Dickie Lee Erwin
Shadetree (High Plains)
Reviewed by Tim Stegall, Fri., Oct. 21, 2016
New Mexico native Dickie Lee Erwin has been kicking around Austin for 38 years, since arriving here, reportedly, with "a guitar, a banjo, a dog, and a girlfriend." He insists he still owns the guitar and banjo, the latter plucking out the intro to the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" at the start of "Given Up," then driving a reinterpretation of the Glen Campbell oldie "Gentle on My Mind." Otherwise, not much distinguishes Erwin's seventh long player. It's pleasant, competent, well-played and crafted, with lots of lyrics about rain and regrets and rural longings. Problem is, there's as much of that in these parts as there is a population boom. How can you hope to stand out in the vast Sargasso Sea of Central Texas' warbling troubadours without any sort of edge?
