Hinkley

Elephant Roundup

(Carbon)

Record Review by Amber Henson

So I’m just going to admit that I was wrong.  I was wrong, and the only excuse I have is the transgressions of youth.

I do like country.  But I don’t like what I thought, all these years, was country.  Country Western, I suppose is the more proper title of the style I do not like, or I could even whittle it down to "Truck Driving Country.”  I’m guessing that’s what they’re playing on the radio these days.

In my first review of Hinkley, for their album Estate Sale, I wrote “If they must be labeled, you might have to call it country, but what a nasty label that can be,” and then expanded from there.  Hinkley is still country, the good country, the one with feelings I can relate to and nary a mention of that ever-present Jesus (and if there is, a brief one, and definitely nothing about him taking the wheel).

Hinkley’s new album, Elephant Roundup, is a live album, but not in the way I think of live albums.  Maybe I’ve listened to one too many of, say, Oasis’ live albums but there’s no shrill audience screaming to be had here, and the recording comes across clear and beautiful.

The lyrics are sad and intriguing, about waking up in sand or shaving “your California face.”  The old standby subject, whiskey, which showed up in Estate Sale, certainly shows up a lot.  The title track on the album is my favorite of the songs.  There’s no lyrics, but the music is fun, full of brass, pianos, and rollicking drums.  It shows off their skills without needing to get mixed up in a story.  The next song, “Below My Feet,” has a great brass section to it.

I love it when bands I reviewed early on for The Red Alert do well.  It makes me feel like a proud mama bird with my little chickadees all grown up.  Hinkley definitely makes me proud.