Slant 6 Mind

Slant 6 Mind

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
With very little fanfare, Iowa-based Greg Brown has quietly put together one of the finest singer/songwriter careers of his generation. Perhaps he's ignored because he's neither as sentimental as our "sensitive" singer/songwriters nor as overstated as our "innovative" artists. Instead he writes understated, unflinchingly honest, unromantic stories about working-class folks in the Midwest and then delivers these songs in a gravelly baritone filled with hints of Dylanesque folk, Delta blues, and Hank Senior honky-tonk. His 13th album, Slant 6 Mind, pulls off the devilish trick of mixing jokes and despair--often in the same song. The album's title comes from the first song, "Whatever It Was," a laundry list of all the things that have gone from good to worse in America. There's genuine anger in the way he describes farmland chopped into housing developments, main streets turned into ghost towns and conversation replaced by TV and the Internet. And yet he is surely chuckling when he delivers such punch lines as, "She says, `Come hither,' but when I get hither she is yon," and "It's been quite a week, there was a drive-by shooting in Lake Wobegon." The reason these jokes work so well is that Brown sings them in the same deadpan drawl that he does his fiercest indictments. He respects the intelligence of his listeners enough to assume we'll be able to tell the difference. And because he allows us the pleasure of deciphering his songs ourselves, we learn how anger, hope, and humor are not opponents so much as partners.

Many songwriters have paid tribute to Robert Johnson, but few have captured the mystery and power of that legendary bluesman as Brown does on "Dusty Woods." Kelly Joe Phelps's slide guitar lends a Delta blues feel to several other songs, and there's an eerie mystery as well to songs such as "Speaking in Tongues," a sincere tribute to holy-roller churches, and "Billy from the Hills," a tribute to his backwoods father. Many of 1997's albums are more obvious than Slant 6 Mind, but few have been as substantial. --Geoffrey Himes

Tracks:

Whatever It Was
Loneliness House
Mose Allison Played Here
Spring & All
Vivid
Dusty Woods
Billy From The Hills
Speaking In Tongues
Enough
Hurt So Nice
Wild Like A Sonny Boy
Down At The Mill
Why Don't You Just Go Home

Amazon.com

With very little fanfare, Iowa-based Greg Brown has quietly put together one of the finest singer/songwriter careers of his generation. Perhaps he's ignored because he's neither as sentimental as our "sensitive" singer/songwriters nor as overstated as our "innovative" artists. Instead he writes understated, unflinchingly honest, unromantic stories about working-class folks in the Midwest and then delivers these songs in a gravelly baritone filled with hints of Dylanesque folk, Delta blues, and Hank Senior honky-tonk. His 13th album, Slant 6 Mind, pulls off the devilish trick of mixing jokes and despair--often in the same song. The album's title comes from the first song, "Whatever It Was," a laundry list of all the things that have gone from good to worse in America. There's genuine anger in the way he describes farmland chopped into housing developments, main streets turned into ghost towns and conversation replaced by TV and the Internet. And yet he is surely chuckling when he delivers such punch lines as, "She says, `Come hither,' but when I get hither she is yon," and "It's been quite a week, there was a drive-by shooting in Lake Wobegon." The reason these jokes work so well is that Brown sings them in the same deadpan drawl that he does his fiercest indictments. He respects the intelligence of his listeners enough to assume we'll be able to tell the difference. And because he allows us the pleasure of deciphering his songs ourselves, we learn how anger, hope, and humor are not opponents so much as partners.

Many songwriters have paid tribute to Robert Johnson, but few have captured the mystery and power of that legendary bluesman as Brown does on "Dusty Woods." Kelly Joe Phelps's slide guitar lends a Delta blues feel to several other songs, and there's an eerie mystery as well to songs such as "Speaking in Tongues," a sincere tribute to holy-roller churches, and "Billy from the Hills," a tribute to his backwoods father. Many of 1997's albums are more obvious than Slant 6 Mind, but few have been as substantial. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews:

Only American poet with something to say.......2005-09-03

Brown takes you from some backwoods small town sawdust pile right into the armpit grit of the modern world of urban distortion,tecnology,cynicism and everything in between. But the real human element is always there, the good the bad and the who give's a damn...you just got to listen. For most it does not come easy, but the truth usually hurts...and once you hear it you get hooked.Both Bo Ramsey's and Greg Brown's playing is unbelievable, the musical blend of these two wizards is a tapestry of "less is more" in a style most muscians never achieve, the ultimate fusionists. I was floored when I first heard this six or seven years back, and I just re-purchased ...it's all as relevent or more so then ever. Brown has timeless raw insights to share, Americana a la 21st century. Mr. Brown has a stack of albumns, I have heard most and never found the music or prose lacking.Thank you Mr. Brown.

Don't "mind" if I do . . ........2005-04-01

Probably Greg Brown's coolest album! And that's saying somethin'.
It pulls you in right off the top with "Whatever It Was" and takes you for a nice ride all the way through.
"Mose Allison Played Here" is a tasty tribute to Mose.
Out of 13 tunes, "Wild Like Sonny Boy" is the only one I woulda left out.
I'd recommend picking up "The Poet Game" next.
Enjoy the Ride!

Growly.......2004-11-08

I like Greg Brown when he's being wry and lyrical. This CD is gruffer, less melodic, less intimate and unfortunately, less appealing. Most of the songs are half-spoken instead of sung, and I just wished there were a couple of gentle tracks to break it up. If you like your folk music bluesy and growly with lots of words but not many tunes, this will be for you. It's not bad, but so not my favourite GB album.

Bluesy Folk Grooving With Depth.......2003-09-24

Johnny Cash fans might dig Greg Brown.

He's got a folk sound, but with a blues undertone, and a western overlay. There's a Bruce Cockburn sensibility, with some nuances of Elvis Costello. Even Bob Dylan fans will find something in "Slant 6 Mind," especially those struck by Dylan's "Time Out of Mind" and "Oh Mercy" albums.

Brown has a deep, relaxed voice. The guitars are sometimes picked, sometimes strummed, with a jazz-folk, front-porch flavor.

The lyrics are personal, in the manner of Springsteen and Van Morrison, though not as blue collar thematically. He draws, instead, from the experiences of a rural, country growing up.

From the first song, "Whatever it was," he slides in some ironic humor:

"She says, "Come hither", but when I get hither she is yon.
I was looking for what I loved. Whatever it was, it's gone."

It is all visual and metaphoric throughout the album, like his envisioning of blues man Robert Johnson, in a mournful lowing "Dusty"

"He licks the pencil, looks around, writes a few words down,
and pulls a moan from his guitar
A hound dog answers low and he stands up real slow
He's got a ways to go, he don't know how far"

Find passion and slow slide guitars and harmonicas, rich mixing that never overwhelms a song. Buy it for your next long drive down I-80 or up Rt. 66 and put it on repeat. You'll like it the first time, and it'll grow on you.

I fully recommend "Slant 6 Mind" by Greg Brown.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Another classic.......2001-07-18