Longtime Companion

Reviewed by Hervey Okkles, 7-14-2012

Sonny Smith expresses his heartache over his ten-year relationship coming to an end, by turning The Sunsets into a country-rock band, to GREAT results.

Sonny Smith is a hell of a talented guy, a master of any genre he touches (seriously, check out the 100 Records project...), but here, he pounds out a unified and REALLY solid pure country/folk album. Give it a shot, it grows on you.

Almost all tracks are equally great. No FCCs.


1 (3:45) **** Bruised straight-ahead upbeat folk, with scratchy delivery. "Am I really here?" Halfway through, it's joined by a garden of woodwinds, and it's all very pretty. They get really chirpy right at end.
2 (3:02) *** Beery strumming angry honky-tonker. GREAT hooks and texture. This is everything you want from a heartbroken honky-tonk dude.
3 (4:19) *** Muffled instrumentation accentuates the heartbreak, wistful and catchy, but sad sad folk.
4 (5:37) **** More of a '60s jammy folk-rock vibe (think Byrds), but the same spectrum of heartache and wistfulness. Psychey flutes and whatnot join before long. Really nice, great hooks.
5 (5:44) **** More of a straightforward twangy Marty Robbins type. Shaggy, halfassed (but charming) story of animals ("In the year of the cock, I was the flea") Attempts at Dylanesque wordplay.
6 (2:37) *** Slide guitar! Morose flute! Driving country, with a purpose. More woodwinds! Instrumental, echoes Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" more than a little.
7 (2:59) *** Sunshiney classic country, with his deflated putdown ("I look into your eyes, I see the void.") Sour half-singing.
8 (2:58) **** More slide-guitar, whimsical but acid country ("Time will tell if we stick together") Pure Burrito Brothers. God, Sonny Smith has a gift for hooks.
9 (2:49) *** More of the same, with a mock-gospel breakdown halfway thru ("Oh please; oh please") His mind is messed up all the time. Great steel guitar solo.
10 (4:25) *** A more Motown-influenced melody, with chorus in background, but funky organ grounds everything. Steel guitar gives it the country sound, but the flutes, too! It's a real mutt.