Gurf Morlix - Last Exit to Happyland (2009)

While best known for his production credits -- he's helmed stunning albums for Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams, and Buddy Miller to name just a few -- Morlix is a winning performer on his own. With the exception of drummer Rick Richards, his longtime collaborator, Morlix plays everything on the album with his usual understated virtuosity. "One More Second" follows a murderer from the gun store to the doorway of his intended victim. Morlix lays down some wailing slide guitar accents, moody B-3 organ and snarling lead guitar to complement his gruff, despondent vocals. "She's a River" is an almost religious song of lost love; churchy Hammond B-3 and sanctified backing vocals from Patty Griffin intensify the feeling of grief and longing. Morlix uses his mournful tenor on the chorus while singing the verse in a tortured croak. Griffin also lends sympathetic backing vocals to "Voice of Midnight," another apocalyptic love song delivered with subtle intensity. A simple repeated electric guitar figure and the harmonies of Griffin and Morlix make the song a real heartbreaker. "Crossroads" is another bluesy meditation on the bargains we all make to get through the day. It's framed as a deal with the devil, with Richards laying down a minimal drumbeat, and Morlix almost whispering the lyric over his subdued acoustic guitar. "Hard Road" is a road song that starts quietly and builds slowly. The images of headlights in the darkness, deserted gas stations, and the romance of the void are all clichés, but Morlix makes them sound brand new with the hushed intensity of his singing. He plays a blue greasy guitar solo over his Hammond B-3 line on "Walkin' to New Orleans" a jaunty tribute to the folks who survived Katrina that's totally unlike the Fats Domino tune of the same name. This song is a reminder that you have to keep pushing through the storm no matter what. This is only the fifth solo album Morlix has made, but like his others it's a menacing tour de force, brimming over with vignettes as dark as the spooky cover art that portrays his face slowly emerging from the inky background of a starless night.