Kevin McF
10-31-2006, 08:26 AM
It seems inevitable that sooner or later, Justin Rutledge will join the upper ranks of the alt-country pantheon. Whether it happens with his current album, or it takes a while longer, his destiny is to stand alongside Lucinda, Emmylou, Willie and Steve Earle as one of the great, down-to-earth, country-based singer/songwriters of his day.
Since his debut album No Never Alone in 2004, Rutledge has signed a songwriting deal with EMI Music Publishing; he's opened a show for Dolly Parton, and will tour Canada this fall opening for Jim Cuddy; he wrote and recorded a second album, In the Fall, but decided to shelve it because it didn't feel right as a sophomore release; he's since found a guitar player he really gels with, the redoubtable local ace David Baxter (who doubles as his co-producer); and he's written and recorded his new one, The Devil on a Bench in Stanley Park, a rich-sounding work filled with Baxter's impeccable tremolo twang and Rutledge's typically unassuming, timeless and brilliant songs. As for the man's image, his eyes are such a captivating shade of cold-steel blue that they're initially disarming, even after seeing him up close many times, and his good looks and quiet charisma don't hurt.
The songwriting deal came via EMI Music Publishing's Tanya Coghlan (a genuine, down-to-earth music fan herself), and it helped finance The Devil. Beyond that, the company seems to have reasonable expectations.
"I told 'em I don't write hit songs," Rutledge says over dinner at a Baldwin Street patio. "I don't write for other people. I don't really co-write. They said 'We understand.' We went to Nashville, to the Lost Highway [label] offices, and the EMI Nashville offices. [They said] 'Love yer stuff; not much I can do for ya.'"
The new album was recorded with surprising ease, in 10 days, almost all live off the floor. Even the writing for The Devil came easily, though most of it was last-minute -- surprising, considering the subtlety and depth of the songs. "I didn't have anything ready," says Rutledge. "I had a couple of songs finished, and about eight that hadn't been written... I'd get to the studio early and start writing."
Much of the album deals with various women: "Robin's Tune," "Emily Returns," Lizzy Pearl in "I'm Your Man, You're My Radio," Maria in "Come Summertime." One's tempted to think Rutledge is something of a ladies' man, despite the fact that he has a long-term girlfriend. As Keith Richards once answered when asked if The Stones have a recurring theme: "Yeah. Women."
"God and girls, man," says Rutledge, laughing. And the devil? "And the devil.... It's a lot of fiction. With No Never Alone, I did write about a person, but in most instances on this record I'm writing fictitiously."
Like the late, now-too-sainted Gram Parsons, Rutledge writes in striking, unique, simple-but-sophisticated images that bespeak the eye of a novelist or poet, one with a genteel, Southern-gothic upbringing. Lines like "She's every morning waking, shaking last night's souvenirs," "Heaven's gate is made of pearls and grit," and "You're the darkness in my mare" wouldn't sound out of place in the works of Flannery O'Connor or William Faulkner.
"I think I can attribute that to my literary background," says Rutledge. "When I was at university I had vague aspirations of literary success -- editing journals, working predominantly on poetry, studying the greats. There's this kind of meter in myself that gauges the quality of my literary [lyrical] output....
"To me, the words and music are totally different worlds. I'm not a great musician, so I rely on the tonality of the lyrics and the thematics to get me by. I don't think there's anything special about what I'm doing musically. I think that I might have something different to say, lyrically.... I've always believed in metaphor. I think as long as you understand what you're talking about...." He pauses for a moment. "Feeling is first, to me. If I feel it, it's right."
More than anything else, it's that feeling -- so ably captured and finely crafted in his lyrics -- that will allow Rutledge to stake his claim to alt-country royalty. Considering how good The Devil is, it just might happen sooner than later.
RIYL: JCN
kev
Since his debut album No Never Alone in 2004, Rutledge has signed a songwriting deal with EMI Music Publishing; he's opened a show for Dolly Parton, and will tour Canada this fall opening for Jim Cuddy; he wrote and recorded a second album, In the Fall, but decided to shelve it because it didn't feel right as a sophomore release; he's since found a guitar player he really gels with, the redoubtable local ace David Baxter (who doubles as his co-producer); and he's written and recorded his new one, The Devil on a Bench in Stanley Park, a rich-sounding work filled with Baxter's impeccable tremolo twang and Rutledge's typically unassuming, timeless and brilliant songs. As for the man's image, his eyes are such a captivating shade of cold-steel blue that they're initially disarming, even after seeing him up close many times, and his good looks and quiet charisma don't hurt.
The songwriting deal came via EMI Music Publishing's Tanya Coghlan (a genuine, down-to-earth music fan herself), and it helped finance The Devil. Beyond that, the company seems to have reasonable expectations.
"I told 'em I don't write hit songs," Rutledge says over dinner at a Baldwin Street patio. "I don't write for other people. I don't really co-write. They said 'We understand.' We went to Nashville, to the Lost Highway [label] offices, and the EMI Nashville offices. [They said] 'Love yer stuff; not much I can do for ya.'"
The new album was recorded with surprising ease, in 10 days, almost all live off the floor. Even the writing for The Devil came easily, though most of it was last-minute -- surprising, considering the subtlety and depth of the songs. "I didn't have anything ready," says Rutledge. "I had a couple of songs finished, and about eight that hadn't been written... I'd get to the studio early and start writing."
Much of the album deals with various women: "Robin's Tune," "Emily Returns," Lizzy Pearl in "I'm Your Man, You're My Radio," Maria in "Come Summertime." One's tempted to think Rutledge is something of a ladies' man, despite the fact that he has a long-term girlfriend. As Keith Richards once answered when asked if The Stones have a recurring theme: "Yeah. Women."
"God and girls, man," says Rutledge, laughing. And the devil? "And the devil.... It's a lot of fiction. With No Never Alone, I did write about a person, but in most instances on this record I'm writing fictitiously."
Like the late, now-too-sainted Gram Parsons, Rutledge writes in striking, unique, simple-but-sophisticated images that bespeak the eye of a novelist or poet, one with a genteel, Southern-gothic upbringing. Lines like "She's every morning waking, shaking last night's souvenirs," "Heaven's gate is made of pearls and grit," and "You're the darkness in my mare" wouldn't sound out of place in the works of Flannery O'Connor or William Faulkner.
"I think I can attribute that to my literary background," says Rutledge. "When I was at university I had vague aspirations of literary success -- editing journals, working predominantly on poetry, studying the greats. There's this kind of meter in myself that gauges the quality of my literary [lyrical] output....
"To me, the words and music are totally different worlds. I'm not a great musician, so I rely on the tonality of the lyrics and the thematics to get me by. I don't think there's anything special about what I'm doing musically. I think that I might have something different to say, lyrically.... I've always believed in metaphor. I think as long as you understand what you're talking about...." He pauses for a moment. "Feeling is first, to me. If I feel it, it's right."
More than anything else, it's that feeling -- so ably captured and finely crafted in his lyrics -- that will allow Rutledge to stake his claim to alt-country royalty. Considering how good The Devil is, it just might happen sooner than later.
RIYL: JCN
kev