Matt Krahula’s Nightmare River Band released their Last Goodbye album in 2012 to much acclaim from music geeks the world over. Their music navigated a colorful soundscape splattered with pop, punk and country overtones and were accented by Krahula’s plaintive lead vocals, cool harmonies and catchy melodies, and featured lyrics about much more than beer, babes, parties and pickup trucks. Theirs were songs about life writ large and small, aka matters of the heart and soul. That the album got lost in the mix of the early ‘10s isn’t a surprise, however. We’ve been in an age of fragmentation for what seems like forever, if not longer. Heaven help any artist or band that doesn’t fit neatly into any one niche.
Last Goodbye 11 is a reimagining of that album, featuring an array of artists—friends, all— now rolling the numbers. While some are radical re-dos, they all ring with the same truths of the original versions—something that wouldn’t be possible if the songs themselves weren’t strong. “Last Goodbye,” which opens the 11-song set, is an excellent case in point. In the hands and voices of Bunny Day and the Mercy Buckets (aka Lacey Guthrie and Amy Lee of Louisville, Ky.), the lilting lament turns into something that simply sounds profound.
“Josie,” performed as a duet by Jenny Yim and Johnny Helm, is another gem. It conjures Peter Gabriel’s stirring duet with Kate Bush, “Don’t Give Up,” with Helm’s sandpaper-rough delivery smoothed out by Yim’s vocal. (Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová might be a better reference, now that I think about it.) In a long-ago era, especially if coupled to a dramatic video, it would have stood a good chance of becoming an MTV staple.
And so Last Goodbye 11 goes. The renovation unearths sentiments hidden just beneath the surface of the original renditions. “Overture,” performed by The Chillest (aka keyboardist Jason Wexler), for instance, turns what was an 11-second intro into a near two-minute tour of the album’s sonic landscape. It’s beautiful. The same is true of “Home,” as sung by former Jersey girl Jessica Rose. The original version is a country shuffle that’s soaked in harmonies for flavor, conjuring the Long Ryders circa Native Sons. As sung by the Nashville-based Rose, however, it now sports a more traditional country feel.
Last Goodbye 11 is well worth one’s time, in other words—as is the original 2012 release. Both can be streamed from all the usual suspects.
The track list and performers:
The Old Grey Cat 