Album Review- Leon Majcen’s “Making A Livin’ (Not A Killin’)”

Singer/Songwriter Americana (#570.15) on the Country DDS.

It’s that bleary-eyed and road-worn recklessness found on so many of the records of the 1970s, and in many of the songs from folks like John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, and Guy Clark that give them that cool allure that escapes most music of today. Present tense performers and songwriters can attempt to capture that spirit. But GPS, the Internet, and iPhones make getting lost in the world and losing one’s self difficult to impossible.

Nonetheless, in the 12 songs of Leon Majcen’s new album Making A Livin’ (Not A Killin’), he gets about as close as one can get to conveying that feeling of life on the open road. Clearly taken from his own travelogues as an up-and-coming touring musician, these songs are dispatches and ruminations from far flung destinations scribbled on the back of fast food napkins shoved in a glove compartment. It’s an album about musicians overcome with wanderlust, and the women they leave behind.

Leon Majcen tried to do the right thing. Raised by Bosnian War refugees in Florida where he started performing as a songwriter in high school, he went off to college in New York City. But it soon became apparent that the big city, and a straight and narrow path was not exactly the right trajectory for young Leon. He ended up back in Florida working on the docks before ending up in Nashville as an aspiring songwriter.

The thing about all those songwriting heroes is they have a way of tempting you in the wrong direction when it comes to living a stable life. As Majcen sings at one point, “Sleeping in a Car is Fun Until You Gotta Pee.” So many of the next generation is choosing experiences over things. And whether vagabond homelessness comes from choice or a requisite to the path you choose, there is a poetic beauty to the lifestyle, if you choose to see it.

You do miss some of the prophetic insights on life, and the social commentary on this album that sometimes came with the best of the material of your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriters. On what officially is Majcen’s second full-length record in 2025, he continues to focus more on songs that come from his own lived experiences as opposed to that deep character study of others, or speaking about societal ills, including some that tempt young souls to wander, or end up unhoused.

But what Making A Livin’ (Not A Killin’) does accomplish is tracing the arc that comes with a young person’s realization of what really matters in life. The opening song “Don’t Leave The Light On” is about leaving love behind, both due to the call of the open road, and a sense of selflessness or inadequacy of not being able to give someone else the stability they need.

The fifth song on the album “I’ve Found My Love Today” is not a conventional love song. It’s about Majcen realizing that the true love in his life, and what gives him the greatest sense of fulfillment is music. “You’re the only truth hidden in my lies,” he sings. But the ultimate lesson of life on the road often is that what you’ve been searching for the whole time is love, and not of a guitar or a song. This comes through in the verses of the album’s final songs, “Thinking ‘Bout Love” and “Woman & Dog.”

You do wonder if Leon allowed a bit more time in the the oven for some of these songs, we’d get some more of that road-worn wisdom out of them than we do. But it’s the easy, laid back disposition of Making a Livin’ produced by Patrick Lyons that has a lot of people finding favor with it. Leon reinvigorates the spirit of the hobo poet, singing what he lives, living what he sings, and experiencing a level of freedom we all wish we had the ability or courage to pursue.

8.1/10

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