âBillâs Picksâ is a new column weâll feature right here on our blog each week featuring a new release selected and reviewed by our smartest employee, William Boyleâknown as Bill to most folks. Bill is from Brooklyn, NY but lives in Oxford now. He is the author of the novel GRAVESEND and the story collection DEATH DONâT HAVE NO MERCY.  You can find him behind the counter at the record store on Sundays and Mondays.  You can buy his books at Square Books in Oxford.Â
Read Billâs Picks belowâŠ
Richmond Fontaineâs You Canât Go Back If Thereâs Nothing to Go Back To is a hell of a last act for the band. Theyâve been a model of consistency for twenty-two years, but circumstances have forced them to call it quits. And, as the greats tend to do, theyâve ended things gracefully, making one of their best records.
To be clear: Iâd follow Willy Vlautin anywhere. Heâs my favorite novelist (please go read The Motel Life, Northline, Lean On Pete, and The Free, if you havenât) and one of my favorite songwriters, up in the top tier for me with Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, Shane MacGowan, Bruce Springsteen, Jason Molina, and Neko Case. No one these days does story-songs like Vlautin. Imagine the Springsteen of Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River mixed with the John Doe of early X and throw in some of Dead Moonâs reckless spirit, and youâll begin to understand where Vlautin is coming from.
Genre-wise, the music isnât easily classifiable. Richmond Fontaine often gets tucked neatly into the Americana section, but I think that does them a disservice. Country Noir is closer to the truth. Really, though, theyâre the band playing on the corner stage of some sad casino while a broken down gambler spends his last grand on a card game and a leathery showgirl drinks vodka tonics on the arm at the bar while watching the races. If that sounds good to you, well then, youâll strike gold here.
When asked where to start with Richmond Fontaine, I usually point folks to Post to Wire, but you canât really go wrong and this would actually be a perfect place to start too. Donât be intimidated by the cast of characters. Many of them show up in previous Richmond Fontaine songs and Vlautin is, in effect, giving them their endings, but that doesnât mean youâll feel lost; these songs, on the contrary, definitely function as standalones, even if their overall feel is novelistic.
Vlautinâs voice is at its lonesomest here. When he makes proclamations like âLetâs hit one more place / before we go home,â it wraps up the hope and despair inherent in any life on the margins. His songs are peopled with wrecks and fuck-ups whose best memories involve going on drunks for days and never fighting, whose biggest hopes are that their pals donât run on out on them when theyâre sleeping. These are men and women who are perpetually on the ropes. âMy mom worked in an office down that street / You could always see her on her break on the back steps, smoking / Dressed up and worried, she was always broke and worried about everything,â the narrator of âI Canât Black It Out If I Wake Up and Rememberâ laments. As in his books, Vlautin can knock you down and lift you up at the same time. He gives you these quiet, gut-punch moments. And heâs a master of details. Take the character in âWhitey and Meâ with the âI stole more than I ever gaveâ tattoo on the back of his hand.
Time doesnât mean anything to Vlautinâs characters. How can it when youâre âalready sinking at 16, 19, and 20,â as is the case with the bad luck brothers of âThree Brothers Roll into Town.â The narrator of âI Got Off the Busâ tells us: âI know what you abandon dies / What you leave leaves you too / I know you canât go back / if thereâs nothing to go back to.â These songs deal with defeat, sure, but thereâs always some possibility off in the distance, some chance of staying clean, not fucking up, living right. âDo you think an easy run will find me?â the narrator of âEasy Runâ asks, a desperate prayer for good luck. Itâs a perfect note to end Richmond Fontaine on.
My favorite tracks: âWake Up Ray,â âWhitey and Me (Donât Ride Him Down),â âLetâs Hit One More Place,â âDonât Skip Out On Me,â âTapped Out in Tulsa,â âA Night in the City,â and âEasy Runâ