"One Of The Ways" is definitely Max Stalling’s best yet.  Beyond "Comfort In The Curves", and even "Wide Afternoon", this music is a level above both of those.  Too often an artist loses a bit of the edge, thinks they’ve found the formula, or tries to coast their way through third and subsequent albums.  But it is obvious that Stalling doesn’t see it that way.  He definitely keeps raising the bar on expectations, especially for himself, to bring us the best music he can create.  Stalling says of this compilation of songs, “…it strikes me that they are all about people relating to each other…cause and effect…” Easy enough for him to say, but of course, being me, I’m compelled to say more.

Stalling describes his music as, “Lyrically driven, original country/folk/Americana/Texas music.”  In addition to all that, Max is a synergistic, musical storyteller who creates an entire other dimension to the music.  Some music has nice lyrics, some good lyrics have a nice melody.  Stalling’s music in "One Of The Ways" is pure integrated poetry.  The lyrics alone are genuine poetry without the notes, until Max finishes telling us his musical story, when the result is definitely more than the sum of the words and the music.

The most striking example in this CD overflowing in this technique, is the “Pila Song”.  Up front, this sounds like it is to be a simple cowboy ballad.  So you settle back to enjoy one of Max’s cowboy tales.  You hear a mournful Spanish guitar as a prelude to set the mood, a few words about riding fences and a certain Spanish senorita on his mind.  He continues to set the scene as he describes the south windmill coming into view.  All this time, through the whole first verse, the music is mistily eluding a predictable pattern, but lulling you with a cozy, albeit, slightly off-beat comfort.  The Spanish guitar weaves in and out, the acoustic guitar chimes in a time or two, and the bass is a single thump, per bar; slow and easy.  Then as Stalling is detailing this windmill and it is “pumping, and pumping, pumping, and pumping” and suddenly, the bass has picked up that double thump-thump…thump-thump of the rhythm of the pump as a constant reminder throughout the remainder of the song that the darn windmill just keeps on pumping.  You get a chill that wiggles up your spine and you KNOW this windmill is going to change that man’s life (and maybe yours, too…) and the music is intricately woven into this story.  Stalling's words create more shivers to keep you on the edge of your chair.  You are no longer relaxing nor expecting to be soothed by this ditty…the music is making your blood pound and the lyrics are setting your teeth on edge, and you feel the panic of our quasi-hero:

“The water was cool down underneath
But deeper than I thought it’d be
There was no ladder and the walls were slick with moss
Sure enough I got cooled down
When I found I had no way out
And the thought of a rat in a feed bin chilled my blood.”
Our hero has some time for self examination as he “..marked the time with the windmill’s shade” and finally reaches an accountability realization:
“But I cussed myself the most because
I had not looked before I leapt.”

Oh, what a fine moral to the story; we should all look before we leap; the cause of the effect. Stalling says this song, which took him about 6 years to perfect, is “rooted in truth” but also “rural myth”, intended to “prevent youngsters from doing something stupid…..like climbing into a tall water tank (pila) to swim.”  Does our song’s hero escape his would-be watery grave?  Buy the CD and find out for yourself.  However, I will never see another windmill without thinking of this song.  It’s melodic poetry will be forever stuck in my mind.

I noticed a fate-kissed, or missed woman and man theme running through several of the tracks on this CD.  Stalling also called them to my attention as he described them as “concept songs that dealt with these two characters, a man and woman, who kept popping up in a lot of the songs…” “One of the Ways”, the CD title track, was inspired as “I watched a scene unfold at the Lone Star Café in Dallas, TX one night…” An insightful description of one of the ways of being alone,
 

“Across the bar there sits a woman
We’ve watched each other all night
Behind that woman hangs a mirror
It’s like I see me through her eyes”
 

“From Dancing To A Waltz” is another in this man/woman theme.  Warning, ladies, Max has us nailed.  Every female from 8 to 80 had better watch herself around this man, because he has discovered the key to our essence.  Let’s hope his brethren don’t listen up real well to this one, because if they heed his words, we no longer stand a chance with a man that uses the methods described in this waltzing epistle.  Stalling sings of the band that plays more waltzes than usual on the rainy evening described.

“Just one turn around the dance floor
Made it all worth the cost
Flooded by the kind of feelings
That come from dancing to a waltz
…..
’Til finally later on that evening
Under streetlamp and raindrops
She kissed me with all the feelings
That come from dancing to a waltz.”

Uh oh, Stalling has found the female Achilles heel.  He’s using our sentimentality about waltzes and the way they make our resolves just melt away to work for him here.

"For the waltz is the world’s most romantic dance
For those deep in love and those wanting the chance”
…..
So love-sick neighbor won’t you listen
Hear your brother as he talks
Pay the band when she ain’t looking
To make every song a waltz.”

Of course the song itself is a waltz.  A more touching, melodic one there never was. His finger is right on the pulse, again, of cause and effect.

Continuing in the man/woman/fate concept, “Ain’t Falling In Love With You Tonight” is an exceptionally insightful look at people’s mistrust of fate if it works out too easily.  Sometimes you just can’t fight it.  The music is so light and floating for this selection, a perfect pairing for the story to be told.

I’m not so sure that Max isn’t pulling our legs a bit on “The Beatles And The Thunder”. Again his music and words tell a wonderfully synchronized tale about male/female fate, resulting interaction, all the unspoken thoughts that are intertwined with the music they are listening to, an old Beatles tune with some French words...

“Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble
It’s a pretty song and he just hums along
Never having parlez vous’d much francais
He don’t know what they say
But the words go nice together”.

Of course, the irony is (for those of you too young to remember those immortal Beatle lyrics) the literal translation is “are the words which go very well together”.  Hmm, strike a familiar chord from the chorus?  Are the characters of this song just doomed to miss the obvious for the rest of their lives?  Is anyone really that oblivious?  Regardless of the IQ level of our heroes, Stalling has given us all a glimpse of the deep emotions hidden under the surface of such small, everyday happenstance, with the haunting music that ensures we will never forget it.

The musical credits on this CD are a mile long and are a real who’s who list.  Also, impressive, is the producer, Bruce Robison.  Stalling explained that when a few kinks developed in kicking off the production of his new project, he was “struck that some of the songs had a Bruce Robison kind of feel.” The timing was just right for it to work for both of them (there’s that fate theme, again) and Bruce, Max, and the rest of us are the winners with this album.  You can’t miss with this CD.  You really won’t be able to get it out of your stereo. You have to have a copy for yourself.


                                                                                                              Cheryl Arthur

Visit Max Stalling's web site