Stories from the Silver Moon Cafe

Untitled
Studio album by Mickey Newbury
Released 2000
Recorded Longhall Studio, Eugene, Oregan
Genre Country, Folk
Label Longhall/Mountain Retreat
Producer Paula Wolak
Mickey Newbury chronology
It Might as Well Be the Moon (1999) Stories From the Silver Moon Cafe (2000) A Long Road Home (2002)

Stories From the Silver Moon Cafe is an album by Mickey Newbury released in 2000.

Recording and composition

After releasing several live albums, Stories From the Silver Moon Cafe was Newbury's first studio album of new material in five years. It was produced and engineered by Paula Wolak and recorded at Longhall Studio in the home of Newbury's friend Marty Hall in Eugene, Oregon.[1] Newbury, who was ill with emphysema, enjoyed the experience; Hall later recalled to Newbury biographer Joe Ziemer:

He and [his son] Chris arrived with the respiratory-aid equipment and musical trappings, including a new golden microphone and his guitars...The day before Paula had to return to Nashville, Mickey found himself feeling strong and in good voice. He and Paula hit the 'record' button and worked for eight hours. Some of what appears on Stories From the Silver Moon Cafe and virtually all of what appears on A Long Road Home was recorded during Mick's stay at my home.[2]

Hall added that Newbury, who had a reputation for being difficult to work with, made the process fun but would get irritated "when the technical gear did not cooperate to match the pace of his creative mind."[3] Hall also contributed his own song, "Twenty Years and Sweet Dreams Ago", to the LP and designed the cover art. In this era, Newbury did much of his writing on piano,[4] admitting "Oh Mama" was inspired by Randy Newman: "It's written in his style, his piano chords. One of the best songs ever written is 'I Think It's Going to Rain Today.' I always wanted to record that."[5] Newbury references his own past with a radically rearranged (and partially rewritten) version of his popular "Why Have You Been Gone So Long" and appears to answer his early classic "Sweet Memories" with the cautionary "Some Memories Are Best Left Alone". The line "Lying in the darkness, I am waiting for the light" is especially poignant considering Newbury's failing health. This air of ethereal resignation is also apparent on the album's closing track "A Father's Prayer," which AllMusic's William Ruhlmann calls a "formal statement of faith and family."

Reception

AllMusic: "It had always been a talent of Newbury's to write country songs that sounded like they had been around forever, and such works as 'Ain't No Blues Today'...and 'Ain't No Sunshine'...certainly did."

Track listing

All songs composed by Mickey Newbury unless otherwise indicated:

  1. "The Silver moon Cafe"
  2. "Lie to Me Darlin'"
  3. "It Makes Me So Sad" (Newbury/Hank Cochran)
  4. "Some Memories Are Better Left Alone"
  5. "Down N' Dirty"
  6. "Why You Been Gone So Long"
  7. "Ain't No Blues Today"
  8. "Ain't No Sunshine "
  9. "Oh Mama" (Newbury/Jack Williams)
  10. "Dancing Shadows"
  11. "Twenty Years and Sweet dreams Ago" (Newbury/Martin Hall)
  12. "A Storm Is Comin'"
  13. "A Father's Prayer"

References

  1. ↑ Zeimer 2015, p. 281.
  2. ↑ Zeimer 2015, p. 282.
  3. ↑ Zeimer 2015, pp. 282–283.
  4. ↑ Zeimer 2015, p. 285.
  5. ↑ Zeimer 2015, p. 284.
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