Song Review – J.B. Beverley’s “Phone Calls From My Uncle”
Somewhere, the promise of a new era in human civilization got lost. The idea of solving problems on foreign soil before they became problems at home backfired, or at least was fumbled. Yet appeasement, and limited involvement hasn’t seen the draw down of death and terror either. Meanwhile there are men and women from the United States and other nations who may have strong opinions on matters of world peace and stability one way or the other, but no matter what those opinions are, if they are called to go, they go. And they leave their homes and families behind so others may enjoy their own in safety.
Earlier this week the United States celebrated Veterans Day. Country music has a long history of being the bastion of support for the troops in America, and showering them with praise at every turn. But sometimes the aim of that praise is just as much to ingratiate the performer to an audience as it is to truly pay homage to service members. Many times these mawkish odes make platitudes out of the lives of people in the military, missing the human element and any dose of realism to what they’re trying to say. These songs are bathed in hero worship instead of a true assessment of the complex issues members of the military face before, during, and after service.
“Over the years, I’ve had many-a-veteran friend ask me to write a song for the men and women in the battlefield. Having never seen combat, I put it off for a long time,” says songwriter J.B. Beverley, the frontman of J.B. Beverley and the Wayward Drifters. “I wanted to wait until I had the right feeling . . . the right message. I’ve listened to the stories you all have shared with me, and I wanted to try and sum up what I think it might be like for you all.”
And that’s what Beverley does in “Phone Calls From My Uncle”—a song he wrote specifically for Veterans Day. It’s a simple recording, just J.B. and his guitar, and Big Geo Ballentine accompanying on slide, but it really captures the incredible burdens enlisted men and women face throughout their lives, and the tolls those burdens take. The song is sparse, but Beverley fills it out by finding the heartbeat of the song, and spacing everything perfectly until you’re hanging on every word, and really feel the gravity of what is said especially when it reaches its conclusion.
Just like Beverely admits, it can seem foolish to think you can understand the life of a service member from the outside looking in. But somehow, Beverley makes you feel that weight, if only for five minutes.
Two Guns Up.
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Proceeds to sales of “Phone Cass From My Uncle” Go to Veterans organizations.
Purchase J.B. Beverley’s “Phone Calls From My Uncle”
November 14, 2015 @ 10:02 am
You know, for as much as we campaign for more steel and fiddle, I think the dobro might be the best instrument for conveying sorrow. My goodness, does that hit home behind the lyrics.
November 14, 2015 @ 10:47 am
Such a good song. Always nice to hear Country songs that talk about the military without reducing itself to pandering or using the Armed Forces as an front for capitalizing on Patriotism.
Seems more often than not some Country stars will record a feel good anthem about Soldiers, do a USO tour to help their image and then call it good while they go home to their mansion. Good for Beverly for capturing a realistic feel to this song and for donating all the proceeds to Veteran Organizations. Which is especially awesome since J.B. Beverly isn’t signed to some big label or doing arena tours.
November 14, 2015 @ 12:55 pm
Thanks for the great review Trigger Man! You’re right on about J.B., it’s a pleasure to make music with him. BwareDware94, thanks for the compliment on the dobo. I agree!
November 14, 2015 @ 4:02 pm
Spectacular! I searched on Amazon before I read your disclaimer. You’re going to have to remind us when it’s posted.
I’m hoping one day you do an ask Trigger anything feature. I’m sitting on about a dozen questions I’d like to ask you. One I’ll ask now: There are ton of country music songs written about Vietnam. Even today country artists are still writing and singing songs about Vietnam, but more recent conflicts in the Persian Gulf and Middle East don’t get the same coverage – except by Steve Earle. Why do you think that is?
November 14, 2015 @ 5:00 pm
Not Trigger, but to throw my two cents in the main reason you don’t see more artists tackling issues like War and stuff is because it simply isn’t good for business. In the case of mainstream artists, taking any sort of political or social stance is incredibly dangerous. Look at the Dixie Chicks as the main example, but hell even Little Big Town took heat because some morons thought one of their songs has lesbian overtones.
It’s a number of factors, for one thing it seems more and more Americans are entrenched in their beliefs and don’t want to hear another point of view and the other is that for artists to step out and express their views means they could lose sponsorship’s and listeners. The reason Steve Earle can do it is because he knows the majority of his modern day fan base is either in agreement with him politically/socially or are simply not offended by his valid or invalid viewpoints. That and at this stage in Steve Earles career he isn’t having to worry about selling tickets to fill up JerryWorld (now with 100% more Greg Hardy).
