Midnight and Lonesome

1	The Price of Love 4:44
2	Wild Card 3:33
3	I Can't Get Over You 4:44
4	Midnight and Lonesome 3:55
5	When It Comes to You 4:13
6	Water When the Well Is Dry 4:51
7	A Showman's Life 4:44
8	Little Bitty Kiss 2:47
9	Please Send Me Someone to Love 4:04
10	Oh Fait Pitié d'Amour (Love Have Mercy on Me) 3:20
11	Quecreek 4:13

Barnes & Noble

Do not despair over the title of Buddy Miller's latest homegrown (as in recorded in his home) effort: Midnight and Lonesome spices its evocative, countrified tales of broken hearts and disillusioned characters with twangy roots rock and Cajun and R&B flavors to create a tasty musical gumbo. With his wife, Julie, contributing songs and background vocals (alongside Emmylou Harris and Lee Ann Womack), Miller opts to keep it simple. The music is advanced by small combos -- sometimes only two musicians -- and even the raucous outings here have a spare, bare-bones ambiance, emphasizing the well-turned lyrics and heightening the impact of Miller's own reedy, unaffected vocals. Typical of anything that comes from the Millers' pens these days, the original songs command attention and demand repeat listenings, whether it's their collaboration "Wild Card," a Hank Williams–style honky-tonkin' tale of a rambler blindsided by love, or Julie's stark, riveting acoustic ballad for guitar and fiddle, "Quecreek," which offers a vivid recreation of the desperate hours of the trapped miners in Pennsylvania. Notable non-Miller songs include a rocking take on the Everly Brothers' "The Price of Love," defined by its searing electric guitar lines and the Millers' mountain-style harmonies, and a somber acoustic shuffle treatment of Jesse Winchester's "A Showman's Life," bittersweet testimony relating the downside of the troubadour's calling, with Emmylou adding a plaintive seconding of that emotion. And not least of all, Miller slips in a sly, seductive reading of Percy Mayfield's classic R&B chart-topper from 1950, "Please Send Me Someone to Love," which decried the tyranny of racial prejudice at the dawn of the modern civil rights movement. To torture the food metaphor, there's much to chew on here, and it's all strictly gourmet fare. David McGee

All Music Guide

Buddy Miller's fourth solo release (fifth if you count 2001's collaboration with wife Julie Miller) slots comfortably into the established formula around which he's structured all of his albums. Lots of honky tonk infused into heartfelt ballads (Jesse Winchester's "A Showman's Life"), upbeat rockers (the Everly Brothers' "The Price of Love"), rural hillbilly ("Wild Card"), and a stray soul cover (Percy Mayfield's "Please Send Me Someone to Love"). Emmylou Harris, whose band he plays in, adds backing vocals. Wife Julie does as well, and also contributes four songs in addition to co-writing three others. Old pals like songwriter Jim Lauderdale, Tammy Rogers on fiddle, and Al Perkins handling steel guitar also make appearances. But even though he's following his own blueprint, Miller never just goes through the motions, making this one of his most consistent and enjoyable works. The couple successfully shifts gears by delving into traditional Cajun on "Oh Fait Pitié d'Amour" and acoustic jazz/blues with standup bass on the Mayfield cover. The tracks range from playful on a silly but jaunty "Little Bitty Kiss" to serious on the somber and stark closing "Quecreek," a song written and recorded a few hours after the rescue of workers at the titular mine. Miller teams up with Vigilantes of Love frontman Bill Mallonee for "Water When the Well Is Dry," a crackling country-rocker and one of the most powerful and catchy tunes he has recorded. Established fans will be thrilled by this rugged and rootsy addition to his catalog. Those who haven't experienced Buddy Miller's grits-and-honey voice, inventive guitar playing, and gutsy no-frills country approach can start their collections here. Hal Horowitz