A Long Road Home

A Long Road Home
Studio album by Mickey Newbury
Released 2002
Recorded 2002
Genre Country
Length 59:15
Label Mountain Retreat
Producer Paula Wolak
Mickey Newbury chronology
Stories from the Silver Moon Cafe
(2000)		 A Long Road Home
(2002)		 Winter Winds
(2002)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
No Depression(Favorable)[2]

A Long Road Home is the 2002 concept album by singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury, released on his Mountain Retreat label. The album was recorded while Newbury was receiving full-time oxygen treatments for emphysema. The concept album is notable for its two ten-minute plus songs "In '59" and "A Long Road Home," new songs "Where Are You Darlin' Tonight" and "So Sad," and a new version of "Here Comes The Rain, Baby" one of Newbury's early songwriting successes (a hit for Eddy Arnold) that he first recorded for his debut Harlequin Melodies. This was the last studio album Newbury released in his lifetime.

Background

Referred to as Newbury's piece de resistance,[3] A Long Road Home finds the ailing songwriter deeply reflecting on his life journey as many of his old friends (Chet Atkins, Townes Van Zandt) had recently passed on. Newbury biographer Joe Ziemer writes of the album, "...each song adds a chapter to his memoirs, profoundly personal statements about regrets, yearnings, rigged games, fleeting fortunes and voyages through Dante's Rings."[3] It appears that Newbury suspected that the LP would be his swan song; when asked if he had ever considered writing his life story, he replied, "I did...It was called A Long Road Home."

Composition

The album is bookended with the epic sagas "In '59 ("I was born in a shotgun shack that leaned against a railroad track") and "116 Westfield Street." The title track, which contains the line "Stand for a while and fill in the hole left in the heart of a wounded old soul," longs for movement as it eulogizes Galveston Bay, the East Texas woods, and other locations dear to Newbury's heart. In August 2000, Newbury admitted to biographer Joe Ziemer that the lyrics to "One More Song of Hearts and Flowers" was driving him "nuts"[4] and he eventually rewrote it as "All The Neon Lights Are Blue," which would surface on the 2003 LP Blue to This Day. The new compositions proved that, in spite of his deteriorating health, Newbury's poetic muse had not deserted him, as is evident on the heartbreakingly tender "So Sad":

Yes, I waited all that mornin' to hear her say 'I love you.'
In the mornin' light she glistened like a ruby in a stickpin.
Then she whispered something into the wet, red-leaded window,
But she said nothing; she left me so heartbroken.

Due to his breathlessness, Newbury had to alter his singing style (which is clearly evident on "So Sad") but he was not altogether perturbed by it, telling Ginny Gnadt, "I cannot sing as well as I could when I was 30, but there is something about having to depend on interpretation as opposed to vocal gymnastics that has become very appealing to me.[5]

Newbury died on September 29, 2002 at the age of 62.

Reception

Although not a commercial success, A Long Road Home received positive reviews. No Depression's Peter Blackstock called it "a masterpiece." AllMusic's Erik Hage enthused, "Newbury may be embattled physically, but the creative fires burn fiercer than ever. This is a remarkable album." Newbury biographer Joe Ziemer observed, "He saved his magnum opus for last."

Track listing

All songs written by Mickey Newbury

  1. "In '59" – 11:20
  2. "I Don't Love You" – 2:05
  3. "The Last Question (In The Dead Of The Night)" – 5:57
  4. "Here Comes The Rain, Baby" - 3:03
  5. "One More Song Of Hearts And Flowers" – 5:40
  6. "A Moment With Heather" – 0:34
  7. "Where Are You Darlin' Tonight" – 4:43
  8. "So Sad" – 6:00
  9. "Maybe" – 4:33
  10. "A Long Road Home" – 10:01
  11. "116 Westfield Street" – 5:22

Personnel

Credits

References

  1. ↑ "allmusic ( A Long Road Home > Overview )". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  2. ↑ "Mickey Newbury – A Long Road Home « Americana and Roots Music - No Depression". archives.nodepression.com. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  3. 1 2 Zeimer, Joe 2015, p. 295.
  4. ↑ Zeimer, Joe 2015, p. 299.
  5. ↑ Zeimer, Joe 2015, p. 300.

External links

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