I’m not quite sure how to categorize Gallivan Burwell’s music. His deep and rhythmic ruminations, filled with heavy, soulful strums of the guitar, echo of the blues while his southern twang-infused lyrics and often upbeat tempo give his music a country, folkish sound.
Whatever the category, however, it’s good. Gallivan’s music seems to have been inspired and learned from the spirit of the South, which is probably why there is so much spirit teetering amidst its folkish, country-western, rhythm and blues gumbo. On his latest CD, Amurka, Gallivan, a native Floridian who now lives in New Orleans, uses the stories of his hometown as backbones to his songs. With the help of slow, calculated wails of his guitar and piercing voice of the harmonica, Burwell wanders musically in and out of backwoods towns and swampy nights. “Maybe it’s the weather,” he sings, “But the devil is partial to the South.”
Burwell began playing drums but switched to guitar at age 15 when he realized he could not write songs on the drums. That was a good decision. His songs are sincere and earnest in their verses, singing of love and passion and clear blue skies.
His sound has been compared to Warren Zevon, John Haitt and Randy Newman. Still a newcomer to the music front, his only other release, The Cracker Blues, was released in 1995. It is this freshness that is probably to blame for his charming, poetic honesty—an honesty that screams out, even on the cover of his latest CD: “Helleva year, Boudreau. Wild times. Weird times. More unusual than is usual even around here. And all accompanied, of course, by the din of the great wank-machine of truth-impaired right-wing gasbags, left-wing wishful thinkers, social Darwinists, Book-of-Virtues moralists, finger-pointing psychologists, scandal-of-the-month voyeurs, and enough flat out liars, snivelers, mouthbreathers and knuckleheads to send you screaming into the streets.
“Enough! Let’s turn it all off! Go walk the dog. Hug the kid. Water the garden. Kiss the faithful lover. Let’s go down to the water, and as the waves rush in, greet ’em with a heartfelt “Welcome to Amurka!”
