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‘Q’ Magazine—February 2002
HIGH CLASS STORYTELLING FROM UNSUNG HERO OF US COUNTER CULTURE. NOT FOR LONG.
Fortunately for the casinos of the world, Darryl Purpose swapped blackjack (where he once trousered $150,000 in 90 minutes) for songwriting in 1996, and this takes up where last year’s excellent Travelers’ Code left off, offering a series of melancholic yet clear-eyed portraits of US life sung in a delicate, bell-like voice at odds with his bulk and accompanied by fine finger-style guitar.
The album’s opener, Rutherford Hayes In The Morning , is the kind of song only Paul Simon used to write while Bryant St , where Purpose seeks out the grave of his half-sister echoes to the sound of breaking hearts. Elsewhere, the title track, Koreatown and I Can Get There From Here testify to a lyrical deftness that confirms him as one of the key new chroniclers of modern America. —Rob Beattie |
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