A Derby Spiritual

A revisit to Drunk’s 1996 debut A Derby Spiritual will reveal to the listener a record more charming, gentle and — dare I say — colourful than its stoic, 90s slow-core reputation might insist. And one might even note that Rick Alverson’s voice has a defeated Tom Petty lilt heretofore unchecked. The Richmond band sound careful, creaky and lean to be sure. But the decades have allowed this old sad bastard a warming amber glow. The black hole radio play at the end of the stunning opener “Collarbone” seems to predict the coming of ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.’ And here in the curious present, strummers like “Germany Skies," “Gideon’s Trumpet” and “Gizmo" could be slotted in right alongside the indie-country boom of today. The odd waltz of accordion and violin on cuts like “Indeliberate Matrimony” and “Coming Home” sound — dare I say again — like ‘The Lonesome Jubilee’-era Mellencamp at the bottom of a barrel of hooch. Alverson’s lyricism drifts betwixt the hopeful nihilism of fellow VA-songwriter/poet of the era David Berman and the profound post-beat minimalism of Robert Creeley. I swear, when he sighs “I feel willy-nill/I pissed upon your window sill” on the high-n-lonesome harmonica-forward “Window Sill” it sounds damn-near romantic in the Lendermanian sense of the word. Yes, it’s reassessment time, friends. And what an auspicious time to reassess! As part of Jagjaguwar’s 30th anniversary, we are pressing A Derby Spiritual, Jag’s second-ever release, on vinyl for the first time. A three-decade wrong at long last made right. In fact, we’re putting a handful of those early Charlottesville era of Jagjaguwar releases on wax as part of the label’s 30th anniversary celebration. Stay tuned for more on the matter. Jagjaguwar is for lovers.