Karen Poston
Real Bad
Music Room MRCD2003



by William Michael Smith

Karen Poston is a throwback, a modern dinosaur. She comes from that Loretta Lynn-Liz Anderson-Tammy Wynette school of country singers. All this young Austinite needs now is a bushy beehive coiffure and a gaudy sequined ball gown and she's ready for the Opry. Or at least the Opry of the '60s and '70s.

And Ms. Poston doesn't just sing like the icons, she writes genuine honky tonk songs like they did. Some people simply have the magic and Poston, who has been appearing regularly with Ted Roddy's Tearjoint Troubadours since arriving in Austin, is one of the lucky ones who do. Her debut CD for Austin's Music Room proves beyond any doubt that Ms. Poston is a major Americana singing and songwriting talent.

Produced by Jim Stringer, Real Bad strives for and achieves the kind of country authenticity that Nashville lost the recipe for long ago. I've listened to the CD dozens of times the past few weeks, and there isn't a false note or phoney move on the disc. It's not flashy, it's solid and honest and straight ahead.

If we are judged by the company we keep, Ms. Poston is doing all the good. Kelly Willis duets with her on the first two tracks. Slaid Cleaves co-wrote one song and duets with Poston on another. Roger Wallace, one of the new crop of hot country talents Austin is spawning, sings on another, while Ted Roddy, Gurf Morlix, Stringer, and Boomer Norman support The Crystal Pistols - steel guitar maestro Bobby Snell, drummer Terry Kirkendall, and bassist Vance Hazen. Under Stringer's steady hand, the ensemble kicks out a dozen tracks of Austinized country music that would have found itself square in the middle of the country music mainstream 20 years ago.

For someone so young, Ms. Poston writes bullseye honky tonk lyrics. Her rhymes are good and her stories and settings are better. The title track sounds like it was penned with Loretta Lynn in mind.

We had a little fight and then it didn't cross my mind for days
I was wonderin' maybe that I shouldn't oughta turned that phrase
Something had to trip me up, and it's something that I can't take back
'Cause I don't remember what I said and it must have been real bad

There's a lot of hidden truths maybe, baby that we shouldn't reveal
And a lot of wounds opened that sorry can't easily heal
I know it must've broke your heart and it hurts me, honey, when you're sad
But I don't remember what I said and it must have been real bad

"Lydia," written with Slaid Cleaves and sung with Kelly Willis, is a sad country-folk tragedy song that is filled with the empathy and sympathy that typify many of Cleaves' songs. Poston and Cleaves pay exacting attention to details in painting this sad portrait of an old woman who has spent her life in a type of suspension, living with the loss of her husband and son in a coal mining disaster.

Lydia lit a cigarette today
Ancient fumbling fingers in her way
From a forty-year old coffee cup she sipped a bit of gin
Closed her eyes and let the memories in

She lived on the old place all alone
Kept in touch with neighbors by the phone
Grew herbs upon the graves of her firstborn and his father
And the coal trucks never bothered her

Like the best writers in the Austin tradition, Poston has the ability to write great country songs that have two or three levels of meaning or significance. "Flowered Dress" is a classic sort of mid-tempo country song that has a happy vibe until the lyrics penetrate and the full effect of the pathos is felt. There are a handful of truly great songs on Real Bad, but "Flowered Dresses" has a little something extra.

Sometimes I think about my daddy and his Old Spice grin,
Cleaned pressed shirts, and a farmer's tan
She never asked him questions so he never told her lies
But I heard my mama cry some

And I was sitting in the hallway on the night he left
Huggin my knees, holding my breath
I never knew why but he was damn sure gone
Thought it was maybe my fault

'Cause she wore flowered dresses for him
Rolled her hair, scrubbed her freckled skin
On the chance that they were goin' out tonight
Catch a show, maybe grab a bite
And she looked real nice
She looked real nice....

Poston covers two country classics on Real Bad and they reveal much about her singing style. Her version of the Ames Brother's waltz "It Only Hurts for a Little While" is delivered in a clear, pure Skeeter Davis little girl voice. But on Liz Anderson's "Ride, Ride, Ride" (originally recorded by Liz's daughter Lynn Anderson) Poston hits her full honky tonk stride singing alongside Roger Wallace. The band is tight and sticks faithfully to the original arrangement and the classic country sound.

Ginny's Little Longhorn has become a home base for Poston, Wallace, Stringer and others in the Austin country scene and Poston includes the bar in a song with some very slick turns of phrase, "The Longhorn Song" (subtitled "I'm Going to the Little Longhorn and You Can Go to Hell"). This woman is fed up and she's not hiding the fact anymore. Poston and her band deliver another vintage honky tonk performance worthy of any Saturday night at the Little Longhorn.

I've closed the windows and I've slammed the doors
On broken promises and hardwood floors
I'm not crying like I did before
'Cause I just don't care

So run your fingers through your long dark hair
And you can tell me I was just too young to know
Give to me the wisdom of all your years
Open your mouth and let flow
But I don't care anymore

I haven't the heart to stick around
I haven't the up to cure your down
And I just want to go...
Down to midnight in some Longhorn bar
Away from bald guys with ponytails
I'm goin' home to hear a steel guitar
And I just don't care

Proving once again how sharp her eye is and how good she is at clever turns of phrase, the twangy "I Could Loan Some Lonesome To You" is another track straight out of the Austin textbook.

I could loan some lonesome to you
If you're wonderin' who or what to cling to
If you'd like to borrow the blues
I could loan some lonesome to you

Karen Poston is the genuine article. She understands the country side of Americana as well as anyone working in the field. Her approach is full of honesty, integrity and devotion to the music. Anyone who remembers back to the days when Freda and The Firedogs were the hottest bar band on the Austin scene (that would be 1974 for those who don't remember) will see a direct genetic link from there to Real Bad that covers 25 years of Austin country music. Life is good ­ and so is Karen Poston.

* Got a Real Bad jones for some pure honky tonk music? Karen Poston has a little record stand at the side of the great cyber-highway just outside of Austin at www.karenposton.com or you can hook up with her at www.musicroom.org





Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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