“CIMARRON MANIFESTO”: WEST CHESTER DAILY REVIEW, SEAN HICKEY
No one can argue that on his last three recordings, 2001’s Texoma, 2005’s Blue Nightfall, and here, on Cimarron Manifesto, Jimmy LaFave seems to be onto something. He’s been on as restless a journey as a songwriter can embark upon. He likes the raw bar–band sound and demands he be true to himself both on record and on the road. He’s a romantic, a true one, with wanderlust. He’s not a philosopher, he’s a man who is rooted deeply in the Oklahoma red dirt and its unique history, especially the dust bowl and the soil and the wide open spaces of Texas, and by what he’s seen; not just where he’s been. The cover art of this newest CD says it all. LaFave is standing to the left of a divide on an empty street in the middle of the night. He’s in the background, the forlorn street and an old hotel, whose lights are extinguished, are the real subjects here.
The album opens with “Car Outside.” With help from Kacy Crowley on backing vocals, the sum total of LaFave’s “manifesto” shows up and reveals itself in full, all the while digging at the heart of every person who feels the need to just go, no matter what it costs. It’s not the need to escape; it’s the need to just go. LaFave is as full of simple poetic romance and the ragged weariness and restlessness as Doc Pomus – who would contain a universe of thoughts and emotions in just a few lines. The band here supports LaFave well and includes guitarists Andrew Hardin, John Inmon, and dobro/lap steel boss Jeff Plakenhorn with Hammond B–3 player and pianist Radoslav Lorkovic...
His bluesy version of Joe South’s “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” brings it back into collective memory as the folk song it is. And ultimately that’s what LaFave establishes himself as on these last three recordings, a writer and singer of songs in the country, blues and rock idioms that are ultimately folk songs, all of this is in the reedy, sweet smoky voice of LaFave.
He’s been on a roll, and he shows no signs of slowing down. As fine a record as you’re likely to hear, Cimarron Manifesto is for all of us. You will hear yourself thinking and be caught in your emotions as you listen; you’ve been some of these people, and that’s the kind of connection the best singer and songwriters make.
