press clippings

 

SING OUT!

Winter 2005 - Vol. 48 #4

 

ROBERT HAZARD

The Seventh Lake

Bad Dog 8253416971

 

ROBERT HAZARD

Blue Mountain

Bad Dog 82534627872

 

Robert Hazard appearing at the Philadelphia Folk Festival? Reviewed in Sing Out!? The same Robert Hazard who wrote �Girls Just Want to Have Fun?� All true.

 

But Robert Hazard is not the same man. His work on these new CDs feels like he has grown into his own skin with songwriting more personal and singing more natural than ever before. The Seventh Lake enjoys sympathetic production that is no heavier than absolutely necessary by T-Bone Wolk. �In the Middle� is a plainly worded plea for acceptance as one is. �Pretty Little Thing� is a father�s anguished missive to his wild, estranged daughter. �Whole Lot of Water� tells about life Oceanside. This one took on new worlds of meaning when Hazard�s Florida home was all but destroyed in the 2004 bumper crop of hurricanes. �Route 666� feels as eerie and scary as watching Cape Fear. Powerful stuff.

 

Robert calls the subsequent Blue Mountain �even rougher than [Bruce Springsteen�s] Nebraska.� The thirteen songs were written fast, and he recorded them close to live in the studio. If anything, Hazard is stronger here, more confident in his evolved writing and singing, and his songs draw from a broader palette. �Hard Hands� is sung by a working Joe so self-conscious about his rough hands that he has trouble getting intimate with his wife anymore. In the brilliant �Ballad of John F. Fahey� a small town sheriff shoots his own son to foil the boy�s bank robbery attempt. Pure Jim Thompson stuff. Blue Mountain sounds better each time I listen. Robert Hazard has found a new powerful voice in the songs and performances on these two new albums. - MT