Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Quick Hitters:: Romi Mayes
It’s not too often an artist actually sums up their songs in a succinct manner. Usually any attempt teeters off the rails and breaks down into a clouded description of influence and experiences and towns no one knows, but when it comes to the new record from Winnipeg’s Romi Mayes, she hits the nail on the head with a quick, forceful blow.
“If you don’t like drinking or swearing or country or blues or dealing with yer broken heart, you won’t like it.”
That’s all you need to know about her music. Romi’s songs are full of heartache and tear in your beer, drink till you forget moments, but it’s that hard edge she has that makes you take notice. It’s no secret that the country/roots scene is filled with beautiful voices pining over the man that done her wrong, but Romi make you think she’s run over a few men in her time and sure as shit isn’t waiting around for the ones that left her behind. You even get the sneaky suspicion she’s been in some knock down, drag out fights littered with curses and slaps, not tears (or a song about keying his precious little four wheel drive).
She’s spent hours on buses and lonely nights on the road (Achin in Yer Bones) and that’s why you never question Romi’s sincerity and why the bar room, bluesy swagger she pulls off on If The Lord Don't Love You or the rocking Tire Marks seem legit. You can easily picture Romi slamming shots at the bar with her band, listening to the classics on a beat down jukebox, cracking jokes and being treated like one of the guys, but when she opens up to the listener on I Won’t Cry and you feel the pain she’s gone through in her life, and how that rough exterior she presents is hard earned and something she wishes she could get passed.
What’s even more heartbreaking is that even though the years traveling the world playing songs for faceless crowds and killing time on lonely bar stools have thickened her skin, hearing her pine for home and that warm embrace we all take for granted (Hard Road), you realize the simple things she wants may always be out of reach. I guess the silver lining is that for Romi's fans, with every long drive or broken heart, we get more terrific songs from one of Canada’s best song writers.
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