Description
Old Angel is the eighth studio album by the American americana/pop combo Lost Dogs, independently released on Fools of the World in 2010. The album was recorded and mixed by band member Derri Daugherty at Sled Dog Studio in Franklin, Tennessee; with the band producing. Dedicated to our beloved friend Tom Howard.
Simply the best album yet by these veterans of the music business and a stunning, folk/country/rock song cycle that cuts to the heart of what it means to seek after “The American Dream”. [Shawn McLaughlin, Christian Musician Magazine, January/February 2011]
With ‘Old Angel’, the Lost Dogs have created the ultimate Americana album – one that explores the U.S. migration between Oklahoma and California, in response to the Dust Bowl storms that turned many Americans into nomads during the ’30s. Terry Taylor draws a handy Old Testament biblical parallel with the disc’s opener, «Israelites and Okies», when the group sings, “I’m with Israelites and Okies escapin’ ‘cross the desert sand/ driven by the lash of providence towards the mine fields of the Promised Land.” These songs are part Route 66 and part John Steinbeck travelogue. «Dust in My Bowl» pleads for God’s mercy, while «Dead End Diner» finds humor in some of the unique stops along the Route 66 cross-country route. [Dan MacIntosh, HM, September/October 2010 – Issue #145]
The latest collection Old Angel is by a band with their boots and their eyes toward the future…The vocals once again are at full strength, with parts bouncing from one member to the next. The greatest strength of the Lost Dogs is their three-part harmonies…The opening track, «Israelites And Okies», is one of the best songs the band has produced in years – and that’s high praise. It has the pop feel blended with the subtle twang of a lost Asylum Records track from the 1970s and Terry Taylor’s metaphorical lyrics perfectly set the scene of four musical friends ready to take this road trip down Route 66 – “If I’m gonna show you heaven, first I have to show you hell… Oh, Israelites and Okies, may we all travel well.” The backbone of rock and roll is here too, a sound that Mike Roe has expressed in recent times has been less and less exciting to him. You couldn’t tell from his turn at the mic for «The Glory Road» in which the band really gels…It’s my belief that Old Angel reintroduces listeners to the band the Lost Dogs, gives up one of the best offerings they’ve ever made and positions them as one of the best Americana rockers you’ve likely never heard. [Dw. Dunphy, PopDose, May 2010]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/old-angel/1543000072)
CD tracklist:
01. Israelites And Okies – 4:54
02. Dancin’ On The Devil’s Elbow – 3:01
03. Turn It Around – 4:13
04. The Glory Road – 4:40
05. America’s Main Street – 2:52
06. Traveling Mercies – 2:46
07. Dust In My Bowl – 3:53
08. Pearl Moon (Hooverville Camp, 1932) – 5:48
09. The World Is Against Us – 1:41
10. Wicked Guns – 3:12
11. Goodbye Winslow – 3:24
12. Desert Flowers – 3:57
13. Dead End Diner – 3:33
14. Carry Me – 4:02
15. Old Angel – 5:04
Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://thelostdogs.bandcamp.com/album/old-angel
I live about an hour away from the starting point of Route 66. I can pick up the famous Mother Road a lot closer, but if I want to start at the beginning, I only need to drive into Chicago, something I do all the time. Then, if I so choose, I can follow the road west like so many migrants during the Dust Bowl era, traveling all the way to California. The western end point is a little farther south these days – the Santa Monica pier – and the route is a series of different highways now, since Route 66 was discontinued in 1985. But the journey itself is remarkably similar.
Route 66 is almost a cliché at this point, a symbol of old America and a metaphor for any pilgrimage you want to illustrate. But there’s still gold in them there hills, and decades of mining hasn’t diminished the simple power of the image. I’ve never seen a band commit to it quite like the Lost Dogs did in 2008: they decided to make the trip themselves, climbing into an old van in Chicago and driving it out to California. Along the way, they played shows, visited landmarks, met people, and wrote songs.
It was certainly a move loaded with symbolism. The Dogs are all middle-aged men now, and their journey hasn’t been what any one of them would have expected. Who could have known that this good-time Americana side project would turn into such a long-running partnership? Who could have foreseen the death of one of their own, the late great Gene Eugene, 10 years ago? Who could have guessed the Dogs would continue, but that it would be a decade before they completed their long, slow climb back?
