Okie Bob from Basildon
Bob Collum is a kindred spirit of sorts, an American ex-pat
living in England – Basildon – and reflecting on his native roots, in this case
his home state Oklahoma and therefore the South. This takes a wide swipe at
remembrance: there is Locust Grove
which recalls the murder of three girl scouts in his home town of Tulsa in
1977, not so much a lament and more conveying the sense of unknowing about the motives
for the killings; then Johnny Held ‘Em
Down which is more contemporary, direct and critical, rueing the flying of
the Confederate flag and the hatred rather than pride it too often actually
represents, disturbingly and sadly presaging the recent Charleston church shootings.
There is a genteel Country musicality pervading all of the
fine songs on the album, nine self-penned: the title track exemplifying this
with, lyrically, its nostalgic chorus I
guess somebody heard Little Rock calling, calling me back home again, and
musically, the sweet songcraft, Bob’s pleasant, ‘American’ voice [like me, he
hasn’t lost the accent], the light but affecting pedal steel of Allan Kelley,
and the equally light but affecting vocal harmony from Marianne Hyatt.
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