Written by James Killen
Sep 21, 2013 at 08:00 PM
ImageBarbara and I took a little trip north Saturday night to take in a dose of outlaw country at the Dosey Doe Café on FM1488 with Cyrus James on the bill. I must admit that I knew very little about the gentleman, except that he’d been taking a bit of a different route at knocking down Nashville walls, some of his vocals reminded me of Dr. Hook and Brewer and Shipley, and that he’s been dressing like Buffalo Bill Cody. I guess that my question was, “Is this guy hype or the real deal?”

He’s been making an impression on some of the satellite radio stations of late. I listened to some songs from his last CD and found them creative, but only within a boundary that seems to have been set by the C&W industry for what is acceptable for “Outlaw Country”. Then I stumbled across another web site, http://hellopoetry.com/-cyrus-james-goodhart/ . That, my friends, is where the good stuff is.

I will start out by saying that the entire evening’s music was entertaining, but what we really are looking for is that unique bit of creativity that makes an act stand apart. Songs like “Lucky 59” married the rock genre with country in a most traditional way, but it was quickly followed by the melodic “Seems to Me”, about growing up in Colorado, with two unabashed Dylan references (“answers just blowing in the wind” and “forever young”) stashed in the lyrics. Pulling a stunt like that shows that Cyrus has made the assumption that his listeners are sophisticated enough to recognize the references and drag the themes from those two songs into his composition to flesh out its meaning. Hence, three songs into the set I’m picking Cyrus James as the real deal.

James continued to mix in the old stuff, like “Winter in Frisco”, with an occasional cover, like David Alan Coe’s “Living on the Run”, with his up and coming stuff like, “Paper Boats”, due out on his next CD. One thing that I noticed is that his newer, as yet unreleased stuff seamed to flow more naturally, even better suited to his voice than the material released on the previous disc.

I can’t go too much further discussing the show without mentioning the band that he’s put together. The rhythm section is anchored on a steady bass line and enhanced immensely by some exceptional keyboard support, but on “Stranger”, guitarist, Jesse Houghton really stood out for the first time in the show. Houghton, playing a black Les Paul, reminded this old southern rock and roller of a reincarnated Dickie Betts with some younger, more rocking licks.

ImageThe band continued, covering an old Lieber/ Butler song made famous by the Rolling Stones, “Down Home Girl”, and a new tune that strings together a pretty good list of country colloquialisms called “I Don’t Cry When it Rains”, followed by the T-shirt inspiring, “I’m Drunk and I’m Sorry” and “Lickity Split”, that Cyrus recorded on the last CD with Jason Boland.

I must admit that I don’t have a full knowledge of all of the songs that James played that night, but I felt influences from Steve Miller and Bruce Springsteen bubbling up from the talking blues and smooth country that pervaded the show. When they kicked in to Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” with Houghton’s smooth leads, I couldn’t help but see Slim Pickens collapse in the dust holding his gut.

The show began to wind toward its end with “Tumbleweed”, “Long Way Down” and “Reckless Cinderella”. Cyrus sent the rest of the band from the stage for the last two songs, done acoustic. The first was a cover of Hayes Carll’s “Long Way Home” and the second a tribute to James’ working class origins, “Blue Collar” that recognized contributions of miners, truck drivers, cowboys and construction workers.

If you get a chance to check out this full band experience, get ready for an evening of country rocking entertainment. If it’s just a show by Cyrus James acoustic, listen up for the real Cyrus. He’s coming out all over. Ya’ll have fun. We do.