The New York Times recently published a list of what they say are the “30 Greatest Living American songwriters”, and while it was nice to see Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Brandy Clark make the cut, there were some very glaring omissions (Randy Newman, Tom Waits and Jason Isbell were noted angrily on social media, while others argued that having spent 60+ years in the USA, Joni Mitchell deserved to be listed) but for me, it was the absence of Lori McKenna that was perhaps the most criminal.
While McKenna has a sparkling catalogue of hits that she’s written for some of Nashville’s most famous, it’s her back catalogue of solo material that is the real showcase of her talent. However, it feels like the one album of hers that gets too easily dismissed because of its mainstream polish is her major-label debut, 2007’s Unglamorous. There are some truly standout tracks there, but the one that draws me in every time, Tim McGraw backing vocals and all, is Drinkin’ Problem.
“Well, I’ve been thinkin’ while you’ve been drinkin’ / Yet I know thinkin’ is the last thing on your mind / But, I’ve been hopin’ to get this out in the open / And hopin’ we ain’t runnin’ out of time,” McKenna opens, already world weary. “The book I’ve been reading says we need to work this out / We need to talk about our problems, if we got ’em,” she continues, and while she’s resigned to her fate, she still holds a tiny hope that maybe nothing is wrong at all, but McGraw’s background vocals on those two lines effectively prove that the problem is very much real and affecting them both.
As the story continues, there are all the familiar signs of alcoholism as McKenna sings of not being able to get out of bed and saying she calls “in sick to work” and tells them her “whole body hurts”. “The man down at the meeting says we need to work this out,” she admits, showing she has at least sought help. “Oh, baby, you can’t claim this for your own”, she retorts bitterly on the bridge. “I swear that every bottle you bring home / Leaves me feeling that much more alone / Like a stranger, yeah, you see it’s my problem too”. But it’s what she breaks down and admits next that really makes everything show in a different light: “No, I never touch the stuff, but, honey, I’ll tell you what / You can’t count all the ways it touches me”. Because, you see, her problem isn’t that she herself is drinking, it’s that her partner’s drinking is affecting her to the level that its toxicity has become personal.
If you’re wondering about McGraw’s involvement, it all started when his wife, Faith Hill, covered some of McKenna’s songs and became so taken with her as an artist that she and her husband took her under their wings, helping her career, which ultimately led to McGraw co-producing Unglamorous, which no doubt contributed to some of the mainstream polish that was given to the songs. Next year will be the album’s 20th anniversary, and with so many artists now recording “own” versions, Unglamorous (Lori’s Version) would be a real treat, maybe even an improvement on the original if she used McGraw strictly for backing vocals.
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