Bocephus King's
A Small Good Thing is an album that doesn't ever really make up its mind and it doesn't need to. Surprisingly, his raspy rockers fit remarkably well between his pensive painful ballads, pop-induced driving songs, and fiddle-heavy folk tunes.
King's often
Tom Waits-esque throaty delivery and the band's multi-instrumentalism add depth to the overwhelming lighthearted feel of
A Small Good Thing. This lighthearted feel rises not so much from the lyrics as it does from the mandolin, piano, and pedal steel woven into songs that deal with death, regret, and torturous mental pain. The album's title track is a tribute to the bygone days of being a teenager. "Them teenage boys are so happy to live they start screaming, outside my window like hounds in the orange summer moon/And at times I forget all my sins and remember that feeling/I forget the sad day when the bride did away with the groom." "Blues for Buddy Bolden" hits the ground running with mandolin and fiddle, giving the tune a south-of-the-border feel, and is one of the more solid songs on the album if listeners can get past
King's imperfect howls (and those who can will understand that any imperfections in
King's vocals are a major part of his attraction). The song is a tribute to ill-fated New Orleans cornet player
Buddy Bolden, who reached prime fame at the beginning of the 1900s. No recordings of his exist, just legends --
Bolden was a schizophrenic, which rendered him unable to perform around age 30.