Bobby Bare's 1978 Columbia album
Bare reveals in spades that the performer still had plenty to offer. He utilizes the talents of an army of Nash Vegas guitar pickers here. Steel boss
Ben Keith (one of
Neil Young's
Stray Gators on
Harvest) is here, along with
Johnny Gimble on fiddle,
Bobby Emmons on piano, and
Larrie Londin and
Buddy Harman on skins, as well as a host of backing vocalists, including
Shel Silverstein and
Willie Nelson. There are also a couple of folks with the names
Waylon Jennings and
Chet Atkins who fell by the studio to help on a couple tracks. But it isn't the players who made the record; it's
Bare's inspirational performance on no less than eight songs by
Silverstein, Larry Wilkerson's "Finger on the Button," and a better version of the "The Gambler" than
Kenny Rogers could have ever dreamed of cutting. Why
Bare didn't strike pay dirt with his version is beyond the point of reason, because in the grain of his voice it feels like a story being told almost in the present tense, and accurate as a reading by someone who believes he has received life-saving advice from a ghost. "Yard Full of Rusty Cars" is one of
Silverstein's better songs, and contains the proverb "Show me a man with a yard full of rusty cars/And I'll show you a man with a 'frigerator full of beer that's nice and cold." Ditto the tracks such as "Too Many Nights Alone," "This Guitar Is for Sale," and "Sing for the Song."
Bare's command of the humorous line equals
Roger Miller's, his depth of emotion goes into the same well that
Willie Nelson's does (albeit in a baritone fashion), and he reveals a gift for turning a phrase so it remains memorable in the mind of the listener. His duet with
Jennings on "This Guitar Is for Sale" is one of the stellar broken ballads of
Bare's career, reflecting on the shattered fortunes and wasted years in the life of a singer/songwriter. Why hasn't Sony/Legacy reissued this fine platter? Sometimes life just ain't fair.