LUCINDA WILLIAMS ON GORDON: "SONGS LIKE SHORT STORIES"
Kevin Gordon – the southern rock & roll songwriter and poet – has earned a feature in today's New York Times under the headline "A Musician Or a Poet? Yes to Both," including Gordon talking about his love of poets Richard Hugo and Denis Johnson.
Peter Applebome also spoke with Gordon fan Lucinda Williams, who told him, "He’s writing songs that are like short stories, and I really like the kind of swampy, bluesy sound."
That's not all we're reading about Gordon and 'Gloryland,' his first new album in seven years.
"'Glorlyand' [is] an often harrowing tour of the back-roads South with scenes of burning churches, a serio-comic brawl after a ZZ Top concert in Shreveport, La., and — most memorably — the time the Klan showed up when his seventh-grade marching band performed about 90 miles from there in Colfax."
- Peter Applebome, New York Times, February 22, 2012
"Four stars… The sheer brilliance of the lyrics to Colfax/Step in Time alone justifies a top rating for the first album in seven years from this Southern-raised poet/rocker. Gordon sketches a not-so-simple portrait of a junior-high marching band on a bus trip, and every single image feels, tastes, smells and sounds absolutely true."
- Jerry Shriver, USA Today, February 14, 2012
"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah."
- Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, February 16, 2012
"Astonishing… He knows exactly how to build and sustain interest in a song… The guitar crackles with electricity, the voice manipulates supple rhythmic shifts to make the words fit the spaces they are given. Here we are reminded that Gordon went to graduate school as a poet. He's learned a lot from other singers, but his poetry skills are stronger than most in the songwriting game.
- Steve Pick, Blurt Magazine, February 14, 2012
"Four stars… Vivid… [Gordon] tells these Southern-based tales so exquisitely that they resonate with his listeners. 'Gloryland' certainly stands as a glorious example of Americana songwriting."
- Mike Berick, American Songwriter, February 14, 2012
"Impressive… nuanced insights set alongside snarling slide guitar, rugged riffs, [and] gospel choruses."
- Mitch Myers, MAGNET, Issue 84
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