Description
Simple Plans is the seventh studio album by the American singer and songwriter Billy Crockett, independently released on his own label Walking Angel Records in 1999, distributed by Diamante Music Group.
Simple Plans is an apt title for Billy Crockett’s ninth solo album. On the surface, it’s a nod to the songwriter’s work with Habitat for Humanity, the nonprofit group that builds homes for the needy. In that sense, Crockett’s paying homage to the simple effectiveness of love in action, expressed nail by nail in the building of a house.
But Simple Plans also hints at Crockett’s homespun musical world, a place where a wooden trunk and water bottle are considered worthy instruments alongside dobro, fiddle and mandolin. All of those, plus healthy doses of acoustic guitar and Crockett’s clean, expressive vocals, blend nicely in what is, ultimately, an enjoyable slice of musical Americana.
Crockett is in fine voice and offers tasty arrangements, but this album’s charm is its thinking-person’s lyrics. If your concept of a poetic songsmith begins and ends with Jewel, get ready for the next level. Crockett and co-writer Milton Brasher-Cunningham pour several gems out of their notebooks, whether they’re acknowledging God in the passage of time («It All Turns») or singing about living out your calling («Mark and Sammy», which uses baseball’s current home-run kings as a metaphor for excellence).
Sonically, the sessions are warm, evocative of friends sitting around a wood stove. Highlights include Milo Deering’s fiddle on «Love the World» and Mike Collier’s bucket, table and spitoon (yes, spitoon), which add percussive wallop to the instrumental «Hammer Thumb». Yep, nothing pretentious here, just simple, effective playing. Sounds like a plan to me. [Anthony DeBarros, CCM, December 1999]
CD tracklist:
01. Simple Plans – 4:49
02. What You Got – 3:45
03. No Strings On Love – 2:32
04. Love The World – 5:17
05. All I See In You – 3:03
06. Tap On Your Shoulder – 2:52
07. All Of My Children – 2:02
08. Hammer Thumb – 3:02
09. Mark And Sammy – 3:48
10. It All Turns – 4:40
11. The Last In Line – 3:18
12. Traveling Mercies – 4:23
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