AA Bondy - American Hearts, SXSW 2008
Published by oz February 20th, 2008.
It must be February. It’s the time that I discover amazing albums from the previous year that should have made our top 50 albums list and I feel remorse. More than any other (so far) is a singer/songwriter that goes by the name AA Bondy. His real name is Scott Bondy, but AA is much more convenient because he’s the first name I see whenever I open iTunes. That suits me fine because I haven’t found much need to scroll beyond him in the past couple weeks.
I woke up on Saturday morning took a drive down to Santa Cruz. On the way there, as the sun was burning the fog off of the treetops, I was listening to the perfect album for the trip, Howlin’ Rain’s Magnificent Fiend (review on HearYa coming soon). Then after an exhausting morning of surfing, a stop off at Streetlight Records, and some fish tacos, AA Bondy served as the perfect musical companion for my meandering drive home through the Santa Cruz mountains at the tail end of the afternoon.
The album is simple. It’s a voice, a guitar and a harmonica. It starts off with a song called “How Will You Meet Your End” that belongs in the wild west, or at least a soundtrack for a western. It’s a sorry tale about a man’s destiny that was cursed from the beginning. Bondy sings that he “must be the devil’s child,” then the song hits a subtle climax with the lines “Killed my daddy and took his .45/He was no good, though/ He was no good/ He had to die.”
Therein lies the beauty of American Hearts. You don’t get overpowered with guitar licks or lead astray with slick production. You simply get a man that has something to say and a guitar to accompany him. Like on the album’s title track, which also happens to be one of the best songs on the album:
And the mothers will cry,
Fathers stay up all night
With the worry that goes to the bones
And if your God makes war
Then he’s no God I know
‘Cause Christ would not send boys to die
Need I say more? If you’re a fan of Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Elvis Perkins, Josh Rouse, Steve Earle, or any other quality singer-songwriters, then buy this album. I think it’s damn near perfect.
He’s also at SXSW, performing at the Brooklyn Vegan party. If anyone knows of any other Austin performances that weekend, please do let us know.
Great find, Oz. Really enjoying this stuff.
Thanks also for rubbing your good weather in our noses here in Chicago. Fortunately, everyone here is really excited about a nice warm front coming in - it’s supposed to get up into the mid-twenties tomorrow. I might lay out - not sure if I should do it on my back porch or head to the beach. Hmmmm…if I go to the beach I could also fly my kite. Tough decision - will keep you posted.
I hear you Drinking Buddy, yesterday morning we had frost on our grass, did you hear me??? FROST!!! Thankfully it ended up being in the low 60’s and sunny here in Seattle so I was able to forget all about the incident. I mean, what kind of February is this?
Yeah, I walked the dog to a park the other morning in jeans, t-shirt and flip-flops and my toes got pretty cold. I could almost see my breath. Almost. I’m not missing that chi-town winter one single bit.
AA Bondy and some bourbon should warm you up.
I fell on my ass yesterday when I slipped on some ice on the steps outside the studio….it hurt. F’n chicago winters.
Shirk - I love it. Misery loves company. I hit some ice and tumbled down my back stairs Monday morning. It was like Chevy Chase on those old SNL skits when he’d fall down the stairs to get a laugh. I landed on my back with my foot back behind my ass. Hilarious.
Really love “There’s A Reason”. Good song for chillin’ out or driving somewhere.