The Gobblers Knob

I am not going out on too large of a limb to suggest that Hayes Carll’s 2008 album Trouble in Mind was easily one of the better efforts of the year (I am not alone in that thinking). The fact is, when I first listened to the album, I had grown quite tired of all the writers and bloggers talking about how the slower, softer songs on the album reaffirmed Carll’s stance as the Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark of this current generation. As a result, I felt myself leaning toward the more rocking numbers, specifically the track, “Bad Liver and a Broken Heart”.

I will say it now, however, that the song that I have kept going back to and that has easily ascended to the top of my Itunes “play count” standings is indeed, one of the quieter songs on the disc.  “Beaumont” isn’t the slowest, but it may be the most bittersweet song on the disc, and therefore the most heartfelt, in my opinion. Carll turns love, hope, loneliness and simple stomach-turning desire into sheer logic and matter-of-fact language when at the end, he sings, “I could not wait forever babe, I hope you understand.” The way that Carll is addressing this chick, who clearly doesn’t deserve him, is sincere and avoids any dramatic pretense that might have been smothered onto this cut by a lesser wordsmith.

It seems as this track will get more and more glory as it is climbing the Texas Music Charts and sitting pretty at #25 this week.  In a scene where most songs that reach the top are rockin’ beer-swillin’ sing-alongs (not that there’s anything wrong with that), it would be an absolute refreshment to see this simple and honest song take a place at the top.