November 14, 2015 @ 8:18 pm
Interesting you bring up “Traveling Soldier” – another Vietnam song. TS was on it’s way to #1 before Maines made her statement about W. I think Bruce Robison wrote it in the 90’s (pre-9/11). But, I’d like to know why he set it in Vietnam era, not the more timely first Gulf War.
November 14, 2015 @ 8:29 pm
‘Traveling Soldier’ did make it to #1 in early 2003 shortly before the brouhaha. It was their last top ten country hit.
November 15, 2015 @ 6:39 am
Not sure on why Robison placed in Vietnam. My guess is it’s for a couple of reasons.
1. The Vietnam War was and still is the most universally unpopular war among Americans. As big of a clusterf*** as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have become, a pretty large segment of Americans still believe it was right to go into Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11.
2. The Vietnam War was the last instance of a War affecting virtually all Americans. For better or worse with the Draft being pushed aside a smaller part of America actually sees or feels the effects of War on their personal lives. Now more and more only a small number of Americans serve in the military and an even smaller number of Americans actually fight in the Wars.
Those are just my guesses, but I think both those things play a part in the lack of Gulf War or Iraq/Afghanistan songs.
November 15, 2015 @ 7:07 am
Well, the first Gulf War only lasted 6 weeks and I believe the ground portion was over in a few days. I think less than 200 Americans died, as opposed to 58,000 in Viet Nam.
I think Mike W’s second point is dead on. Because there is no draft and our armed forces are all-volunteer, the vast majority of Americans have had no personal stake in our more recent wars. I will say that I personally know no one who has fought in these wars and I don’t think that is at all unusual. It’s a very, very small percentage of Americans that have been personally affected by these wars.
November 15, 2015 @ 8:56 am
I would concur with these opinions.
November 14, 2015 @ 6:53 pm
Excellent. Will be buying for sure when it comes to Amazon.
November 15, 2015 @ 8:08 pm
Just bought it. Now up on Amazon for those interested.
November 14, 2015 @ 10:59 pm
Wow… What a song!
November 15, 2015 @ 5:45 am
Fine, fine song. Thanks, Trigger. This is why SCM is so valuable. I never would have heard this otherwise.
November 15, 2015 @ 9:51 am
Thank you all for the kind words. It means a lot.
Thank you, Trigger Man for the review and sentiment.
This song came about from talks I’ve had with veterans ranging from WWII all the way up recent conflicts. The words I chose and images conjured come right out of literal stories told to me… Not from one person, but from a variety. I didn’t want to be specific to any war, battle, or division of the military. (although having written the song on the birthday of the Marine Corps, I did throw a USMC reference in there.) My goal was to take the experiences and sentiments shared with me, and weave them into one story.
To touch on one other thing, proceeds from the single are indeed going to a few veterans charities. I wanted to give something back to our defenders.
Anyway, thank you all.
Regards,
-J.B.
November 15, 2015 @ 12:31 pm
This is a good song–the lyrics are real; they don’t seem to overglorify war or service like so many other songs do. I’m a Marine veteran of Afghanistan; I can’t speak for everyone I served with, but I appreciate this song and how the songwriter really seems to have a good understanding on the realities of service and combat. There’s so many more emotions and themes that can be written about than just pride and patriotism, and to me, this song captures more than a few of them. Duty, honor, fear, doing your job in spite of fear, not understanding the job but doing it anyway, death and loss, and love of those you fight with–those are just a few.
‘The Angry American’ turned me on to country music at the age of 11, but now I like songs such as ‘Dress Blues, ‘Tour of Duty,’ and ‘Sands of Iwo Jima’ much more than the typical take on patriotism and service that ‘The Angry American’ describes. The ‘We support our troops at war!’ shout outs, like in Alabama’s new song, really just make me feel a bit awkward…yes, please support us, but please try to actually understand what we are doing overseas in the first place. Trust me, I like to kick ass and fight just as much as the next guy, but there’s so much more to service than that.
J.B– Thanks for writing this! You did a fine job.
November 15, 2015 @ 1:11 pm
My pleasure, sir. Thank you.
November 16, 2015 @ 10:27 am
Phone Call From My Uncle – great songwriting always proves that less is more
November 17, 2015 @ 5:38 am
Man, this song just really cuts me deep. It’s fantastic. Hopefully a song of the year candidate.