“Vincent Neil Emerson” Album Review

Vincent Neil Emerson loves his home state of Texas. Many other artists from the state do as well. This is not what makes him unique… We’ll get there. Emerson was raised in Van Zandt County, and cut his teeth playing shows in the bars and honky-tonks of the Fort Worth area. His highly acclaimed debut record, “Fried Chicken and Evil Women”, was the quintessential Texas country record. It was a stellar ode to the venues in which those songs were born. It conjured imagery of honkey-tonks from Austin to Fort Worth, complete with smoke-stained walls, raucous crowds, and overflowing glasses of beer leaving circular rings of fluid on wooden tabletops. He used clever word play and his one of a kind, laid back vocal delivery to make even its most serious moments seem almost lighthearted. 

            On his self-titled sophomore effort, which is due for release on June 25 via La Honda Records/Thirty Tigers, Emerson could have simply made another record following this template and been successful. I’d go as far as to say that he could release a new record every year using the same formula as his debut, and he’d have a long and fruitful career. A lot of artists fall into this routine once they receive a modicum of acclaim. Vincent Neil Emerson is not like a lot of artists. He threw that formula aside, and as a result we have been blessed with an absolute stunner of a record that will appeal to fans of his prior work as well as fans unfamiliar with his music up to this point.

            Produced by Rodney Crowell, and recorded at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville Tennessee, “Vincent Neil Emerson” puts Emerson, his Gibson acoustic, and his stunning lyricism front and center. From there, Crowell and engineer Chuck Ainlay use light instrumentation to compliment Emerson and help craft an entirely different world than that of his debut. 

            The album begins with “Texas Moon”. The accordion hits early, and brings with it a mellow Tejano vibe, and the realization that this record will not be a rehash of Emerson’s prior work. It sounds like something you would have heard in a dusty West Texas bar, pre-electricity, with swing doors and sweat glistened poker players eyeballing a shitty hand of cards and a short glass of watered-down whiskey. 

            “Learnin’ To Drown” is the embodiment of high and lonesome. He speaks of his father’s suicide, his mother’s coping mechanisms, and how they affected him. 

I’m barely a man and livin’ hard

My father killed himself

My mother hit the bar

Well ain’t it funny

Ain’t it funny

How the world will set you free

-“Learnin’ To Drown”

Folks…This is honesty distilled to its purest form. It’s a seismic display of unbridled candor. One hears the lyrics and is instantly drawn closer to their orator. 

            “Durango” is another highlight. You can practically hear the snaps and crackles of a campfire in the plains of North Texas. Squint your eyes just right, and you’ll see Emerson strumming his guitar, serenading his camp mates as they sit in reverential silence and listen. And listen they should. 

            “Ballad of the Choctaw-Apache” tells the tale of the tribe being swindled out of 180,000 acres of ancestral land in the 1960’s by the federal government for the purpose of creating a reservoir. The song is a reality check, as one realizes that manifest destiny extended far beyond the days of an unsettled nation. It’s also a gut punch, as Emerson describes how this this act affected his forebearers. They use the flute to add to the songs sentimentality and give it a certain patina, almost as if it was written in times gone by.

            “High on Gettin’ By” channels Townes Van Zandt, a favorite of Emerson’s. He’s coming to terms with his faults on this one. It’s yet another example of his uncompromising honesty across the entire project. 

I used to play the jester

But I let go of the sceptor

Along the way

-High on Gettin’ By

There is no clever word play here. He’s not giving you a wink and a nod on this record. This is Vincent Neil Emerson showing the world that he is capable of deadpan self-reflection, something most artists are either afraid to do or are unable to pull off convincingly.

Vincent Neil Emerson loves Texas. Many other artists from the state do as well. What makes him unique is the fact that he is not content with painting a picture of any one part of his beloved homeland with his music. Over the course of his two releases, he has shown us everything from the dusty bars of the borderlands to the honky-tonks of central Texas, to the thick pines of the eastern side of the state, to the lonesome plains of the north. He has created a cohesive body of work that serves as a true tribute to the land he calls home and has done it with unflinching honesty. I, for one, am thankful. I believe that after hearing “Vincent Neil Emerson” in its entirety, you will be as well.