Terry Taylor, Derri Daugherty and Mike Roe have been through a lot together. They’ve all still got their own projects – Daugherty’s, the Choir, has a new album set for next month, in fact – but they’re devoted to each other, and the Lost Dogs. After Eugene’s death in 2000, they persevered, and they’ve made good-to-great albums since then. They added Choir drummer Steve Hindalong four years ago for the best of the bunch, The Lost Cabin and the Mystery Trees. It was the start of a rebirth, the best thing they’d done since they became a three-legged dog. And now, that rebirth is complete.
The Dogs’ journey across Route 66 has not only strengthened their bond, it has gifted them with what might be the best album they’ve ever made. It’s called Old Angel, and it’s the longest, most varied, most confident, and most complete Lost Dogs album in 10 years. It’s a record about setting out to find God and America, and ending up finding yourself. It is funny without being goofy, and at times heart-stoppingly beautiful. It is full of prayers and travelogues and glorious songs of wonder and joy.
It is an earthy album, built largely on acoustic guitars, but it is also a remarkably full, lush work. Opener «Israelites and Okies», a hymn wishing pilgrims safe travels, is a pulsing, mellow introduction, Taylor’s voice joining with Daugherty’s and Roe’s in lovely harmony. It’s a whispered beckon to join them on their travels, and it sounds both like a dirt road and a spectral, golden path. The tone remains the same throughout – these are mostly simple, folksy songs, but the production is rich and bountiful. There are banjos and accordions and fiddles and pedal steel guitars and mandolins and all manner of percussion from Hindalong’s bag of tricks, and every element works.
Old Angel is also the most democratic Lost Dogs album since Eugene’s death. Half of the new songs are Taylor’s, the rest co-written by the Dogs in numerous combinations. The band also puts its own spin on a song from Taylor’s old band, Daniel Amos – «The Glory Road» stands as something of a mission statement, both a look back and a starting line. This version is better and brighter, but retains all of the original’s quirkiness.
But it’s the new songs that shine. Amidst the acoustic prayers, like the pretty «Traveling Mercies», and the thunderous rockers like «Wicked Guns» (all about Wild Bill Hickock, if you can imagine), are songs unlike any the Lost Dogs have ever done. «America’s Main Street» is a blues-on-fire spoken word piece, Taylor nearly cracking himself up by the end. «Pearl Moon» is one of the most affecting, a dark piece about the inhabitants of a Depression-era slum, and its ghostly melodies will stay with you. «The World is Against Us» is a despairing a cappella piece, the Dogs’ voices entwining on the final verse to amazing effect.
This album is wonderful all the way through, but near the end, it truly takes flight. «Desert Flowers» was written after a visit to Red Sands Mission School, on an Arizona Navajo reservation, and it’s unforgettable. “In defiance of scorching suns and prophets of doom, desert flowers still bloom,” Daugherty sings, before the band launches into a refrain sung in Navajo, and complete with Native American drumming. After that, you need a break, and «Dead End Diner» obliges – the funniest and best of the “rest stop songs” here, this one allows bass god Tim Chandler a chance to do his molten lava thing under a bed of ringing guitars. As the backing vocalists note that “Obama’s on the radio,” Taylor sings to his waitress, “Keep the change, honey.”
But it is «Carry Me» where the album reveals its heart. A simple acoustic ballad, this song takes on grand proportions in Mike Roe’s hands – he sings it like an angel, feeling every note. “Carry me, I’m too proud to crawl, carry me, I’m too tired to run, carry me over Mojave, under the Navajo sun…” It is an acknowledgement that we cannot make the journey alone. We need each other, and we need something greater.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Old Angel, but this album has left me in awe. There have been times over the last 10 years when I’ve stuck with the Lost Dogs simply because I love these guys, but with this record, they’ve completed their long, strange trip home. It may be their best ever. It may even be one of the best of the year. It is, most certainly, a wonderful set of songs by a band that’s done finding its way, and is ready for whatever’s next. I’ve loved every Lost Dogs album, but I don’t think I’ve ever loved one as much as this. [Andre Salles, Tuesday Morning 3 a.m., 5/19/10]
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