Devotion + Doubt

Hey all. Sorry about the "vacation". But i am back at ya now, with a great, great album from 10 years ago. I listened a lot to this album back in 97, when I (and possibly you too?)was in my alt country phase. This is Richard Buckner's "Devotion + Doubt", his second. As they say here, "No tiene presa mala", meaning; there's not a clunker in the bunch, imho.

His newer disc, Meadow, from 06 is more of a rock thing, and it ain't bad at all, but THIS is pure gold. A beautiful, acoustic sounding record, intimate, depressing (yay!), one of my favorite albums from that time in my life. And beautifully designed packaging, too. Buy it HERE.

DEVOTION + DOUBT:

1. Pull
2. Lil Wallet Picture
3. Ed's Song
4. Home
5. A Goodbye Rye
6. Fater
7. Kate Rose
8. 4AM
9. Roll
10. Polly Waltz
11. Figure
12. On Travelling
13. Song Of 27

If you've never heard Mr Buckner, here are a couple of live performances from 1994 that'll give you an idea. And if you like this, the album is even better:

Richard Buckner on Fog Town Network--"The Worst Way":


Richard Buckner on Fog Town Network--"22":

And some amusing RB quotes from an interview (I think he was having a bad day):

It's funny, I was just talking to someone about this yesterday. I'm working in a studio right now with a bluegrass band, producing their record. We were talking to the engineers, and one of the interns is a real young guy and he's talking about MP3s and the people behind all that, and he's like, well, these companies, they're not making any money off it. And I was like, what are you fucking talking about? You think people are doing this for nothing? If people weren't making money off this, they wouldn't be doing it, because that's the nature of the beast.Usually every night when I'm performing onstage, at some point I think, like, ‘isn't this fucking weird?’, I'm up here on a podium hollering and people are looking at me. This is a really weird fucking way to make a living. Or not, as the case may be, he adds wryly. And it is weird. You're up there facing a couple hundred people and they're facing you and you're up there hollering.. When you put it in those terms it's strange, and after doing it for nine months of a year you're like, ‘God, I can't believe this is what I do with my time.’

You know, the only reason I write is that I'm trying to figure things out in my own life. It comes from there. I'm trying to comfort myself or something.

Does it matter that your music matters to others?
No. If that matters, I think I'm in big trouble. Absolutely not. I don't give a fuck. And I tell people that too. They start telling me, ‘Well, you know, I thought this, I didn't think this.’
He shakes his head, laughing.
You know, I don't want to know this. Keep this shit to yourself! It's not important to anybody. Especially me. So keep it to yourself.
Look, if I'm talking to somebody I'm not going to be a dick and say, ‘hey, I don't want to hear what your favourite song is.’ But if people get too deep into it, I have to say, ‘Listen, this is not what this is all about. You know, take it for what it's worth and that's it. If it means a lot to you, great.

Surely there must be some songs which say something you want to say to someone else; surely there must be some people you want to hear a song and take a message from it. Buckner laughs, as much mocking as self-mocking.
I think it's kind of a cowardly way to tell somebody something you want to say to them, don't you? Like, ah fuck, give me a fucking break. Is that what you're doing, you're sending me like a secret note or something? Fuck. That's my whole problem with computers. People can get on there and write whatever they want and not leave their own name. You fucking coward! God damn. Put your name on there. If you're going to say something to somebody, so when you make these little glib nerdy-ass comments, we'll know who it's coming from, we can get down to business and see what your real fucking problem is.