Then Again (Swamp Green Vinyl)

Rodney Crowell - Then Again (Swamp Green Vinyl)

“I guess you could call it a lost album,” says Rodney Crowell. “I stumbled upon it in my vault at home. I’d forgotten about it completely.” He’s referring to Then Again, which he recorded and shelved two decades ago before moving off into new directions. Since then, the album has been biding its time, waiting for the moment when its songs would hit hardest. And they hit incredibly hard now, largely because age and experience have granted Crowell a richer perspective. “I’m glad I put it on the shelf, because now is the time for it. It may not be the time for it for the rest of the world, but it’s time for it for me. That’s why I wanted to call it Then Again. I thought that was a clever way of saying that what was happening then is happening now. Once lost and now found, Then Again is something the Rodney Crowell of the 2000s could never have predicted but something the Rodney Crowell of the 2020s recognizes instinctively: a work of nuance, insight, and sensitivity that considers death but celebrates life. “I’m trying to understand that this spirit of mine is going to leave this body and go off somewhere else. I’ve got a pretty good idea that it’s going to be someplace good, but I still need to perfect some part of my spiritual journey here before I check out. I can see that in these songs now.”

A1. I Won’t Lie A2. Are You One of Us? (feat. Guy Clark) A3. If I Could Speak To Leonard A4. Bring It on Home To Memphis A5. The Ballad of Artemis and Orion B1. Sing Your Heart Out (feat. Kieran Goss & Annie Kinsella) B2. Whatcha Gonna Do Now #2 (feat. Lyle Lovett & Chely Wright) B3. The Has-Been Vents His Spleen B4. Winters B5. Go Light a Candle (feat. Emmylou Harris & Lera Lynn)