Columbia's John Galbraith travels 'Anywhere' in search of great roots music
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On one of his enduring recordings with Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon sings of going "to look for America."
Columbia musical mainstay John Galbraith is off to find the beating heart of country music on "Anywhere," his latest trio record. These 11 songs survey the landscape of roots music, traveling from peaceful easy feelings to roadhouse rockers and many sound points between.
The record opens with an immediate highlight in "Tennessee." Living musically somewhere between "Tequila Sunrise" and "That's How I Got to Memphis," the unhurried country rocker assumes a lovely, loping vibe and drives its wistfulness home with a vocal arrangement that surrounds and underlines Galbraith's lead.
Soaring country church harmonies introduce and frame the rippling motion of "A Long Time Comin,'" a sort of secular gospel song about kicking against life's goads.
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With smart interplay between guitars and a colorful organ bleed in the background, "Wide Awake and Alone" is a pitch-perfect workingman's song that's a little '70s and a little '90s in its approach. Galbraith expresses his lonely blue-collar blues with a nimble repetition of the word "barely" in the first measures:
"Got through another day without running away / Hardly working with barely little pay / Barely just enough to get me by / Barely just enough to barely try."
"Be Still My Heart" and "Hangovers and Heartaches" form a sort of mini-suite late in the tracklist; the former moves with good-natured abandon toward the prospects of a barroom romance while the latter bemoans the end of a romantic era with a lovely honkytonk sadness.
"A Lot to Learn" closes the record on a mid-tempo, Old Crow Medicine Show-like rambler made of warm bluegrass strings, whirring harmonica and the right kind of hitch in its gait.
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Per usual, it's just a joy to hear Galbraith's guitar ring through and wrap around these songs. The fevered opening riff on "My Own Sweet Time" is the guitarist's equivalent to an auctioneer's call and cadence, while the crystalline tone of "If I Could Be the One" beautifully sets up the lilting, relatively spare ballad.
Galbraith strikes a thoughtful balance throughout, uniting collaborative impulses with the desire to do his own thing. Peter LaMear is an anchor on the drums, and Austin Wilson contributes vibrant upright bass on a handful of songs that rank among the album's best. Galbraith himself plays somewhere around 10 instruments on the project, shaping his vision before taking it down and passing it around like a longneck.
On his ever-deepening, ever-widening catalog, Galbraith has shown not just facility but ease in styles ranging from college rock to power pop, bluegrass and more. "Anywhere" only finds more dimensions to delight in, and lives up to its title, showing Galbraith can play just about anything, anywhere, any time at all.
Check out "Anywhere" at https://johngalbraith.bandcamp.com/album/anywhere.
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia's John Galbraith travels 'Anywhere' in search of great roots music
