NEW ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Charlie Worsham
By
Bob Doerschuk
© 2013 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
Born in
Mississippi, Charlie Worsham learned enough banjo by age 10 for bluegrass legend
Jimmy Martin to invite him onstage at the Ryman Auditorium. Two years after that,
he joined Mike Snider on the air at the Opry. After attending Boston’s Berklee
College of Music, he headed to Nashville and eventually earned himself a deal
with Warner Bros. Records.
On his new album, Rubberband, released today, Worsham
distinguishes himself by his unerring taste and musical subtlety. As co-producer
with Ryan Tyndell and co-writer on all 11 tracks, he knows his way into each lyric.
He does play some burning leads, but most of the album is toned down, rich in
acoustic texture. His banjo stays in the background, enhancing the Country flavor.
Drums are often muted and minimal.
This gives Worsham room to tell his
stories. Starting with solo guitar and vocal, “How I Learned To Pray” (written
by Worsham, Tyndell and Jeremy Spillman) points not to church services “with
a chapter and a verse” but to small epiphanies in everyday life as sources of
redemption. On “Love Don’t Die Easy” (Worsham, Tyndell and Steve Bogard),
metaphor mixes with clear-eyed observation to mourn broken souls haunted by love
long or recently lost. Worsham finds daylight too, stirring cautious hope for
the future during a morning after on the album’s first single, “Could It Be”
(Worsham, Tyndell and Marty Dodson). His gift is to be able to whisper intimately
one moment and, with minimal effort, rock the house the next — and that’s
something they don’t teach at Berklee.
For more on Worsham, visit www.CMACloseUp.com.
IN
HIS OWN WORDS
SONG YOU WOULD LOVE TO COVER
“I’d
really love to cover a Katie Perry song – maybe ‘I Kissed a Girl’?”
MUSICAL HERO
“I grew
up on Vince Gill and Marty Stuart. Earl Scruggs is in that category too, as is Jimmy Martin.”
SONG
YOU WISH YOU HAD COVERED
“Any songwriter would say they wish
they had written ‘The House That Built Me.’”
ACTOR TO PORTRAY
YOU IN A BIOPIC
“Christian Bale – although I’d really get a kick
out of hanging with Jack Nicholson.”
MOMENT YOU’D LIKE TO RELIVE
“I could
relive playing at the Opry when I was 12 a million times.”
On the
Web: www.CharlieWorsham.com
On Twitter: @CharlieWorsham