There are records that reconcile with beauty. That’s all. The beauty of music, nature, friendship and love. The country at the end, before the mainstream, of Nashville awards and sequins was a simple world: someone played and sang to entertain friends or family, maybe in front of a bonfire and in the middle of nature. Here, this record centers precisely this goal: it’s everything as it should be, it’s as if three nationally renowned artists had held a private party on their ranch in the desert and had told you “hey friend! You are invited too!”. The 15 songs that make up this The Marfa Tapes sound exactly like this and reach the heart of what should be a true country record, no artifice, no glossy overproduction, no clean sounds. I have to admit, I made a mistake, and I didn’t care about this date. Especially because I think that Miranda Lambert is really wasted on the dazzling lights of Nashville, she’s a great artist, a fantastic songwriter and she has a crazy voice, but sometimes we forget because everything is almost hidden from the whole bandwagon. Maybe I will say a blasphemy for her fans, but this record is her most successful work and you know why? Because there are no filters, no one told her what was and what was not. There are only beautiful songs in their original guise and for this more true and sincere. She is surrounded by two of her closest friends, who in parentheses are two of the best Texas songwriters, and has abandoned herself in the desert near the famous Texas town of Marfa. An escape from all that is the music business, in the documentary that was broadcast on the recording of the record there is a sentence that struck me and that describes everything perfectly: “out here you have nothing else to lean on… You have nothing but sky, desert and emotion.” Miranda Lambert is a superstar, everyone knows her: awards, records that have sold millions of copies, records, is also a producer and discoverer of talents, but here together with Jon Randall and Jack Ingram reveals herself and reaches a level of intensity that would be impossible to achieve in records made so far. Her good fortune is to have as friends two like them: Randall is a magnificent guitarist and a successful producer, he did not release much as a soloist, but he linked his name to the likes of Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Reba McEntire, Guy Clark, Pan Green, and I could go two pages. Such an underrated artist. Ingram instead is a singer-songwriter who in his almost thirty-year career has climbed the charts and is considered a true legend in Texas. This trio of friends gives us a record of a sincerity and beauty that leaves you speechless, I find it difficult to tell you about one song rather than another. They are all small jewels, rough diamonds that despite everything shine under the famous lights of the mythical city of Marfa, now famous for its artistic festival and for the wild and uncontaminated nature that surrounds it. I wasn’t kidding at first just press play and you’ll find yourself at that private party to which the 3 Texas artists invited you. The production doesn’t clean up the sounds, lets the wind blow on the few microphones, leaves the moans in the distance of the coyotes, you’ll find yourself imagining yourself among the cows that roam free and the dust that dries your throat, while the bonfire brightens the night and warms the limbs relaxed. There are some songs already released on the award-winning Lambert records, but here you will feel like you have never listened to them, if you know them. Beautiful pieces like Tin Man or Tequila Does where the intense and warm voice of Miranda is caressed by the guitar of the two friends. There are pieces written and recorded in Marfa on previous trips and never published, such as the beautiful Waxachie, a piece that will make you dream of being sitting on a pickup truck whizzing through the desert with only the roof of stars above you. Freedom and emotion. A painting, not just a song. Wonderful blues from club ’40s that the voice of hoarse and sincere Jack Ingram gives us in We’ll Have The Blues, but hearing the crackling of fire in the background, as I said at the beginning, reconciles with beauty. There is no need to comment on a song so that in its imperfect simplicity, it gives emotions of other times. Am I Right or Amarillo is a manifesto, the 3 beautiful voices that complement each other, that intertwine, the caressed guitars and the folk of a wonderful piece. There are no artifices, you get straight to the heart without going through the street. Country is all here. There is also room for a honky tonk as light as a feather, Homegrown Tomatoes is fun, is sunny as the wonderful and spontaneous laugh with which the 3 sometimes interrupt the execution, but also the country outlaw style of Geraldine in which the voice of Lambert embroiders a splendid chorus, helped by the guitar of Randall, a sunny and amused song that conveys emotion to the listener. And what about Two-Step Down To Texas? A dedication to their land, fun and country of the past, with laughter blending into the singing. Beautiful. The album closes with the wonderful Amazing Grace – West Texas, a piece that does not need to be described, an acoustic ballad with the three voices that blend in this journey in the desert and paint beauty recording it on tape. I would slap myself for having so far ignored this work of art, a rough jewel in which the sounds of nature and its invigorating presence are one with these songs of disarming beauty. Three artists who complete themselves, have fun and doing it remind us how music was born to cheer, entertain and tell, to exorcise the ugliness of life. Country is this, and it reminds you of one of the most influential and successful country singers in the history of music. Excuse me if it’s little. Thanks to Miranda, Jon and Jack for inviting us to their bonfire and making us part of one of the most successful and sincere acoustic records ever heard and we say it dreaming of looking up at the stars roof of the lights of Marfa, Texas.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(you can find original italian article at this link : https://www.ticinonotizie.it/miranda-lambert-jack-ingram-jon-randall-the-marfa-tapes-2021-by-trex-roads/ )
