Random Records with Steve O

Joe Vickers - Waiting on a Muse

It was either when I interviewed him a handful of years ago for this site or one of the times we were hanging out when Joe Vickers was down here in Chicago to play a show, but we both talked about how much we like the ‘complete album package’ idea and getting lost in the music and reading along with the lyrics. Listening to records is a whole experience that you don’t get when you just stream a song. So it should come as no surprise that Vickers’ new record, Waiting on a Muse, goes full force ahead into that idea, with what’s basically a chapbook for the insert, with notes, lyrics, chords (is there anything more punk than including how to play your songs?), and photographs. It’s a gorgeous presentation and reinforces the fact that music is more than just something you play on your phone.

Musically, Waiting on a Muse is a folk treasure. It’s a mixture of all folk song traditions – you get the slow, plaintive, mournful tunes (such as “Moses Lake Diner,” “Spiral Stairs,” “Keeper of the Flame,” “Artery of the Continent”) along with upbeat, catchy, storyteller numbers like “Gunshy,” “Deadly Sins,” or “Thief-Taker.” There’s the odes to those that came before and inspirational figures, like in “Stray Bullet,” or the straight up, standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants tribute of “Any Other Way,” a cheery, inspirational tip of the cap to all folksingers/troubadours/wanderers/etc. It also sums a love for playing and sharing music with a perfect succinctness – “I sing for my supper and a bed on a stranger’s floor / I sing for the downtrodden and the long lost troubadours / I sing for the song’s sake / I don’t know any other way” – that mirrors Against Me!’s “Reinventing Axl Rose” mindset.

While it’s a truth with solo records that they show off the skills of the songwriter, Vickers shares the spotlight in a number of places. Some tuneful piano melodies support songs like “The Fold” or “Spiral Stairs,” violin provides a guiding light on “Stray Bullet,” and “Deadly Sins” in its fully instrumented glory brings it all together with some jaunty fun, led with piano and an absolutely awesome moment for the drums to shine late in the song. In addition, “Spiral Stairs” is a gorgeous duet with Marcia Hanson from Mobina Galone. It all comes together on songs like “The Fold,” that mix the guests while also showcasing Vickers’ emotional, powerful vocal delivery while also writing catchy songs.

Waiting on a Muse is basically a tour through folk traditions. We start with the rapid-fire rhyming of “Gunshy,” which I sure feel like I’ve seen live before. There’s tons of traditional story-teller tunes; “Thief-Taker” is particularly notable in this regard, almost quiet and haunting with lines like “I race against my fate / Looking to buy a little time / While the Grim Reaper is out on a smoke break”. Odes to places like the Great Plains, with “Vacancy,” which feels like a product of the middle of the (last) century from the middle of the continent. And the melancholic, introspective songs that populate throughout and culminate with “Artery of the Continent.”

Right now Waiting on a Muse is vinyl only. Order a copy on Bandcamp or contact Vickers through one of the social media channels to directly order a copy. Once all the vinyl is gone it’ll be up digitally. So pick up a physical copy while you can, complete with chapbook insert, turquoise vinyl, and a handwritten note on the cardboard mailer.