The Long Ryders were once the shit, to use the appropriate slang expression from back in the day. Their albums from the mid-1980s (Native Son, State of Our Union, Two-Fisted Tales) were part of the onslaught of New Wave Cowpunk bands such as Jason and the Scorchers, Green on Red, Rank and File, and the Beat Farmers, that generated excitement among college-age audiences who were turned off by mainstream country acts.
The band took a long hiatus, although they sporadically got together for brief reunions. They released a new studio album in 2019, 32 years after their previous effort. Bassist Tom Stevens died in 2021. The group released their fifth album in 2023 and have been semi-active performing live.
The Long Ryders’ latest record, High Noon Hymns, is a double album containing 13 songs with a total runtime of approximately 60 minutes. Twelve of the tracks are original compositions by band members Sid Griffin and Stephen McCarthy. The songs are mostly mid-tempo ballads, averaging about four-and-a-half minutes in length.
Griffin describes the music on the new record as “two-thirds the distilled alt-country genre we helped found back in the 1980s, one-third Paisley Underground adventurism, with a dash of our own crazed soulfulness thrown in.” That’s an apt description, but not necessarily a compliment.
The word “distilled” means purified. The Long Ryders of the 1980s were celebrated for their shagginess. Unlike the Nashville acts, cowpunk acts like their punk rock counterparts suggested that sloppiness was part of their authenticity. Their passion and excitement led them to color outside the lines. Hitting the wrong note, breaking a string, forgetting the words, and such, provided proof of their passion.
The songs on High Noon Hymns have a smooth veneer. Even the rough tracks, such as “Stand a Little Further to the Fire” and “(How How How) Do You Wanna Be Loved”, seem dampened by their very predictability. The cuts may begin loudly but soon cool down to a lower intensity. The lyrics’ mundanity further exacerbates this. The simple sentiments (“Now settle down and listen to the beat / The rhythm likely knock you off your feet”) suggest the band have nothing new to say. This may indeed be “distilled alt-country”, but whiskey is supposed to have a bite. The smooth stuff one drinks with cigars in a gentleman’s club is for older people.
Maybe it’s unfair to point out, but the band members must at least be in their 60s. Their youthful enthusiasm has transmogrified into a dreary professionalism. Many of the songs (“Say Goodbye to Crying”, “A Belief in Birds”, “Knoxville on the Line”) express life lessons that look backwards at what was left behind.
The album ends with a cover of Bob Dylan‘s “Forever Young”. The group emphasize the melodic elements of the song. They sing and play each note carefully and even a bit gently. Bleech! Youth may be wasted on the young, but it’s somewhat repulsive to hear someone generically (and gerontologically) long in the tooth commend it.
The Long Ryders were important pioneers of a country-rock revolution that went on to spawn Americana, roots rock, and a host of related genres. The passing of time is inevitable, but it would be better if the band rebelled against ageing instead of conforming to it.