As they roll into “Cotton Dresses”, the first song on their debut disc Good Medicine, the Sharecroppers ring through like a solid country group, waiting to take you down old dirt roads to dusty plateaus. But the Sharecroppers aren’t just another country band with rock ‘n’ roll tendencies. There’s a literary nature to the music this sextet creates that transcends any simple classification. There’s no question that their music stems from the country tradition of rolling banjos and singing mandolins, but their lyrics come from a storytelling tradition that digs deeper.
Nathan Hamilton, Bill Palmer, and Mark Utter share the songwriting duties in the Sharecroppers; each could manage, on his own, to lead a band, yet there is a familial feel to this music that transcends the individual egos. “Storm Cellar” highlights Mark Utter’s deeply resonant voice while weaving effortlessly with the rest of the album, which flows seamlessly from one song to the next, creating a story — if not in words, then in melody. Throughout this album, the presence of Lloyd Maines (as both a producer and occasional player) comes shining through.
Forgoing the driving punk influences of so many of today’s insurgent country bands, the Sharecroppers draw on a different spirit. Whether that spirit is of cowboys or of the Native American Shamans is uncertain, but the spirit of the Wild West is not lost on this bunch. Their feet are firmly planted in modern society, but their eyes seem fixed on a romantic past. Still, they are as comfortable rocking out as they are weaving a thoughtful melody.
As self-proclaimed tree huggers, they have found a kinship with the rustic country beginnings of America. In “Mercantile Song”, they sing of the destruction wrought by such mega-corporations as Wal-Mart, but it is not with a senseless disdain. This band seems poised, instead, to speak for an intellectual community that understands the pain such impersonal capitalism brings. This is not simply yesterday’s country music revisited. The Sharecroppers bring with them a new brand of spirit sorely lacking in much of today’s culture.
Yet they are not so entrenched in their intellectualism that they forget that playing music should be a good time. Good Medicine is is a long ride through forgotten country, but through it all, the Sharecroppers will keep your eyes focused straight ahead, and though your spirit may wander, your feet will be dancing on firm ground. “Don’t go down to Watertown/Expecting all your sins to be set free,” they sing. Indeed, the Sharecroppers don’t offer any easy answers, only thoughtful musings.
