Too Late To Pray: Defiant Chicago Roots

The Chicago-based roots music label Bloodshot Records was launched in 1994 with a compilation called Insurgent Country, Vol. 1: For a Life of Sin, and when the label turned five years old, their survival seemed remarkable enough that they celebrated with a two-disc multi-artist set, Down to the Promised Land: 5 Years of Bloodshot Records. If anyone had told Bloodshots founders that their label would be alive and kicking 25 years later, its anyones guess how they might have reacted, though disbelief would have been a likely choice. But in 2019 Bloodshot is still at it, and theyve released another anniversary collection, Too Late to Pray: Defiant Chicago Roots, that demonstrates why theyve lasted: They know a good band and a good song when they hear them. The albums 22 selections include a few artists who appeared on For a Life of Sin (Jon Langford, Freakwater, Robbie Fulks, the Handsome Family) as well as a raft of newer artists who cover a broad range of sounds under the Insurgent Country banner. There are powerful acoustic-based artists (Half Gringa, Big Sadie), high-stepping honky tonk acts (Wild Earp & the Free for Alls, the Hoyle Brothers), rockers who know how to throw some twang into the mix (the Dyes, Los Gallos, Tammi Savoy), stuff thats a stones throw from bluegrass (Joybird, the Family Gold), and some truly inspired covers (Freakwaters mournful take on the Rolling Stones Sway, the Handsome Family reworking Leonard Cohens Tower of Song, and Rookie making it clear that you really do want to hear someone cover Tears for Fears major role in the Bloodshot story, the defiant but unblinking I Am a Big Town by Jon Langfords Hillbilly Lovechild (featuring Steve Albini on guitar) is all an even more powerful statement on both good and bad changes in the City of the Big Shoulders. Too Late to Pray seems a bit less thematic than most of Bloodshots previous birthday offerings, but in the truest sense, this album shows their mission hasnt changed a bit since they sent For a Life of Sin to the replication plant: Find talented and sincere musicians with a bit of country and punk in their souls, let them play some great songs, and give folks a chance to hear them. Thats a pretty good basis for a record label, and Too Late to Pray shows it hasnt failed them yet. ~ Mark Deming