From Hank Williams to Toby Keith, country music hangs its Stetson on clever wordplay. Quirky turns of phrase like the Statler Brothers' "You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too" and Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue" rendered heartache in such a way that listeners could swallow bitter pills while smirking into their pilsners. In this same vein, country music should be a natural fit to back the brainy, brooding verbiage of published poet David Berman, frontman for the Silver Jews. Unfortunately, with all Berman's observational enjambments — rendered in his wooden, keyless quaver — jamming up the musical gears, the results would never pass... More >>>