Ben Kweller’s solo albums have always been a world away from the brash rock of his mid-’90s band Radish. The group’s youthful attack of electric guitars and punchy drums gave way to a more dynamic vein of sounds on Kweller’s 2002 disc Sha Sha, which found him turning to singer-songwriter ballads, piano-driven vocal harmony, guitar pop, acoustic folk-blues and electric Americana. The follow-up, 2004’s On My Way, continued to balance ballads and rockers, and his 2006 self-titled disc exchanged his backing players for the sumptuous pop productions of a one-man overdubbed band.
For Changing Horses, Kweller has left his adopted home of New York and returned to Texas (Radish hailed from Dallas). Joined by Chris Morrissey on bass and Mark Stepro on drums, Kweller shifts away from the rock music of his teens and 20s to the country music of his childhood. Given that Kweller grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, his take on country music is surprisingly steeped in the singer-songwriter and country-rock of California in the early ’70s. As a country musician, he sounds like Gram Parsons meeting up with Jackson Browne in a western dancehall to play Nilsson on the jukebox.
The album’s laid-back tempos leave time for the vocals to stretch into wordless exclamations, and Kitt Kitterman’s pedal steel and dobro add twangy comments. Kweller hints at the dissipation of Leonard Cohen’s soundtrack for McCabe & Mrs. Miller, but his melodies rescue his words from emotional collapse. Spare backings prompt delicate vocals on the wounded “Hurtin’ You”, the elegiac “Ballad Of Wendy Baker” and the gospel-tinged “Homeward Bound”, while the mid-tempo numbers are relaxed and loose. Kweller writes of hookers, truckers, lost friends and failed loves; the earthy emotions of his familiar country themes are refreshed by the captivating craft of a pop musician.
Video for “Fight” from Changing Horses