CLIFF WESTFALL WITH TOM CLARK & The High ACTION BOYS AND WIRE TROOP
CLIFF WESTFALL New York-based country songwriter Cliff Westfall writes
songs about heartache, loss, addiction... you know, funny songs. Or he
can turn on a dime and dive headlong into a sentimental weeper. The
Kentucky native delivers with a mixture of wit and bravado that, for
Westfall, is central to what country music is all about. On his album
Baby You Win, he assembled a crew of some of New York’s best
musicians to explore a new idea of Americana, drawing inspiration from
sources often forgotten by the current country scene.
“I feel like the humor of people like Roger Miller, Don Gibson, and
Del Reeves is neglected nowadays,” Westfall says. “A lot of
current country music makes you want to ask, ‘Hey, does anybody
remember laughter?’ And you know, it’s not really anything against
what anyone else is doing, it’s just that the ability to laugh at
your troubles seems to have gotten lost.” The songs on Baby You Win
are bitingly acerbic, dependent on the twisty puns, bittersweet humor,
and turns of phrase that used to define country music. Westfall’s a
true son of Kentucky and an honest student of the genre, but refuses
to be constrained by its definitions. He cites Chuck Berry as his
favorite lyricist, arguing that some of Berry’s songs were much
closer to their country cousins than lines of race and genre might
have suggested. This is Americana outside the box, made by an artist
gleefully rifling through the dusty record bins of American roots
music and converting them into something new.
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29/02/2020 Last update