Rich Krueger

Sometimes you need only one song and sometimes it takes years but if an album is really good you will eventually know it. For Life Ain't That Long, it didn't even take a song. The first few measures of “A Stoopid Broken Heart”, I knew. By the end of the second song, I really knew and by the end of the third I was laughing, it was so damn good. Rich Krueger, where have you been hiding?

I am no real fan of Randy Newman but I love his play of words and infusion of comedic context. Krueger has it too, that seeming genius ability to tie words into knots and unravel them at the same time. Just about anyone else would make a mess of it all, stumbling over words piled one on the other like a wreck on a freeway during an icy winter morning at rush hour. Krueger, however, makes short work of it, telling us all about that which cannot be seen.

You are going to miss this if you're not careful, I want to say. Allow me to use the lyrics of “77/17” to prove my point, starting with a preface available only in the liner notes... “(You) really creep me out... it was thirty years ago... get over it,” (signed) Nancy H”. Which turned into, in the song, “A couple hundreds nights and, Christ, I really loved you Nancy”. I don't know Nancy but I want to meet any lady who captures a man's fancy for thirty years, even if only in a creepy way. That, Sports fans, is love.

And the album started so innocently too, a nice country-leaning tune (the aforementioned “A Stoopid Broken Heart”) opening the album, a song which could have been taken from Michael Dinner's excellent The Great Pretender album, minus Dinner's signature voice, of course (Krueger's is as good in its own way) but taking a whole 'nother direction with “The Gospel According to Carl”, the lyrics one long run-on sentence but so easy to follow because Carl has a lot to say and not much time to say it because, as the title of the album says, life ain't that long.

The title of the album is, in fact, a line from song number four, “A Short One on Life”. Funny but I always expect title tracks or songs with the best lyrics to supply the title, but ol' Carl, as good as his spiel is, takes home a red ribbon to this track. Which does not prevent me from marking “The Gospel According to Carl” a song of consequence. I have heard few like it and only at few of those as good.

Krueger draws from the wells of gospel here and there, as did Newman on occasion, the songs maybe only hinting of actual godliness but full of goodliness, nonetheless. I mean, if you like Newman, you will find a lot to love here but it is more than that. Krueger reaches way down and creates his own musical paths, song after song. Paths which suck you into an altered universe in which you get lost in other peoples problems and successes for a change.
It feels like daydreaming, does Life Ain't That Long. Like sitting in a favorite food court, creating fantasies around the people you see. Call it people-watching-put-to-music, and very very good music, at that. Now that I think about it, maybe perfect music for the moment.

Rich, ol' buddy, we don't know one another but I get it. I hear you have earlier albums available, too. I will get to them, I promise, but give me time. Because I get it. And I thank you. And, just so you know, you're right. Life ain't that long and, yes, there oughtta be a law against stoopid. Thanks for the reminder. - No Depression

For an intemperate hoarder of gaudy artifacts of 20th Century pop culture, Dr. Krueger steadfastly avoids the pop tropes of the contemporary world. Here you’ll find no slushy lo-fi three-chord rave-ups, nor computer-bred beats, nor gratuitous hip-hop urban sprechgesang, nor autotune, nor chilly subsonics, nor dance floor breaks, nor whispery girl vocals, nor webs of delay loops. In fact, you may find no hint of the 21st Century at all. But for all that, this is a surprisingly eclectic collection: each of the four songs (putting aside the hidden track) is provided a unique setting with an appropriate cast of guest musicians.

At his core, Krueger is an old folkie at heart (although an esotericist in practice), with a folkie’s love of text above all. You may lose count of the times he sings past the bar haphazardly into the next line. None can dissuade him in this. An anglophile par excellence, dare I say a not-so-young English romantic in the manner of Graves or Housman or D. Thomas, tuning their inner radio to such exquisitely refined sensitivity so as to receive the etheric broadcasts of some idyllically throbbing world soul from two or more universes away.

Typically, Krueger’s modus operandi involves digging out a small shard of memory or impression, not enough to even call a story, and spin a phantasmagoric avalanche of imagery around it. This may prove antithetical to the contemporary audience, who may grow restless with his protracted enthusiasms; nonetheless, his is a precious contribution. Krueger’s loquacity is a singularity.

No one ever asked me to write liner notes, and I would never usually volunteer such a thing, involving as it does some physical effort. But heck, since there are only four songs (plus one – SECRET!), here’s the quick rundown for the attention impaired:

Track One: A Short One on Life. Of course, the “short one” runs well past the four minute mark. As always once Krueger starts to unload he can’t stop hisself. Sonically, he seems to be making a bid for the Nashville radio mass audience, but he almost immediately self-sabotages with, well, length, vulgarity, embittered politics and unguarded anatomic observations.

Track Two: In Between Kingfish. Probably the heart of this collection, yet the hardest to parse. If I understand this correctly (probably not), it takes place in a semi-nomadic Hooverville cum refugee camp of destitute working and middle class cast-offs in California’s Central Valley. (The ghosts of ?) Huey Long and Sam Walton have established their haunt here and reminisce freely. Franklin Roosevelt and Woody Guthrie also show up, sleeping in an abandoned car. So m takeaway is: in the next life no one has any say in where they go or who they hang out with.

