Almost three years ago, the Texan artist from Odessa Creed Fisher released the excellent album “Life of a Workin’ Man“, and my review of this LP was one of the first that I wrote on this blog, on January 14th 2019. You can read it here.
The prolific artist kept on writing and releasing great albums, no matter the pandemic. Among them, studio albums like “Old School” (2019) and “Hellraiser” (2020) were high quality records. He also released this year a covers album, named “How country music sounded before it all went to shit“.
We can now enjoy a brand new studio album, named “Whiskey and the Dog“, coproduced by Bart Rose, Josh Rodgers and Creed Fisher. Released on October 22d, via Dirt Rock Empire, it’s a 14 songs LP, eleven of them entirely written by Creed Fisher and three others cowritten with Mark Jones.
From beginning to end, it’s real country, quality music and great songwriting, as you could expect when you’ve listened to this artist before.
Among all of those songs, everyone will find his favorite one. For me, it’s the fantastic “This Town“. This song is particularly outstanding for its beautiful songwriting. Creed Fisher sings what’s the life in a little Texan town, and it’s easy to relate to these lyrics. Pedal steel is present all along the song, the music is great and the song very catchy.
Another song, another gem: “The Good Ol’ U.S. Of A.“, released as a single on October 8th, is a patriotic and moving song, very impressive for the quality of its lyrics. This song is a beautiful love letter dedicated to the USA and a great tribute to the braves who make possible the freedom and the American way of life.
This free air I breathe, it’s because of the braves
A lotta good men have died so we can keep it that way
It’s American dreams, it’s American pride
To know my family is safe when we lay down at night…
“High On the Bottle“, also released as a single on September 3d, is exactly the kind of song that you would love to listen to on your favorite country radio all day long. It’s real country, with a lot of pedal steel, and it’s perfectly written.
With “I’m Crazy and you’re gone“, you have another beautiful and sad song that belongs to traditional country, excellently written and including some beautiful fiddle and pedal steel.
“Jesus, Haggard and Jones“, the first song released as a single, on July 30th, is particularly brilliant. Its lyrics and music remain in your mind a long time after listening to it.
It turns out in this life that in the long run
The only thing you can count on, Jesus, Haggard and Jones
When you see the album cover and its name, you are impatient to listen to listen to the title track, and it’s worth the wait because it’s another great song with excellent songwriting and music.
You’ll also find on this album honky tonk songs (“Honky Tonk Drankin‘” and the excellent “Hundred Dollars Short“), funny songs (“Girls with big titties“, “Hankles“, about Creed Fisher’s dog) and more and more authentic country with the beautiful and poetic “Gray Skys” and the nostalgic “Find my way back home“.
“Whiskey and the Dog” is a brilliant album and the confirmation that Creed Fisher is a very important artist to know when you love traditional country music and quality songwriting. He’s talented, authentic and writes about the real life of a lot of Americans. That’s why you should listen to him.
Nicolas Davelu
Country Music France 