Self-released

Actually, boys and girls, what we have here is an album by Centro-matic and the band South San Gabriel – which is the four lovable Texans from Centro-matic plus assorted friends and musical relations.

Curse me for trying to over-simplify things if you must, but if Centro-matic is the reason that songer/songwriter/guitarist Will Johnson should have a Telecaster Custom named after him by Fender, then South San Gabriel makes the case for a Will Johnson Martin acoustic. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to describe the SSG material as sounding thicker and more orchestrated and pre-meditated, whereas the average C-m tune sounds like a single-take rough diamond that someone happened to capture on tape. (Of course, then there are the tunes like “Christmas ‘83” on Eyas, all bittersweet vocals against the backdrop of a finger-plucked string section and occasional drips of keys. That happens to be a Centro-matic tune … maybe the cameo by a single ghostly tremolo’d chord in the final moments is the giveaway.)

The bottom line is, Mr. “Sneezed-And-Out-Came-Another-Great-Song” Johnson needs two bands (plus assorted side projects under his own name) just to keep up with the flow of music emanating from his soul. If you’ve put an ear to the man’s work in the past, you already know that he’s as capable of cranking out killer chunks of Crazy Horsiness as he is introspective, ache-laced tunes that could make Ryan Adams snap all his pencils in half with jealousy.

Having said all that, of the seven tracks on Eyas (recorded during the same sessions that produced 2009’s Dual Hawks), the absolute didn’t-see-that-one-coming blindsider is a cover tune. That’s right – and to really freak you out, it’s a cover of Lionel Richie’s wiggly dance hit from 1983, “All Night Long”. But, wait: it’s not what you think, boys and girls: no Afro wigs and leather pants for Will Johnson and the gang – no, no. None of that.

This version of “All Night Long” is slow and measured, with a dry-as-a-bone drum kit joining Johnson and his guitar halfway through the first verse. Little wisps of keys and pedal steel make a slow approach, adding to the ache factor. By the time South San Gabriel hits the bridge (“Everyone you meet is dancing in the street”), things are thudding along nicely. Matt Stoessel’s pedal steel takes over at that point, followed by sheets of keys raining down, courtesy of Scott Danbom. Eventually, the keyboard and the steel become so entwined that they’re almost impossible to tell apart – and all the while the guitar crashes, the bass lurches, and that dry, dry drum holds down the fort. When they revisit the chorus vocally for one last time, the human presence is almost a relief. No, there’ll be no video featuring dancing policemen for this take on “All Night Long” – but the wring-you-out factor is as real as it gets.

There are songs that manage to hook you the first time through without a trace of poppiness (like “No, They Ain’t Mine”), while “Cracking The Seal” and “Water For Legs And Lungs” are textbook studies in sonic drifts that ambush you with their emotion.

All in all, Eyas is a powerful collection of soulful work shirt-clad tunes by Will Johnson’s musical families. Seriously, though – these were leftovers?