A few years back, the Nashville veteran Rodney Crowell responded to health scares with an album (Close Ties) that included defiant, upbeat numbers such as It Ain’t Over Yet. On Triage, his 18th album in a career stacked with hits, Crowell is more sanguine, more subdued, with songs revolving around mortality, sin and redemption. One number directly addresses a medical diagnosis of transient global amnesia, another is bluntly titled This Body Isn’t All There Is to Who I Am – quite a mouthful to squeeze into a chorus, but Crowell manages it.
Though the mood is sober, with the pandemic a bleak backdrop, it’s not all introspective. Something Has to Change takes a stand against those who “darken the world”, and Crowell is insistent that “universal love” makes the world go round. There’s no shortage of soul-baring, however, on confessional pieces such as Don’t Leave Me Now and Girl on the Street, a story song with a slightly too Dylanesque ring (Bob is namechecked elsewhere). It is, of course, all perfectly played in semi-acoustic fashion, with Crowell in fine voice.
You suspect that Triage is not what some fans might want, but at this late stage it’s what their hero wants to say. A brave, thoughtful album.
