(2022) Tommy McLain - I Ran Down Every Dream    


Review:
I Ran Down Every Dream is the first album in over 4 decades by swamp pop legend Tommy McLain. Produced by his musical protege C.C. Adcock, the album features 13 tracks, including 11 new original songs written or co-written by McLain. I Ran Down Every Dream was recorded in Louisiana, Texas, California, and England, with a similarly disparate group of friends and fans, including Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe (both of whom contribute co-writes), plus Jon Cleary, Denny Freeman, Ed Harcourt, Roy Lowe, Augie Meyers, Ivan Neville, Van Dyke Parks, Mickey Raphael, Steve Riley, Speedy Sparks, Warren Storm and more. As an album, I Ran Down Every Dream is both a celebration and a requiem. It bookends a career that has seen Tommy scale the upper reaches of the Billboard charts, share the stage with the likes of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, The Yardbirds and ZZ Top, and become a global ambassador for the swamp pop sound – that singularly affecting combination of rhythm and blues, country and western, gospel, and traditional French Louisiana styles. The album also looks back, with more than a little heartache, in tribute to some of the fellow musical travelers that McLain has lost. Two tracks on the album were written by McLain’s dear friend and Louisiana music royalty Bobby Charles, and it also marks the final sessions for two legendary musicians who died in 2021; Texas guitar slinger Denny Freeman, and Tommy’s close collaborator Warren Storm. For McLain himself, the years-long road to I Ran Down Every Dream was beset by a heart attack, two hurricanes and a house fire. With every obstacle he overcame, McLain’s resolve to complete I Ran Down Every Dream grew stronger.


   


Track List:
01 - No Tomorrows Now
02 - I Ran Down Every Dream
03 - I Hope
04 - Livin' On the Losin' End
05 - The Greatest Show On Hurt
06 - California
07 - That's What Mama Used to Do
08 - Somebody
09 - My Hidden Heart
10 - Stand for Something
11 - If You Don't Love Me
12 - Before I Grow Too Old
13 - London Too


Media Report:
Genre: americana, pop
Country: UK / USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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