Biography

Kevin Deal Album Review: There Goes The Neighborhood
Published on July 21st, 2012

Kevin Deal *There Goes the Neighborhood* Blind Nello Records *

Even the best of Texas treasures, working man’s blues and sure-enough rock ‘n roll need a little bit of faith now and then. Faith’s a tricky, multi-headed monster by definition, of course. And like most complicated affairs, it’s one best served straight-up. No shaking, none of that stirring mess. On the rocks is how it’s got to be. On the rocks is when faith matters the most, and on the rocks is exactly where a multitude of Texas stonemason Kevin Deal’s characters have found themselves over the last decade’s worth of albums and hard-bitten songs. You know Deal and his work from his previous chart-surfing recordings. 1998 brought you Lovin’ Shootin’ Cryin’ and Dyin’. 2000’s Honky Tonks ‘n Churches summed up the millennium as well as anything released that year could have, and the ensuing decade saw several records draw critical praise and commercial success. Seven, the most recent, found Deal at his artistic, storytelling best, unleashing stories and insights more than sufficient to justify the comparisons to Ely and Earle he’s drawn over the years.

At the core, though, Kevin Deal is a working family man with a vision founded on faith. His faith, his way, with, as Billy Joe Shaver or Kinky Friedman might say, the God of his choosing. The signs have been there all along, evident in both the music and the life Kevin’s led. Now the curtain’s been pulled back, and Deal’s newest release, There Goes the Neighborhood, puts an exclamation point on the fine print, the heartache, and the unwritten rules which govern a life well lived. The record is a refreshing departure from a timeworn brace of evils in the world of spiritual music: the simple rehashing of gospel standards, and the soulless, spineless pabulum of mindless “praise songs.” Most of what’s here is original, and regardless of the flavor of your own personal faith (or lack thereof), contains lines that will resonate. This, for instance, from the title track:

There is a path of evil

There is a path that’s good

Hey which one will you be on

When it’s there goes the neighborhood?

That’s not proselytizing, and it’s not evangelism – it’s just a simple truth coupled with the fundamental question every last one of us wrestles with. Deal has an answer that works for him, and he makes that clear here, but not at the cost of bashing you over the head with a hide-bound Gutenberg edition of the good book. In fact, for the most part, what you’ll find here is the same sort of honest questions and hard-bitten reality that permeates all of Kevin’s records. While this one has a clear gospel flavor and thrust, it’s compiled in a manner that will provide both comfort and an opportunity for reflection to those of any faith. Here’s an example from “Cosmic Accident”:

I do not have the faith required of me

Oh to leave this all to chance

I cannot believe that we, my friends,

Are all just cosmic accidents

Something reassuring in those lines, the most basic reminder of the mystic something greater that one always recognizes when gazing at a night sky full of stars, but almost never finds time to notice in the midst of rush hour into a concrete jungle.

In a sense, this is at its core simply an American record. Our musical traditions on these bountiful shores have long been rooted in the hymns of the old world that spawned our ancestors. Our most famous forms of music, the blues and rock and roll, simply don’t exist without the spirituals that filled the cotton fields of the South and the farms of the North as our nation of freedom for some was born. The traditions of Appalachia, which fuel so much of the bluegrass and Americana that has blessed our lives, are full of simple rhymes with gospel bits ingrained. And in that vein, carrying on that tradition, this record serves as an inviting and warm reminder of grandparents and their grandparents and old wooden country churches where Johnny Cash would have felt right at home. It’s a beautiful record, full of engaging songs that wrap around the soul and offer respite and release.

When Deal does break from originals and go with a standard everyone knows, the result is what has quickly become my favorite version of “Amazing Grace” ever recorded. We all know the song, from the rousing versions trotted out at Billy Graham crusades through the ever-popular routine with bagpipes that at times accompanies funeral processions. And while all are beautiful, too often they sound as if they’re being sung at us, almost as a sermon. Not so in this case. Kevin sings this song as if none of us are present, as if it’s a balm for his own battered heart. It’s a stunningly beautiful arrangement, peaceful and calming – right up to the part where a harmonica like no other is unleashed. Chill bumps are inevitable. A jaw dropping take on a song that, after hearing this, you may feel like you’d never heard before. And delivered in a manner that brings it meaning home more powerfully than you’ve ever imagined.

Publications from No Depression to Playboy and Country Music Magazine to The Washington Post have touted Kevin’s catalog of work. Texas icon Lloyd Maines has been a mainstay along the way, providing both his typical studio expertise and an array of multi-instrumental accompaniment. The best of the best in the business have long lauded Kevin Deal’s work product, and the quality and consistency of his life and character have brought him both friends and respect.

With There Goes the Neighborhood, Deal lets everyone in on the simple truths behind it all. No facades in his world, just good, honest, down home craft done right and founded on a faith worth having. Exactly the way it should work when a stonemason writes a song.

www.kevindeal.com for info.



~ Dave Pilot