Patrick Brooks - Rust & Weeds
By: George Peden, Sr.Staff Journalist
Here at Nuts we get our share of music. The mail carrier humps his bag to our door, unloading the latest from the established and the chart topping. Now with digital tunes and the Internet, the inbox often strains to overfill as the newest singles, albums and videos work their way to our ears, but, you know something? There is always one artist and one new album that never fail to excite me – the debut release from a solid independent performer.
Meet Patrick Brooks.
As a serving member of the Austin, Texas music scene this guitarist/singer/songwriter has his dues paid in full with his debut Rust and Weeds. Offering 11 worthy tunes, mostly self-written and self-produced, the album is out at www.patrickbrooksmusic.com
On a moving and reflective album, one that skirts with a sadness that is global as well as middle America, the music is melodic and the stories honest. Brooks proves, convincingly, that his senses are as sharp as his pen. His observations are keen, clear and heard against a backdrop of loss, regret, and hoped-for possibility.
“My true influence in my songs and singing comes from a growing up and working in a dying economy where once great corporations have been reduced to barely solvent shells,” tells this bluegrass and Guy Clark influenced artist. “The best you hope to find locally is a job, forget about a career.”
With “Another Cigarette," Brooks paints and shades the examined life. A life that mirrors the average human condition of sameness, boredom, introspection and too many lost causes. “Another Saturday wishing it were Monday,” laments Brooks.
What makes this album an exciting listen is Brooks. The guy has a lived-in voice –easy, comfortable, and paced. His style comes bordered with honest lyrics that probe and question rural hardships and challenged and changed lives.
“Rusted Wire And Rotted Split Rail” is an Americana offering that sells the proof. With an eerie and sober fiddle, the tune image-rich with sepia tones of neglected fields and idle tractors, cracked windows and a cobwebbed house touch the core of broken dreams and lost hope. Moody and atmospheric, Brooks brings conviction and home-known truth to a song that offers thoughtful reality.
A few album spins and you hear the gems. Brooks plays all the right chords, touching moods, feelings and almost forgotten times, and he does it with a polished style and crafted writing. “The Annals of My Youth” is melodic time travel, while “Hoping You’ll Walk By” is a heartache for hurtin’ lovers, and more tumbleweed images unfold with the telling of “Rust And Weeds."
With due homage to his craft, Brooks gives singer/songwriter kudos to two of his influences. He covers, beautifully, the Guy Clark standard “She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and “I’ll Be Here In The Morning," a Townes Van Zandt tune. The tune choice and performance only add to this album.
In a recent letter to me, Brooks ended by saying: “We set out to make a very honest, live sounding record. I hope that comes through.”
It has.
Two thumbs from me.
Here at Nuts we get our share of music. The mail carrier humps his bag to our door, unloading the latest from the established and the chart topping. Now with digital tunes and the Internet, the inbox often strains to overfill as the newest singles, albums and videos work their way to our ears, but, you know something? There is always one artist and one new album that never fail to excite me – the debut release from a solid independent performer.
Meet Patrick Brooks.
As a serving member of the Austin, Texas music scene this guitarist/singer/songwriter has his dues paid in full with his debut Rust and Weeds. Offering 11 worthy tunes, mostly self-written and self-produced, the album is out at www.patrickbrooksmusic.com
On a moving and reflective album, one that skirts with a sadness that is global as well as middle America, the music is melodic and the stories honest. Brooks proves, convincingly, that his senses are as sharp as his pen. His observations are keen, clear and heard against a backdrop of loss, regret, and hoped-for possibility.
“My true influence in my songs and singing comes from a growing up and working in a dying economy where once great corporations have been reduced to barely solvent shells,” tells this bluegrass and Guy Clark influenced artist. “The best you hope to find locally is a job, forget about a career.”
With “Another Cigarette," Brooks paints and shades the examined life. A life that mirrors the average human condition of sameness, boredom, introspection and too many lost causes. “Another Saturday wishing it were Monday,” laments Brooks.
What makes this album an exciting listen is Brooks. The guy has a lived-in voice –easy, comfortable, and paced. His style comes bordered with honest lyrics that probe and question rural hardships and challenged and changed lives.
“Rusted Wire And Rotted Split Rail” is an Americana offering that sells the proof. With an eerie and sober fiddle, the tune image-rich with sepia tones of neglected fields and idle tractors, cracked windows and a cobwebbed house touch the core of broken dreams and lost hope. Moody and atmospheric, Brooks brings conviction and home-known truth to a song that offers thoughtful reality.
A few album spins and you hear the gems. Brooks plays all the right chords, touching moods, feelings and almost forgotten times, and he does it with a polished style and crafted writing. “The Annals of My Youth” is melodic time travel, while “Hoping You’ll Walk By” is a heartache for hurtin’ lovers, and more tumbleweed images unfold with the telling of “Rust And Weeds."
With due homage to his craft, Brooks gives singer/songwriter kudos to two of his influences. He covers, beautifully, the Guy Clark standard “She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and “I’ll Be Here In The Morning," a Townes Van Zandt tune. The tune choice and performance only add to this album.
In a recent letter to me, Brooks ended by saying: “We set out to make a very honest, live sounding record. I hope that comes through.”
It has.
Two thumbs from me.
