Dick Curless
The Drag 'Em Off the Interstate, Sock It to 'Em Hits of Dick Curless, 1998
Razor & Tie
Believe it or not, Dick Curless' great trucker anthems of the Sixties and
Seventies have been completely unavailable on CD here; the only alternative
being Bear Family's comprehensive multi-disc package; a bit much to expect from
the neophyte.
Razor & Tie has filled a yawning gap in the availability of great country music
and done fans of the genre a service. Curless, who was based in Maine for most
of his career and died in 1995, racked up 11 top 40 hits on the country charts
between 1965 and 1972. This generous 21-track collection compiles 10 of them
(though one - "I Ain't Got Nobody" - is heard in its original 1957 Event
version, 11 years before the hit version was recorded for Tower), as well as
some near-misses and two tracks from his classic 1973 live album, "Live at the
Wheeling Truck Drivers Jamboree."
Best known today for 1965's "A Tombstone Every Mile," Curless was a tremendously
versatile singer (imagine Johnny Cash with Merle Haggard's control and range)
who was equally at home with blues ("Evil-Hearted Me"), as well as traditional
("Nine Pound Hammer"), near-rockabilly ("Travelin' Man"), and downright pop
material (the Johnny Horton-esque "The Baron"), though without a doubt was most
loved for his classic odes to "big and burly" truckers. This is one of the most
welcome reissues of the year. A big thumbs up.
- Jon Johnson
Traveling Through
Rounder, 1995
Dick Curless, born in Maine and raised in Massachusetts, had a string of hits in
the 1960's, the biggest of which, the truck-driving anthem "A Tombstone Every
Mile" earned him the nickname "The Baron of Country Music." Health problems,
aggravated by a 20-year-long battle with the bottle, kept Curless out of the
spotlight under late 1994 when he recorded this album. Curless dropped hints
throughout the session that he knew this was his swan song (Curless died May
25), and the music reflects this; it has a strong summing-up quality to it.
Whether he's singing about his mother ("I Don't Have a Memory Without Her"), his
savior ("Since I Met You Jesus," "When God Comes and Gathers His Jewels") or
himself ("I Never Go Around Mirrors"), there is an open unabashed sentimentality
-genuine sentimentality - in Curless' voice, a level of emotion that most modern
country singers are too image-conscious to reach.
-Robert Loy

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Jeffrey B. Remz, Editor & Publisher
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