First Listen: Charlie Worsham, 'Beginning Of Things'
With his wry, subtle wit intact, the Nashville mainstay embraces great playing, sophisticated lyricism and the insight that comes from being the guy in the room who sits back and takes it all in.
The fond joke is an underrated art form, especially in this time of hashtag brutalism and Louis C.K.-style existential wandering. In country music, humor with heart has long offered a way for songwriters to consider the foibles of the music's fan base — and to confront deeper issues, too, from alcoholism to bigotry to have made a specialty of kindly satirizing such subjects; it's one way country music challenges preconceptions. On his second album, Charlie Worsham revitalizes this practice while exhibiting deep musicality and a romantic streak.
