Americana Roots & Roll Rodney Crowell Above and Beyond By Richard Skanse Rhett Miller (& Mr. Record Man) on 20 grand & messed-up years of Old 97’s plus Radney Foster Lydia Loveless Adam Carroll Ray Bonneville Dawn & Hawkes & more LoneStarMusic | 1 Above and Beyond From Houston’s Chinaberry sidewalks to Nashville, L.A., and the top of the country music charts, Rodney Crowell has lived long and prospered by the art of the song. But he’s still hell-bent on chasing his own elusive carrot as far as he can run. By Richard Skanse 38 | LoneStarMusic LoneStarMusic | 39 The CicadasThe Notorious Cherry Bombs KIN: Songs by Mary Karr and Rodney CrowellTarpaper Sky Ain’t Living Long Like This C Rodney Diamonds & Dirt Houston Kid or Tarpaper Sky Crowell that Carrico check I Rodney & Donivan There may be a handful of bigger household names in Americana Roots and Branches, Old Yellow Moon, t and Texas (and certainly country) Jewel of music today than Crowell, but the South few of his peers have had careers Diamonds & Dirt, marked by as many spikes in good The Houston Kid fortune — both commercial and that artistic — as he has. Tarpaper Sky there Pieces of the Sky Elite HotelLuxury Liner Old Yellow Moon Roots and Branches Ain’t Living Long Like This Diamonds & Dirt 40 | LoneStarMusic LoneStarMusic | 41 Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town one Girl King’s Record Shop The Survivors But What Will the Neighbors Think Rodney CrowellStreet Language Diamonds & Dirt Diamonds Diamonds Keys to the Highway Photo by John Carrico Behind the Music Laughs not Fate’s Right HandThe “I don’t really take vacations. I get Life Is Messy Houston KidSex & Gasoline these songs, and they start to move should Or The Outsider The Houston The Outsider the energy, so I’ve got to record Kid them. I’ve got enough songs in the Tarpaper Sky can for another record already, and I’ve got some more new songs Chinaberry Sidewalks coming ... It’ll be interesting to see up Fate’s Right Hand Tarpaper Sky what it feels like someday to not The Outsider Sex & Gasoline have anything to show.” The Houston Kid KIN Diamonds & Dirt Tarpaper Sky Houston Kid Chinaberry Sidewalks Tarpaper Sky Every Diamonds & Dirt 42 | LoneStarMusic LoneStarMusic | 43 Pieces of the Sky.