All Bad by Nick Shoulders | Album Review
Shoulders returns with a full band to storm the honky tonks with his brand of alt-country.
Nick Shoulders is one of several rising socially conscious folk/Americana artists to have risen out of Arkansas. Alongside musicians like Willi Carslile and Dylan Earl, Nick’s sound exhibits his appreciation for the rustic tones of traditional country music with a healthy dose of protest spirit. That fighting drive was instilled into him through his early years experimenting with punk and metal music. Coming off the isolated sound of his prior album, Home on the Rage, the lifting of COVID quarantines allowed for his band to partner up on his follow-up. Nick discussed with The Arkansas Times how his isolation and subsequent return to playing with the band began to shape this release:
“It’s stylistically, lyrically and thematically just sort of the next record that we didn’t get to have after ‘Okay, Crawdad,’ because that was put out and then suddenly we were in lockdown. A lot of our ascendence happened in the vacuum of COVID, where we weren’t really benefiting or touring off of the music that was now suddenly being played all over the world. And ‘Home on the Rage’ was definitely the quiet folk solo effort that I thought fit the times… The defining factor on this record is that we’ve had time. We’ve had years to play together. We’ve had a lot of grim and empowering experiences on the road. I think I finally understand so much more about the value of our craft and what it takes to be the embodiment of a folk tradition and to try to carry that weight. It feels like we finally have the space and time and skill set to deliver something that’s truly representative of what we’re trying to accomplish. And that’s different than putting out a straight-to-tape, live, living room record from a shotgun house in New Orleans that’s supposed to sound exactly like you do in some dancehall.” — Nick Shoulders via The Arkansas Times (2023)
Shoulders kicks off the record with a proper country western instrumental on “Hoarse Whisperer.” Compared to the isolated solo sound of his prior album, Home on the Rage, this offers much more warmth. Nick’s whistles and coos bring out the lazy calm of an easy Western morning.
Immediately I am struck by the tight traditional country sound of “Blue Endless Highway.” Nick weaves the tale of a lonesome traveler growing ever more blue on their travels. The allure of the road has faded away making them long for their loved ones at home, “I made my coffee stop, and everything was wrong/ The little waitress that I love, she done come and gone/ She done come and gonе/ That big old lonesome moon, and the stars abovе/ Carry me and my old truck to the one I love/ To the one I love.” The band’s sound takes us across the arid desert of the southwestern United States. Their peppy sound keeps the lonely travelers abreast of the waves of sorrow that threaten to swallow them whole.
“All Bad” exhibits Nick’s developing point of view growing up in the country woods of Arkansas. What he remembers most fondly is his time exploring the backwoods of his hometown. This small-town location slowly becomes more of a cage for him as he grows older. The ever-present theme throughout is things could always be much worse, “I grew a little into dеafening rage/ Every hometown’s a well-built cage/ Be it high iron, highway, or stage/ Don’t let it be all bad.” Shoulders’s twang fits nicely with this band’s country-western sway. It’s the kind of country sound that pairs nicely with whiskey to drown your blues away.
Shoulders uses “Hook Line and Sinker” to display his loyalty and repentant feelings towards his prior actions. Each verse tells the ways people search for love. Nick lets his partner know that his commitment is for the long haul, “There have been times that I’ve been a large-mouth bastard/ I’ve been blue and bull-headed, you see/ I’ve been crappie to some of my sweethearts/ And I’m hook, line, and sinker for thee.” His sense of humor makes this country diddy something ear-catching. The myriad of fishing puns bring back the playful nature of the classic songs in the genre.
“It’s The Best?” presents a love that has begun to smolder, but won’t burn out. Both parties seem to have lost the fiery passion that once took hold of them. The eternal question surrounding them is has their love plateaued, “If it’s the best we can get, why am I tryna love you?/ If it’s a sure-fire bet I’d do most things for you/ And lest I forget, you can do better, it’s true/ Just like every sun sets, is this the best we can get?” I appreciate the shift towards something that can get you up and moving. The subtle rock flair energizes the listener to grab a partner and let loose. It’s irony of this brings another layer to the song.
Shoulders now mourn the death of his relationship in “Toast First.” This waltz slowly rocks its way into the frame as the song moves forward. Along with this lowly sway is Nick’s remorse for not being a better partner, “Give a name to a feeling just to try and explain/ But even then there’s no good way to say/ Without giving more credit to words than they’re due/ If I had known what to say, I’d have said it to you.” Shoulders gives this western heartbreaker the shuffle of a waltz. Planting it in this frame allows for the sting of regret to hit the listener a bit more intensely.
