Charlie Robison

• Life of the Party [Sony/Lucky Dog, 1998]
• Step Right Up [Lucky Dog, 2001] ***
• Good Times [Dualtone, 2004] A-
• Beautiful Day [Dualtone, 2009]

See Also:

• Charlie Robison/Jack Ingram/Bruce Robison
• merge all

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Life of the Party [Sony/Lucky Dog, 1998]
"Poor Man's Son"

Step Right Up [Lucky Dog, 2001]
like an up-and-coming Steve Earle, without explicit leftism or explicit substance abuse ("The Wedding Song," "Desperate Times") ***

Good Times [Dualtone, 2004]
I liked the title tune better when I thought he was saying "don't let the fascists get you down" rather than "bastards," but it amounts to the same thing. Long a champion of country music that eschews both purity and virtue, here Robison writes like his life depends on it, which it does--the virtue lobby has all fun in its sights, his music included. On the one about eating his wife's cooking he finds a new shade of meaning for the word "brisket." And on the one about how his wife vamoosed anyway, words fail him: "But I still got my buddies and I still got my pals/And I still got my buddies and I still got my pals." A-

Beautiful Day [Dualtone, 2009]
"Beautiful Day," "She's So Fine"