Adult Material

The tired, leathery sag in Carll’s voice may also lead him toward rougher songs. He sounds amused when he talks about how people describe his singing. “The gist is that I have a really strong Southern drawl and I sound intoxicated,” he says. “When I’m singing about those things, maybe those are more believable than if I was singing about the deficit or something. I wouldn’t believe ‘The Pilgrim’ if Mariah Carey was singing it, but when Kris Kristofferson sings it I’m like, ‘Fuck yeah.’ ”

Trouble has one contrite-sounding song that Carll wrote for his wife with Scott—“Willing to Love Again.” “I call it a degenerate love song,” says Carll. “It’s just an apology for the shit I put her through over the years. I just didn’t know how to sing about the redemption part, the thank you. Darrell [Scott] really helped me out.”

If that song’s any indication, Carll will find his own way to talk about love and responsibility. “What I’m trying to do now is evolve a little bit as a writer, and I realize that every song doesn’t have to be about how I’m hammered and lonely,” he says. “I figure if I’m going to do this that it’s [about] capturing all the moments. It just was a tough transition to write about how beautiful my son is or how much I love my wife when it was not something I’d ever done before.”

Carll bridged past and present most successfully with the Stingaree Music Festival he launched in Crystal Beach last year. For this year’s edition, he lured musical cohorts like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Scott Nolan, Will Kimbrough and Darrell Scott—all involved with the new album—down to his old stomping grounds.

The tired, leathery sag in Carll’s voice may also lead him toward rougher songs. He sounds amused when he talks about how people describe his singing. “The gist is that I have a really strong Southern drawl and I sound intoxicated,” he says. “When I’m singing about those things, maybe those are more believable than if I was singing about the deficit or something. I wouldn’t believe ‘The Pilgrim’ if Mariah Carey was singing it, but when Kris Kristofferson sings it I’m like, ‘Fuck yeah.’ ”

Trouble has one contrite-sounding song that Carll wrote for his wife with Scott—“Willing to Love Again.” “I call it a degenerate love song,” says Carll. “It’s just an apology for the shit I put her through over the years. I just didn’t know how to sing about the redemption part, the thank you. Darrell [Scott] really helped me out.”

If that song’s any indication, Carll will find his own way to talk about love and responsibility. “What I’m trying to do now is evolve a little bit as a writer, and I realize that every song doesn’t have to be about how I’m hammered and lonely,” he says. “I figure if I’m going to do this that it’s [about] capturing all the moments. It just was a tough transition to write about how beautiful my son is or how much I love my wife when it was not something I’d ever done before.”