C
ory Branan has a way with words but there’s one that sticks in his throat: compromise.
The North Mississippi-raised, Nashville, Tenn.-based singer/songwriter has been praised for his relentless originality and singular determination to blaze a musical trail regardless of prevailing mainstream trends.
Theoretically, Branan should fit comfortably under Country’s umbrella, but refusing to adhere to Nashville’s contemporary genre template has kept his fan base cultishly proportional. His first two albums, 2001’s The Hell You Say (which led to a slot on David Letterman’s show in 2003) and 2006’s 12 Songs, were well received and tweaked the industry’s radar, leading to a Bloodshot Records contract and his excellent third album, 2012’s Mutt.
Still, no one’s beating down Branan’s door to cover his songs and earn him platinum royalties, or what Alejandro Escovedo once characterized as “mailbox money.”
Maybe that’s why he titled his fourth album The No-Hit Wonder.
Branan has worked steadily for the past 15 years, a clear indication he’s on the right path. Thankfully, he doesn’t necessarily require external justification for his chosen profession, a good thing since his annual earnings likely wouldn’t cover Taylor Swift’s shoe budget.
“I’m a lifer,” Branan says from his Nashville home. “I can’t find anybody else that will pay me that kind of money an hour. Too bad it’s only in hour, hour-and-a-half increments.”
Much has been made of the tumult, both good and bad, that Branan experienced since recording, releasing and touring Mutt in 2012: the deaths of several family members (including his father), his marriage and the birth of his second child, now seven 7 months old. Acknowledging all of it, he downplays its significance to the making of the new album.
“Actually, a lot of that didn’t end up on the record because I don’t deal with things straight-on that are real close,” Branan says. “That song about my father, ‘Daddy Was a Skywriter,’ was actually written before he died, so he’d heard that. My mother keeps threatening to put the lyrics to the chorus on their double tombstone, and I’m like, ‘Just stick around and I’ll write you a better song.’ I’m gonna keep putting that song off and see if I can make her live forever.”
Branan agrees that The No-Hit Wonder is more inspirational than autobiographical, but insists his life is definitely represented, particularly in its theme of home. Sometimes the references just come in sideways.
“There’s stuff on there and in there, I’m trying to make sure the songs aren’t insular,” Branan says. “They need to open up. I have some songs about writing songs on the record, which I usually stay away from, and I wrote some road songs, which I’ve always stayed away from. I don’t care to hear people’s songs about the road, unless they can make it to where (that) struggle is indicative of anyone’s struggle with the choice of following dreams and (it’s) applicable to other people.”
If Branan endeavors to make his lyrical content universally embraceable, his musical diversity is almost diametrically oppositional. Comparisons to Waylon Jennings and Paul Westerberg are warranted (“I don’t think those guys ever caught a beer together,” he laughs), and wisps of Warren Zevon, Faces and Morrissey float through the new album. Even with all these sonic possibilities throughout the creative process, Branan doesn’t commit to anything concrete until the song is finished.
“I try not to impose on the song,” Branan says. “I end up in much more interesting places if I follow and see where it’s going. I overwrite a lot and go back with a machete instead of clippers, so I can end up three songs down from the one I started with, and that’s the interesting place for me. Then I sort of let them tell me what clothes they want to go out in, even down to the studio. Like ‘Sour Mash,’ I always pictured it as a flat-picked barnburner with fiddle and banjo, and then we were doing the record and I found out that Joe Fick, who’s a Memphis boy, was up in Nashville and he’s just the best doghouse (upright bass) player I’ve ever heard, so I was like, ‘OK, we’ll go a little more Sun Records on this one.’ I pivoted at the last minute.”
Just hearing Branan discuss reference points he was consciously considering while crafting The One-Hit Wonder makes a real music fan smile with the realization that someone is actively trying to make this kind of music. It’s the spirit of the experimental ’70s all over again.
“I don’t really approach (songs) genre-wise,” Branan says. “If a purist was doing a Sun Records sound, they wouldn’t have those Link Wray ‘Rumble’ chords in the chorus. I like the spirit of a lot of different music but I make sure the lines are very permeable, and that can be hard to explain.
“Like ‘Missing You Fierce.’ It does have a little bit of a Replacements’ skronky guitar line on top of the backbeat, the drum is almost ‘Dancing in the Dark,’ and the guitars are almost a wash of Rumours, so it’s hard to describe to the bass player that I want a Husker Du bass line while there’s this Fleetwood Mac thing happening. You use shorthand.”
About the only style of music you won’t hear on The No-Hit Wonder is straight up Blues. Branan has a ready explanation.
“Growing up in Mississippi, you got what you got kind of piecemeal,” he says. “There were no record stores. There was MTV, which I watched from the second it turned on, when they only showed five videos but they showed them 24 hours a day. It was open format, so it was strange and beautiful. I got that and whatever my little hoodrat friends were listening to, a mix of Punk, Gangster Rap and Metal, and growing up there you’re exposed to like church and Gospel music. I kind of stay away from the Blues because it’s almost scripture to me. I listen to old Piedmont and Delta Blues players, a lot of Texas guys, and I really love that stuff, so I stay away out of reverence.
“One of these days, as soon as life kicks me in the throat a few more times, I’ll be able to sing some of these songs and do them justice.” ©
CORY BRANAN plays The Drinkery Saturday. More info: drinkeryotr.com.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2014.
