MIKE MOUTOUX

CAITLYN TAUSSIG
“The Things We Gave Up”
In listening
to Colorado
singer
Caitlyn
Taussig’s
new release
of predominantly
original
songs,
I was taken by the fact that certain
lines seemed to emerge with lives of
their own. An example: from “Cowgirl’s
Lament” comes “we’re all buildin’
walls ‘cause it’s all that we know!”
Torn from the coming headlines…
Taussig’s ringing alto voice is
well suited to her material. On this
release she has also chosen wisely
her musical support system in Ernie
Martinez (mandolin, steel & dobro);
CD arranger/engineer Butch Hause
(guitar & bass) and him with Andi
Weber (vocal harmonies).
From her originals we’ll single out
the intriguing “Cowgirl’s Lament;”
“Dad’s Song” (great notion of
spreading his ashes high up so he
can return with the spring runoff);
“The Things We Gave Up” (for
miles, sky and fast horses); “Sierras
& The Rockies;” “Fence Fixin’ Girl”
and the anti-abuse song “Stagger
Hill.” I began to hear ‘tell of this
young lady before her CD graced my
player, and now I can affirm there
was a reason for it. Recommended.
Twelve tracks.
CD: (ordering info Google Caitlyn
Taussig)
more primal forms.
But for the presence of some
Country steel and dobro guitar, you
could add synthetic needle scratch
with a tinny tone and you might be
hearing a gravel-voiced waddie sidled
up to John A. Lomax’s famous Edison
Cylinder Machine! That’s certainly
the effect of both performer and
much of his material (“Red,” “Wyoming,”
“Nights On The Prairie,” “I Let
My Pony Run” or “Maria Theresa”).
Also included in this latest collection
is yet another song bearing the
name “Stampede.” Now by my count
this makes at least eight, which may
soon technically booger up the Harry
Fox Agency’s computers!! A tribute
to singer/songwriter Joyce Woodson
is an interesting addition this time
around.
Eleven tracks. CD: (order through
www.bobthomasmusic.com)
BOOK REVIEW
MARLEEN BUSSMA
“Is She Country?”
ISBN 978-0-9970716-0-3
thinned…and rise up slowly just like
smoke that’s not sure of the wind!”
In her book “Is She Country?”
Bussma often works with historical
figures and visions from past
and present. The majority of the
collection is done in sort of a “Casey
At The Bat” rhythm. But one work
(“Slow Burn”) is notable due to an
intentional break in the pattern as
a set-upon ranch wife contradicts
in rebellious prose her husband’s
rhythmic, rhymed edicts. In “White
Out” a stagecoach emerges from
a blizzard with its driver frozen in
place. Another stagecoach verse “Old
Joe” comes with an O. Henry-worthy
twist. Recommended.
Trade Paperback: $13 ppd from
Marleen Bussma, 1094 Homestead
Dr. E., Dammeron Valley, UT 84783.
T. K. GALARNEAU
“Meadow Muffins In The Trail”
(Dodging Life’s Little Disasters)
ISBN 979-1-943837-20-5
From what I can ascertain, T.
K. Galarneau seems to be rather
Frequently Utah poet Marleen unique in Cowboy Poetry circles.
Bussma will catch me off guard. Just Famously Montana’s Paul Zarzyski
when I’m expecting a “regular” sort works in what some incorrectly
Stylistically
I she’ll do something like she does be harshly corrected…it’s “FREE
of cowboy poetry rhyme or image, term “blank verse” (prepare to
would place in “The Broken Spur Café” (“…Zeke verse”)!! But Galarneau goes
Bob Thomas
among plentiful and cheap…tho’ dunked rhythmic stanzas that don’t rhyme,
fills his mouth with salty cuss words them one better, frequently using
the practitioners
of too deep!”) or, describing the retired it. And she also does write some
young as a Baptist water hadn’t sunk or maybe will as she feels like
Western in cowhands, “…they look around and
one of its see the morning café crowd has
Continued on page 38
The WESTERN WAY
BOB THOMAS
“A Cowboy’s Revel”
Spring 2016 | 37