NEW ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: BRENNEN LEIGH
AND NOEL MCKAY
By Bob Doerschuk
© 2013
CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
Before
the World Was Made is a delicious mix: raw, retro Country plus sweet irony.
That’s apparently the specialty of Brennen Leigh and Noel McKay, the Austin-based
duo whose debut, on their B&N imprint, is hilarious, sentimental and profound,
usually all at the same time.
Produced by Gurf Murlix, with only one
of its 12 tracks penned by an outside writer, this album draws from Guy Clark,
Lucinda Williams, the Louvin Brothers and, perhaps unconsciously, Nichols and
May. Backed by a bare-bones band that consists of a drummer playing mainly snare,
an acoustic bassist and occasional guests, they ponder love’s absurdities. A
theme emerges in their titles alone. “Breaking Up Is Easy” is followed by
“Breaking Up and Making Up Again,” in which McKay intones, “I forgot that
you’re a bore,” and Leigh responds, “And I forgot how loud you snore,”
both singing with a delightfully flat, deadpan delivery.
And who could resist
the wisdom of “Let’s Go to Lubbock on Vacation,” which reasons that if they
survive a week or so there, they’ll know they’re in love? Or “The Only Other
Person in the Room,” a forlorn pickup song involving the last two folks in the
honky-tonk at closing time?
But then they close with “Great Big Oldsmobile,”
an unexpectedly touching pledge of lifelong adoration. “I’ll be deafer than
a post and grayer than a ghost, but you’ll still steam my glasses up when you’re
92,” McKay promises — and we believe him.
For more on Brennen Leigh
and Noel McKay, visit www.CMACloseUp.com.
IN
HER OWN WORDS
MUSICAL HERO
BRENNEN:
“Jim Lauderdale.”
NOEL: “Guy Clark.”
ALBUM IN YOUR PLAYLIST
BOTH: “Guy
Clark’s My Favorite Picture of You.”
DREAM DUET PARTNER
BRENNEN:
“Melba Montgomery.”
NOEL: “I sing with my dream duet partner nearly every night.”
PET PEEVE
BRENNEN: “Everything.”
NOEL: “Tailgating.”
FAVORITE
MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
BOTH: “Train!”
ACTOR
WHO WOULD PLAY YOU IN A BIOPIC
BRENNEN: “Jackie Chan.”
NOEL: “Brigitte
Bardot, of course.”
MOMENT YOU’D LOVE TO RELIVE
BRENNEN:
“Getting to play mandolin and sing with Charlie Louvin.”
FAVORITE
FOOD ON THE ROAD
NOEL: “Peanut butter and strawberry sandwiches that
Brennen makes while I’m driving.”
On the Web: www.BrennenLeighAndNoelMcKay.com
On Twitter:
@BrennenLeigh; @McKayNoel