Eight years on from his last release, the Dallas-based
singer-songwriter returns with nine songs whose recording he describes as
“emotionally difficult,” though the resulting LP is unarguably his most
rewarding.
Recorded in rural Wiltshire
with his friends from acclaimed alt.country outfits The Snakes and The Redlands
Palomino Company, the record – Tommy’s third as a solo artist – draws on a
wealth of musical styles, from gospel-tinged soul to delicate pop balladry and
driving rock ’n’ roll, while at its centre sits its author’s unmistakable
voice. Fragile and reflective one moment, bristling with soulful intensity the
next, it’s a unique ingredient of Tommy’s music, and one that has aided his
rise, over 20 years, from frontman with raucous cult rockers Swank Deluxe to
multi-faceted solo performer and respected face on the Dallas music scene.
Magnificent Bastard carries the weight of this history and more, mixing
punk and ’70s rock influences on the brooding ‘Backburner’, reminiscing over a
well-spent youth on the title track and unravelling threads that stretch back
to Tommy’s childhood.
In the wistful ‘Homecoming
Mum’, the singer recalls the schoolboy practice of buying elaborate wearable
bouquets for their sweetheart – a Southern tradition at homecoming football
games – while the album’s centerpiece,
the anthemic ‘Save Me (The Ballad of Odell Barnes Jr)’, finds him pondering the
plight of a high-school friend who, convicted of murder, ended up on Death Row.
Tommy describes this song, which he started to write eight years ago, as “the
most important story of the record.”
“It really affected me,” he
says of the moment he found out that Barnes, who Tommy hadn’t seen since his
late teenage years, had been killed by lethal injection in 2001. “I don’t know
if he did the murder or not, or anything like that, but I want people to know
what it is and to know the story.”
While these character
pieces showcase Tommy Hale the storyteller, others suggest he has naked
sincerity licked, too. Can I Lay Down Next To You? and Simple Song, the album’s
most tender tracks, make the listener feel as if they’re eavesdropping on
private moments in their author’s life. In fact, so direct is the latter song
that the singer felt himself squirm when he played it to producer/guitarist
Simon Moor and multi-instrumentalist John O’Sullivan – the album’s co-writers
and two people who, alongside drummer Dan Tilbury and keyboardist/engineer Nick
Beere, make up a creative team for whom Tommy has “tremendous respect.”
“I think this is hands down
the best collection of work I’ve ever put together,” he says. “And a lot of
that’s because of the talents of all those other guys.”
Magnificent Bastard is released through Holiday disaster Records on 30 September.
