Phil Pritchett
Tougher Than the Rest
By David Miller
 The moment this CD
goes into the player you know something is different about Phil
Pritchett. The first song, called "Doesn't Make a Difference,"
succeeds in showing that it really doesn't make a difference
to Pritchett. He is out to make music, not please everybody
out there. The rest of the album drives home that you do not
have to appeal to the masses to make good music.
However, with P2's (I love that nickname) increasing popularity
with college crowds, mass appeal could be just around the corner.
Taking a page from the Pat Green/Cory Morrow school of thought
on touring (a quick look at Phil's schedule shows a heavy load
of college and party towns, including Corpus Christi, Huntsville,
Lubbock, and a regular Wednesday night gig in Ft. Worth), Pritchett
is establishing a legion of loyal fans.
With a nod to fellow Texans like the aforementioned Green
and Morrow, Phil is not afraid to admit that he is a rock &
roll kind of guy.
"I feel like all the other Texas guys right now play
acoustic guitars and sing country music...but I always played
electric guitar. I'm a Tom Petty, Springsteen, Elvis Costello
fan and I really see a void in that right now."
"Tougher Than the Rest," the title track to the
latest release from the 30 year-old Pritchett, is a song reminiscent
of the Santana/Rob Thomas offering, "Smooth." A Latin
tinged rock song that blends strong lyrics with a soulful melody,
P2 probably won't win a Grammy for this song, but it does a good
job of showing the range he has as a songwriter.
She's got a face
That knows no concept of fear
Even criminals and ne'er do wells
Vanish each time she appears
She's got a reputation as somebody who knows how
To get things done
She's got a habit of picking up red hot pots and pans
With her bare hands just for fun
She doesn't care about all of the every day stresses
She's a bag of nails beneath her colorful dresses ...she's
Tougher than the rest (much tougher)
Tougher than the rest (much tougher)
A little hardship brings out her best
One of the off-the-wall songs on the CD is "God Save
The King," about an encounter with a not-so-dead Elvis.
How creepy would that be to walk into your gig, hear a voice
that sounds oddly familiar, and see a guy with a strong resemblance
to the King?
His voice was undeniably
Of the man he claimed to be
He wore a Stubb's Barbecue T-shirt
And a faded pair of jeans
Ah the smell of a bar at midnight, man
This is what it's all about!
I tried to get back here for years
But the Colonel sold me out
God save the king
He said it_s not as easy as it looks
To live as royalty
God save the king
He said I never died
I was just tired of living in Tennessee
One of the best songs is the last one, "Marry Me Mary."
As Pritchett says, "It's a combination of how I met my
wife and a trip we took to London after we were married. We didn't
meet in London, but I kind of combined the two." Great
guitar riffs, a catchy chorus that is stuck in your head, and
sweet lyrics make this a classic pop tune.
Mary swore that her life would never again be so ordinary
She was going to see the world, see what there was to see
She didn't have any interest in settling down with her degree
So all consequences, coincidences that commences
Don't worry about me
Sometimes you got to get so far away
So you can get some time on your own
Find out what it is you've got to say
My personal favorite on this album is "Mexican Restaurant,"
a song written with fellow Texan Max Stalling. The story is
a classic about a guy falling for a girl and being too shy to
do something about it. A series of mishaps involving lime juice,
a creepy stalking incident in a grocery store line, and a keg
party lead to our hero missing his chance to talk to the girl
and, in the end, we find him waiting for her in that Mexican
restaurant.
Now I'm again at that Mexican restaurant
Watching the door for the shape
Of another woman with your same dimensions
Even though the chances aren't great
They're chances that I'd like to take
Sooner or later fate owes some favors
To the decent and kind
I try my best but it's hard I guess
And you seem so decent and kind
You seem so decent and kind
Phil Pritchett made this CD after spending a year in Nashville
trying to write songs for the Hit Machine, so some of the disenchantment
from that period comes through at times. "Doesn't Make
A Difference" speaks volumes about his thoughts of country
music in general.
Jenny hit Austin
Damn she loves this town
She was coming up for air
After living underground
She had a nasty reputation
As a girl who lied
When she made the declaration
Country music has died ...and said
It's all right, it's okay
It doesn't make a difference to me anyway
It doesn't make a difference to me anyway
Some people say country music
Is alive and well
But it's gone the way of Big Band
As far as I can tell
They're both in a museum
Behind the glass
Rock and Roll is the future
The present and the past
From a man that is a self-described rocker, truer words have
never been spoken.
*www.philpritchett.com
Contact David Miller at miller-at-rockzilla.net
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