When the Sun Shines Down on the Average

The soundtrack for this morning's ride turned a run-of-the-mill loop around Shane's Trail and the Military Reserve into a trip back in time.

Last night Betts loaned me his copy of Jennyanykind's Revelater, a record that's always been one of my all time favorites, but has been missing from my collection, both tangible and digital, for a good many years. I'm sure I loaned it to someone in my ongoing quest to force new music onto as many people as possible and just never got it back. Since I never found it on the shelf at the Record Exchange, and it wasn't available through emusic, I figured it'd turn up or I'd borrow one eventually. At least 5 years later, here it was.

And man, what a record. Time has not exaggerated its kick-assedness in my mind. It's just great songs from beginning to end.

From the first bent and bluesy notes of "Repent In Time," getting reacquainted with this record felt like the going home that you can never do, the moving backward through your life that you can't ever realize. I could see the Holland brothers banging this stuff out in Emo's or the Electric Lounge or the Iron Cactus, the frenetic half-picking guitar, the skittery drums, the revolving cast of bass players.

On the trail this morning time disappeared. "You Better Get Right With God" is still on repeat in my brain. "When the Sun Shines Down on the Average" is every bit the showstopper that it was, brought to new heights by the gorgeous sunrise and brisk temps of today's early hours, and "Every Executioner Has A Song" was the perfect accompaniment for hammering my way around the lower Buck Trail on the way home.

If you haven't heard this record, make it a point to. If you know it, get to know it again. And if you want to borrow it, that's fine too--but only because it's digital now.