The Master of Miserable

There have always been two Damien Jurados.  One is the freewheeling troubador, with raucous country pop songs like “Honey Baby” or “Letters and Drawings” off Rehearsals For Departure.  The other is the poet of cheated husbands with short-fuse tempers – or just about anyone whose life is plumbing the depths.

His last album, And Now That I’m In Your Shadow, was all the second and his darkest work in years.  It was beautiful and wise and pristine, but it had the potential to send you into a major depression for months.  Fortunately for my therapy bills, his 2008 album Caught In The Trees is a more upbeat work.  That’s a relative term for Damien Jurado, but his cynicism is at least matched with some lively tempos this time around.  “Gillian Was A Horse” is a pretty good example – stomping along while detailing some pretty shady characters.  Second track “Trials” is a lot slower, but it’s easily the prettiest song he’s recorded in half a decade.

It’s a pretty good place to start if you’re just discovering him – and an even better opportunity to come back if he’s lost you a bit in recent years.

Damien Jurado – “Gillian Was A Horse”

Damien Jurado – “Trials”