It’s a song about needing to hear comforting classic music to cope with a heartbreak, but the cleverly titled “Two Merles and a Buck” – one of the witty, sparkling highlights on George Highfill’s latest album Thank a Trucker – really speaks to the artist’s representing powerful and insightful old school country music amidst the current slick and super popular, poppy, shallow “bro country.”
Listeners pining for perfect blend of tradition and contemporary energy Highfill provides will revel in charting a classic styled journey from the rollicking blue-collar gem “If You Got It Thank a Trucker” through the playful, sassy twang of “The Bulldogger.” And as their hearts break right along with the singer/songwriter’s haunting, mournful sincerity on “Too Sad To Sing,” they might wonder where a musical godsend like Highfill has been all their life – or, for those who may remember him, where he’s been since his last album, The Music Born in Bakersfield, released in the pre-Spotify era of 2009.
Truth is, he’s got an incredible resume that includes being a staff writer for Tree Publishing, director of the Hank Thompson School of Country Music At Rogers State College, and serving as a session musician for the likes of Ricky Skaggs, Chris Hillman and Billy Swan. He also opened concerts for some of the legends his original music harkens back to, like George Jones and Merle Haggard. But yeah, only three albums in 25 years has made him something of a part time recording artist. With any luck, and some love from critics and the public, he won’t stay away so long after Thank a Trucker.
To use some of his titles here to fashion a narrative, when we’re experiencing a “Long, Long Cold Hard Winter” (a charming, upbeat broken heart song) and when times are tough (the breezy lament “I’m Not Making a Living”) and we’ve got literal “Ants in Our Pants” (gotta love this kind of whimsical trad country) waiting for something authentic, he’ll be there, sharing the plaintive truths of “Honky Tonk You, Heartbroken Me” and the lively fiddle-fired drama “Rowdy, Will and Me.” One of the key songs in the center of the 11- track collection is the hopefully romantic “I’m Counting On You,” but fans old and new can turn that back in his troubadour face and encourage him to regal us with more of this magic in the near future.
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