I Just Came Home to Count the Memories

John Anderson's third album for Warner Brothers made him a star and helped launch what critics called the neo-traditionalist movement, a return to pared-down fiddle, banjo, and steel guitar arrangements and songs about hard times and hard luck. The players here are all Nashville session heavies, doing what they do best, while Anderson's vocals are as country as they come, despite the fact that he grew up playing rock & roll in Apopka, FL. The album was mostly downtempo, with the kind of sad ballads that country music lovers adore and rockers make fun of. Hits on the album include the title track, a nostalgic ballad about a down-on-his-luck guy returning home, given extra gravitas by Anderson's expressive growl, and "Would You Catch a Falling Star," another tearjerker about a country singer on the way down, hitting up a female fan for a place to stay. Anderson contributes three strong co-writes. "I Danced with the San Antone Rose" is an almost mythological waltz about finding at least temporary true love, while "When Lady Is Cloudin' Your Vision" is perhaps the saddest tune on a sad album, the tale of a down-on-his-luck guy whose woman is leaving him. Here Anderson uses his doleful midrange for his tear-stained delivery. "Girl, for You," one of the two uptempo numbers, is a honky tonk two-stepper with plenty of fancy picking, a salute to true love. Anderson also does an understated cover of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice (It's All Right)" and the Delmore Brothers' "Trail of Time," a doleful meditation on the limitations and simple pleasures of life, with true love topping both lists. ~ j. poet