Drayton Farley - "Twenty On High"
Mournful Millennial Country...it's a thing!
Drayton Farley is a country singer/songwriter from Alabama with amazing facial hair. It’s currently unclear whether he’s just playing guitar in support of the stache, or if the voice is his, too. Either way, this was a very solid Country album with several solid thematic elements, mostly revolving around how much growing up sucks, with the album-opener, “Stop the Clock” using the line “Time’s a bitch I wish I’d never known”; and the album-closer is titled “All My Yesterdays Have Passed”. It’s a slow, lamenting, acoustic track which tries to find the light with “...there’s a sun behind this darkness this darkness cannot last…”, but also states “The truth is all the work I’ve done is work I’ve done in vain”. This leads to the second common theme found throughout the album: Corporate bullshit keeps the common man down. This theme is especially central in “Norfolk Blues” (best track on the album, IMO), “Wasted Youth”, “Above My Head”, and “Twenty On High”.
The crux of the album is a statement on society, specifically late-stage capitalism, regarding how the average person does basically nothing more than work away their youth, the ingrained judgment on those just trying to get by however they can (“Devil’s in NOLA”), the anxiety-fueled mental health crisis it causes (“Something Wrong (Inside My Head)” and “How to Feel Again”), and, of course, the heightened desire to return to simpler times, typically childhood (“The Alabama Moon” and opener “Stop the Clock”).
It’s a solid album, and most of the tracks are great. I’m honestly still not certain about “Devil’s in NOLA”. I believe I see the role it’s playing in the album, but it’s so distinctly different from every single other aspect and element - even the themes are missing - that it feels like an outlier. But it’s so blatant that it must be intentional. I need to find an interview on this. And I’m certainly open to discussing the finer points with anybody else who wants to listen and opine. For now, I’m sticking it in the Teal bucket - I just need more time to digest it.
Rating: Teal Blue