music

Charlie Robison

Beautiful Day

Last year Charlie Robison split from his wife of nine years, Dixie Chicks member Emily Robison. So why is the title of Beautiful Day not entirely tongue-in-cheek? Because the follow-up to 2004’s Good Times isn’t an album about emotional trauma, it’s about the determination to keep moving forward and make the best of a lousy situation. Although Beautiful Day is split evenly between originals and covers (including a take on Bruce Springsteen’s “Racing in the Street”), it boasts consistency not just in its crisp musical attack but in its lyrical point of view—hard-won wisdom leavened with wry wit and a knowing wink.

• June 29, 2009
• by Chris Neal