2014: A Year of Clarity: Lincoln Durham’s The Shovel [vs] The Howling Bones Album Review
Part Two: Coming Out of a Blur. 09.28.2023
After brushing with so-and-so from a place mentioned in a previous article, I was looking for any opportunity to return to Nashville before October. My friends planned to get married on Halloween, the only event I had on the books until then. But, like a gift from on-high (they sing about it a lot in Tennessee), a band that I had recently gotten into and was obsessing over was making their first trip to Nashville to perform ever! That band was Little Hurricane. Ah ha! Finally, an opportunity to return to Nashville, the place that had shocked me back to life when I least expected it, and only two months later!
The hopeless romantic in me bought two tickets to the show at the High Watt in Nashville in hopes of being able to organically run into my Tennessee Crush. If you read the previous post, you know that never happened, so I went to the show solo. This show would be only two acts: Little Hurricane and a performer named Lincoln Durham, whom I’d never heard of until that show.
If you’ve never been to the High Watt in Nashville, let me explain it, as it no longer exists, so you can’t just go there. The High Watt was situated on the venue’s second floor, with three separate venues in the same building. That means that, on any given night, you could have three shows at the same time. It was a pretty cool concept, perfect for a place called “Music City.” In my time in Nashville, I have seen four shows at the High Watt and one at the Cannery Ballroom (first-floor venue). I never made it to the tippy-top, but I believe that’s where all the club stuff was going, so no thanks either way.
At this show, there were forty, maybe fifty people. I waited in the back for the show to start, being there just for Little Hurricane, but I never show up during a show; that’s unfair to openers. I leaned against a flyer pasted wall and watched as this slinky fellow with facial hair reminiscent of a dapper fellow or outlaw in the 1800s took the stage behind a bass drum, a drumstick in his hand, what looked to be a resonator strapped on his back and a vintage hardshell suitcase in his other hand.
“This is going to be interesting.” I thought, looking around for Little Hurricane or my Tennessee Crush in the audience.
Then, the show started, and I was instantly encaptivated. Lincoln Durham stomped on his bass drum pedal and then responded to the thud with a smack of the suitcase and wailed away in a haunting serenade as he began the song “Ballad Of The Prodigal Son.” And I’ve been a fan ever since. Lincoln Durham crushed the opening set. For a one-man band, he filled the room with full sound from his eclectic mix of instruments. I was hooked, now and forever. After the show, I grabbed the vinyl of The Shovel [vs] The Howling Bones; the album was coincidentally released during my Year of Ellipses in 2012, with the vinyl released in 2013.
Here’s a breakdown of each track and a quick blurb on each:
This album starts with bass and a high hat, soon intertwined by the spider legs of an acoustic guitar looking for its fly caught in its web, followed soon after by the echoed vocals of Lincoln Durham. The pace picks up and sweats old west vibes. The track is called “Drifting Wood.”
The next track on the album is entitled “Last Red Dawn,” which could easily be a Western-themed television show’s theme song. And I would watch that show every day, and never skip the opening credits.
“Living This Hard,” unlike the tracks till this point, instantly starts with some upbeat rock and harmonica. This track will have you singing along and waving your hands in the air to a level that one could perceive as you not caring.
“Clementine.” At any given moment in my life, I would say there is a top thirty favorite song list that makes me who I am and what I love. “Clementine” is in the top three. It is such a well-put-together track, a “ballad,” if you wanted to label it, but the song is so much more. It’s a touching story of death, and the subject is a visitor at the singer’s funeral (my interpretation) with an upbeat tune that sounds ripped from the 1800s. But then Lincoln jumps in, and those haunting and pained vocals send chills up and down your whole being because you’re experiencing something authentically beautiful. The song touched me so much that I named a character in a couple of my books after the song. The lyrics that hit me every time are “I’m free from this world, now from this painful heartbeat.”
The next track suddenly puts you in a covered wagon during a rainstorm, rolling through a muddied road; the horses buck and break free as the wagon falls over on its side. The small army of passengers climbs out, grabs what they can carry, and keeps marching forward on a mission. This track is called “Mud Puddles.”
“Reckoning Lament” shows Lincoln’s fun play with the stringed instrument in his hand. Whether it’s a resonator, an acoustic, or an axe fashioned into a guitar, Lincoln bounces around the neck, spinning a vast blues smack in and around your face. This one is a fun listen.
“How Does a Crow Fly” starts with instruments battling to take the lead, but what comes next is a slow, chunk-filled blues jam about a crow. This is a song Jack White wishes he could write.
But just when you thought this album would be a slow simmer of blues-influenced, dark snarls, “Love Letters” comes in with a game-changer. I love turning this one up real loud and singing along with the chorus: “I’ve been searching, for some peace of mind, to steady, my steep decline. If you’re gonna live, then you’re bound to learn. I’ve got love letters to burn!”
“Georgia Lee” brings us back down from the makeshift stage built in the middle of town as Georgia Lee enters town, turning the necks of people so far they fall off the horses they’re perched upon. Mystery abounds with this muse; be careful.
“People of the Land” is a Western revival that could be a warning, a declaration, or both. Lincoln’s wife (and the woman who sold me the album at the show) appears with some backing vocals. This would be a lovely message to the government in the 1800s.
“Trucker’s Love Song” steps into the last song on the album slot (if you don’t include the bonus track Ballad of a Prodigal Son). This track is a slow build that is a beautiful driving song. If you haven’t been transported yet, this song will get you there and set a scene so hard to knock you’ll think you drove a semi-truck through the whole four minutes and forty-six seconds.
“Ballad of a Prodigal Son” closes out this album and starts his next one, Exodus of the Deemed Unrighteous. It’s a great start to an album, but not as a closer, as it just leaves you wishing there were a billion other songs by Lincoln Durham to consume afterward. Since this song got me into him, it’s obvious to say it’s one of my favorites. In fact, nearly every playlist I create starts with this song.
If you haven’t given Lincoln Durham a listen, I highly recommend it. He’s the creator of five albums, each with a unique vessel to carry throughout. With songs that will get you jumpin’ to songs that will get you reeling, Lincoln is a visual artist who has put paint to his songs that will have you admiring and examining for the rest of time.
