Album Review – Willi Carlisle’s “The Universal Bubba”

Country Folk (#575), Contemporary Folk (#576), and some Traditional Country (#510) on the Country DDS.

I believe the kids calling it “dropping bars” when someone goes on lyrical runs that serve up wit and knowledge at such a rapid pace, you can barely keep up. Maybe that vernacular is more relevant to the hip-hop world, but it feels worthy to employ in the service of describing what Willi Carlisle turns in with his new record. Though time is usually better at judging these things in the long run, it’s fair to wonder if this album will become the opus for this folk singer from Arkansas.

Produced by Tyler Childers, Willi Carlisle’s new album The Universal Bubba features Tyler Childers as the producer. For sure, Tyler’s participation in this project is sure to bring much more attention to this very deserving singer/songwriter. Tyler Childers, Tyler Childers, Tyler Childers. But the name that most matters here is still Willi Carlisle. It was up to Willi to make the most of the opportunity of Tyler choosing him to be the first artist to produce an album for. And thankfully, that’s exactly what Carlisle does.

Officially a double album with 17 tracks, don’t worry that the amount of songs means the quality is diluted. On the contrary, the witty one-liners, sharp insight, and incisive wisdom never give out, and grace this album all the way through. If anything, the second half of the album is stronger than the first, and the first two singles from the record (also the first two tracks) don’t even begin to reveal it’s strongest moments. There were so many good lines in the title track, Carlisle had to cut it in two.

Willi Carlisle is a folk performer at heart, usually composing his songs starting on the banjo, or maybe the acoustic guitar or fiddle. But he’s always been willing to explore traditional country song structures as well, or to go into full-blown folk rock excursions—both of which you will find on this tasty and diverse endeavor. The album even includes a song with flute to favorable results (“Red Leather, Yellow Leather”), and squeezebox (“Old Milwaukee Onestep”.)

The album’s more overarching theme is exploring the nature of work and labor, told through the perspective of a performer who’s part Woody Guthrie socialist, and part incorrigible hillbilly. This is what’s broached in the songs “Good Morning, Midnight,” “The Master’s Hammer,” “Ditchdigger’s Song,” and the brilliant rapid-fire verses of the title tracks. These songs definitely delve into the slavitude that daily labor can feel like, though sometimes speak in conflicted tones of whether pride should be found in such hard toil, or if one is just succumbing to being a tool. Similarly, at times Carlisle seems to revel in sin, while at other times singing about his vices getting the best of him.

Carlisle also takes ample time to just have some fun, and explore the wit and everyday wisdom he’s so masterful at sowing. “She Only Loves Horses” is a hilarious, however heartbreaking traditional country song that will have you cracking up with lines like “She can’t take my shit, but she’s mucking his stalls.” “Sadly Enormous” is equally humerous and darkly sad and true coming from Carlisle’s grand stature. Even in the final song “Golden Dragon Buffet,” the masterful use of lyricism doesn’t give out, and leaves you fat and sassy.

The Universal Bubba offers so many opportunities to find something appealing, even if his questioning of religion, and his “queer” references will not find a warm of a reception with certain audiences. Overall, Tyler Childers does an admirable job respecting Carlisle’s established sound and approach while pushing it forward, and really brought some excellent textures to specific songs to keep the ear engaged throughout. You do miss the a capella story recitations that Willi can deliver so well, but there’s plenty of these in his past catalog.

For all the deserved praise though, there is one technical note that’s only fair to address. This album suffers from some mixing/mastering issues at times, meaning varying volumes between tracks, while sometimes Willi’s vocals are muted, muffled, or distorted in distracting ways. Some of this might even come down to something as simple as microphone selection, or the studio space utilized. Recorded with Tyler’s backing band The Food Stamps, The Universal Bubba was cut at a makeshift DIY recording studio constructed in the Bywater District of New Orleans.

It’s not the sound quality overall though, but the strange inconsistency in certain tracks. For example, listening to the opening song “The Mason Jar at the Center of the World,” it sounds nice and clear with no issue. But leading into the second song “Gas Station,” it almost sounds like an entirely different album and artist, with the textures of Carlisle’s character-filled voice muted and fuzzed out, and not in a cool, CB radio or AM filter sort of way. Songs like “Contact High” and “Bigger’n Dallas” just sound a couple of decibels quieter than the rest of the record, or when you switch over to other songs from another artist.

It takes a significant issue that raises concerns that it will take away from the listening experience to even bring it up technical concerns in a review. For full disclosure, this is the observation from a digital copy. Perhaps on vinyl, the experience is different. But it does feel like more care could have been taken in the recording, engineering, and mixing/mastering process for this album, DIY studio space or otherwise.

Shoving these technical concerns aside, The Universal Bubba still feels like a victory. Ambitious, cleverly-written and executed, expressive, sometimes aggressive and challenging of norms, but often endearing and even touching, Willi Carlisle fearlessly displays his weird and insecure, but unique and enthralling self that is enhanced by the Tyler Childers production, not overshadowed by it.

8.4/10

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