Cory Branan - Spoke Too Soon

Cory Branan once told me a story about how when he was living in NYC there was this guy who really wanted to start a band with him. He had all kinds of label contacts and knew a bunch of music bigwigs. The guy was vey confident about getting a record deal and really enthusiastic about how succesful they would be. The one catch was that the guy told Cory that he had to stop writing so many country songs. Cory's response was, "But, I'm from the country!"

It seems a lot of people want to take his talent and mold it into something marketable instead of just letting him develop his talents as a singer-songwriter. It reminds me of the Aimee Mann story. She didn't really start selling any records as a solo artist until she was almost 40. Now, was this because it took her that long to fully evolve as a songwriter? Maybe partially, but it probably had a lot more to do with the fact that as a young musician she and her music were constantly being manipulated in order to be sold. Aferall, if you can't drink Kristal, why drink champaigne at all?

My point is this: Cory Branan is a talented songwriter. He writes songs about falling fast and falling hard, regret and sweet sweet love. They're songs about girls and living in a small city more than a small town, cities like Memphis, which exist all over middle America. His lyrics paint stories of anguish and jubilance with a dash of wit. But his biggest problem seems to be the music business. His latest record has been done for a while but there's no real info on when it might see the light of day. It's being shopped so everyone can figure out how to squeeze as much money out of it as they can. Cory's just ready to move on and write some new songs that might actually get heard before they're three years old. Imagine that.

I got to see Cory play a show last night with Tim Regan of Snowglobe. Before Cory took the stage I slipped him a napkin with my two requests. He was incredibly genorous by playing both. I badger him at every show to play one particular song, and he has avoided it in the past. Wednesday night he not only played it but he told the story of why he wrote it. Without getting too detailed because I'm just paraphrasing here, the song "Spoke To Soon" was written about a woman who was his neighbor when he was younger. Cory had a little bit of a boyhood crush on her. She was maliciously attacked one summer in her home. His parents didn't know that he knew what had happened to her, but it was a wake-up call for him about how hateful and evil human beings could be. It's a moment we all have at some point.

You can check out new songs by Cory on Myspace or hear them live when he tours with Lucero. There are some pics of the show on my personal blag.

This is one of my favorite songs. Ever. So I want some feedback people.

BONUS TRACK: Jolene