Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos

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Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos
Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos.jpg
Studio album by
Sally Timms
Released1999
Genre Country
Label Bloodshot [1]
Producer Sally Timms, Jon Langford
Sally Timms chronology
Cowboy Sally
(1997)		Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos
(1999)		Songs of False Hope and High Values
(2000)

Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos (stylized as Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments ... for Lost Buckaroos) is an album by the English musician Sally Timms, released in 1999. [2] [3] The album is presented as an ersatz radio program for modern cowboys. [4]

Contents

Timms supported the album by touring with Freakwater. [5]

Production

The album contains covers of songs written by Johnny Cash, Jill Sobule, Robbie Fulks, and Jeff Tweedy, among others. [6] Timms cowrote three of the album's songs with fellow Mekon Jon Langford. [7] Many Chicago musicians played on Cowboy Sally, including Tweedy, Tortoise's John Herndon, and members of the Pine Valley Cosmonauts. [8] [9] Produced by Timms and Langford, the album was recorded in May 1999, in Chicago. [10] [11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [12]
Robert Christgau Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg [13]
Los Angeles Daily News Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [14]
Pitchfork 6.0/10 [15]
Spin 8/10 [8]

Pitchfork thought that "the production isn't the earthiest in the world, but the arrangements are simple and tight: it's mostly pedal steel guitar, fiddle, and occasional banjo-picking over delicate acoustic strumming." [15] Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Avoiding Nashville’s tacky gloss and the neo-traditionalists’ killjoy sobriety, Timms sings old-fashioned country with respect and a dose of deadpan humor." [16] No Depression opined that "one reason the disc is so different from Nashville’s mainstream product is that it has a country and western vibe, which you never hear on country radio, with the exception of the occasional George Strait number." [17] The Chicago Tribune stated that Timms "sings midtempo lullabies that suggest our honky-tonk heroes were all just 'Dreaming Cowboys'—that the wide open spaces of the West were just another metaphor for loneliness that no amount of booze could quench." [18]

The New York Times determined that the album "flawlessly expresses her lonesome sensibility," writing that Timms's "voice, a secretive murmur refined by her native English accent, is the stuff of lullabies." [19] Greil Marcus, in Salon , concluded that "her touch is light, and deceptive; her reserves of depth seem bottomless... But nothing she's done before suggests the exquisite balance of this disc." [20] Spin noted that, "from the Velvet Underground's 'Lonesome Cowboy Bill' to Modest Mouse's 'Cowboy Dan', the best cowboys in rock songs are souls lost in a world they didn't create, and so it is with 'Dreaming Cowboy', which leads off Timms' record with a spate of lovely melancholy." [8] The Los Angeles Daily News thought that Timms's "ethereal, yet precise vocals give every song a warm, mescal-and-honey resonance." [14]

AllMusic wrote that "the warm, silky texture of Timms' voice is nicely matched to the moody country ethic of this album." [12]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Dreaming Cowboy" 
2."The Sad Milkman" 
3."Dark Sun" 
4."In Bristol Town One Bright Day" 
5."Sweetheart Waltz" 
6."Snowbird" 
7."Cry Cry Cry" 
8."When the Roses Bloom Again" 
9."Cancion Para Mi Padre" 
10."Rock Me to Sleep" 
11."Seminole Wind" 
12."Drunk by Noon" 
13."Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You" 
14."Tennessee Waltz" 
15."Long Black Veil" 

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References

  1. ↑ Saller, René Spencer. "Sally Timms". Riverfront Times. Archived from the original on 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  2. ↑ "Sally Timms Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  3. ↑ "Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  4. ↑ Morris, Chris (Oct 9, 1999). "Flag Waving". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 41. p. 79.
  5. ↑ DeLuca, Dan (24 Sep 1999). "And Then There's...". Features Weekend. The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 17.
  6. ↑ "Sally Timms Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments…For Lost Buckaroos". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  7. ↑ Margasak, Peter (November 4, 1999). "Sally Timms". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 Milner, Greg (Dec 1999). "Reviews". Spin. Vol. 15, no. 12. p. 224.
  9. ↑ "Chart Activity". CMJ New Music Report. CMJ Network, Inc. December 13, 1999. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  10. ↑ Kielty, Tom (2 Dec 1999). "Sally Timms Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos". Calendar. The Boston Globe. p. 8.
  11. ↑ Friedman, Michael Shannon (2 Mar 2000). "Respect and whimsy". The Charleston Gazette. p. 1D.
  12. 1 2 "Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  13. ↑ "Sally Timms". Robert Christgau. Archived from the original on 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  14. 1 2 Strauss, Bob (14 Jan 2000). "Sally Timms". Los Angeles Daily News. p. L29.
  15. 1 2 "Sally Timms: Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  16. ↑ Vincentelli, Elisabeth. "Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments ... for Lost Buckaroos". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  17. ↑ "Sally Timms – Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments ... for Lost Buckaroos". No Depression. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  18. ↑ Kot, Greg (31 Dec 1999). "Local Joys". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. 44.
  19. ↑ Powers, Ann (December 14, 1999). "A Sweet, Lonely Sadness, Both Painful and Artful". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  20. ↑ Marcus, Greil (November 1, 1999). "Real Life Rock Top 10". Salon. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
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