The Houston Kid

Sound DNA

• Country
• Americana & Roots

• warm
• earnest
• heartland

About

<i>The Houston Kid</i> is replete with the imagery of a Texas childhood. The power pop tune “Telephone Road” summarizes all the sense memories Rodney Crowell can conjure, but in a larger way <i>The Houston Kid</i> is about those memories’ thorniness. As much as Crowell remembers the fun he had as a youngster, his memories also bring back the terrors of “The Rock of My Soul” and “U Don’t Know How Much I Hate U,” both of which address his father’s violence. In spite of its uptempo demeanor, “Topsy Turvy” is one of music’s more harrowing portraits of domestic violence, told from a 10-year-old’s perspective: “Momma's on the sofa with a big black eye/I cross my heart and tell myself I hope they die.” Country music has long had a preoccupation with nostalgia, and it’s to Crowell’s credit that he refuses to burnish his childhood memories by erasing his pain. <i>The Houston Kid</i> is uniquely powerful for how it incorporates moments of fear and rage alongside the sights and smells of Houston in the ‘60s.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits