Since the legendary Johnny Cash recorded a live album at Folsom Prison over four decades ago, few country music artists have performed memorable songs about doing time. The Texas-based Mo Robson Band might be the one to change that with their excellent performance of “Good Morning Warden”, the final of 14 tracks on their “Live At Adair’s, Deep Ellum, Texas” album, recorded last November and released earlier this month.
The album also has two studio bonus tracks for just over an hour of total music.
Adair’s is a sentimental venue for the MRB because it’s where they got their start before touring across the Lone Star State. “Warden” is definitely the highlight of an album that ranges from rockabilly to ballads from start to finish. The song, like many live cuts, is over two minutes longer than the original version from Robson’s second album, “Even Angels Fall”, released in April 2007. The narrator sings “Good Morning Warden, and Good Night, cold walls, I wish you’d fall.” You almost get the idea that Robson and his three bandmates Rob Short (bass guitar), Brandon Rice (drums) and Matt Hope (lead guitar/mandolin/saxaphone) had just listened to some Cash before performing this tune.
One thing about the live album, though, is that you don’t get an idea of what a live Robson show is like; they thank the audience for coming out to the show at the end of “Warden”, but there is little entertainer-fan interaction, otherwise. That may be a good thing because it lets the music shine through, from the rollicking “Walkin in My Shoes” to the hilarious drinking song, “Jim Beam Whiskey (and Lonestar Beer”. The latter definitely sets the tone for the rest of the set. “Even Angels Fall” has a little bit of a rock edge to it, and “Rollin Down This Highway” is another ballad with some good instrumental backing.
Robson goes for the funny bone again with “Green Ford LTD” about a less than desirable car passed down through three generations, and “Ball and Chain”, a song he describes beforehand as “punk rock in the tune of country.” “Let’s Hit the Road” ranks up there with the best of the get-up and gone subgenre of country songs, and “Amarillo Sand” paints a somber scene, putting the listener right into the middle of the West Texas landscape. The two bonus studio tracks - “Mitchell Stone” and ‘Getting Good at Getting Gone”- are noticeably more country-sounding, as evidenced by a higher presence of fiddles.
You can support the Mo Robson Band by purchasing "Live At Adair's" at iTunes | Amazon.
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