Song Review – Willy Tea Taylor’s “Life Is Beautiful”
2011 will go down as the year of the “laundry list” or “checklist” song in country music, where imbecile, adolescent compositions stringing together well-recognized elements of country life like “ice cold beer” and “dirt roads” and “biscuits” beat us over the head to the point of submission in a transparent effort to appeal to a demographic who finds identity by living vicariously through anecdotic language.
2011 is also the year Willy Tea Taylor from California’s “Cowboy Capital” of Oakdale released an album called Four Strings, that as the name implies, takes a very minimalist approach to expose Willy’s eloquent songwriting. Four Strings is fabulous, and can be listen to and purchased for whatever price you decide to name on Bandcamp. But one song called “Life Is Beautiful” is so exceptional, it deserves to be given special attention.
The “laundry list” song formula doesn’t have to be used for the dark purpose of creating a corporate culture based on artifacts and behavior. Naming off artifacts of the country can be a great way to convey the beauty of life through illustrating it’s simplicity. Without question Willy’s “Life Is Beautiful” is a laundry list song; a laundry list song that schools all of it’s counterparts by simply being honest, and thankful. “Life Is Beautiful” is one of the best songs of the year, and not a better, more necessary year could it have been presented to us. It is a masterpiece, and if it doesn’t move you, then well, I just give up. So give up 4 minutes of your time, and change your life.
(Two guns way up by the way!)
And exclusive concert featuring Willy Tea, along with The Boomswagglers and Tom VandenAvond will be broadcast on SCM LIVE on 11/11/11, Veterans Day, from the Moose Lodge in Austin, TX.
November 3, 2011 @ 8:16 am
yepper…
November 3, 2011 @ 8:23 am
Willy Tea Taylor’s songs have the power to change your musical interests!
November 3, 2011 @ 8:28 am
That is very well put.
November 3, 2011 @ 8:25 am
you damn right Triggerman, Willy Tea Taylor is a dazzler, fo’ sho’
November 3, 2011 @ 8:27 am
Cuzzin’ Willie is just getting started. You ain’t seen nothing yet. This man is going to make shit happen.
November 3, 2011 @ 8:33 am
I listen to this song almost everyday. Simply amazing.
November 3, 2011 @ 8:42 am
i first heard this song through casey weber’s video he has posted on youtube of willie singin it…it was last winter. it was one of my first encounters with willy’s writing, i hadnt heard of him before, and i swear …i thought he was like a 58 year old hobo…not only because of the beard and whisky glazed eyes, but because i figured the only person who could write something of such genius is a man who has lost everything…lived hard….born scars. it hit me hard and ive been a fan ever since.
here is the version im talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTQ0azDxLvo
my eyes get watery from this song. tears from some a place that only gets pierced with the pure light of truth. nough said.
November 3, 2011 @ 9:12 am
That’s a good version. Let me embed it for folks.
November 3, 2011 @ 8:51 am
it’s just one of those songs that cuts ya deep.when you’re sittin there bitchin bout what ya don’t have listen to this song and realize how much ya actually do have and how blessed you are
November 3, 2011 @ 9:28 am
If Jason Aldean or Eric Church would’ve released this song, you would be trashing it.
November 3, 2011 @ 10:02 am
I respectfully disagree. Just because an artist is popular, doesn’t mean they can’t put out a good song, and just because an artist is obscure, doesn’t mean they can’t put out a bad one. Each artist, song, and album should always be judged on their own merit, regardless of their past or current status. When Eric Church put out a song that I felt touched on a nerve just like “Life is Beautiful” does, I said so, even though I knew it would result in howling from many readers, some of which judged the song simply because of who it was from.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/song-review-eric-churchs-homeboy
November 3, 2011 @ 10:11 am
I liked the message of “Homeboy”.
Anyways, this song doesn’t do anything more for me than all the other laundry list songs.
Looking forward to HBG’s new one, and your review.
November 3, 2011 @ 10:32 am
Aldean or Church couldn’t/wouldn’t put this song out as simply as Willy Tea did. The lights, camera, action would get in the way.
This is an old school type song. I can see Willie (Nelson) or Merle, Kris type of guys doing this. Not Aldean or Church.
November 3, 2011 @ 11:41 am
Weber, I think you wanted to post this here, put it got posted under Willy’s picture. It is Willy and Tom V at Weber’s barn a few days ago.
November 4, 2011 @ 4:20 am
Thanks for making me cry Willie Tea. Such a heartstring as this . . .when nothing’s amiss . . . I feel like a blessed rewind.
November 4, 2011 @ 10:16 am
Thanks Trig. Yah, I am not sure why it put it on the photo only. But, I can say, that both of those videos were taken by me, or at one of my shows. Willy Tea does this with everything in his soul, for nearly NO money, on a 1930’s beat up old 4 string Gibson. There is more soul, and feeling in one of those strings than any main stream “country” star on the planet. I may be biased, as Willy is a good friend of mine, but I will defend that bearded man to my grave. His songs have more feeling than nearly any other songwriter I have ever seen, and you can see it in every single performance, and his stories tell it like it is. The man is a true legend in his own right, and he has only just begun. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!!
