Album Review – Trever M. Keith’s “We Drank From a Poisoned Well”

Classic Country (#510.1) on the Country DDS.


Folks! We need to stand firm against this noxious infestation of carpetbaggers and interlopers into country music from other genres. We must build high walls and a deep mote filled with voracious reptilian life to ward off any and all opportunists as we thump the Hank Williams Bible and pledge allegiance to George Strait. With stern countenance, we must beat back the forces of pop, rock, and hip-hop, and anyone who has infected their musical legacies with such inferior influences.

…unless it’s something like this new record from Trever M. Keith—the long-time frontman for the California punk band Face to Face. Shit, if you’re putting out music like We Drank From a Poisoned Well, we won’t just let you in the pool, we’ll let you soak in the George Jones Memorial Jacuzzi. Someone kick Dan + Shay out, and give this man a bubbler. Welcome home, Trever.

Though some have characterized this album as the always nebulous “Americana,” really what Mr. Keith has crafted here is a classic country record, and a darn good one too, filled with great country instrumentation, clever and true-to-country lyricism, and good old-fashioned heartbreak. It’s not just country. It’s the kind of country that reminds you why you’re a fan of country music in the first place.

Trever might have spent 35 years fronting a punk band, but for many years he’s made his home in Middle Tennessee. Combining that with the country music influences he grew up with in the ’70s, it’s informed his deep passion for this passion project. The choral arrangements on the song “Heartbreak Grin” are just about perfect, as is the moaning steel guitar on “Wanderin’.” Along with the track “Only Time,” they create a really good suite of well-written songs to start this album off.

We Drank From a Poisoned Well is not a world beater or a game changer, but it also doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t. The song “Right as Rain” really doesn’t offer a lot that’s new, “Brackish Waters” is a little too obvious in its attempt at Western storytelling, and the same for the Hispanic influence of “El Malpais.” But you do appreciate that Keith never inflects his voice or gives into any put-ons. He’s just trying to portray country music the way he believes it should be, and explore the full range of the genre on this album.

And on certain songs, it’s not what Trever says, but what goes unspoken like on the final song “I’d Rather Not Say” that helps ingratiate him to the country audience, and anyone who’s into good songs.

For the punks out there that think the Face to Face frontman is being a pansy for putting out a country record, well then they’re not allowed in the country music pool, let alone the George Jones Memorial Jacuzzi. It was Hank Williams III who once said about country music, “The older you sound, the more punk you’re being.” That would make Trever M. Keith’s album pretty damn punk.

Of course we should allow artists from other genres to pursue their passions in country music … if that music is actually country. Because if you’re a prude and recuse yourself from something like this Trever M. Keith record, then you’re the one getting punk’d.

8/10

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Stream We Drank From a Poisoned Well