Trouble in Mind

Hayes Carll | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 8, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Lost Highway
• ASIN: B00157OI8M
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,940 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #24 in Music > Rock > Roots Rock
  • #63 in Music > Country > Americana

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

"When I started, I moved down to this place called Crystal Beach, Texas where you need to take a ferry from Galveston across the bay to get to this little peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico," recalls Carll. "It's this isolated coastal community with a wild assortment of people either hiding out, hanging on or getting lost-- a lot of drugs and drinking, a fair amount of violence, but at the same time a lot of really interesting people with great stories to tell. Folks in the bars there weren't necessarily interested in what I had to say as a songwriter-- they wanted to hear David Allan Coe and Merle Haggard, and other stuff they knew. So that's what I did six nights a week for four years. I haven't run into tougher crowds since. It was an initiation into becoming a performer."

"My first record I did in five days, and my second one we did in twelve," Carll explains. "This time around I had a solid month, so it was really a luxury. It was amazing to get all these talented people in the room and have them listen to me describe my vision and then go out and try to realize that and capture it on tape. My strength isn't that I have the world's most amazing voice or that I'm this incredible player -- hopefully it's that there's some aspect of my personality and my lyrics that people can relate to."

Product Description

On his new album, Trouble In Mind, the 32 year-old Carll navigates his way through both stormy weather and calm, sun-drenched waters with ease, emerging with songs that melt even the hardest heart in town. Their impact is heightened by the fact that they're songs born of both immersion in the works of his songwriting heroes and plenty of real world experience.

Those elements certainly permeate Trouble In Mind, but there's a much sharper focus to the material, thanks in part, to more time in the studio and some great players sure to be familiar to roots-rock aficionados, including, Dan Baird, Darrell Scott, Will Kimbrough and former Flying Burrito Brother Al Perkins.

Carll's personality, emotional but never too sentimental, mischievous, funny, world-weary and sardonic, imbues every track of Trouble in Mind.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, fun, true Texas country, June 14, 2008

By 

DanD - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Trouble in Mind (Audio CD)

I'd never heard of Hayes Carll. I mean, here in Illinois, we don't get a whole lot of info about Texas musicians, unless they sell out and go national (Pat Green, Jack Ingram, etc), or have a long-standing history of being songwriting legends (Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, etc). So when I read a review of this album in a magazine, I basically skimmed it over--until I read that Carll covered a Tom Waits tune. That stopped me. Texas country singers are known for their, um, guts...but covering a Tom Waits tune? That can make or break ya. I just had to check it out.

Well, I'm glad I did. The Waits tune is "I Don't Wanna Grow Up," and Carll certainly does a good job covering it. But, let's face it--there's a hell of a lot more. Carll's own songwriting is downright admirable: from the fun-loving (yet dark-undertoned) "Drunken Poet's Dream" to the heart-wrenching "Willing to Love Again," Carll proves that he can hold his own amongst his legendary songwriting neighbors. "She Left Me For Jesus" is of course the attention-grabbing tune here, bound to offend anyone with weak sensibilities who can't detect irony; but there's more to the album than that, too. "I Got a Gig" perfectly captures the troubled arrogant stance of a six-night-a-week musician (as Carll growls "Good Lord I hope I get paid tonight/I got a gig, baby!"); "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" pretty much sums up the songwriter's ambition ("Doesn't anybody care about the truth anymore/I guess that's what songs are for"); and "A Lover Like You" takes playful honky-tonk jabs at the opposite sex ("I could never be friends with a lover like you").

Hayes Carll is a force to be reckoned with. He's bound for glory; maybe not commercial fame, but that's never been a good judge of talent, anyways. Carll is the real deal; he's a honky-tonk poet, and radio just isn't ready for that yet. One day, maybe. But until then, we can all sit back, listen to TROUBLE IN MIND, and realize that here, right here, is one of the new great songwriters on the country music circuit.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "She left me for Jesus" sucked me in (4.5 stars), May 14, 2008

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trouble in Mind (Audio CD)

I heard the song and laughed so hard, I looked up the album. The first song is Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Drunken Poet's Dream." The last is a hilarious cover of "I don't want to grow up." I was sold and the tracks in the middle weren't just empty filler. "Trouble" just kept on delivering.

"Trouble in Mind" is a pretty good title for this bluesy sardonic collection of thoughtful and cynical humored country. This is Texas singer Carll's first release on a major label, Lost Highway.

My only complaint with this CD is the sound quality which is worth half a star. It's marginal in iTunes format and acceptable on my stereo. But, for the quality of the musicianship and the thought in the lyrics--I'll be looking up the rest of Carll's music very shortly.

Rebecca Kyle, May 2008

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great. His best yet and that's saying a lot, April 8, 2008

By 

jarofdirt (nc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trouble in Mind (Audio CD)

I loved both of Hayes' other albums. Each was unique in it's own way and in it's own way trumped the other. "Trouble In Mind" is a breath of fresh air. One of the best albums I have listened to in a couple of years now. We need more artists like Hayes. Do yourself a favor, buy this unbelievable album, you will not be disappointed if you are an Americana fan. I bought the album this morning and have listened to it three times all the way through.