James Talley "Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got A Lot Of Love" (Capitol/Cimmaron Records, 1975/2006)
Wow. What a great record. If you're a fan of Merle Haggard, Guy Clark or Chip Taylor, then you simply have to get this record... it's cut from the same cloth as their best work, and it's of a similar calibre of quality. With a crisp, mellow acoustic backing, Talley hits all the right notes, in a poetic yet plainspoken, dust-blown, down-home homage to his Okie raisings, he sings nostalgically of living poor but feeling free. Along with the title track, other standouts include the gentle, wistful "Red River Memory," "Give Him Another Bottle," the jaunty "No Opener Needed," and Talley's joyful tribute to western swing impresario W. Lee O'Daniel, and the day the Light Crust Doughboys came to play a gig in Tulsa. These are all fine songs, but really it's the album as a whole that deserves your attention... This is one of those records that mysteriously never seems able to leave my CD player; it's wound up being played again and again, and every time it just seems to get better. Highly recommended. (You can get this disc -- and others -- directly from Talley's label at www.cimarronrecords.com )
James Talley "Tryin' Like The Devil" (Capitol Records, 1976) (LP)
James Talley "Blackjack Choir" (Capitol Records, 1977) (LP)
James Talley "Ain't It Somethin' " (Capitol Records, 1977) (LP)
James Talley "American Originals" (Bear Family/Cimarron Records, 1985) (LP)
(Produced by Ron Cornelius, Doyle Grisham, Tommy West, Jim Williamson, etc)
To be honest, this is a pretty dismal album, a mish-mosh of what appears to have been demo recordings and maybe a few singles, with material dating back to the 'Seventies, though its not clear if the actual recordings date back that far as well. Yeah, sure, this includes his song "Are They Gonna Make Us Outlaws Again," which is a great song, though even this version is kinda so-so. I think the most charitable way to view this is as a demo album, which excuses the generally flat, thin production and apparent lack of commitment from the studio musicians. (Who, it should be noted, are not Nashville A-listers, but rather a collection of little-known pickers, possibly Talley's own band.) One surprise is the presence of Boston area indie-billy, John Lincoln Wright, who is listed as co-producer on several tracks cut at the Baker Street Studio, in Belmont, MA, although he doesn't seem to have performed on any tracks himself. Anyway, this disc struck me as a particularly listless, dispirited set, though others may be more generous in this evaluations...
James Talley "Lovesongs And The Blues" (Bear Family Records, 1989)
James Talley "Road To Torreon" (Bear Family/Cimarron Records, 1992)
James Talley "Live" (Bear Family Records, 1994)
A live album taken from two 1979 shows...
James Talley "Woody Guthrie And The Songs Of My Oklahoma Home" (Cimmaron Records, 1999)
James Talley "Nashville City Blues" (Cimmaron Records, 2000)
James Talley "Touchstones" (Cimmaron Records, 2002)
James Talley "Journey" (Cimmaron Records, 2004)
James Talley "Journey: The Second Voyage" (Cimmaron Records, 2004)
James Talley is one of the great unsung heroes of the 1970s alt-country scene... Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Talley had been kicking around Nashville for several years when he started work on his first solo album record in 1973; he self-financed the record, then held onto it for a couple of years so he could get out of a contract with Atlantic's flailing country division, and eventually pitched it to Capitol, where it became a cult classic. A few more major label records followed, though ultimately Talley was cut loose and went indie, with a growing legacy of fine records under his belt. Here's a quick look at his work...
