Bill Morrissey (Re-Recorded Versions)

Initially recorded and released by a small label in 1984, Morrissey’s self-titled debut album was re-recorded in 1991 for a CD issue on a bigger label. The re-recordings showcase Morrissey in firm control of his limited croak of a voice, adding pathos to the sad trajectory of “Small Town on the River,” where one can practically hear the leaves turning color as the autumn chill visits a dying New England mill town. Morrissey’s the real workingman turned folksinger. When he speaks of wondering where his twenties went in “Barstow,” he knows the answers rest in the songs that follow. “Oil Money,” “The Packard Company” and “Run You Through the Mill” tell the tales of work and drink that are implied in his love songs (“My Baby and Me”) that beam with possibility beyond the limits of his work-worn hands and voice. He’s a natural raconteur as the babbling minute and a half of “Morrossey Falls In Love At First Sight” humorously shows. His blues, “Texas Blues,” is less blues than yearning for a time and place his music can only nostalgically evoke.