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BEN KWELLER'S COUNTRY RECORD


Posted by Hartley On Jan 29, 2009

He's short like his grandma...

That's quite a retro grunge look Ben Kweller was rocking on Tuesday night when he swung by Letterman to give the world a taster of his brand new country record, Changing Horses (ATO). As the above clip lays evidence to, the whole proceedings were very Burrito Bros. (see: crazy wandering bass line and sprawling pedal steel part). God knows, making a "country" record to me just screamed of "indulgence," in the same way Medallian screamed "passion project" for Vince and the boys back when Entourage was really batting a thousand. But I have to hand it to Kweller, "Fight" is a killer tune (an anthem even), and any song that makes room for Paul Schaeffer to jump in for a grand 'ole piano solo is a winner in my book. 

Hey, check out this sexy 180 gram gatefold vinyl pressing of the record!:

BRM blog image

The thing even looks like a Ryan Adams record. Ha. I kid you Ben. Ryan Adams wishes he still made albums anywhere near as good as this one. Seriously. For you supervisors jonesing for some classic country sounds Horses delivers. For me, though, Ben Kweller has always been crazy good at penning ballads (see: "Falling", "Living Life"). Thankfully even when he's sporting some cowboy boots the guy still writes some really beautiful "slow jams" like "The Ballad of Wendy Baker" and "Hurtin' You" - the latter of which you can listen to below.

Here's "Hurtin' You" off Changing Horses out this Tuesday on ATO Records:

 

 

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