Rodney Crowell

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Essential Albums

  • The Houston Kid
    The Houston Kid

    The Houston Kid is replete with the imagery of a Texas childhood. The power pop tune “Telephone Road” summarizes all the sense memories Rodney Crowell can conjure, but in a larger way The Houston Kid is about those memories’ thorniness. As much as Crowell remembers the fun he had as a youngster, his memories also bring back the terrors of “The Rock of My Soul” and “U Don’t Know How Much I Hate U,” both of which address his father’s violence. In spite of its uptempo demeanor, “Topsy Turvy” is one of music’s more harrowing portraits of domestic violence, told from a 10-year-old’s perspective: “Momma's on the sofa with a big black eye/I cross my heart and tell myself I hope they die.” Country music has long had a preoccupation with nostalgia, and it’s to Crowell’s credit that he refuses to burnish his childhood memories by erasing his pain. The Houston Kid is uniquely powerful for how it incorporates moments of fear and rage alongside the sights and smells of Houston in the ‘60s.

  • Diamonds & Dirt
    Diamonds & Dirt

    Rodney Crowell had been a well-known country songwriter since the '70s, but tracks like the husband-and-wife duet "It's Such a Small World" suggest that he had been saving his best tunes for this solo breakthrough. Though the song, about an old pair rekindling their connection, only lasts a few minutes, Crowell is able to craft characters that feel full and complex. The deep cuts are just as sweet: "I Know You’re Married" is joyful bubblegum and "Above and Beyond" brings Buck Owens into the late '80s.

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About Rodney Crowell

Rodney Crowell first gained recognition as a leader of country's mid-'80s new traditionalist movement, though he had ambitions far beyond that perimeter. Fusing the Texas singer/songwriter sensibility with a sound that honored country's past but added a rock & roll punch, Crowell's first success was as a writer and a sideman, spending three years as part of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band. Crowell produced several fine albums for Rosanne Cash and penned hits for Crystal Gayle, Bob Seger, and Highway 101 before enjoying a commercial breakthrough with 1988's album Diamonds & Dirt. 1992's Life Is Messy and 2001's The Houston Kid found Crowell moving into more personal territory, and as he stepped from the major labels to independent imprints, he pleased both critics and fans with smart and insightful releases such as 2014's Tarpaper Sky and 2023's The Chicago Sessions.

HOMETOWN
Houston, TX, United States
BORN
7 August 1950
GENRE
Country

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