Artist:     Bat McGrath

Album:     Bat McGrath

Label:     BatMcGrath.com

Release Date:     5.1.2019

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This won’t be an ordinary review, due to extraordinary circumstances. The backstory is as compelling as this record is good, but I don’t want to dwell on the impetus too much.

That said, first and foremost, here’s Bat McGrath, a fellow with a clear strong voice with a smile in it (like Steve Goodman and Bob Gibson), even when he is singing stuff that’s gonna choke you up. Add in a cornucopia of Get-to-the-heart-of-it-songs, which, as they say in Nashville, “Are written to the wall,” or “nailed.” With over five-plus decades at his craft, McGrath’s works are not typical Music Row factory songs at all. Add a dash of co-writing with tunesmiths and old friends like Pat Alger and Ethan Porter, and you’ll hear simple words and phrases like “on the blink,” “when I’m out of here,” or “when he took you from us” that serve the song and illustrate deeply moving themes. All of them sing and ring out with some my-T-fine melodies he created.

There are five parts to this 19-song CD. Nine very current recordings done just weeks ago are coupled in with both unreleased masters and demos going back to the ’70s and ’80s, and a sample of a live concert McGrath did this past January in his hometown of Rochester, NY. In that show, on an insider tune called “No Reverb,” Bat tips the hat he doesn’t wear to all the unsung troubadours who have come up through the bars, along with the crap that they had to haul around.

All the musicians on here are some of Nashville’s best: Larry Paxton, Catherine Styron Marx, Jeff Taylor, Mark Prentice, Mike Severs Kerry Marx and more. That’s because McGrath is reunited with very old friend and Executive Producer Fred Mollin, a guy I call the Maestro of Merrick, who always seems to know who to call to bring to sessions something far beyond musical proficiency. That also includes his choices of recording engineers and sound mixers, like man-for-all-seasons Kyle Lehning, or Dave Salley, and studios like the iconic Sound Emporium, so every nuance of what went down gets a place at the table.

Fred Mollin brings me to the reason the music world now has this recording. As 2018 drew to a close, doctors told McGrath that two things were certain to finish him off soon if he didn’t go for aggressive treatment. Bat opted out of their extended warranty plan, and is truly on borrowed time. Fred Mollin made some calls, and everything and everyone involved with this remarkable recording was there as a freebie and completed it in record time.

One of many standouts on this outstanding set is “One More Try” (it could well be the CD’s subtitle), and that’s what probably has me really wearing my heart on my sleeve here. I have been here twice before, once from a safe distance and once smack in the middle of it all, and had some mighty fine musicians and a veteran engineer take me into his studio, all without worrying about the dough to make it go. As for borrowed time, Hell I wrote one with that title in 1968, and we all are on it.

My wish is: Bat, I hope what time you have left is as good and smooth as this record.

—Ken Spooner