Rounder CD 0425
8.5 rating

review by Art Menius

The irrepressible James King returns with yet another strong set of hard-edged, deeply felt bluegrass, Bed by the Window. A fairly obscure Stanley clone during the early phase of his career in the 1980s, King has developed a distinctive sound of his own during the 1990s. Since signing with Rounder, King has produced three albums of his own, a stunning gospel collaboration with veteran Paul Williams, and the acclaimed supergroup project Longview. With all that has come a very respectable following, including Kirkwood Smith of Fox TV’s "That 70s Show," for the Martinsville, Virginia singer and guitarist.

Despite the bedsitter imagery of Bed by the Window, James King in no way resembles Al Stewart. King’s music, in this way still like Carter Stanley’s, comes straight from a heart of unmistakable sadness. Like most bluegrass greats, King has not enjoyed an easy life, but that has put the steel bars and stone walls in his soul, and that strength resonates in his voice. Thus the sad songs do suit him best, and Bed by the Window includes one after another with the title cut about as mournful as one can get. He mines classic bluegrass (Connie & Babe, Bill Monroe) and country (Hank, Sr., Stonewall Jackson), as well as folk (Richard and Mimi Farina!) for songs where everything doesn’t turn out all right, unlike on his friend’s sitcom. Even when a piece initially happy, like the immediately attractive "I Don’t Do Floors," we discover that he’s referring to pacing the floor worrying about the whereabouts of an AWOL lover.

Few artists are willing to take this type of risk these days. Anything else, however, would be wrong for James King. His voice has the strength of an gnarled oak battered by decades of mountain winds and snows. On every track on Bed by the Window, King sounds as if he singing from personal experience. You can tell this is a new recording, yet you find all the qualities that made the classic bluegrass of 1950s so powerful – soulful yet unselfconscious singing, material that almost celebrates tragedy, driving playing that stays close to the melody and never gets in the way of the vocals. Records like Bed by the Window prove rare at century’s end and therefore all the more to be treasured.