Trouble Is A Lonesome Town

few years before singer/songwriter Lee Hazlewood paired up with his most famous foil, Nancy Sinatra, he unveiled his first solo album, TROUBLE IS A LONESOME TOWN. Although Hazlewood was already known as a producer for guitar legend Duane Eddy, this 1963 debut established the artist's own unique aesthetic, which often recalled a quirky bohemian version of Johnny Cash, both in his deep voice and narrative sensibility. Hazlewood's knack for storytelling pervades the entire record, unfolding as a concept piece about a town named Trouble and its various residents. Whether pondering outlaw lineage (the wistful, yet cheeky "Son of a Gun"), the girl next door (the spare, sensual "Look at That Woman"), or even death (the cheerfully morbid "We All Make the Flowers Grow"), Hazlewood is clearly having a good time relating the goings-on in his fictional hamlet (allegedly inspired by his Oklahoma hometown). Though he would soon venture outside of Western territory (to Sweden in fact), TROUBLE reveals that Hazlewood was charmingly at home in the dusty, sun-baked atmosphere of the genre.|