[ mp3 ]: Bobby Bare - Shame On Me
Bare sounds a bit like Johnny Cash to me - an apt comparison since Cash was also popular outside of the country circuit. But Bare is a little more sunny than Cash. I feel like if you gave them each a handle of bourbon, Bare would end up being the life of the party, and Cash would go all dark. Like Deer Hunter dark. Ugh. If you watched that, here, take a soul shower:
[ mp3 ]: Bobby Bare - Miller's Cave
[ mp3 ]: Bobby Bare - Four Strong Winds
Okay. So the stories Bare is telling aren't necessarily the sunniest. Miller's Cave is a vengeful murder story, and the singer of Four Strong Winds is abandoning a lover. It's not Kid's Bop. But it's clean, straight-forward, story-based country music. To me, listening to Bobby Bare is like reading a Kazuo Ishiguro novel after wading through Infinite Jest. It just feels nice.
Supposedly, Bobby Bare collaborated with Shel Silverstein quite a bit later in his career, and had a few hits geared towards children. My dad doesn't have any of these records, but if you do, let me know what they're like. I think I'm interested.
- N.W.