Review Summary: It's Hard to Think of Frost When Flowers Bloom
Folks, it’s time to dust off your gemstone encrusted cowboy boots and get ready to boogie and sob to some fantastic music from queer, americana and bluegrass legend, Willi Carlisle. If you haven’t experienced any of Mr. Carlisle’s work before, first off, what the *** is wrong is you? Secondly, get ready to smile to ear to ear when you begin to experience tongue-in-cheek, oft raunchy and provocative lyricism, banjo and accordion heavy rhythms and some truly heartfelt, candid musicianship from a guy who has been a trailblazer in the progressive country landscape for almost a decade now. There is no shortage of rootsy, twangy melodies across this 35-minute hootenanny with a fair amount of balladry focused on waltzes and soft acoustic numbers to compliment and vary up the tracklist. While maybe not his strongest effort to date with ‘Peculiar, Missouri’ just being an absolute masterpiece and completely worth visiting if this happens to be your first Carlisle experience, Willi finds unique ways to make you laugh, make you cry and make you question your sexuality.
‘Winged Victory’ might as well be a victory lap for Carlisle as he’s fully proven to be a good-natured and talented songwriter who has a playful knack for making white, conservative men uncomfortable with honest portrayals of gay love and heartbreak as well as chiming in with careful retorts regarding current socio-political issues. Living almost completely outside of what is acceptable for modern country music, Carlisle has developed a rabid, loyal fanbase who continue to praise his willingness to push further and further outside of the norm and provide a voice for queer artists who love the traditional sounds of bluegrass and country.
The record begins with what could be easily described as a safe, standard upbeat tune for Carlisle with “We Have Fed You All for 1000 Years” in which he croons in protest of the unfair treatment of farm laborers who have been sold out and trampled by executives and bureaucracy. In doing some brief research for this record, I learned that this is in fact a cover of protest song from the early 1900’s. This re-purposed tune also rings rather true in the current political climate where lawmakers in congress are constantly undermining the middle class by undercutting the hard work of unions and giving sizeable tax cuts to wealthy individuals who certainly don’t need the help. While a bit more playful in tone, “Work is Work” which was the first teaser for this full length, also discusses the value of hard work with some caveats. In an article by Stereogum, I have across a statement Carlisle has said/written in which he divulged “With “Work is Work.” I wanted to write a bluegrass tune, and I wanted to try to make a direct address of my [a la the album’s opening cover of ‘We Have Fed You All For 1000 Years’ written by an anonymous Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) worker]. I believe that after a certain point of creature comfort and stability, money doesn’t make you happier. So what are we doing with our precious time? I want people to know that they aren’t free from the terrible things that work does to people, from the awful transmutation of labor into money, but that the sacrifice isn’t meaningless.” So the song is sonically playful but obviously the messaging is rather heavy and heartfelt.
In terms of more upbeat tracks with a less serious tone, look no further than “Big Butt Billy” which has our central protagonist absolutely stunned, mouth agape, at the keister of his queer waiter at a small eating establishment. Chalk full of innuendos, comedically verbose tangents and brutally honest horniness, Carlisle pulls together one of his funniest and yet most enchanting tunes to date. I seriously cried laughing the first time I listened to this and the more and more I listened, the more hilarious and earnest it became. Some of his word choice is just so comically brilliant, “What a callipygian angel sweet Jesus has gifted us!/I’m trying to tell you buddy, that ass was ridiculous.” There’s also “Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears” which, I mean, the title kind of spells it out for you. Anchored by a traditional waltz melody, Carlisle somberly and extremely flamboyantly discusses a myriad of topics involving love and sex with straight and gay men.
Moving away from the more brash, upbeat tunes, Carlisle has always found a sweet spot for delivering enchanting, gorgeous ballads like with “Dry County Dust” on ‘Critterland’ and “I Won’t Be Afraid” on ‘Peculiar, Missouri.’ On this record, we are gifted “The Cottonwood Tree” which features lightly plucked guitars, melancholic accordion and Carlisle’s soft, somber vocal tone that often accompanies his ballads. Painting vivid imagery of a place where you can go to reminisce of memories of loved ones that I assumed have passed on under a faithful cottonwood tree. While sweet and saccharine in tone, there’s clearly something heartbreaking about Carlisle’s gentle swoons. With this tune being the main source of balladry in a mostly upbeat and rhythmically focused record, there’s a certain charm that it offers that ties the record together nicely and offers a bit of a reprieve from dance-y, jubilant banjo jams.
Over the last five years that I have been listening to Carlisle’s music, I’ve only grown fonder of his willingness to work against the grain in a time where country music has become so sterile and commercial that it resembles trap and hip-hop music more than it does country music. Carlisle is clearly proud of the music he makes; it’s also clear that financial gains are not the main source of his musical aspirations because songs about cocksucking tears and Billy’s big butt aren’t really trendy topics. His work ethic has also proven admirable with releasing two full length records, a record of traditional works and a short live record over the course of about a year and half. He continues to churn out excellent stuff without fail and more than ever, I look forward to seeing how his steadfast dedication to traditional bluegrass and country music builds and develops with time as his audience grows bigger and stronger.
https://www.stereogum.com/2303445/willi-carlisle-announces-new-album-winged-victory-hear-work-is-work/music/
