Ron Houston

Real Outlaw Americana Music

Self released

Ron Houston is a singer-songwriter based in San Diego but originally hailing from the Bakersfield area. The title, Real Outlaw Americana Music, may seem a bit hyperbolic but Houston has the goods, and then some.  Like most outlaws, he has that baritone, weathered voice and comes across sincerely. He has conquered his demons as he sings about in several of these songs, finding sobriety in 2020 and persevering through a heavy bout of COVID-19.  There is a folky, reflective aspect to some of these songs too but most are powered by this stout group of musicians backing his lead vocals. They are guitarists Jeff Berkley, Jerry Raney, Joey Harris, and Marc Intravaia; bassists Rollie Love, Christopher Hoffee, and Ken Dow; drummers Matt Lynott and Joel Kmak; banjoist Shawn Rohlf,  fiddler Melissa Harley, keyboardist Josh Weinstein;  and background vocalists Cathryn Beeks, Joshua Taylor, and Sandi King. Houston penned seven of the ten with “Gun Sale at the Church” (Buddy Blue), Waiting on a Miracle” (Timm Flannery), and “Life on the Edge of a Knife” (Jeffery Wise) accounting for the balance.

If you recall the song “I Fought the Law and the Law Won,” this entire album could be captured as the opposite. Houston triumphed. He fought his demons and near death and survived. He not only takes us through his story, but celebrates a new life, a new beginning in the process. The snappy “Whiskey Train” opens. It’s the proverbial train he’s gotten off rather than one he again relishes to ride.  He is happy to have moved on. The bouncy pace of the tune takes on the locomotive quality with its jangling guitars toward the end.  The sonics change in the banjo-driven folk-like “Lines on My Face” with its cinching line – “if you must know who I am, just read between the lines on my face.”  In addition to Rohlf’s stellar banjo, Weinstein contributes impressive keyboards. The fiddle imbued “People Lookin’ the Other Way” recounts a dark time in his life, a homeless existence.

In the sparse “Waiting on a Miracle,” far different than the tune of the same name by the Jerry Garcia Band, Houston’s stark vocal is framed beautifully as he sings about his comeback, overcoming those desolate, broken down times over some fine guitar work, Harley’s fiddle, and Weinstein’s swirling, haunting organ. “Blood on the Mountain” features lone plucked banjo and in another introspective tune. “Drinkin’ Got the Best of Me” is a bit more generic, the typical country song of this ilk as is “Raise a Lott Hell” while the pivotal track, the ballad “Life on the Edge of a Knife,” though filled with overused cliches, rings authentically.  The aptly titled tune captures his autobiography in just those few words. It’s a shame that he didn’t write it but he was wise enough to know how well it tells his story. That confessional self-awareness also runs through the stirring ballad, “The Rain.”  “Gun Sale at the Church” is a raveup, a chance for the full band to let loose as Houston is unleashed, free of the emotional baggage chronicled in so many of these songs.

R.O.A.M. is a strong effort; not flawless by any means, but full of clever wordplay and observations in some of his best songs like “Lines on My Face,” “People Lookin the Other Way,” and “The Rain.” It’s not so much a rolliicking, anthemic-like outlaw country album as it is a strong songwriting foray. Hence, the qualifier of “Americana Music” to “Outlaw.”

– Jim Hynes

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