Grayson Capps – Heartbreak, Misery & Death (Vinyl LP)

‘Heartbreak, Misery & Death’ is the seventh studio album by beloved Alabama-based troubadour Grayson Capps. For this latest effort, Capps—joined by his long-standing guitarist Corky Hughes— turned his attention to 16 long-lost folk songs and traditionals originally written and performed by artists ranging from Doc Watson and Jerry Jeff Walker to Randy Newman and Gordon Lightfoot. Introduced to these timeless touchstones as a child by his father, they’d catalyze Capps’ love for music at a young age, while informing the Southern Gothic vernacular that he went onto so eloquently explore and reimagine in his own body of work.

As Capps explains in his own words:

I grew up with music, whether hearing Fred Stokes, Bobby Long and my dad, Ronnie Capps, singing around the house on Fridays and Saturdays, or listening to vinyl records in the den, my youth seemed to always be surrounded with music. One of the first artists I gravitated toward was Doc Watson. I first found my own voice by emulating him singing “Wake Up Little Maggie.” We had The Essential Doc Watson and Doc Watson Memories, and I wore those records out. “Columbus Stockade Blues” was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar.

“Barbara Allen” was a favorite song of Bobby Long’s to sing. I remember him saying to Fred, “Come on Fred, give me a chord,” pronouncing the ‘ch’ like ‘chore.’ Fred would hit a chord, and Bobby would start in singing. I guess that’s where I learned the joy associated with singing and playing guitar.

I love Doc’s version of “Moody River,” and that song led me to appreciate more complex chord progressions. “Today” was another favorite of Bobby’s and my dad’s. I figure I’ve known that song ever since I can first remember. “Early Morning Rain” holds a special place in my heart and memory. We listened to the Peter, Paul & Mary version of the song after taking a severely hung-over Bobby Long to the airport on a rainy morning with no shoes on his feet, headed to Las Vegas. I see him there every time I sing that song.

A little later on, I discovered Randy Newman, and it wasn’t until spending some time playing on the streets of New Orleans that the song “Guilty” became a sordid truth in my life. It ties itself to “Stoney,” seamlessly sewing the fabric of my youth to the fabric of my adulthood. I learned “Stoney” for Bobby off a Jerry Jeff Walker record, and he swore it was his theme song until I wrote A Love Song for Bobby Long. The song, “I Really Don’t Want To Know” would have Bobby, Fred and my dad in three-part harmony, cracking themselves up while trying to record it into a Realistic tape recorder. “Old Maid’s Lament” was another song in their repertoire, though they called it “Sister Sarah”. I remember Fred singing “Louise,” and when I heard that baritone voice of his with that old Martin guitar, singing that sad-ass song, my soul soared like the raven from Edgar Allen Poe. 

As the album title ‘Heartbreak, Misery & Death’ suggests, I have always gravitated toward dark songs, and probably the darkest one on this album is “Saint James Hospital,” but no matter how forlorn it is, it somehow makes me feel good to sing it. That leads me back to Doc Watson and his most beautiful version of “Alberta.” I think you can only sing that song after having experienced unreciprocated love. The reason I gravitated toward Doc is because his voice resembled Fred’s, and their baritone registers are much like my own natural voice.

Bobby, Fred and my dad had great harmonies which were highlighted when they sang “Wreck On The Highway.” When I was young, I was sure everybody knew that song. My father introduced me to all of the songs in this collection. The one song I introduced to him, a song he absolutely loved, is the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah,” and I learned this song for him. My memories of the music my dad and his friends made sculpted a large part of who I am musically and spiritually. So, just as they might end a Saturday night drunk and high with “Copper Kettle,” I, too, shall end this collection with the greatest campfire song of all time.