“Arkansaw Troubler” is the only instrumental track on the record. Shoulders performs the piece on the mouthbow. On including this track on the record, Nick told The Arkansas Times how it felt important to include one of the more ancient forms of traditional music alongside his brand of country-western:
“We’re making a purposeful decision to tap into this thing that has continuity back to the Stone Age, back to the Pleistocene. Having this thread that connects country and folk music today to our oldest expressions of sound is really empowering because it makes those genres sit on a continuum and an arc of history that’s able to be seen. So it’s not just us trapped in the experience of the post-industrial South. Our effort to make honky-tonk and 1940s shuffle country more approachable is the exact same effort I’m trying to make by putting the oldest stringed instrument in front of people while playing a fiddle tune from the American South. It might seem incongruent but the sentiment is the same. These threads to the pre-commercialized version of the music we’re playing are important to not let die because they’re truly our most potent tools of resistance.” — Nick Shoulders via The Arkansas Times (2023)
“Mama Tried,” a clever nod to the Merle Haggard classic, discusses our growing addiction to online screen time. The constant dopamine hit we get from using our phones has begun to replace healthier outlets of relaxation, “Remember when we used to read?/ When we remembered all our dreams/ I scroll to be sold my favorite nightmares/ But you’re the first light that I see/ And I crane my neck for thee/ I truly wish that I knew life without a screen.” I do wish this track had something to distinguish it more from the honky-tonk flavors that make up the same palette as many of the other tracks. While a fun diddy, it’s not as ear-catching as some of Nick’s more clever pieces.
“Up The Ouachita” tells the story of a gambler whose luck seems to have run out. It appears his time chasing wins has set his expiration date much sooner than he thought, “Played a die once too high, now I’m done/ Put me in the ditch and my family on the run/ I drive cattle down the bayous and draws/ My poor gals won’t know what befell their Pa/ My bones rest out of sight of the law/ And my heart’s up that muddy Ouachita.” I love the addition of the fiddle to this track. This little taste of bluegrass adds to the storytelling elements.
“Long Spring” highlights the ever-encroaching climatic shifts we continue to see. Many of these changes, though alarming, seemed to be ignored by those in power: “It’ll be a long spring/ Autumn morning won’t bring/ The cold that we all crave/ That carried voices through the sting/ I can hear the frogs sing/ When snow it should be glistening/ A frost-kill line never happened in my time/ But I’m told that it’s fine.” I like that Nick keeps the piece rather intimate. It forces the listener to confront the steadily changing climate that has begun to impact many aspects of their day-to-day life.
“Appreciate’cha” is an ode to all those who have been a helping hand, who work diligently without reward, who challenge injustice, and all in all keep us afloat. Nick’s jaunty treatment adds to the sense of appreciation. Towards the end of the song is where his political stances come through,”If this land is your land, I appreciate’cha/ If abolition was your stand, I appreciate’cha/ Kings and dollars, stars and bars, crosses, swastikas, and tsars/ If you are skeptical of all, I appreciate’cha/ If you’re doing your damned best, I appreciate’cha/ If every new day is a test, I appreciate’cha/ Do-si-do and do-re-mi, so far so good, yet we’re far from free/ If you refuse to let it be.” Again, the jaunty kick of the band makes his performance feel that much more entertaining. It brings a lightness that adds to Shoulders sense of gratitude.
Nick pens a rally for the working man on “Won’t Fence Us In.” His words sting with the angst of many crushed by the greed of politicians and corporate America, “I wish that every golf course became a WMA/ And every politician knew the rent that we paid/ Just to drink ourselves to death/ And go to jobs that we hate/ Oh, to be fenced in.” This cry also seeks to remove the shackles of the religious state that keep their constituents numb to other options. I love that it has this honky-tonk sound. It feels right at home with all those working-class people who Shoulders seeks to pull from the crushing grip of corporate greed.
“Whooped If You Will” captures the deepening hopelessness many have begun to feel with the widening gap in equality. Though the mire continues to thicken, Shoulders leaves room for some sense of solace in his relationships, “I count on you to count each minute apart/ I lean on you when the lean hours start/ It ain’t always what you do, sometimes it’s what you do not/ I’ll try to remember all the good times I forgot.” Nick’s emotive yodel adds a sense of fragility to this frustration that gathered to a fevered pitch. The way he enunciates each phrase takes me to a place of disheartened need that I think many listeners can pick up on.
Shoulders ends the record with the knee-slapping bluegrass jam “Empty Yodel No 1.” There’s a sense of taking the punches as they come in Nick’s words, “Board it up, reach for the sky/ Some are worse but there truly ain’t no right way/ Fill your hand and try your luck, oh, chaos reigns; embrace the suck/ I never meant to let you get so low.” I do love the momentum the banjo adds to the song. That said, I do feel lyrically the song feels conceptually underdeveloped compared to the other songs on this album. Personally, a bit more detail in the story Shoulders is trying to tell would take it from good to great.
Having enjoyed the intimate alt-country stylings of Shoulders quarantine album Home on the Rage, I enjoyed the addition of his band to this project. His admiration for the style of mid-century country-western music is apparent from the moment the album begins. Coming from a collection of socially conscious country artists, it is always nice to her music that harkens back to calling out the injustices of the world. My only complaint with this album is the repetitive nature of the arrangements. I did feel that some of the songs began to bleed into each other with a similar structure. Aside from this, I quite enjoyed a full-bodied release from Nick.
My overall thoughts on All Bad:
Loved it: “Blue Endless Highway”, “All Bad”, “Hook Line and Sinker”, “It’s The Best?”, “Long Spring”, “Won’t Fence Us In”, “Whooped If You Will”
Liked it: “Hoarse Whisperer”, “Toast First”, “Arkansaw Troubler”, “Appreciate’cha”
Disliked it: “Empty Yodel No 1”
My overall rating: 6.5 out of 10.
