Drayton Farley: Twenty on High
Photo by Hayley Gjertsen
Fueled by the calloused blue-collar souls and dusty, tattered, jeans of the working way of life, Drayton Farley has become the poet of the Everyday Man. Enveloped in the craft of capturing the rural heartbeat of America in a mere collection of lyrics, Farley continues his troubadour musings with his latest release, Twenty on High, featuring 10 tracks steeped in intricate detail and emotion - a trait Farley demonstrates flawlessly.
Produced by Sadler Vaden, a growing visionary in the production realm, as well as a pretty damn good musician (Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit) in his own right, Farley continues the churning momentum gained by his freshman release, A Hard up Life, delivering verses with an apologetic, nearly remorseful, beauty. The feeling of fleeting time and wasted moments haunt the album, seeping into the verses with careless ease, adding to Farley’s ability to encompass a river of real emotion with a few chords and honest lines.
“Above My Head,” the second single released from the album in early 2023, finds Farley at his finest, acknowledging the chase of the dream, but also understanding the doubt and speculation that can quickly derail those aspirations. There’s introspection here - an allusion to Farley’s growing sense as an artist and the sacrifices that are painfully made when trying to wrangle success.
The title track, “Twenty on High,” provides the proof needed to dispel any questions as to a breakout album - Farley pulls the brush strokes and puts the listener right in the middle of his Alabama world in the simplistic opening lines:
"35 minutes into Monday /
Crossing that old state line /
Headed out East with the railway /
The mountains of North Caroline"
Yet, like every good dream chase adventure, there’s always time for a good foot-stomp amongst the Marlboro fog of a backwoods tavern. Farley handles that chapter with the eighth song of the record, “Devil’s in NOLA,” a recount of being somewhere that you simply don’t want to be - like a dirty strip club - especially when you just want to be back home with the one you love, as the chorus laments:
"Now Lord, can you save me, from this place, that I’m in /
For the floors they’re all painted an awful shade of sin /
How I long for the hour that I get to see my lover’s face again”
Backed by the talents of Vaden (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keys & vocals), Chad Gamble (drums & percussion), Jimbo Hart (bass), Peter Levin (piano, Hammond organ, Wurlitzer & synths), and Kristin Weber (fiddle), Farley makes the most of his full-band recording, including the added guest vocals of Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield on “The Alabama Moon,” Farley has a timeless collection on his hands - that album that you’ll play for your grandchildren before chastising their tastes - “Now this is when music was music; when songwriting was songwriting.”
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