Bi-coastal Americana duo Goodnight, Texas are gearing up for the release of their third proper album Conductor, which comes out Friday April 6, 2018. Chock full of classic folk, country, bluegrass and rock, Avi Vinocur and Patrick Dyer Wolf have struck gold once again with their partnership. This musical tandem comes despite great physical distance – the name Goodnight, Texas is inspired by the midway point between the two members’ homes in North Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. Conductor is the duo’s first album since Uncle John Farquhar in 2014, though they did issue an album of unreleased tracks called An Even Longer Life of Living. Stream the new album in full below:
From the opening notes of “Keep Movin'” to the conclusion of “Homesick,” on Conductor the two talented singers and instrumentalists run the emotional gamut from celebratory to sorrowful. “Outrage for the Execution of Willie McGee” acutely expresses the outrage of what can only have been a racial-motivated execution of “poor black Willie,” mixing distorted guitars over powerfully effective banjo picking. It stands as a stark contrast to the more good-time feel of the acoustic singalong “Takin’ You Word For It,” which stands as one of the more pop-oriented moments of the record. “Longshot” has a bit of a garage-y feel to its take on acoustic blues while “Cassie, Come On Over” is frantically-paced fingerpick-a-palooza in the form of a a come-on to a taken woman. For the eclectic fan of Americana, there’s something for everyone on Conductor.
According to the band, “Conductor is a bunch of stories about turning points, be they personal, professional, political; and it’s a portrait of our halfhearted attempts during these turning points to harness the great electrical current of humanity…(when you have a conductor, you could use a conductor).” They add, “This one has been a long time coming for us, and a lot of death and life has happened to us in the meantime. With any luck, the dramatic tension in these tunes will hang there for the listener like a slo-mo desert sunset, like it has for us.”
Conductor track list
1. “Keep Movin'”
2. “Longshot”
3. “Takin’ Your Word For It”
4. “Outrage for the Execution of Willie McGee”
5. “End Of The Road”
6. “Tucumcari”
7. “Cassie, Come On Over”
8. “Laramie”
9. “Mona, Take Me Home”
10. “Barstow”
11. “Homesick”
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