Sweden, the idyllic land teeming with more guilty sonic pop pleasures than ABBA can shake a feathered boa at, is not necessarily the first place you’d look to find an authentic, Americana-infused Country Western record. But Canadian born Evan Westerlund, now living on the shores of his ancestors in Sweden, has created just that. From the rollicking good-time guitar lick on the album’s opening title track, “Still Crazy,” to the pensive closing song, “Can’t Sleep for Thinkin’,” Still Crazy is a classic country studio album filled to the brim with southern soul and songs about love, guitars, southbound trains, and (what country album would be complete without it) heartbreak.
“I want my listeners to identify, feel, and relate with the characters in the songs through the lyrics and emotion of the music,” says Westerlund. “When I write, I am always looking to creates lines that make sense for the listener to nearly become the character, depending on the current life situation of course. I aim hard for lines that are contextually in order, realistic, sometimes a bit outlandish, but always aimed at the title.” This approach is best expressed in the album’s second track, “Kisses Won’t Cut It,” penned about an off-the-cuff speed dating experience: “She said lately/All I can think about is havin’ babies/My clock is tickin’ loud and I don’t mean maybe/When it comes to me, kisses won’t cut it.” “Waitin’ for My Train” is another surprise, sounding like an uptempo, light-hearted traditional honky-tonk bar song, but is in fact about waiting to die.
“Can’t Stop Wonderin’” is classic country tune about falling in love, with lyrics that couldn’t get any more standard country. “You’re no two-dollar pistol you’re a Colt ‘45/So if I act a little nervous well, I’m just gun shy/I had a strong of bad love and it left me blue/Now I can’t stop wonderin’ what to do about you.” For the recording, Westerlund tracked down Larry Marrs, once longtime bass player and harmony singer for Marty Stuart’s Hillbilly Band, and now an independent producer and session musician who has worked with such artists as George Jones, Martina McBride, David Ball, Jim Lauderdale, Allison Moorer, Marty Stuart and others. Marrs’ classic country credentials shine through, capturing a classic American sound with melancholy pedal solos, Appalachian vocal harmonies, jangling piano & keys, weeping fiddle & mandolin, and of course electrifying guitar licks all played by some of the best session players in the business. Westerlund recounts the professionalism evidenced in these good ol’ boys (and girls) at the first tracking day. “We had a situation where the hard-drive was full which set us back a couple of hours,” says Westerlund. “We took an early lunch, and while eating some giant barbecued hamburgers, James Mitchell leaned over and said, ‘Hey, don’t you worry about the time…we are all for making the best record we can, so we’ll put the extra time if we need to. We’ll get it done right…nothing extra for that.’”
Overall, Still Crazy is an excellent collection of 11 songs that don’t mess with Nashville pop-Country’s classic formula. Executed with a sense of Southern energy, high musical standards (one that seems to be slipping from the mainstream these days) set by polished players, and an emphasis on the genre’s traditional focus on story-telling, the album will not disappoint any lovers of Americana, and rootsy, rock ‘n’ roll influenced country.
Review by Sasha M. Lee
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
