Richard Buckner

Much of Devotion is set in California's Central Valley, but Buckner's real destination isn't geographic. This album is a document of loss -- be it of dreams, a lover or a life. His fragmented lyrics and his rough-hewn voice impart the emotional wreckage felt by the desperate, lost and missing people in his songs.

On the stark and spacious Devotion and Doubt, Richard Buckner's aching vocals stand
weather-beaten but unbowed, like a lone saguaro on the Mojave. And just as a cactus
thrives on drops of water, the poetic lyrics of the singer and songwriter, who was born in
Fresno, Calif., require nothing more than spare arrangements and acoustic settings. Both of
the above predominate Doubt, his major-label debut; songs melt from one to the... More >

"So after all those months we're splitting up, and it had to happen, but I'm feeling like sh*t. We pack the U-Haul, and of course everything in the kitchen is hers except these big jars of oregano and garlic powder I bought in a dollar store to spice up my pizza. It's so late she stays over, and I watch her sleep, you know? God. But she wakes up pretty early and we kiss goodbye and she gets in the car and then what do you think happens? The U-Haul breaks free and there's dishes all over the road. It seemed awful at the time, the mess and the delay had me stressing, but I gotta laugh about it now. And you know the funniest part? Without her noticing I kept some of those dishes--you're eating your pizza off one right now. More oregano?'' Well, that's how I'd replot the best song here--in Buckner's version it's ditches all over the road, and he still thinks the whole thing was awful. And of course, he has just the sensitive baritone to make awful seem awful romantic to sad sacks and the women who love them. (Grade - B-)