Charlie Sexton,
Cruel and Gentle Things



Label: Back Porch Records

(4 out of 5)

Cruel and Gentle Things marks Charlie Sexton's striking return to studio self-recording.While it's been 10 years since Under the Wishing Tree, it's not as though he's been idle. Sexton has toured and recorded with Bob Dylan, produced albums by such artists as Lucinda Williams, Los Super Seven, and Jon Dee Graham, contributed to recordings by James McMurtry, Terry Allen, and Alejandro Escovedo, among others, and sporadically reunited with the supergroup Arc Angels.

Amidst the decade's artistic toil, Sexton occasionally managed to find time to work on his own material. Home-recorded demos here and there soon amounted to enough material for an album. Rather than heading into a studio with session players, Sexton chose to record like he created: at home, with homespun instrumentation.

Cruel and Gentle Things is a beautifully melodic exploration of love and life's resiliency. Each of the 10 songs is built upon carefully crafted lyrics that revolve around the theme expressed in "Just Like Love": Well it's just like love / It's just like pain / Sometimes they can feel the same. Sometimes the songs can sound the same, too, but each features slight instrumental variants that demand careful listening to be appreciated fully.

Two songs stand out from the consistently gentle things. "Gospel" is a hauntingly spare look at the challenges confronting modern faith:

Now everybody's searching
So many are lost
They serve themselves no matter what the cost
Yeah the path is narrow
And the ground is hard
No streets of gold, down here only broken and marred

"Dillingham Road," co-written by longtime friend Steve Earle, provides a wistful series of evocative childhood recollections, accentuated by Michael Ramos on Hammond B3 and harmonium.

Sexton's multi-album recording contract with EMI/Virgin subsidiary Back Porch Records ensures that the former rock prodigy is back where he belongs: in the studio, recording his own music. Here's hoping that future Charlie Sexton albums will be able to match the beauty of Cruel and Gentle Things.

Buy Cruel and Gentle Things from Lone Star Music for only $15.99.

September 15, 2005