sound the same instrumentally. Realize that Klein is a former lawyer turned songwriter. Given that background, Klein is precise in his poetry and his approach to making records. There is no fluff, there's no making it up on the spot. Combine those aspects with Jutz, and it's a model of efficiency and effectiveness, having completed its third round. It also helps to have the same group of core musicians on all three albums.
The album is bookended with two distinct versions of "Try." The first, a mandolin-driven tune with an infectious melody, has the narrator escaping to the mountains to 'find himself." He meets an old farmer who imparts wisdom, leaving the narrator vowing to do better. He's found some hope. On the other hand, "Try Again," the music slows with the fiddle as prevalent as the mandolin as the narrator seems weary. Hope has turned to resignation. He knows he needs to be resilient, but seems pressed to find the energy to be. In this version, it's as if the sage-like farmer's words are an echo, rather than encouraging impetus.
Klein is not shy about tackling difficult subjects. In "If You Go," he writes about suicide, impacted after hearing that his friend, Dana Anderson, had taken his own life. His lines, "You're loved, you're loved...someone's gonna miss you if you go," are the reassurance the suicide victims direly lack. Klein taps into the woes of a veteran and small-town store owner in "Hopelessness Is Going Around." After verses of corporate invasion and warehouse blight, Klein hits home with the question many of us are pondering, "Every day I ask myself is this just who we've always been/But I don't want to know the answer."
The pivotal track, at least to these ears, is "My Next Birthday," a stunning account of wrestling with mortality. Apparently, the narrator is fighting cancer or a life-threatening disease, his weariness accented by the droning pedal steel. In the opening verse, he can barely choke down a piece of toast. He reminisces about life's peak moments, such as walking his daughter down the aisle and seeing his grandchild smile. Yet, in the final verse, he knows the end is near and utters these lines: "Yes, I hope the party's big and it goes on late/When they remember me on my next birthday." The impact is beyond tear-jerking. It's devastating.
There's lighter material too. "I Used to Be Cool" is a rocker, an ode to his hometown of Austin and a reminder that we are still cool in some way. The definition has just changed over time. "The Job Interview Song (I Don't Need This)," co-written with Jackson Emmer, is spot-on hilarious. For example, the interviewee answers the typical question of where he sees himself in five years by responding that he'll be a Powerball millionaire. Throughout, Klein pokes fun at the process; the interviewee's alter ego is in the chorus, "I don't need this/But I want this." Klein brings relationship songs as well. He gently equates a fragile, mysterious partnership to the winged insect that may fly away at any time in "Yellow Butterfly." There's the memory of a past love in "Musconetcong River," the fleeting nature of the memory reflected in the wispy pedal steel.
Klein's riveting tales are brought to life by some of the best musicians in Music City. The core is Jutz (various guitars), Lynn Williams (drums), and Tim Marks (bass). Bluegrass giants, Mike Compton (mandolin) and Justin Moses (fiddle and dobro), along with Scotty Sanders (pedal steel) and Finn Goodwin-Bain (piano and organ), make these tunes even more colorful and in some cases, indelible. Finally, the headline says 'best batch of songs.' Klein says it's his best album yet, too.