It’s hard to distinguish a high point in Hank Cochran’s career.
Prolific for over six decades and charting for four, Cochran made a career out of shining light on the gut wrenching depths of heartache and despair.
With his pithy and frequently acrimonious repartee, Cochran cut generations of would-be lovers to pieces, whilst raising a glass of neat rye to the jilted and the lonely, who just so happened to be propped up next to him at the bar.
His songs such as ‘I Fall To Pieces’ and ‘Make The World Go Away’ have been covered over 100 times, suggesting not only excellent songwriting nous, but a deep resonance with, and articulation of the inevitability of human condition.
While identified as country music, Cochran’s flair for balladeering and the ubiquitous nature of his finer work seemingly allows his songs to traverse genre identification and anchor in our collective conscious in the way that all bona fide classic songs eventually do.
Jamey Johnson is a good songwriter, with no clear path yet to greatness, and he fills his own songs with the resonant clichés that make country music what it is, and importantly – what it has always been.
He writes songs about pickup trucks, good ol’ boys and, indeed, cowboys. To this end, there’s no doubt that Living For A Song: A Tribute To Hank Cochran is genuflection through and through
Littered with Cochran’s many friends such as Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris, this album serves to highlight the indelible songwriting of the great man, and as such, proves a fitting tribute to one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
