​The Far West (form the album Everything We Thought We Wanted

​The Far West (form the album Everything We Thought We Wanted

​The Far West (form the album Everything We Thought We Wanted available on Blackbird Recording Company) (by Brian Rock)  
Southern California Country iconoclasts, The Far West seem poised for far reaching success on their third and most complete album to date, Everything We Thought We Wanted, though the album almost never saw the light of day. The original recordings were interrupted by Covid, then they were lost for months after the lockdown was finally lifted. After the masters were finalized, they were mere minutes away from going up in flames in the January 2025 California wildfires. The album is a testament to perseverance and dedication. More than that, it is a testament to master songcraft, with each song featuring poignant lyrics and multi-textured arrangements.  Contemplating life, loneliness, and longing through the sepia lens of a distinctive Folk/Rock/Country fusion; the album plays like a Bob Dylan fever dream of broken hearts and desert landscapes.
“Meet Me Where We Parted Last” showcases the band’s eclectic nature. A jangly, Country Rock rhythm introduces the song as lead vocalist Lee Briante sings ‘I could cut and run like I always do’. Confessing his fear of intimacy, he admits ‘instead of putting down stakes, I’m always pulling up tent poles’. But something inside stirs him to consider changing his ways. Singing ‘I can’t recall the future, but I can predict the past’ Briante muses that the comforts of the past might outweigh the uncertainties of the future. Like a heavenly beam of light accompanying an epiphany, a triumphant, a Memphis Soul horn section validates his new awareness. Finally changing his ways, he pleads for his lover to ‘meet me where we parted last’. Aaron Bakker provides a Mike Campbell inspired guitar solo and Michael Whiteside adds pulsing Hammond organ to enhance the feel of jubilation as a once closed heart finds the courage to open again.
Further highlighting their musical diversity, “Better Days” begins with a Fats Waller inspired New Orleans Jazz piano riff. The rhythm section of Robert Black on bass and Brian Bachman on drums provide a contrasting two step rhythm. Against this lively musical backdrop, Lee Briante broods, ‘praying for sunshine, but I only see rain. Turn on the TV and its bad news again. I want to live in better days’. The counterpoint between the melody and the lyrics is jarring as Briante continues, “granddaddy told me from the time I was four about the good times in the days between wars’. As he utters these words, he seems to realize something. The ‘days between wars’ were also the era of the Great Depression. With this realization his outlook suddenly matches the spritely rhythm as he sings ‘many years from now, maybe things will look better. We’ll look back on the hard times, say maybe those were the best days ever’. A flourish of Cajun accordion accentuates the message to live each day to the fullest and savor every moment.
The lyrical insight and musical flair continue to impress on, “See for Yourself”. A Mersey Beat/Memphis Soul mash-up with Dylanesque overtones; the song captures the biting wit of “Like A Rolling Stone”. Singing ‘you never miss your water till your well runs dry. But you’ve been walking in the desert forty days and forty nights. You had to see for yourself – just like everybody else’, Briante offers a stinging rebuke to those who won’t accept advice from more experienced souls. Whiteside’s Hammond organ captures the energy of those legendary, Highway 61 Revisited sessions, and Bakker’s soaring guitar solo takes it to the next level. The Far West lean further into Dylan’s Folk/Rock influence on “In Your Own Time”. Singing ‘I knew a man who was born ugly. But he grew more handsome with every good deed’, Lee Briante tackles weighty issues like self-perception and finding purpose in life. The band captures the easy flowing slide guitar rock of Stealer’s Wheel on the longing “Miss Me Too”. They explore the jangly optimism of early R.E.M. on “Happy Now”. They delve into Cosmic Cowboy as they contemplate mortality on the foreboding “Hope I Don’t Bleed”.
Continuing the Cosmic Cowboy vibes, but slowing the pace, The Far West addresses heartbreak on “These Lies”. They address the lingering loneliness that follows heartbreak on “Soft Place to Land”. The band offers a heartfelt tribute to the healing power of nature on the Laurel Canyon-inspired “Joshua Tree”. In the album’s most poignant moment, Briante assesses failed relationships in “For the Birds”. Blaming his lover, he scorns “if you were a clock, you’d never give me the time. Hands would not move. Hours would not chime. Standing in the hall, nothing much to say; just smiling ‘cause you’re right two times a day”. Joining him for the chorus, Katie Stratton adds warmth to Briante’s icy demeanor as they sing ‘our love is a song we no longer sing. We forgot the words and most of the melody. And if I asked you too, I bet you’d probably say ‘Singing’s just for birds anyway’’. Reluctantly accepting his share of the blame, Briante concedes “its years of neglect that are to blame’. But sadly, it’s too little too late as ‘everything we thought we wanted turned to dust’. Brutally honest, yet tenderly expressed, the song is an eloquent expression of love’s last dying ember. As authentic as Waylon Jennings, as cerebral as Bob Dylan, as intimate as John Prine; Everything We Thought We Wanted is exactly what we wanted all along. (by Brian Rock)
Listen and buy the music of The Far West from AMAZON
For more information head on over to The Far West website