Track Three: Yesterday’s Wrong (Green). Each successive song seems to grow less structured and more discursive. This one takes a turn toward South Asia with tasty tabla and sarangi (a kind of vertical viola/hurdy gurdy honeycombed with resonating strings). There seemed to be no discernible narrative and also: Why Green?

Track Four: What We Are. This brings this collection to a satisfying conclusion, with its gospel overtones and wooden hearts and namechecks history’s most evil fiddlers, Emporer Nero and Spade Cooley. My fave.

Overpass is a preview of his current project, a half-finished two-disc collection gradually assembled from songs old and new. If this handful of songs is in any way representative of the whole, followers would be well advised to reserve room for three spots on their CD racks for the follow-up. - ANTIFOLK

Here's what writers and critics have said...

“As a lifelong fan of True Deep American Strangeness, I came to a realization after leaving Milwaukee for the last time in 1959, that the Truest, Deepest American Strangeness is to be found in the Heartland, the Great Midwest. As a perfect example, take a song--any song--of Rich Krueger, and you will see exactly what I mean. Rich is an American Stranger, if I ever did see one.” - Peter Stampfel, The Holy Modal Rounders & The Fugs

“Richard Krueger is taking his folky guitar explorations and voice into places hitherto unvisited except by real seekers after the musical grail—sensitive and beautiful, shine on Rich!” - Gary Lucas, God and Monsters (with the Late Jeff Buckley) & Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

"There's hardly a song under 4 minutes in length … but Krueger`s got stories to tell, moods to paint, and sometimes his brilliant, exuberant bursts require longer than the standard radio airplay time length. His unbridled wordiness, passion and irreverence invite comparisons to Loudon Wainwright III, Randy Newman, and the Sex Pistols…Lyrically artful and musically diverse, Krueger`s soulful voice carries us over his debris-strewn chaotic emotional landscape to a place of catharsis and - dare we say it - peace." – Emily Kaitz, singer-songwriter

"Talented...highly distinctive songwriter...cerebral, ironic....Richard Thompsonesque." - Michael Parrish, Dirty Linen

"Krueger`s melodies, phrasing, and carefully-crafted lyrics call to mind the very best singer-songwriters…Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen. But his vision is very much his own." - Jennifer Zogott, Folk Roots Magazine (Britain)

"The high point of my trip to Kerrville in 1996...Quirky, unique, original...A breath of fresh air amid the quagmire of mediocre self-produced CDs" - Jack Hardy, Fast Folk

"Rich Krueger`s songs come from the less traveled roads of the heart. I look forward to going there with him." - Ezra Idlet, Trout Fishing in America - Rockin'K Music

Translation:

Rich Krueger was born in Brooklyn, NYC in 1960. There he did all kinds of things and it can’t be really different if you would like to become a musician. For many years he was writing wonderful songs and accompanying them in the sphere of celebrities as Dylan, Randy Newman and Elvis Costello. Now take the song In Between Kingfish. It appeared on the EP Overpass, unfortunately still not in Spotify. Nice small detail: you hear John Fullbright, friend of Gobsmag, on accordion.

By the way, we almost forgot an important detail from his bio: "He does not bowl". Unfortunately, we do not either.

Rich Krueger is not the person to write long stories about. We don’t mean that in negative sense. What we mean: just listen to the music. And start with the beautiful In Between Kingfish. - GOBSMAG

Rich Krueger is a veteran to the Americana scene based out of the Chicago and the NYC regions. He has been writing and performing since 1985 both solo and with his band, The Dysfunctionells. Rich and the band have been featured on WXRT, PBS-Melbourne and WFMT. They have backed up the Holy Modal Rounders at their reunion at The Bottom Line in NYC. Recently, Rich was deemed as a Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Finalist. As a precursor to the two full length albums he plans on releasing this year, Rich has released a five song EP titled, Overpass, drawing songs from each of the projects. His song, “What We Are” is a great sneak-peak into what is to come.
The song begins with a soothing intro featuring a simple bass line accompanied by melodic lines on guitar and keys as other instruments fade in the background filling out the well-written mix. With a professional quality sound, the beautiful arrangement will captivate listeners right from the start.
Starting off the first verse, Rich enters singing, “Now that your world has gone turned inside out/And everything you hold true is plagued with doubt,/If there’s still a place where life’s wrestled free from fear,/And there’s a God who loves us,/It ain’t here,” showcasing his timeless sound. Rich's vocals make the track whole and organic with his compelling, story-telling style of singing.
“What We Are” is a song about the paradox of having hope that things will get better despite the long history of terrible things happening around us. Entering the hook he sings, “Take your broken wooden heart/And carve yourself a gypsy violin./Make it laugh just like a mother’s crying./Listen while it whispers “The world isn’t dying”/And “Tomorrow‘s really not that far/ Remember, tomorrow’s what we are,” offering us the glimpse of sunlight that promises to follow after the dark. Krueger's lyrics are as deeply compelling as his music.
Rich Krueger presents lyrical poignancy with memorable tunes making “What We Are” a great kick-off into his new projects that will leave you eager to hear what is on the way. His music is available for purchase via CDbaby as well as iTunes and Amazon. To keep up with Rich and his releases, visit his website. - Indie Spoonful

See the picture of the review in the picture section - Dirty Linen Review