You Crazy Dreamers

“I’ve always loved the twang of hurt” – Thad Cockrell

Firstly, Please forgive me for the copy and paste of the description of Thad and his music but i’m so busy at the moment this saves me a hell of a lot of time.

North Carolina singer-songwriter Thad Cockrell hails from the old school of country music, the days before Nashville went pop. “There’s no ‘alt’ in my country,” says Cockrell, who possesses the kind of high-lonesome, wistful tenor that’ll make you long for a cabin in the pines, or set you to yearning for a long-lost love. But as a youngster growing up in Tampa, Fla., Cockrell didn’t have rock ’n’ roll or country records around the house. His father was, and still is, a Baptist preacher (as are his two brothers). His first exposure to the pure country sound came from listening to folks like Merle Haggard and George Jones on commercial radio. At home, there was always plenty of Southern gospel music.

(End of C &P)

A real, genuine son of a preacher man, he released an album with Caitlin Cary (Whiskeytown) called Begonias in 2005 and fans of Gram parsons/ Emmylou harris will enjoy that for sure, Their voices compliment each other perfectly. This is what i call Real country music, honest heartfelt songs of love and heartache, backed up by a pedalsteel, violin, piano basically everything you would expect in country music but brilliantly produced by Brad Jones who keeps it all tightly knit together, a pure gem of an album.

As for Thads Brand new EP To be loved, although country he seems to have developed a sound more akin to Royal Wood, some Ryan Adams and at other times old Troubadours like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clarke, (Who incidentally is now 70 years old and has just released on his best ever albums) and the recently departed genius John Stewart (The kingston trio). As it’s only a 6 track EP i’m only offereing one Mp3 ‘Country of my own’ which is a song of searching for a place he belongs to which seems to hit home given the current political climate across the world, not just in America. The song ‘Talk to the press’ which you can hear on his myspace is something i could imagine Paul simon singing, the comparisons on that are quite spooky. By the way this boy can sing, imagine blending Ryan adams, Paul simon and Gram parsons together and you get somewhere close.

In his own words he is trying to “Bring the hurt back into country music” and so far he’s doing a mighty fine job.

Thad Cockrell - Country of my own

Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell - Something less than something more

Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell - Conversations about a friend (Who’s in love with Katie)