Fundamental
2004
Dear Life
About This Album
It's been a long go-round for Bill Mallonee. In a business that claims to purvey art, he's one of those artists who has been continually ignored, denied, cheated, and outright lied to for decades. Still the songs keep coming; what else is he supposed to do? Mallonee is a songwriter who, in order to remain sane in a crazy world, has to make music out of the beating drums in his head and the burden on his heart. Dear Life showcases him and his partner in this venture, Jake Bradley. They are accompanied by a host of friends, including producer and steel guitar player extraordinaire John Keane, fiddle player David Claassen, drummer Jon Ranford, and Brandon Reynolds on bass and keyboards. This is a record full of contradictions; it reflects bewilderment and brokenness yet reports them with the only responses left: acceptance and loving kindness toward all those forces one cannot control. With a patchwork country music backdrop that is framed by rock and American folk styles, Mallonee's protagonists speak from the various portals of life's endings. In the opener "After the Dust Settles Down" the singer, buoyed by a whining pedal steel, reflects on what remains important after the travails and catastrophes occur.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,7,8 and 9)

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