Artist:     Clint Morgan

Album:     Troublemaker

Label:     Lost Cause

Release Date:     7.26.2021

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If one were to try to touch all the Americana bases in just one album, pianist/ songwriter/vocalist Clint Morgan does a commendable job, doing blues, gospel, country, and R&B: everything but folk and bluegrass. The lack of the latter is somewhat ironic given that Morgan’s family is related to the Carter Family. In any case, one minute we hear a Johnny Cash cover that segues into some Ray Charles. We have genuine gospel featuring The McCrary Sisters and blues with BMA Award winners Watermelon Slim, Bob Margolin, Jonn Del Tor Richardson, and Bob Corritore, and Morgan quotes Robert Johnson, Elmore James, and Chuck Berry, among others. Even the eccentric Kinky Friedman adds some humor. If that’s not enough, Morgan and co-producer and keyboardist Kevin McKendree call on some of Nashville’s best to form the core band. In addition to McKendree, guitarist Doug Lancio, bassist David Santos, and drummer Kenneth Blevins, violinist Jimmy Stewart, first call multi-instrumentalist Jim Hoke, and highly-regarded background vocalist Wendy Moten climb aboard as well.

Morgan kicks off with the shuffling blues of his own “Hangman Woman,” going boogie woogie on piano to the background of Wendy Moten and some sterling support from McKendree, Lancio, and the band. The traditional gospel of “Go Down Moses” has the McCrary Sisters to make up for Morgan’s sturdy but less-than- built-for-gospel vocals. “Ain’t That the Blues” is a slow blues rumination on getting old with Corritore on blues harp while “Hungry Man Blues” has a bit of wry humor – “I drove down to Mickey D’s and eat me four Big Macs.” More humor is found in “Too Rich to Sing the Blues.” – “I got up this morning/Feeling around for my shoes/The Guccis, or the Louis Vuittons/Man, It’s so hard to choose.”

The lament “Echoes” proves that Morgan has a sentimental side, recalling family members that he’s survived. The bluesy “I’ll Love You If I Want To” is a defiant swipe across the brow – “I’ll love you if I want to/You can’t tell me what to do.” You may not agree with his stance, but it’s one of the better songs. “It’s Rough Out Here’ is a witty talking blues across an appropriately rumbling backdrop while the Chuck Berry/Johnny Johnson lead-in to the rocking “She Take My Money” also has some witty, sarcastic wordplay. We hear Jim Hoke’s tenor sax break, sizzling Lancio guitar, and barrelhouse Morgan piano. Jonn Del Torro Richardson’s guitar and vocals imbue the haunting “Hurricane Harvey” before Kinky Friedman aptly makes his entrance on the hilarious “Somebody Put a Walmart on the Farm.”

The title track is a takeoff of “The Old Rugged Cross,” a public domain song and is one of the least distinctive here. That one’s sandwiched between two versions of an adaption of Shel Silverstein’s “Cover of the Rolling Stone” with “Cover of the Living Blues” The first features both Bob Margolin and Watermelon Slim. The bonus version is a solo effort from Slim. If you don’t have a smile on your face from the Friedman-assisted tune, you will certainly break into one here.

Musically, this breaks no new ground is rather predictable. The appeal of the album is its humor—it’s fun and it’s always refreshing to find an artist such as Morgan who doesn’t take himself too seriously.

—Jim Hynes