November 3, 2011 @ 1:08 pm
I am an old school softy. I love songs about fathers and sons, farms, and the soil. And I gotta say this song brings a tear to my eye everytime. Go ahead make fun of me.
November 3, 2011 @ 1:21 pm
You queen!
November 3, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
Yeah I guess. I am just an old softy sissy boy. Haha
November 5, 2011 @ 7:23 am
You’re not alone, dude. Let’s hug it out.
November 3, 2011 @ 3:34 pm
Definitely one of my favorite songs. Willy is an astonishing songwriter, and is able to move me like few other artists ever have, among them Tom Waits and Possessed By Paul James, so that’s how highly I regard this guy. We need more people like him in this world.
November 3, 2011 @ 6:10 pm
Thank you Trig for introducing me yet another amazing artist…
November 3, 2011 @ 11:13 pm
4 Strings is the business. ive probably listened to Molly Rose at least a good 100 times,lol…best murder ballad ever.
November 4, 2011 @ 4:15 am
I wanted to sit down with a big tall glass of Willy Tea and really taste it down. This is a laundry list I can understand. Yay for Willy Tea Taylor.
“IT’s what ever it takes . . .”
November 4, 2011 @ 9:20 am
I saw this one a long time ago and have been a fan since (I guess it’s the same movie production company that did the Folk Singer), I haven’t seen the movie but I think it’s a great video and kind of shows you what he’s all about.
The Kingdom of Survival – Will “The Bull” Taylor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzRpv9rRpKs
Check it out, if you liked the live recording I think you’ll be impressed with this.
November 4, 2011 @ 10:25 am
Filmed and released by Slowboat Films. Mark A. Littler is the director. Both films are fantastic in their own right, and should very much be taken in by anyone that has the chance. http://www.slowboatfilms.com
November 4, 2011 @ 10:53 am
I was lucky enugh to be invited to play at Weber’s Barn and we were absolutely blow away when we walked up the stairs into the loft of the barn and Willy Tea was playing “Cattleman”. His disc “4 Strings” is amazing with every song a gem. Also many props to all the performers that night. And since Willy points out “its a Vandenavond song” I need to add that Tom Vandenavond’s “You Oughta Know Me by Now” disc is also incredible. Hope you boys find Guy Clark’s kitchen.
And to Weber, many thanks to you and your crew for all you do.
November 4, 2011 @ 4:29 pm
This music and all the people involved in this scene makes me want to live, and to live more.
November 5, 2011 @ 7:25 am
Amen.
November 4, 2011 @ 6:59 pm
Great song, great song!
November 5, 2011 @ 11:29 pm
Triggerman you have led me to water but unlike most people i am thirsty for reality. I Took a drink of Willie Tea. I found he uses the same tools of the song trade that poop country uses,.. familiar imagery .. but there is a clear difference. That difference is … reality. Wille Tea isnt trying to sound country or folk or roots or retro or any of that. he is just real. after i listened to “life is beautiful’, i listened to the ” The Very best at missing you” and i disagree, “the Very best at missing you” should be song of the year. Good Lord doesn’t finding music like this make you feel sorry for people who are following country radio like sheep. Perhaps they are happy and fulfilled with Kieth Urban, Taylor Swift and Koby Teeth selling them Ford pickups, as for me I pity them. there is a difference between cheesy sentimentality and soul. this ought to show the blind the difference. but only if you want to taste the difference.drink deep people.
November 8, 2011 @ 9:52 pm
What Life is Beautiful does, that other laundry list songs fail to do, is make me conjure my own memories to go along with it. I caught myself smiling throughout, as I recalled memories I thought I’d forgotten.
November 10, 2011 @ 1:05 pm
“it’s us singing in the streets like we’re all dieing tomorrow. it’s i got your back brother it’s whatever it takes” god dam great
November 10, 2011 @ 3:15 pm
i just don’t understand the whole this is more real than that comments (patrick c and others). i mean it’s completely different music genres and it seems like the people that get upset because taylor swift is getting an award but no one has heard of willy t can’t grasp that. the music that is presented on the CMA’s and the music that is played by will taylor, billy joe shaver or even more popular artists like kris kristofferson is like comparing motorhead to thelonius monk. in other words there is no reason to compare them. they are entirely different animals. enjoy the music. and if you do find the need or reason to review it, then review it on it’s own merits regardless if you like it or not. why the fuck would keith urban and will taylor ever be in the same paragraph is beyond me regardless of who you favor unless they perform a duet together. jesus people!
November 10, 2011 @ 6:16 pm
Yet another great reason to love music and the people that share it. Beauty beauty beautiful writing and melody WT.
November 13, 2011 @ 5:13 pm
Willy Tea is one of my heroes. Him, Tommy V, Konrad and soda, They’re like highlanders of songwriting. channeling something beyond music and making medicine. Thanks for making the medicine fella’s. see ya’ll down the road soon!
Album Review – Willy Tea Taylor’s “4 Strings” « Saving Country Music
November 26, 2011 @ 8:38 am
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